RDWC Build guide

[badbillybob]

Hello, my fellow herb enthusiasts, I have decided to put up a short build guide for people considering RDWC.

Now I have pictured 2 of my previous system builds, but unfortunately, the pigs stole them so I'm a bit limited in showing actual photos of various parts of the build.

I have built quite a few of these over the years, each one has been a learning process, and not without disaster along the way, as u do.

The systems shown will fit in a 2.4 by 1.2 tent (the 4 pot one) or a 1.2 tent (the 2 pot one)

These are NOT undercurrent systems, they are simple recirculating systems, utilising 22mm spray bars for the delivery and 40mm returns to the res. 

 

I have located the res outside of the tent in both systems, because this helps keep the temperature of the nutrients cooler, and reduces the work for the chiller (i'll come to that later)

So the system works by the process of pumping nutrient around the system, through  the spray bars. This nutrient solution is highly oxygenated, with high levels of dissolved oxygen produced by the falling water disturbing the surface tension (which creates DO(dissolved oxygen).

 

Now I'm not saying that this system is perfect or cant be improved upon, because nothing is perfect is it, its all a compromise in some way or other, before you all start slagging it off and telling me how I should have done this or that or whatever. I'm not really interested, ok?  good.......... then we shall proceed

 

Lets start with a list of stuff you will need to complete this build (2 pot system) The pictures are meant as a guide only as some of the stuff I describe is what I would do differently if I was to do it again

 

3No. really useful boxes (2 for the plants , one for the res) either 64 or 84 litre jobs (the more nutrient you have the more stable the EC and Ph will remain). this is why I use big boxes

A hole cutter for 22mm and 40mm pipework.

A number of 40 mm  tank connectors (6 in this case), plus 40mm pipework, bends and tees to suit. I use solvent weld fittings, which do not leak if done properly, unlike the push fit ones. The solvent weld fittings are also cheaper woop woop. the down side is that if you ever want to move the system or dismantle it, you will need a hacksaw lol.

A number of 22mm pipework fittings including bends, tees and pipework. 

I am not stating how many of each you use because it will depend on how you lay it out. I'm sure you are capable of working this part out for yourselves

A water pump _ I would recommend a 4000l/hr one for this size system, the 4 pot system I used a 6000l/hr one, but should have gone bigger.

A reducer from the water pump outlet to the 22mm spray bar. These can be bought off ebay as silicone reducers , just pump in the sizes, e.g 22mm to 26mmm or whatever it is.

Stainless hose clamps to suit this reducer, both ends.

various drill bits, a drill, 

 

A chiller- will depend on the total capacity of your system, for a 2 pot system I reckon you would be ok with a 150l chiller, I used a 300l one on the 4 pot system

Maxijet 1000l/hr pump and hose to suit the chiller.

 

 

Right, now to the construction part. we will start with the returns. these are 40mm, which are a decent compromise, you can go bigger (but they are expensive) or smaller (more likely to block with roots etc)

So take your really useful boxes and lay them in the tent where you want them to go, this is how I did it

 

As you can see the totes are side by side with the return pipes at the front and back of each box. Its always a good idea to set things out to make sure there is enough room for like lids to fit on (ahem), and all the pipework to fit  etc. Now once you know where its all going measure out your pipes, notiing where each one goes. I lay them out on the floor the way they will go in the tent, makes life a little easier.

 

The return pipes are attached to the box via the 40mm tank connector, which is solvent welded to the pipe When you drill the hole for the tank connector/ bulkhead, you want to try and get it very close to the bottom of the box,, BUT make sure you still have room  to screw on the nut. When you get the tank connectors you will see a rubber washer type thing - this goes to the outside of the box ok?

A word on solvent cement- you can get high as fuck off it so use in a well ventilated area (that's the health and safety pish out the way) Also, when using solvent cement, this is what I do to prevent bailing water out of the tent/ leaks  . Saw cut the end of the pipe, then sand off the rough end where all the scrappy bits are, and a small chamfer on the end of the pipe. (Use 100 grit sandpaper or above) Make sure nothing is sticking out from the pipe, like rough edges etc

Put the solvent cement on the end of the pipe, AND on the inside of the fitting it is getting connected to. Now stick em together, you don't get long.

