floraflex bubblers uneven watering

This is my first coco grow, I'm using the floraflex system 12x 2 gallon pots and 3 floraflex multi bubblers connected to 1/2'' PVC pipe.
When I tested everything outside my grow room everything worked fine, same amount of ml's from every tube, now that it's installed in my grow room I get different amounts from each tube. All tubing is the same length.

First thought I needed a bigger pump, I was using an 800 gal/hour sump pump and upgraded to a 1500 gal/hour sump pump but still uneven watering.
Used the inserts and openflow still same problem

For example I measured the first 6 pots and got this from 10sec watering

First row left to right 450ml, 400ml and 410ml second row left to right 400ml, 385ml and 425ml.
So the highest is getting 450 and the lowest 385 that's to big off a difference I think.
How do I fix this?



I'm also getting some weird ph and ec drain. Day 16 flower, I'm using the floraflex dry nutrients, ec 2,10 ph 5,5.
A week ago the drain was around 1,0 ec lower than what was getting in, it slowly crept up this week and I accidentally let de coco dry out a bit too much this night (probably need to water 1 time middle off the night) and the drain is now 1,75 but this is still 0,35 lower than what's getting in.

Also can't lower my ph, 5,5 in 6,3 out, they look super healthy so I don't want too mess with them to much but still don't know for sure if I need to give them a higher ec and what to do about the ph?

floraflex are not real pressure comprensative drippers
if you want precision get some PC drippers

in your case to compensate you will need to water with large runoff, to be sure each plant get enough water
recover the runoff and reuse it later

I'm no expert just set up some .5 gph micro drippers from them. for those to compensate I needed 30+ psi which most submersible pumps wont do I needed a jet pump or diaphragm pump. I almost went with the matrix system and everybody uses the ABV or air bleed valve I would try that first or cut all the lines the same length if they aren't.

I'd install an air bleed valve at the end of your line. You might be getting a small air lock causing the uneven watering.

Make sure all your whips from bubbler heads are the same length too

Glad to see you're checking the runoff ec....lots of people neglect it. The runoff ph isn't nearly as important. If the ph of the solution going in is where you want it, don't worry about the runoff ph. As far as the runoff ec, as long as it is below what is going in your good. I really cant offer anything for your delivery imbalance. The best way to ensure each plant gets the exact amount of nutrient solution it needs is to have a dedicated pump for each station. Multiple smaller pumps are usually cheaper than one large pump anyway. I may be biased though because that's exactly the principal the system I developed is based on Your plants look healthy, so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

TerpHound420 said:

Make sure all your whips from bubbler heads are the same length too

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They were all the exact same length!

They never gave the same amount so at one point i just watered them based on the line that gave the least amount off water.
This resulted in excessive amounts off runoff and refilling my nutrient reservoir way to often.

Ended up one off my worst grows in a long time, low yield small buds went straight back to soil after this.

I would like te give coco another try but i don't think i will use the bubblers again!

Switch the second row lines and first row lines and see if you get the same results. Are they all the same level horizontally? Do you have a pressure guage to test? Try to test different emitters setup. You have 2 per container, mix and match. Lastly, test each line for volume. That's all i have, good luck.

These aquarium manifolds allow me to adjust flow volume for each plant if/as needed. Will NOT provide equal flow volume to each port. That's up to me.

Laid out on the floor for pic only. Be safe.

Uneven watering seems to be a common issue I see growers discussing. Our company offers a metered delivery system that delivers the exact amount that you set it to. Each station can have a different amount delivered (if wanted), and each station can have it's own nutrient reservoir to suit growing different genetics. It's really easy to install, and it's all low voltage and includes all the pumps. The down side is that it currently only supports four plants. If we were to build a system that would support 16 stations at a price point of $480 would that be something anyone would be interested in?

@TintEastwood That looks nice and I think it has way better control then the bubbler's!


@Sk-one Your Advanced Fertigation Manager looks awesome, that will probably solve all problems with uneven watering and excessive amounts off runoff.

Most off the time I'm growing 6 -12 plants so that's means I need 2 or 3 Advanced Fertigation Managers, that's unfortunately a bit out of my budget, but I was reading on another thread that you are working on an expansion for 8 plants will this be available soon?

gddg said:

@TintEastwood That looks nice and I think it has way better control then the bubbler's!


