NEW NFT (nutrient film technique) SOG SETUP

[sherriberry]

i have some hope... here is one that was used for a while for sale, still in good working condition...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mokon-Iron-Water-Pump-25-GPM-60-PSI-w-Century-AC-Motor_W0QQitemZ390139877790QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Pumps?hash=item5ad626199e

 

[fatman7574]

i have some hope... here is one that was used for a while for sale, still in good working condition...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mokon-Iron-Water-Pump-25-GPM-60-PSI-w-Century-AC-Motor_W0QQitemZ390139877790QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Pumps?hash=item5ad626199e

Consider this: With a 1 gph spray head your pump only needs to provide 1.05 ml per spray head usually per second. There is only one spray head per every two cubic feet of root space spraying 1 second every minute.

 

[sherriberry]

Consider this: With a 1 gph spray head your pump only needs to provide 1.05 ml per spray head usually per second. There is only one spray head per every two cubic feet of root space spraying 1 second every minute.

youre still correct, but i just wanted to point out this is going to be for my new setup, where there are 2 sprayers per large 4x2x2 tub.

so thats 16 cubic ft, 8 per sprayer... and im not going to lose sleep if i over spray a bit.

on another note... i got some solenoids that are normally open, and closed when they get electricity. they are 3/4 npt.

should i get a big pressure tank? or should i just use this 50 psi pump i just bought, and use the solenoid...

but the problem im having is.. what do i do when the solenoid is closed... then how do i divert the water?

do i have to get another solenoid that is normally closed,a nd have them alternate?

or, can i get some sort of regulator or bow off valve that lets excess pressure re route back to the res?

thanks fatman

 

[sherriberry]

the other thing is...

as pumps approach their max psi, their flow rates drastically fall.

While it might be a 330gph pump at low psi's, it might only be a 30gph pump at 50 psi.

If i have 30 sprayers, and they allow 30gph to go by, it means the system will pressurize to whatever point the pumps flow rate falls down to 30gpm, and then it will reach an equilibrium point, if that makes sense?

time will tell, the damage is already done, i bought one, ill let you know how it works.

other thing is, i can still install a regulator/bov and allow exess pressure to return to the res if it does turn out to be too much flow...

anyway...

i cant find any good deals on normally open solenoids. There are a couple for 30 bucks, but they are either 12v or 240v

are they even worth messing with or should i just wait for the 120v to come along?

ever see any 3 way solenoids where it spits it one way or the other? diverter valve is another word for it. I had one on my watch list on ebay, and i missed it, and havent seen one since

 

[sherriberry]

for as much brains as i have, i made the dumbest mistake....

i found in the back corner of my panda wrap, air tight grow room cube...

a male plant.

luckily, i did 12/12 for the first time last night,

and did 14/10, the night before...

so, i think it could have only been 2 days along...

but if you would have seen how many balls this thing had on it, you would have shot me...

i hope to hell none of them opened.

worse case scenario, if they did... theres 20 plants in there, that were all from seed.

i still have some others in another room that are still in veg, so it wouldnt have gotten them all.

the other good thing is, my fan for the room is still in the mail, so theres not a lot of breeze in the room, so time will tell.

when i saw it, i said about every cuss word known to man.

it is outside in the trash, in an air tight bag as we speak.

also, still have spider mites... and my alaskan buhach powder has yet to show up.

damn those alaskans

 

[repvip]

Glad you caught the bastard!

Everytime I grow from seeds, I get a hermaphrodite. Everything seems fine until a few weeks in... and she grow a pair or three.

I've been thinking more of your combo idea. Where do the plants take up most of the nutes? And where do they take up most of the oxygen?

Exactly. So if the DWC is providing most of the nutes, do you think you could just provide fog from clean water for the upper roots?

 

[sherriberry]

i think it would be just as easy to get fog of nute water from the main res..

the root surface area, you want all of it absorbing as much as possible, i would think...

 

[streetlegal]

i think it would be just as easy to get fog of nute water from the main res..

the root surface area, you want all of it absorbing as much as possible, i would think...

u can float foggers on pieces of styrofoam so they go up and down with the water level

 

[sherriberry]

fatman, i got the buhack powder today finally

how much should i use? Should i sprinkle it on plants, or should i just lite it on fire?

if lit on fire, how big of pile should i lite?

the room is only 8x6x6 ft, and i can shut down ventilation at night, so the room becomes air tight... which is when i plan to use it

 

[fatman7574]

Just a rounded teaspoon in a metal container of some type placed on top of a metal object. I use and empty tuna fish can placed on top of an up side down empty tuna fish can. Light it with a match and it smolders. It should be used with the exhaust fans turned off. Use it every tow to three days for at laest 12 days so that it will kill all mites plus all mites that hatch from eggs. It will not kill the mites until they hatch out of their eggs.

 

[sherriberry]

you find any normally open solenoids for 20 bucks for me yet fatman?

or have a solution on how to recirculate back to the res when my valve to my feed lines is shut?

i owe you lots of alcohol at this point, so you better come visit one day

 

[fatman7574]

you find any normally open solenoids for 20 bucks for me yet fatman?

or have a solution on how to recirculate back to the res when my valve to my feed lines is shut?

i owe you lots of alcohol at this point, so you better come visit one day

Install a Tee fitting on the line exiting your pump. On the side Tee branch place the solenoid. When the solenoid is open the water takes the path of least resistance and flows through the solenoid on the Tee and flows back into the reservoir. When the slonoid is clsosed the water flows through the sprayer nozzles. I use plastic solenoid valves. ie Hayward and Plastomatic. I only buy surplus as they are expensive. Normally closed are what are usually available. For short duration sprays that works fine. Just use it on the branch of the Tee fitting that feeds the sprayers. Quite often you can find stainless steel solenoids valves surplus at cheap prices. It is pretty much a hit and miss venture on eBay though. You need the solenoid and pie that is used on the return line to be as large as the pumps exit or larger. If used on the mozzle feed lines it needs be only as large as your feed lines.