When I join them together I kinda push the pipe in and give it a 1/4 turn at the same time. wipe off the excess glue (don't put it back in the glue pot)  Leave this for 15 minutes and it will be solid.

So glue all the returns together, putting it in the box, measuring trimming etc as you go, to be sure it will all FIT properly. No point glueing it all together then finding out your 10mm out on a measurement has fucked half of it up is there.

The returns are at opposite sides of the really useful box to equalise the return flow, so that the roots stay in the centre of the box. If both returns were at the same side of the box, the roots WILL migrate there and clog the returns. 

In the picture above you will see just below the spray bar Tee, the return pipes go to a tee fitting and then back to the res. If I was to do it again I would have 2 returns to the res, just in case the one was to block with root (unlikely tho it may be).

 

The picture above also shows the spray bars, the 22mm pipe inside the box which delivers the nutrients to the tote.

Drill the holes for these as high up the sides of the box as possible, you want as much fall from the water as possible. This one is drilled just below the top lip. 

These are done in a similar fashion to the returns, but it is easier to drill the holes for the nutrient to spray from before you glue the lot together. I use a small drill bit for the holes, and for this system, if I remember I had something like 4 holes on each  long side and 2 on the short sides. I had these holes drilled in such a way to spray the water around the base of the net pot, about an inch or 2 away from the actual pot itself, but its not really critical where the holes go, as long as the water can splash on the surface, creating DO.  The spray bars go to a TEE which goes to a single pipe from the water pump. A word of advice  - the pump outlet has a reducer attached, and then it goes to the 22mm pipe. You will see that this pipe goes through the side of the res. there is a reason for this, which is - if somehow the pipe detaches from the reducer, it will not go flying out of the way allowing the fountain from the res to flood the room, as the side hole will keep the pipe in place.

See pic below. Again if I was doing this again I would have the pump closer to the tent side of the box.

 

this pic also shows the reserviour, outside the tent. You can see the single return at the bottom of the box. The red thing on top of the pump is the reducer Like a said, id do a double return next time, but you get the idea. If you look at the pic above, then this one, its like, inside the tent- outside the tent

Here is my 4 pot system in action with spraybars (the spray bars are a different design, but the principle is the same).

 

On the subject of dissolved oxygen, you can also add an airstone or 2 to this system. You don't really NEED to, but they help by creating yet more oxygen to the rootzone, like I did in the above system.

 

so that's the spray bars and returns done, you are nearly there. 

For the net pots you need to make some holes in the lids. I use 200mm net pots, and to make the hole I devised a cunning plan, baldrick would be proud of. here is how its done.

Mark the centre of the box lid, drill very small pilot hole, then get a piece of timber, and put a drywall screw through one end, so the tip of the screw ids protruding by about 3-5mm. then  measure out 95mm and put another screw through the same amount. Put one screw in the pilot hole you drilled, and then turn the wood through 360 degrees scoring a perfect circle into the plastic. Then you just keep on scoring round and round till you eventually go through the lid , or it gets so thin you can cut it with a Stanley.

 

Also when this is done insulate the boxes if possible, ive used Kingspan in the top pics, or even the silver reflective bubble wrap stuff for the lids is better than nothing, DO it.

 

chillers - you WILL need one

Chillers have a separate pump- a maxijet 1000l/hr job from the res to the chiller, and the warer will naturally return from the chiller to the res, , if you can try and get the return to make the water fall back to the res - more DO - you know it makes sense.

 

Pop in your net pot, fill with hydroton and grow big fuck of trees.

My first run in the 2 pot system produced 700grams from two (whisper it ) autos

 

Mission accomplished. If I think of anything else I will add it. 

