Floraflex watering design advice

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I'm looking to build my 1st automatic watering system and am hoping to not make any big mistakes.
Here is the room:


I placed red marks to indicate approximately where the (12) manifolds will go:


Am thinking of having an air bleed at the end of the line.
3/4" PVC
~93 plants in 7"x7" pots which is why I need so many manifolds.
Will be growing in a coco/perlite mix and will be experimenting with how often to water. Anywhere from 2 to 5 times a day is what I'm currently thinking.

What issues or concerns should I be thinking about?
Do I need an air bleed at the end of the line? Do I need more than 1?
Is 3/4" PVC going to be sufficient?
What kind of water pump you think I need for something like this?
Any and all advice is very much appreciated.

 

[TintEastwood]

Looks like a great space.
Clogging is all too common.

I grow in coco but have never used the floraflex manifolds.

What nutes are you planning to use?

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I've been using blue planet nutes for quite a while but I could see how that brand could create clogging issues. Do you find that the clogging usually occurs within the manifolds or further down the line with fixtures attached to the 1/4" tubing?

 

[TintEastwood]

Usually the drippers from what I read. Hopefully a floraflex user will chime in.

My small grow. I tried a watering manifold but ended up using aquarium type with open lines for the increase flow rate. Using Jacks nutes.
The blue planet looks similar to GH 3part.

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

I'm looking to build my 1st automatic watering system and am hoping to not make any big mistakes.
Here is the room:
View attachment 4739622

I placed red marks to indicate approximately where the (12) manifolds will go:
View attachment 4739623

Am thinking of having an air bleed at the end of the line.
3/4" PVC
~93 plants in 7"x7" pots which is why I need so many manifolds.
Will be growing in a coco/perlite mix and will be experimenting with how often to water. Anywhere from 2 to 5 times a day is what I'm currently thinking.

What issues or concerns should I be thinking about?
Do I need an air bleed at the end of the line? Do I need more than 1?
Is 3/4" PVC going to be sufficient?
What kind of water pump you think I need for something like this?
Any and all advice is very much appreciated.

you probably need a strong pump to make these work. aquarium pump dont work because they dont push enough pressure
big rate but low pressure. the first sites will piss and the last ones wont ..

you an either use a sump pump, as long as it push enough pressure
some do, other dont, you need to reed the bar rating on it

but i dont like to have these in the res all the time, and usually they have some metal parts that finish to rust (not good)

or you can use a real water pump, best option
only thing is that they make a bit of noise, but with these and PC drippers you will get exactly the same amout of water on each site
just put a non return valve in the reservoir, so between the cycles your pump will not get unprimed (sorry the term is probably wrong im not english)

floraflex manifold are less precise than real PC drippers, but if you give a big runoff everytime it will equalize and you will be fine
try to get PC drippers if you want more precision

and don't keep the coco wet all the time, you can do it but its not a good idea

during flowering coco need to get lighter during night time to promote big flowers/fruits ( crop steering)
when you come the morning after lights on you want it to be clearer at the top, with the pots lighter ( but still wet)

ask me if you need

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

these kind of pump push 3.5 bar and will easily power all your sites, evenly
plus they dont heat the solution as they are out of the reservoir
pro method

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Thank you, @BIGBALLSJOE

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

@BIGBALLSJOE
What are your thoughts on using PC drippers on each 1/4" line coming out of the Floraflex manifold and before the line hits the plant?
Manifold --> 1/4" line --> PC ddripper --> 1/4" line --> plant

 

[2klude]

Loopfield manifold with 1/4" open lines is superior to these types of octobubble manifolds. There're cheap to setup, easy to dial in, don't clog and can be setup to adjust flow with the turn of a single ball valve.

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

@BIGBALLSJOE
What are your thoughts on using PC drippers on each 1/4" line coming out of the Floraflex manifold and before the line hits the plant?
Manifold --> 1/4" line --> PC ddripper --> 1/4" line --> plant

if you already bought the floraflex manifold and want to use them it's ok
but you can't put PC drippers after these, not enough pressure to open the PC drippers
ideally you want non return valve in the res --->pump-->3/4 PELD line--> pc drippers---> 1/4 tubing to the plants

pressure compensative drippers only open between 0.75 to 4 bar
you dont have 0.75 bar after your floraflex manifold

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

Loopfield manifold with 1/4" open lines is superior to these types of octobubble manifolds. There're cheap to setup, easy to dial in, don't clog and can be setup to adjust flow with the turn of a single ball valve.

i wouldnt use open lines on this lenght of irrigation line
on a 4x4 tent you can get away with open line but over this you will get severe pressure difference between the sites

 

[2klude]

i wouldnt use open lines on this lenght of irrigation line
on a 4x4 tent you can get away with open line but over this you will get severe pressure difference between the sites

Water is self leveling... your manifold is level, all your lines the same length and you will get even steady flow at every plant site. You tee off on the riser on your pump in the res. Put a shutoff valve, you adjust this valve to dial in the pressure... once dialed in the opening of the valve, no matter how big or small it is, will also act as your siphon break too.

