GR865's Irrigation System Upgrade!

[gr865]

Completed and tested, works great. Now to get the clones all ready. They are not growing as fast as I expected, having to re-veg cost me a lot of time.

 

[2com]

Upgraded my irrigation system.
I grow 5 plant vertical as my main and 5 plant horizontal as secondary.
From:
Eco 1056, three point drip per plant.
View attachment 4227935
Rez and lines
View attachment 4227934
Anti-siphonView attachment 4227933
Moved to tub, 8 gallon to 20 gallon, both usable gallons.
View attachment 4227938

New setup:
View attachment 4227937
This 8 port manifold works well, capped three ports.
View attachment 4227939
Rainbird emitter, much better coverage throughout the profile.
View attachment 4227940

GR

The hose that says "suction line". That hose (maybe 2 feet) that dangle down into the res water sucks water all the way up to the pump unprimed? It doesn't have to be primed first?

 

[gr865]

The hose that says "suction line". That hose (maybe 2 feet) that dangle down into the res water sucks water all the way up to the pump unprimed? It doesn't have to be primed first?

The pump is self priming up to 6'. It is an RV pump, can also be use as a bilge pump in a boat.

 

[2com]

The pump is self priming up to 6'. It is an RV pump, can also be use as a bilge pump in a boat.

...This is amazing, I knew they existed but, still. Cool. Why don't people use them more often to drain res. completely, etc.? I wonder.

 

[gr865]

...This is amazing, I knew they existed but, still. Cool. Why don't people use them more often to drain res. completely, etc.? I wonder.

For my last watering, with about 3" in the rez, I will add a gallon of RO to lower the PPM of the solution, pH the solution, and do a mini flush as I can drain my rez completely.
I get 5 plus cycles from my rez so the last watering after adding the gallon is approx. 4 to 5 gallons. My ppm prior to adding the extra gallon is 700+, then after adding the gallon of RO to the solution it is around 650 +/-.

 

[gr865]

Man just went back and looked at the pump and rez I use in the post. This spring I upgraded again, new pump and new rez.
I change the ECO pump to a 12V RV/Bilge pump and change my rez, from the weak Starlite to a Commander gallon strong tote.

 

[2com]

I want to have one just to play around with. That's very cool. So yours is basically 180GPH then. I would think these aren't good for continuous use, they probably heat up... but then again - it's DC, so lower power output (>100w isn't it?).

One reviewer said these things die when they have to run dry, so I'm not quite sure about the "self priming thing".

If you had one of these pumps, and you took the pump and a three foot piece of hose attached to the intake side of it, and then lowered the end of the hose into a bucket/res of water, and turned the pump on, it would easily draw the water up the hose and prime itself and then continue to function like that? And it's meant to do this - like it could do this as its main purpose?

(...learning about these pumps now...Cool)

 

[gr865]

Not sure why you would run continuous with these pumps. I run three cycles a light period at 1 to 2 minutes/cycle, so that would be approx 5 minutes a light cycle total.
And it 3 gallons a minute at 65 psi, can run multiple heads at a time, not sure how many as I have not tried more than 8 plants with this pump.

 

[2com]

Not sure why you would run continuous with these pumps. I run three cycles a light period at 1 to 2 minutes/cycle, so that would be approx 5 minutes a light cycle total.
And it 3 gallons a minute at 65 psi, can run multiple heads at a time, not sure how many as I have not tried more than 8 plants with this pump.

Continuous would be for something like RDWC.
After doing some reading on these style of pumps I see they're a different animal. Meant for pressure mainly. Great choice for small diameter irrigation especially through emitters or something.

Cool.