 

Mon the water

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by badbillybob

[ursus1000]

Absolutely fantastic! Thanks for sharing that

[badbillybob]

No problem, 

here is my latest build. its not finished, I will hve to wait for the credit card to stop smoking before I buy the tank connectors for this one.

This will use 2 inch tank connectors and return pipe, because I drilled the holes in the tubs before I got busted, and the pricks took away my tank conectors, all piping and fittings, but for some bizzare reason, left these  totes, despite taking all the others, including ones in my loft/shed etc. SO lets be thankful for police incompetence.

Totes are 60 litre jobs, and the net pots are flood and drain 20 litre bucket tops, as they are about 250mm wide and about 30mm deeper, with a wider brim on the net pot, which will hopefully stop the plants wobbling about when they get LARGE.

The extra depth will mean more drop from the spray bars, of which there is one sitting on top of the bottom left tote.

I'm really liking these totes, they are pretty thick plastic, with a hinged lid, for inspection but the down side is that the sides are too angled.

I was originally going to use them for a proper undercurrent system, but the pipes were leaking due to the side angle of the totes, and it was distorting them to the point that I didn't think they would last long before fracturing, so they will just be used for a top spray recirc system.

 

I use pretty much exclusively Ionic nutes, and I use no organic feeds at all (bloody nightmare they are).

These systems are great to run, produce great fuck off plants like this 

and I don't have to get rid of loads of muck or coco at the end of each grow, just sling it down the shitter and start over after a extensive wash with bleached water. 

cheers.

 

Any other RDWC love?

Edited January 17, 2018 by badbillybob

[Idiot At Large]

Absolutely brilliant this bud!

 

As with all good guides I am left struggling to think up any follow up questions!

[badbillybob]

Thanks man, I'm glad I'm not typing all this shit for nothing ha ha .

 

hello again, I think I will just update this a little bit, as and when the old memory kicks in, and I manage to find old fotos etc.

I will add a bit about spray bars here, and show a couple of pics of the first incarnation of the 2 pot system.

So the spray bars that I use now are a sort of development of what I started off with. In the beginning I had a simple hose from the pump which fitted into a IWS bucket grommet , which was located near the top of the totes, heres a pic. As you can see it was a simple Y piece with the pipe stuck into the rubber grommet.

 

Ignore the 2 pots per tote, this was too much, irt ended up a right nightmare due to the speed of growth and size of them in bloom. Stick with one pot per tote is my advice.

 

Anyway the Y piece resulted in the water falling into the totes, but it was very effective.

Later on I thought it would work better with a bit of spray on the surface, which would create a bit more DO, as it would cover more of the surface.

I found these blank hose ends for the same size pipe, which I just drilled 3 holes in each end.

Here.....look

 

 

This also worked well , but I had seen a few grows with spray bars, so decided to try these out too. I bought some eheim spray bars for an aquarium which fitted nicely inside the hose. I jest extended the hose from the Y piece to the spray bar to the Y piece at the other end of the tote. Sorry don't have any pics, but it worked well too. 

And then I bit the bullet and decided to go the 22mm overflow route, with drilled holes along the sprayer, about 6 each side I was happy with this, but if I'm perfectly honest it was no more effective than the ones in the pic above.

 

In my old 4 pot system pictured in the first post, you will see that the spray bars for this are also in 22mm overflow pipe, but if I was to do it again, I would do less holes but a bigger diameter hole, in the hope that it would spray further into the water nutes, to create, hopefully a bit more DO.

 

So here are some ideas for you. It doesn't really make a huge difference which one you go for as long as the water splashes the surface, Dissolved oxygen  will be created in which your plants will thrive.

More when my memory kicks back in 

[badbillybob]

woops

Edited January 22, 2018 by badbillybob
double post, please delete

[Robot808]

Awesome m8 those 2 plants are absolute MONSTERS

 

I love this shit good thread man

[badbillybob]

 more detail on certain parts of the system, which may help you decide on your shopping list.

 

PUMPS.

Ah yes we all love a good old pump don't we (stop sniggering at the back) .Nothing is better than pumping 24hrs a day.