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

Water is self leveling... your manifold is level, all your lines the same length and you will get even steady flow at every plant site. You tee off on the riser on your pump in the res. Put a shutoff valve, you adjust this valve to dial in the pressure... once dialed in the opening of the valve, no matter how big or small it is, will also act as your siphon break too.

ok interesting
i didnt see it this way

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Thanks for the info guys. I've already ordered all of the stuff from Floraflex. I'd like to use it but if it's not the best choice then I'm willing to change. Can you explain the siphon break a bit more? My current design has an air bleed valve at the end of the main and will be ~6" higher than the main. Is that not enough to prevent siphoning?

Is this what you mean about teeing off the riser?


Assuming the pump I use is not in the reservoir which I prefer, a tee like above with a valve that I crack open just a little?

With an air bleed valve at the highest point, and the reservoir and pump well below the manifold level (~ 3 feet below), wouldn't that eliminate siphon risk?

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

Thanks for the info guys. I've already ordered all of the stuff from Floraflex. I'd like to use it but if it's not the best choice then I'm willing to change. Can you explain the siphon break a bit more? My current design has an air bleed valve at the end of the main and will be ~6" higher than the main. Is that not enough to prevent siphoning?

Is this what you mean about teeing off the riser?
View attachment 4743062

Assuming the pump I use is not in the reservoir which I prefer, a tee like above with a valve that I crack open just a little?

With an air bleed valve at the highest point, and the reservoir and pump well below the manifold level (~ 3 feet below), wouldn't that eliminate siphon risk?

dont over complicate it
just use a 3/4 tubing diving in the reservoir. ideally you want a anti return valve at the bottom. thenrun this hose to the pump
it's the aspiration hose

then put a 3/4 hose after the pump to the room.

put as much PC drippers you need
on the first drip site just drill a hole in the dripper(to allow the air to go in) to use it as antisiphon.

when each irrigation cycle will end it will allow air to enter in it and stop the suction

ideally you want 3 drippers per 7x7 pots of coco .. how much wattage of light for these 93 plants ? please don't oversize coco containers as you want to multifeed, coco is oxygenated but not enough to put too big containers

if you want to do it in floraflex do the same, but for 60 dollars you can get 300 netafim pc drippers and its not this gadget floraflex item
its agricultural equipement
each plant get the same amount of water, no clogging, easy to clean, and no pvc to stick with glue

 

[BIGBALLSJOE]

Add a 15 dollar non return valve in the res and you’re good

don't use metal parts .. no brass fittings etc

 

[Therrion]

Looks like a great space.
Clogging is all too common.

I grow in coco but have never used the floraflex manifolds.

What nutes are you planning to use?

Adding this inline solve my clogging issues https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-3-4-in-Inline-Filter-for-Drip-Irrigation-RBY075S/205640887 and cleaning the filter once a week, plus I run bleach water and blow the line out with a https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BI4UQK0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 between grows. I even run bennies and molasses directly into the rez. The only time I ever had an issue was when I didn't clean that inline filter one week.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Adding this inline solve my clogging issues https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-3-4-in-Inline-Filter-for-Drip-Irrigation-RBY075S/205640887 and cleaning the filter once a week, plus I run bleach water and blow the line out with a https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BI4UQK0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 between grows. I even run bennies and molasses directly into the rez. The only time I ever had an issue was when I didn't clean that inline filter one week.

What kind of stuff is being caught in that filter? I see that it is 200 micron so it really can only catch the big stuff. Is it just big stuff from your nute mix? That blower looks pretty cool - in the cart.

If filtering is an option, what about an RV filter like this:

 

[Therrion]

What kind of stuff is being caught in that filter? I see that it is 200 micron so it really can only catch the big stuff. Is it just big stuff from your nute mix? That blower looks pretty cool - in the cart.

If filtering is an option, what about an RV filter like this:
View attachment 4745520

I've never used an RV filter so I'm not the one to ask. I will tell you that the smaller the filter and microns the more pressure reduction you're going to experience. It's a balancing act. I use bennies, so I get biofilm. If you run sterile and use the right fertilizer, you shouldn't need to catch anything big. I use Jack's 321.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I've never used an RV filter so I'm not the one to ask. I will tell you that the smaller the filter and microns the more pressure reduction you're going to experience. It's a balancing act. I use bennies, so I get biofilm. If you run sterile and use the right fertilizer, you shouldn't need to catch anything big. I use Jack's 321.

I wouldn't expect Jacks to ever cause a problem. I'm currently a Blue Planet Nutrients user and it's a tad on the thicker side. Lots of experimenting in my future, I foresee