Fragile's Flowers Rnd 2! New veg room RDWC from first clones.

I run a 900gph pump with 30 gallons and I get no issue is heating up at all. I wonder if it's caused by too much back pressure in your system from the spray heads you've mounted in your buckets?

One time I was wondering if it would be a good idea to run your external pump inside a water bath inside a separate bucket in order to help cool it off.

shawnery said:

I run a 900gph pump with 30 gallons and I get no issue is heating up at all. I wonder if it's caused by too much back pressure in your system from the spray heads you've mounted in your buckets?

One time I was wondering if it would be a good idea to run your external pump inside a water bath inside a separate bucket in order to help cool it off.

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I have 2 800s on the way that are going to replace the 1200s in the big system. Ill have to try both sizes out and see what works.
It got up to 80F over night. Thats where they were in the cloner and I dosed my hydroguard, so hopefully they can hold oveer for a few more days.

Damn! My heater is right next to my tubing and pump and it never gets above 65. At the same time it gets down to the mid thirties outside my garage.

shawnery said:

Damn! My heater is right next to my tubing and pump and it never gets above 65. At the same time it gets down to the mid thirties outside my garage.

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yeah im pretty sure the pump is making more heat than normal because its not getting enough water.
I think im going to change it out for one of the 1200s tonight at least and see how that goes.

Air cavitation?

shawnery said:

Air cavitation?

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yeah that.
I think I need to do something better for my intake side, I have an idea that might help but im not sure. I Used a reducing 2x2x1.5" T for the pump to pull from with a reducer in the 1.5" port that the pump head screws in to. Im wondering if the short 1.5" section is creating a bottleneck of sorts right there? Im wondering if the pump screwed right in to a 2" port of a T would be better.
I just put the 1200gph pump on it. It sounds better, but still not great.
I dont think its the back pressure on the output side, when I open my bypass/drain valve to drain it, it gets louder.

fragileassassin said:

lol!
I learned a lot from the big system so I was able to sit down and think about exactly what I wanted in my veg setup.
I really need to get off of my ass and go to the store, but ill probably put it off for a another hour or two.

I had 3 small drips to take care of. I fixed one last night and attempted to fix another, wont know about that one until I test again tonight. The third was a joint in my feed lines that I forgot to cement and im completely out so I need to grab more for that.

Hoping to get a video of it up tonight.

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All these leaks man... I never had one using uniseals. Until the one that split.

Airwalker16 said:

All these leaks man... I never had one using uniseals. Until the one that split.

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Only 2 of them were on my bulkhead things, I got them too close to the edge of the bucket so the plastic kinda bows in around the threads of the fitting.
Its all taken care of now though, most of it was dealing with the 2 buckets but there were a few that were completely my fault because i just didnt glue them right and a couple of the pipes I siliconed got pulled a part from moving things around. I had a few in the big system at first too but theyve all been good since I fixed them.
I kinda went out there with this project and expected a few issues and small leaks. TBH I was surprised it didnt rain under it the first time i filled it up.

The only major regret is not doing the build sooner and having to rush to get unhappy clones transplanted

fragileassassin said:

yeah that.
I think I need to do something better for my intake side, I have an idea that might help but im not sure. I Used a reducing 2x2x1.5" T for the pump to pull from with a reducer in the 1.5" port that the pump head screws in to. Im wondering if the short 1.5" section is creating a bottleneck of sorts right there? Im wondering if the pump screwed right in to a 2" port of a T would be better.
I just put the 1200gph pump on it. It sounds better, but still not great.
I dont think its the back pressure on the output side, when I open my bypass/drain valve to drain it, it gets louder.

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If your intake reduces at all, it's gonna create issues. Even more s if it then enlarges again. That's one of the only real advantages I can see from using a submersible pump. It can pull in as much as it can. But that's why the 3/4" all the way to each site and then reducing to 1/2" for a short length, no more than 12" works well for even pressure.

fragileassassin said:

Only 2 of them were on my bulkhead things, I got them too close to the edge of the bucket so the plastic kinda bows in around the threads of the fitting.
Its all taken care of now though, most of it was dealing with the 2 buckets but there were a few that were completely my fault because i just didnt glue them right and a couple of the pipes I siliconed got pulled a part from moving things around. I had a few in the big system at first too but theyve all been good since I fixed them.
I kinda went out there with this project and expected a few issues and small leaks. TBH I was surprised it didnt rain under it the first time i filled it up.