The pump is the heart of your system, and getting it right is crucial for your success with these systems.

There are various factors to consider when choosing a pump, including the total volume of water/nutrient in your system, so lets start there shall we?

If you have a 2 pot system and res as shown above (84 litre totes, but with approximately 50 litres of nutrient in them.- This depends on what size net pots you have used as they are different depths), lets say we have 150 lirtres total in the system.

For this size system I would say that you need a minimum of a 2000litre per hour pump............BUT...........more the merrier in my opinion.  Although it is possible to over oxygenate a solution, the chances of doing so without pressurised injection of O2 is minimal, so the more the merrier.

I originally used a 2800l/hr pump in this system, which was more than adequate, but if you want better penetration (of the  water you perverts), I would personally go for a 4000l/hr pump in this system. Another benefit of having a higher DO content is that nasties are less likely to thrive. An old trick was to up the pump size if regularly getting pythium etc, or even just as a precaution against it. If you use a chiller thothis is lessened even further, and you WIll be using a chiller wont you?

 

WIth the 4 pot one, I would simply double the pump output, to 6000 litres per hour. Again I used 6000l/hr pump which was fine.

A word of warning with pumps tho- Make sure you read up the manufacturers bumph on power consumption, as these suckers run 24/7.

I was poised on the "Buy it now" for a 9000litre/hr Hailea HX8890 pump, until I spotted that this one uses 250 watts , what the fuck , that's a veg light worth of leccy, on constant every hour -no thanks.

 

After a bit more research I found a Hailea Eco s 10,000 litre/ hr pump which only draws 135 watts, which is still a bloody lot (but half the consumption of the 9000 litre one) 

 

SHOP AROUND ! And check Specs. 

 

You can also consider DC pumps, which are more expensive to buy, but only draw about 40-60 watts.

Also consider what type of pump you want, a submersible one or one that sits outside the res and pumps the nutrients -in  line.

I only have dealt with submersible ones when doing DIY systems, and when I had the alien system, the inline one was submersed in the header pot, so I cant comment on how pumps perform outside the res ( a lot louder I would presume).

 

Another factor to consider when choosing a pump is the "head" that the pump can , er pump. This will give you an idea of how powerful the pump is, which will be important for the sprayers.

typically a 3000l/hr pump has a head of 2.5 metres. this means that if the pump was submersed with the outlet above water, the water coming out of it would reach 2. metres from the floor/pump.before the flow stopped.

a 4000 litre/hr one would do 2.8 metres

a 9000 litre one would do over 5 metres, which would make a nice fountain in your room if the reducer came off, so secure all of the hoses and pipes with stainless hose clamps. 

Maximum Flow

This happens at the level of the water surface and is the flow with no pipe attached to the pump. Probably the best practical situation that closely resembles reality is when all you need the pump for is simply circulating the water. In other words there is no lift required and no significant length of pipe attached to the pump

The energy from a pump's motor is shared between flow (actually mass) of water and the height (head) to which it must be pumped. In a real pond situation it becomes a bit more complicated because when water flows through a pipe, or via a "T" piece, "Y" piece bend, fountain nozzle, or through a valve etc some energy is required to overcome friction losses in these different parts of the system.

Because the pump's motor (energy output) is fixed it means that the water flow is reduced for any specific height  (head) pumped, plus any flow restrictions (total number of bends).
Important factors for pump performance.

Use widest diameter pipe you can. Realistically 22mm is about as big as you want to go
Use shortest possible pipe length
Do not kink the pipe (a big problem with thin walledplastic pipe)
Do not use valves, T pieces, Y pieces, sharp bends etc in your pipework if you can avoid it.
Prevent build-up of algae inside the pipe by using NON-transparent piping.
When you use stepped connectors cut off the smaller diameter steps.
To totally and accurately specify a pump you need to know 3 things

(1). Volume of water flow required at the end of the line.

