Feed rings clog up, nutrient tank sludge buildup.

Hi guys. I'm doing a coco drain to waste with one pump feeding 16 feed rings.

Anyone have tips on how to get a perfectly even feed? They have taps and its almost impossible, because u adjust one tap and the other gets more etc. Then mid flower some of my rings are clogged with this brown gooey slime which also line the walls of my nutrient tank. If I mix the nutrient tank around I can see the brown particles.

In using ryzo, amino acids (one of them is probably causing this buildup?)
I also use heaps of drip clean but it doesn't seem to be working I have 50w pump in my res connected to an air stone which runs 24/7.
Going crazy here having to take off everything to clean every few weeks.

I guess some sort of filter on the pump intake would help.

I use to get a lot of clogs in my drip systems until I started adding slf100 to my nutrient mix. It reduced my clogging to almost nothing. Now my pluggage seemed more like chloride/salt buildup rather than the sludge you describe so it may not help you as much as it did me. Might be worth looking into though.

Renfro said:

I guess some sort of filter on the pump intake would help.

Click to expand...

Agrred thats what i do I put a tea bag around my pump to act as a filter

I Also have a second pump in the res just to recirculate/ goes on every hour for a minute
Without that my rez gets nasty and thick

Stop using rhizo , get rid of the air stone and just use a water pump to keep the nutrients mixed and oxygenate water. Use a pre filter.

Are you using an irrigation manifold?

Totally forgot i posted this.
I've found the problem to my buildup. I'm using airstones and pumps 25/7. The issue when i add amino acids is that it starts to froth my nutrient tank up.
This is the product i'm using, it also smells really strong like sour feet.
I know this bottle i have is not off or anything because its my 4th-6th bottle and they've always smelled this way.
I'm using no manifold, just 19mm hoses to 13mm and to the feed rings.
I guess my only option is to go another brand of amino acid?

I used this rig in 2017 for 9 rings. Had some issues with pressure and uneven watering.

All it needed to be great was a larger diameter manifold. If I built it today, I would use a 2" PVC tube as the manifold.

You could need a bigger pump...for the higher pressure they can provide.






No trouble with clogging using GH 3part nutes.

Here:

sit your pump in a paint filter bag. Its like a over sized shower cap that is made of a mesh material to filter out particulate from paint. Also i don't use rings, just 1/4" line ran into pot. I find as long as the 1/4" line are all at the same height the flow is even. GL

Hi,
I'm not using an airpump, i'm using a submerged water pump to mix, and even then, it only mixes 20minutes before each feed schedule.
The problem is definitely the Aminoacids, not only does it froth up like crazy but theres clumps of grey in my nutrient tank which i have been using a stainless mesh to take out.
So no one else uses amino acids like such?
EDIT: My lines are not clogging, the clumps are really soft and break up when you touch them. Its just the biofilm covers the pump, and on the walls of the nutrient tank which are annoying.