@Sk-one Your Advanced Fertigation Manager looks awesome, that will probably solve all problems with uneven watering and excessive amounts off runoff.

Most off the time I'm growing 6 -12 plants so that's means I need 2 or 3 Advanced Fertigation Managers, that's unfortunately a bit out of my budget, but I was reading on another thread that you are working on an expansion for 8 plants will this be available soon?

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It's going to be at least 6 months, probably more like 9 before an 8 station will be available. We are working on how to deal with the waste runoff. For more than 4 plants, it doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint to use pumps to drain the drip trays. We are thinking about drip trays that have built-in electronic valves that the controller will actuate to drain waste solution into a large pan/tray that would then flow to a low point with a single sump pump. It's a similar idea as a lot of others have done to deal with their runoff, but we need a way to capture the runoff after an irrigation cycle to weigh it before it is allowed to flow to a low point for removal.

Sk-one said:

It's going to be at least 6 months, probably more like 9 before an 8 station will be available. We are working on how to deal with the waste runoff. For more than 4 plants, it doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint to use pumps to drain the drip trays. We are thinking about drip trays that have built-in electronic valves that the controller will actuate to drain waste solution into a large pan/tray that would then flow to a low point with a single sump pump. It's a similar idea as a lot of others have done to deal with their runoff, but we need a way to capture the runoff after an irrigation cycle to weigh it before it is allowed to flow to a low point for removal.

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@Sk-one I've seen your system on a number of forums and am really digging it. The price point is a bit more than I can put off at the moment, but It's definitely at the top of my list for future purchases. Right now I'm just starting learning about coco, but it seems to be a medium i'm going to enjoy and probably stick with. Has GrowTek considered incorporating a moisture meter into the system? Adjusting the system to get proper run-off is great, but there's also a good amount of information out there showing that fertigating at the proper moisture content has pretty big impacts on plant growth. I would think that adding in this data would be pretty simple (but I know I could be wrong) and would really step up the automation of the system.

Jay Gardener said:

@Sk-one I've seen your system on a number of forums and am really digging it. The price point is a bit more than I can put off at the moment, but It's definitely at the top of my list for future purchases. Right now I'm just starting learning about coco, but it seems to be a medium i'm going to enjoy and probably stick with. Has GrowTek considered incorporating a moisture meter into the system? Adjusting the system to get proper run-off is great, but there's also a good amount of information out there showing that fertigating at the proper moisture content has pretty big impacts on plant growth. I would think that adding in this data would be pretty simple (but I know I could be wrong) and would really step up the automation of the system.

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A quality moisture content sensor would add significant costs to this system. Sure, a cheap one can be had for $10, but they are garbage. My personal grows with this system, I fertigate 6 times a day (depending on the stage of growth) in 1 gallon containers. This keeps my moisture content between 90 and 100%, which is where I want it to be. I know others are looking for "dryback percentages" to determine when to irrigate. I like this idea, but for the homegrower, keeping your media between 90 and 100% saturated with the proper runoff is a very methodical and effective way to get great results. I just finished a solo cup grow where I was fertigating once an hour with 130 mL. I was able to get 4 oz off of one solo cup plant.

Sk-one said:

A quality moisture content sensor would add significant costs to this system. Sure, a cheap one can be had for $10, but they are garbage. My personal grows with this system, I fertigate 6 times a day (depending on the stage of growth) in 1 gallon containers. This keeps my moisture content between 90 and 100%, which is where I want it to be. I know others are looking for "dryback percentages" to determine when to irrigate. I like this idea, but for the homegrower, keeping your media between 90 and 100% saturated with the proper runoff is a very methodical and effective way to get great results. I just finished a solo cup grow where I was fertigating once an hour with 130 mL. I was able to get 4 oz off of one solo cup plant.

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Oh - Saw that Solo cup grow. GREAT STUFF, your method makes sense, and thanks for the reply. I tend to get down into the weeds pretty quickly on stuff. Hopefully I'll be in a place where i can justify clicking the "buy" button soon on the GrowTek system!