(2). Height to which this flow must be pumped - more for an idea of the pressure you will  get at the spray bar outlets

(3). Head (or friction loss) loss due to restrictions in pipe and fittings. Take into account any bends in your pipework. You will see that I tried to keep mine as straight as possible to ptrevent losing any pump efficiency


would be required. I would always always advise if in any doubt , then select the next size up You can always use a little extra flow, but impossible to gain flow from any given pump. 

Pump prefilters. I always use pumps which have prefilters on them, usually located under a plastic cover at the pump intake side.

VERY IMPORTANT - Clean these out regularly, they will clog up with fine root hairs which migrate through the system.

I clean mine out with every res change. These are a sponge type construction, and would be an ideal habitat for pathogens etc, so make sure you do it.

I just rinse mine out with chlorinated tap water, from the inside out, then just pop it back in place.

 

More on air pumps tomorrow

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by badbillybob

[ursus1000]

All good reading this,once again thanks for sharing

[badbillybob]

no problem mate. 

I'm gonna be busy tomorrow, so I will do air pumps and stones today instead.

Air pumps, there are many different types of airpump, some better than others

From the top,  the budget Piston driven pump , next is an example of a top class hi blo diaphragm and lastly on the right a range of budget Hailea Diaphragm operated type. Al of these can be used but I would keep away from the piston driven type unless you have earplugs and stay on top of a mountain, or deep, deep in the woods, cos they are fuckin noisy

 

the hi blo pumps are great, work well and are reliable too, I would recommend them, they are a little noisy but no where near the piston type. the bottom hailea is a smaller pump just punting out 10l/min, but would be enough for a small 2 pot system

All of these are noisy to an extent, but can be suspended in air, or placed on a square of acoustic matt, as used in sound booths, to deaden the noise a bit

So your plants  life require oxygen rich water in order to remain healthy and grow. Pumps are also handy to run air stones

An air pump can help by injecting air directly into the water via an airstone. 

Aeration is especially important in warm tents, when water holds much less oxygen. Altho this wont be a problem for you, because you WILL have a chiller, right/?

SPECIAL NOTE: when using more than one airpump in conjunction with a common manifold there can be a need to balance air distribution evenly, often still necessary when using stones of the same type and size.

This is very simple to achieve by the fitting of valved manifolds or single minature 4mm valves .....BUT.........I would not use these personally, as they put more strain on the pump, which will lead to its early failure. Instead, all I do is keep ALL of the airstone hoses the exact same length. This will ensure that each pot is receiving an equal amount of air to the root zone.

I ALWAYS  make sure to locate the airpump above the level of the nutrient in the totes. ALSO: If you have no choice other than to site the Air Pump at a level below that of the water in your pond remember you will need to fit non return valves. If at all possible i would advise to always try to site the pump at a higher level (above the water). Your pump will always perform better without non returns (They do add extra back pressure to the system) More back pressure = less air .

Where to site the Air Pump
I recommend to site the pump in a well ventilated dry and cool place., preferably outside of the tent.

Try wherever possible to site the pump so it draws in fresh air. If the pump is situated where high concentrations of Co2, say from flowering plants inside a tent, the co2  will inevitably be transfered to the water, and your plants root zone - not good.
 

There are no hard and fast rules on what size air pump to go for, but I like big ones, I like big air pumps too lol.

As an example I used a 60litre/min one in my 4 pot system and a 40l/min in my 2 pot system, but again, the more the merrier. 

I have used everything from 40l/min up to 180l/min pumps, all dependant on system size, but although nice to have and very much beneficial in plant development, you don't actually NEED  them with a recirc system like those described in my first post. they are beneficial tho, in that they keep the foots floating in the tote, and deliver dissolved oxygen enriched water directly to the root zone. If placed appropriately they can also help prevent roots migrating down return pipes.

 

. Next up, AIRSTIONES.

 

Again airtones  come in many different forms, here are a few varieties. See below. 

These are just tools to disperse the air within the pot/ tote, to distribute it in a more efficient way to the roots.

