Hey, can anyone with any experience with Wilma/drip systems tell me whether I have to empty the tank when I refill, or whether I can just add more water to the tank + more nutes to the small amount of existing water.. with my set up, emptying the tank looks difficult/problematic/impossible , i'v got an airstone moving around the water and everything.. am I fine just refilling it as it is?

with my wilma i changed the res every week, best way to remove water is by using your pump that feeds the drippers. simply pull out tubing and attach a hose pipe to the end of your pump, submerge in the res and switch it on and bingo your water gushes away. u may need to tilt the tank to get last bit out or use a sponge.

Cheers mate, I never thought of that! Yehh that's the only problem, the pump doesn't quite reach the water at the bottom.. and it's difficult to move a tank when there are 50 litres of pebbles above it.

Also, does that mean I have to take the pins out of the plants? :S

Piece of hose pipe running from the tank outside or downstairs sink, wherever as long as it sits lower than the tank you are emptying.
Suck on the lower end and atfer a little bit you will feel it getting easier to suck, at this point get your mouth away as your old nutes are flowing and will continue to flow until the res is empty.
Syphoning....easiest way to empty a tank.

dude i wouldnt put that pipe no where near your mouth theres no need , leave the drippers in place just seperate the t piece section of the pipe and u will have your pump with a single piece of tubing attached, just add your pipe to that and turn on once submerged

But the pump will not empty the bottom of the tank he's already said that. A piece of hose will.

Cool gotcha, sorry stoned

Cheers Mr Dee, but i'm having trouble getting lower than my tank is sitting. =/

I managed to get nute solution in my mouth... =] Burny lips.. this stuff causes cancer right? xD

to be honest farmerm, mine was never bone dry before re filling,i wouldnt worry too much mate

but theres a good few centimetres of water left at the bottom.. won't that mess up my nutrient concentration when I add the next 21 litres of water?

I empty my wilmas using a siphon too.. My bathroom is below the loft i grow in so it's easy and empties the whole tank.. Did you know the outlet on multi jet 1000 can be turned round so that the pump sits closer to the tank bottom?.. It just twists round to 3 diff positions. You may need to change some tubing but it's worth doing as you can effectively increase your res capacity.. I love my wilma systems... So versatile.. If you find the pots to close together or it's to tall try rockwool or coco 1m slabs with the drippers. I have done 10,8 and 6 at a go in my 10 pots.. Now i use 6 of the 6lt pots and just miss out pots 3 and 4 and pots 7 and 8..
Anyway i am rambling... Good luck..
Plotty Pants..


E2a.. Just noticed you have a 4 pot

This is a shambles.. I bought a 30m hosepipe up to my growroom, almost bust a lung trying to siphon it.. there was dirt in both tubes I tried to use making the tank even dirtier. I then used a 300ml bottle to bail it out which was successful up to a point, now just doesn't work. Ironically the system is now probably dirtier than just using a dirt based substrate. I should've just stuck to dirt.. it shouldn't be this hard! Do I have to get rid of all the water in the tank before refilling?

Man it sucks you are having such problems with the wilma! I just syphon mine using about 5m of hose pipe. Make sure the hosepipe is perfectly straight from up to down and then suck. If your hose pipe isnt straight then water will just sit in it. I empty mine so easily using this method. I think trying to suck through 30m is a bit much ?

If you still cant get it working get a water pump attachment for a drill. I have heard these work great and dead cheap.

Have a look on ebay for "water pump drill"

I feel your pain (literally). I have the same prob with my wilma being up in the loft. Have to take the plants out the tent, lid off and scoop out the water into a few buckets that i lug down. Then pull all the wilma out, put plants in the tent while i clean out the wilma, lug it all back up including the 25l of water. What a polava. The pump is too slow to wait for but i'm thinking of syphoning, just wish i started with soil to beggin with!

Going to homebase tonight for some miracle grow time release compost and some perlite for my next grow. Less agro!

Peace,
GT.

I too am a wilma man..and I too run a hose down through the loft to the bathroom n syphon the water out...never have to move pots or tray..just tilt res up on dictionary or whatever and a way you go!!...change once a week.

Dont you get a build up of salt/nutes all powder like? would'nt it throw your PH and EC for any new water put in? I guess you clean out all the left over shite fist?

been using the wilma 8 pot for 3 years, only time i fully empty the system is at the end of a crop, get what you can out, dont worry about the dregs, never caused me any problems.

Easiest way to get rid of dregs at the bottom of the res....

Empty as much of the res as you can using your pump and some hose (not whores) but the rubber tubing stuff, then refill the res with plain tap water, then empty again, repeat process untill water becomes clear. If you can, stir the water to kick up all the debris whilst pumping it out.

Iv used 2 wilmas for a while.and as said there's no need too dry the reservoir out have ur maxijet spun too it's lowest position don't know if the smaller pumps spin around but the 1000's do.disconect the pump from the dripper line connect hose pipe and pump it out.lift the opposite end to get the last bit out there will be a tiny bit left in the bottom but so miniscule it won't make a diffrence too the next batch.all plants stay on tray.job done

i wish i'd found this site when i startd growin, . . started of with a 16pot wilma that was 1.2m sq and looked like a fekin paddling pool, held bout 100L+, thought it had to be emptyed/cleaned every week. .. . . that was biggest fuckin pain in the arse i have ever bought. .. .
took about 2 and 1/2hrs every bloody sunday and ended up buyin a damn 'bilge pump' from the marina to help. . . .

headache

I use a hose to siphon my tank (loft grow). There's no need to suck on the end if you fit connectors with an on/off valve at each end -

1) Run a small amount of water through the hose into the tank to "charge the hose" then turn off the valve at the tank end.
2) Turn off valve at the water supply end then stick the hose in the bath/sink and turn it on again - some water will run out but the majority remains in the hose.
3) Back to the loft and turn on the valve at that end while the hose is in the tank - the remaining water in the pipe will start off the siphon process.

Bit tedious having to do two trips to the loft but it does siphon 95% of the water out and no yukky nutes in your gob...

When I used my Wilma I emptied it using the pump that came with my NFT tank. The same pumps are supplied from most grow shops & pump from a lower point than the Wilma pump. The Wilma pump will not pump out lower than about 1-2", whereas the standard NFT pumps pump lower than 1cm

When syphoning use the pump to get the flow going

when you start your grow wedge a bit of wood under the back of the resivoir to raise it an inch or so above the front, now use your wilma pump and some hose as previously suggested to drain it, if you push the suction part of the pump into a corner you will get 99% of the liquid out without sucking on any tubing at all, easy peasy, no need to remove drippers or plants, standard hosepipe fits onto the pump outlet

Click to view attachment

i prop up the wilmas on a piece of wood then pump out most of the water with a seprate maxijet1000 and soak up the last bit with a sponge.

check out this link http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...155306&st=0 of my wilma beast room i made a while ago