RDWC not circulating...Any Advice?

I'm setting up a DIY RDWC system and having a few issues. The water is not circulating through the pump into the reservoir. The pump is a Uniclife 1000 gph pump, which seems like it should be plenty. I'm wondering if it has to do with the vertical curves I added to get through the opening in the grow tent.
Also, some of the bulkheads seem to be leaking a bit. I've tightened them as much as I can with an adjustable wrench. Not sure what the issue with that is either. Any advice would be great, as my system is sitting filled at the moment. I've attached some photos....

As for the not circulating it looks like you're buckets are to low to return the water to the reservoir you need to pull from the reservoir the feed you're buckets add a T in at the top of the pump line one feed line to the buckets and the other going back into the top of the reservoir so you can bypass back to the reservoir if you have to much flow to the buckets,,, valves open Fully then throttle back your bypass to increase flow to your buckets they need to be at least 6 inches off the floor to gravity feed back to the reservoir I prefer 8 to 12 inches if your head room will allow it,,, this is the KEY figure your water weight at 7.5 lbs per gallon you're return has to over come that water weight in your reservoir to allow proper return...

Also you can't pull from your buckets that pump will suck them dry and start sucking air cavitation will happen causing it to come unprimed this no flow it will also cause your fittings to leak,,, you can purchase misting rings off AMAZON 12 For very little $$$ thus you top feed on and through your roots returning to your reservoirs and have a more controllable feed and flow hope this helps!!!

BadnBouji42 said:

I'm wondering if it has to do with the vertical curves

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yes.

Your pump does 1000 gallons per hour you will never be able to keep it primed off your buckets...

I'm sure you've done the practical math on your pump you need to feed your pump 16 gallons a min to keep it primed you cannot do this with a 1 inch gravity feed line you will burn you pump up.

I'm not trying to be a smart ass man so please don't take me there wrong way I use that same pump but in 1/3 up to empty a 55 gallon condensate drum into a drain at work it will empty that drum in 1 min 42 seconds being fed by a 2 inch line reduced down to 1 inch union at the pump... That figures out to just over 400 lbs of gravity feed into the pump...

So would you guys recommend I get rid of the vertical curves or use a different pump/setup?

BadnBouji42 said:

So would you guys recommend I get rid of the vertical curves or use a different pump/setup?

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If you plumb your set up and to feed like I suggested it will work fine you can ariate you return reservoir if you feel the need but the bypass will agitate your soulition quite well and keep plenty of O2 in your water... That's just the way I set my son's up he grows 6 at a time like you do and has great success we sent his up on timers and he tests his water once a week to make sure the ppm's are right...

Plumbed like I suggest and top fed will allow you to choose RDWC or full Hydro it be you're choice we installed level switches in his return/feed totes so he can restrict the return to drain back to the tote at the rate he chooses where in gets to the level he has chosen the pump comes on fills his grow buckets back up and shuts off till full level is reached again... That's just the way he chose to do it...

I was looking at your pics again you are feeding to your pump through the horizontal port right not the vertical port correct???

Correct. I got it to prime. It is a lot of power. I need to mess with the valve to see if I can find an equilibrium. I’m considering rebuilding without the vertical curve but really don’t want to. But as is I need to fill up in a bucket and res which isn’t ideal.

I think air is getting trapped in the curved section of pvc. I have a similar setup but have a shutoff valve in-between. When I fill the system I close the valve and fill with in the tent, when its almost full I open the valve and it purges out the air and allows for even flow. Not sure if this is the best way of doing it but has been working for me.

BadnBouji42 said:

I’m considering rebuilding without the vertical curve but really don’t want to

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rebuild w/o the vertical. then mess around with what you got already

if you absolutely insist on that vert section, then raise everything else up to that height

BadnBouji42 said:

Correct. I got it to prime. It is a lot of power. I need to mess with the valve to see if I can find an equilibrium. I’m considering rebuilding without the vertical curve but really don’t want to. But as is I need to fill up in a bucket and res which isn’t ideal.

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If you restrict the out feed to much you will cut the life of the pump, just something to remember
centrifugal pumps push they do not suck even one primed will only have about 3 to 5 in. HG of suction
when bucking head pressure.

I don't know much about rDWC but one look at the setup I'd bet my house that you have an airlock.