 

The bottom pic is not an airstone, it is an air diffuser, which provides micro bubbles, and is my favourite of them all, but they aint cheap, and they have to be "hard wired" to your tote, meaning cleaning them is a pain in the arse.

The other stones shown all have their merits, but I also preffer numbers 2 and 4 above, the toblerone shaped ones and the cylinder with square ends type. 

The discs I am not so keen on, because they lose half the surface area to plastic (on the bottom of the stone), and a weak pump will not pump air thru all of the stone, with more coming from the inlet side of the stone.

They all have their pros and cons,

Picture Number 1 - cylinder type XL stone, these are tricky to get standard hose on to, because the inlets are bigger than normal, but they work well, and are easily cleaned.

Number 2. toblerone type, provide a good spread of bubbles, and are good beside return outlest to keep roots at bay. down side is they break easily if disturbed

Number 3. classic disc type, ok, they do the job, but lose efficiency if the pump isn't up to it, but then they all do so maybe that's a bit unfair.

Number 4 Same benefits as No. 2, but can rattle in the totes, which is a pain if you are trying to sleep in the same room.

Number 5, Norres diffuser- the bollox for air bubbles, its like a Jacuzzi, downside is it needs a big airpump to run them properly (60l/min minimum for a 4 pot system.

 

There are other types, golf ball style, ring type etc etc, they all work to a degree.

 

I ALLWAYS ditch airstones after 3 grows, and I allways clean them after each and every grow, including the airlines. It doesn't take much (a warm water/ bleach mix, a new pot scrubber and / or some isoprpropyl, or Hydrogen peroxide does the job nicely.)

 

Like I said earlier, air pumps and stones aren't really a necessity for a simple recirc system, but if there is more DO on offer, it would be rude not to take advantage of it eh? in my opinion.

 

I'm no expert, and am willing to be corrected on anything which you may think is incorrect or misleading, or if you have anything to add, feel free. 

 

RDWC is a great way to grow, and I'm surprised more people don't use it. Yes its a bit of work keeping PH , ec, water temps etc in check, but its worth it

that'll do for the day, any questions?

 

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by badbillybob

[badbillybob]

coooooeeeeeeee, as me old dear used to say, I'm ba-aaack.

Its ok don't worry its just the fumes from the glue getting to me.

 

"Whys that"? I don't hear you say,  well because ive been busy with me new system build.

I thought id just tag it on here, ,to keep everything in its place.

 

so today started with me trying to get up into the space above the garage - a simple task for most, but a bit more painfull if your knees are fuct, like mine. However-no pain, no brain , or something or other.

I pulled out a few really useful boxes down and decided to try them for size, as they already had the holes drilled for the return pipes and the spray bars. That should make life easy I thought as I laid them out on the bedroom floor, after measuring out 2.4 by 1.2 on the floor and marking it (the footprint of me tent, see)

 

Oh bolloxios I thought when after spacing them all out and getting some tank connectors extended, I don't have lids for these boxes, so rather than spend some of my invisible money, I decided on plan B.

Plan B involved some 60 litre totes I bought ages abo, intending to build a true undercurrent system, but that never happened as the sides of the totes was too angled to seal the pipes properly from box to box. Anyway, I had some undrilled ones,  which I had already cut holes in the lids for my net pots, which are actually flood and drain bucket inner pots, so quite big. The advantage of their size is that the plants will be less likely to topple over when they get big. 

I ummed and I arghed for a few hours, do I want 2,3, or 4 pots in this one. 3 would have been perfect, but I don't like odd numbers, and 2 wasn't enough, so 4 it was (will just mean less veg time, and if I decide to change it, its only a few fittings and some more 40mm pipe. My plan is to scrog them when I'm up and running, but I will probably get another tent and do 2 trees in it.

So this is as far as I got today, me knees are crying , because ive been kneeling on them to cut the pipe, I know stupid, you'd think id learn eh?

I bought these totes for the very handy flip lid, so I can check levels and roots without disturbing them. Ive also marked on the side of the buckets where the bottom of the net pots come to, for filling purposes.

