Coco drip - enough flow?

BCBudNerd said:

Hi Everyone,

I love to hand water but due to frequently being away for work I had to come up with a way to automate the watering.

I have a 15 gallon res with air stones and both plants drain to waste.

The aquarium pump I am using for feeding goes into a manifold with 1/4” lines coming off of it and I get about 20% runoff after 10 minutes.

My question is: is this enough flow? There is a small dribble that comes out of the 1/4” line in each pot. Will this properly saturate the coco or is it just running in a line through the substrate? I have heard people talk about the capillary action of coco, etc but this seems weird to me.

Thanks a ton!! And sorry for the sideways pics!

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Boatguy said:

You need some drip rings

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BCBudNerd said:

my concern is that with such low flow it will only come out of the first hole or two....thoughts? I do not have experience with them.

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oill said:

Make smaller holes

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Boatguy said:

Not a bad idea.
Coil that line around the plant, plug the end and drill a bunch of small holes in it. It will take longer till you get runoff though if you are watering the whole pot.

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oill said:

That's fine. I had a dodgy pump for a bit and it took 25 min feed. Now I have a new pump its 2mins. Slow is a bit better coz it doesnt saturate quickly

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BCBudNerd said:

what size holes did you drill?

Thanks a ton! I will get some plugs tomorrow.

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