The only major regret is not doing the build sooner and having to rush to get unhappy clones transplanted

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You really just need to find rubber grommets that will fit snug on those threads man. Outside wall being pulled in by the nut, you'd never have leaks.
Are your holes a tad bigger than they should be?

Airwalker16 said:

If your intake reduces at all, it's gonna create issues. Even more s if it then enlarges again. That's one of the only real advantages I can see from using a submersible pump. It can pull in as much as it can. But that's why the 3/4" all the way to each site and then reducing to 1/2" for a short length, no more than 12" works well for even pressure.

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It did the same thing with the 2" T that had directional flow into the pump, the flat 2" T thats on it now, and the directional 4 way that I left the top open so I could see.
I cut the reducer shorter, so the intake of the pump is actually inside the end of the + and had all that space to pull from.
I put a short piece of pipe on the top so I could see it and filled the water level enough to fill the whole drain pipe and a few inches higher into my "viewing pipe"
With the pump on, the water level didnt move in my viewing pipe right above it. It looks to be taking the water in smoothly and the water level wasnt having any issues at all keeping up. No swirling or bubbling coming from the intake.

Im really thinking its just the motor not sealing on the pump head and sucking in air past the seal on that. Youve used these same pumps so you know what im taking about and how they come apart. Ive had no complaints with them being submerged, but this is the first time ive tried to use one in-line.

Airwalker16 said:

You really just need to find rubber grommets that will fit snug on those threads man. Outside wall being pulled in by the nut, you'd never have leaks.
Are your holes a tad bigger than they should be?

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I have looked around but with no luck at reasonable cost. Ive found a few options including getting some laser cut, but that defeats the whole cost saving idea of my methods.
I dont have a lot of disposable income, so a lot of this was just collected here and there as I could afford it or found local deals. most of the fittings im using are only $1- $1.50

The holes are actually slightly smaller, on purpose though.
I make them so that the male end of the fitting threads through the hole in the buckets, i actually have to twist them in.
It worked great on almost all of them, better than the big system because of the thicker plastic. A few of them I just put the holes to close to the edge and just how the bottom of the bucket slightly curves doesnt let it flex enough to thread down all the way. It kind of skips the threads and bows up a little bit on the outside edge. I have extra buckets, but id have to cut several things apart and get several new fittings.

There's gotta be some gasket that will fit for cheap somewhere out there.

Yeah im sure theres something out there, but the ones i was finding were like $3-4 each lol

Looking at this pump issue, I think its going to end up cheaper to just change the system and put a small control bucket in it to pump out of. Im not finding any reasonably priced pump thats big enough and people have anything positive to say about using it in line.
If i pull the table to the front of the tent i might have room to put a small tote in the back or something, not sure what else to do at this point.
Running out of ideas to make it work.

The only plan I have passed this is to move everything around so I can put this tent next to the other one and run a closed loop into my other res to chill it.
Im not optimistic about them surviving long at the temps that pump has been causing.

You won't get nearly the flow using it as a submersible in my opinion. A portion of flow is wasted by the water in the bucket.

I really thing you should try the control bucket but instead using it submersible plumb your tubes into the bucket and run the pump in the bucket but not from the bucket water. If it doesn't work all you have to do is disconnect the inlet tube and your submersible

fragileassassin said:

Yeah im sure theres something out there, but the ones i was finding were like $3-4 each lol

Looking at this pump issue, I think its going to end up cheaper to just change the system and put a small control bucket in it to pump out of. Im not finding any reasonably priced pump thats big enough and people have anything positive to say about using it in line.
If i pull the table to the front of the tent i might have room to put a small tote in the back or something, not sure what else to do at this point.
Running out of ideas to make it work.

The only plan I have passed this is to move everything around so I can put this tent next to the other one and run a closed loop into my other res to chill it.
Im not optimistic about them surviving long at the temps that pump has been causing.

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You can't find any well reviewed inlines?

Airwalker16 said:

You can't find any well reviewed inlines?

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well I can, but im not trying to spend another $100+ on a new pump.

So here's what I ended up doing.
Had to turn the whole system and the lights inside the tent so my top off res will reach the can with only a small piece of tube.

Not exactly ideal situation, but I didnt have much money to fix it and itll work for now.

Pump I was mentioning is IPX8.