The spray bars are done, bar the holes, and will run in series. I'm undecided about which pump I want to use. I usually would go hailea HX8860 5800l/min one, but it eats up about  140 watts, which is no use, so I'm looking at the T8000, and the jebao eco 6500litre/min one, which looks favourite so far, it uses 40 or 50 watts and wnen these things are on 24/7 its got to be considered. 

Anyway that's as far as ive got, i'll update as I get closer to the finish line. I usually make it up "dry" with most of the inaccessible stuff glued , then punt it into the tent and finish off the spray bar connections etc. 

That's the plan anyway.

The sprayers are 21.5mm and the returns are 40mm, all easily available, and cheap.

DO NOT use speedfit fittings, or push fit fittings, they are pish. Don't say I never warned you.

 

Woop woop

[badbillybob]

Quote

 

If anyone fancies a blast at making the simplest RDWC going, here is a small video, courtesy of G Unit.

This guy was there way back in the day, and I think he actually came up with the idea of spray bars, but later went back to a simple feed hose with a Tee on the end, because "it worked just as well, why complicate matters. Anyone with long memories who can recall any of his RDWC diaries, you will know that this system works very well. And its as basic as it gets, while still producing baseball bat sized buds.

The flooms are on the returns and altho they don't look it, they actually create as much, if not more Dissolved oxygen as airstones. Impressive stuff.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2018 by badbillybob

[badbillybob]

a quick word on water sprayers.

If you look at the picture ive posted earlier of my spray bars, you will notice they weren't drilled. Now because I'm not the most patient person, ive gone ahead and drilled them, 

I should have waited for my pump to arrive, then done them in sequence, like 2 holes per pot, check pressure, then 3 holes per pot, check pressure etc, but ive been at this long enough to know what works, and in this case ive gone with 8 holes, 3mm in diameter, per pot. When I say, check pressure, what I mean is that you should check how the water is penetrating the surface in the totes, you want it to create a fair old bit  (technical term) of surface agitation, to create plenty of dissolved oxygen. I [;l;aced the holes so that the net pot sits will not be getting sprayed by water/ nutes, because as you know the roots grow outward from the pot, and spraying water on top of roots will not create as much DO as spraying into undisturbed water

This will be supplied by a hailea HX8850 pump, (5000l/min, 3.5 metre head, and 100watts) and I have also decided that 4 pots are too many for the tent size, and the size of plants which I will be growing, they would just end up growing into each other, so I have downsized to 3-, lets hope it IS the magic number. This pump  "could" provide 5000litres per minute, if there were no restrictions, like pipe bends etc, so realistically it will probably end up around 4500l/min, which is still 1500 per pot, which is more than enough

It should also be mentioned, if I haven't already that you don't actually need spray bars like this, It would probably work just as well with a 90 degree fitting from 19mm hose into each bucket , held in place by a IWS grommet, to stop it popping out and flooding the tent, and would be  a lot less work. 

My reasoning for the square bars is down to surface area. if the 90 degree fittng were  to disturb say 2/3rd of the surface area, this would be grand, but with the bars, they should disturb 100% of the surface area, and as oxygen is the holy grail, then in theory the spray bars should be slightly more efficient. 

Whether this will show in the real world is debatable, but ive got plenty of time on my hands to make em so.......I did.

 

Almost there, ordered pump last night, so just waiting for it to arrive, and it should be ready to rock

Edited March 11, 2018 by badbillybob

[badbillybob]

ok so here is the completed system, in place and ready to rock and roll.

the zip ties hold the spray bars in place, and altho some of you might think its a bodge you would be right,  its actually to save me from doing a spray bar down both sides which may have lost some pressure along the way, ahem.

The pump is located outside the tent, as is the header pot, and the air pump and stones will be put in place when its filled with water , and there are no leaks.

There shouldn't be any, as the joints are glued properly, bothe ends glued and the pipework sanded to a chamfer at the end.

Anyway enough drivel , check it out

[zen-ken]

looking good bro......very very good