 

[sherriberry]

well, i have 2 kinds, both are normally closed.

they are both 3/4 npt

problem is this...

on the plastic one, when it is open, it doesnt open very much, still has resistance.

the other one i have is brass, but its a surplus and has been used for a long time with nat gas. It opens way up, but how bad will the brass hurt me with leaching? Im hoping all the leaching has already occured since it is used...

 

[fatman7574]

The leaching will not be that much of an issue because the water will always be circulating rather than sitting still under pressure. The problem will be that the valve will have a shortened life span as it will slowly deteriorate over a shorter time then would a stainless steel valve. It would be a period of years before it acused setaing problems (leakage) however. The safe way to set up a valve is to consider that a solenoid when it burns out will usually do so in its uncharged position. If your valves are normally closed then the valve should be placed on the TEE arm that feeds water back to the resrvoir. That will require the solenid be charged at all times that return is done to the resrvoir. That means using more wattage but it also means if the unit burns iut that the palnts will just be sparyed constatly verus no spray at all. The solenoids only use a few watts so that should not really matter and most large metal valves have a 100% duty cycle so life span should not be shortened.

 

[sherriberry]

wwwoooooowwwwwww

im such an idiot...

this is a lot of good and a lot of bad rolled into one post.

so yesterday afternoon around 4ish, i added some more water and nutes to my big clone tub that is like 4 ft long (one of the big rubbermaids)

the water level is barely above a standard fish tank pump, so about 4 or 5 inches.

there is an airstone in there.

the clones are prob about 4 or 5 weeks along. they are all about 1.5 ft tall, and have roots that touch the bottom.

So i flipped the switch on my power strip to shut the pumps off so i didnt get sprayed while i was lifting the lid to check the ph, etc.

guess what, never flipped it back on until a min ago...

about 30 hours... of no stinkbud sprayers.

so guess what happened?

i only lost 5% of my plants.

the rest are FINE!!!!

the ones that didnt make it are the ones that couldnt touch the bottom.

amazingly... the plants roots were able to suck moisture up... about 2 ft, but well over a ft.

and an air stone... is all that kept running.

so, this is a good and bad thing, obviously bad i lost a couple plants...

but a GREAT TEST to see what plants actually need to survive in a power outage.

im even more excited because this exact setup and tub will be what im using for my doubleD mimicked.. aero sprayer tubs.... my new system.

so, basically... i know that if worst comes to worst.... my air pump needs power... nothing else... especially considering the power was out for over 30 hours!!!! (because im too stupid to flip a switch back on)

anyway... thought that was a cool story, should have been a lot worse, looking forward to the new setup and getting rid of those damn white posts... and even ditching my nft table i made...

giant rubbermaids with a couple inches of water in the bottom is where its at.

 

[repvip]

Nice work

I've been out shopping for an XL rubbermaid with the flat lid--slim pickings around here. Going to try some of the purple .8gph misters with 170psi pump for a half-ass trial run. Still don't have pressure regulator, valves, adv's or anything like that anyway.

How is the buhach powder working?

Have you tried hooking up that harbor freight pump? Curious about how it went.. leaks, priming, did it have enough pressure.. whatnot

 

[sherriberry]

havent hooked up the pump yet.

The buhach powder only works well if your room is air tight.

I have another room that is not air tight, and the smell... made me sick for a while

it doesnt bother you at first... but then its like, yo uthink youve been poisoned.

There is no way i would use this shit on a dog or around my kids.

But as far as the air tight room goes, i put it in there before lights out, light it, shut the air tight door, and shut off the exhaust fan.

13 hours it lingers in there until the next day, and i wait an extra hour after lights on to turn my fan back on that way the room has a chance to warm up because its cold here right now.

its kept the bugs to a minimum... i dont think they are ALL dead yet, but i use it EVERY NIGHT too, and im on my 5th night tonight i think... so i think its just old eggs still hatching that is keeping them alive.

I use nothing else in the room or on those plants, so the buhach powder can kill them alone...

but damn, its gotta be air tight i think, otherwise its not worth it

 

[fatman7574]

Hey it smells better than Cutter,'s and all the other mosquito repellants. Thats my main use for Buhach. I use it as a preventaive in plant rooms but they are quite airtight. The doors are fully insulated and weather stripped external entry doors. Between air conditioning, dehumification and CO2 a sealed room is pretty much a must. If you think Buhach stinks, try burning sulfur for mildew.

 

[sherriberry]

i figured id throw this out so you guys knew what was going on...

on my nft table that i made that holds all the plants... well, all plants have been removed from that table and taken to flower room now...

except one.

The big one. I called it shaq from the begining, when it was a seedling, it was triple fast at growing compared to the other plants.

This thing now has a stem that is 2 inches thick. Im not kidding.

I think its a New white widdow from bcseeds.com. Anyway... i cant get it out of the lid of the table. Its root mass is too massive.

So, im hoping it shows its sex, and I really hope its a female... altho i dont know if i want to take clones from this thing as its hard telling how huge it will get if put in 12/12.

So, theres a little fun fact... i can cut and rip the lid to let the plant escape, but like i said, im going to see if it ever shows sex without 12/12 light.

Do you think it will? Its past 2 months old probably. It has side branches that are 2 to 3 ft long.. the just lay on the table and go in between other plants.

This thing is a monster.

 

[sherriberry]

revip...

lowes carries the RUGGEDTOTE tubs, which are the same thing... i think i might even like them more.

Super walmarts carry the rubbermaid line where i live.

Hope this helps.