Changing out my nutes with farm and controller setup

[SAP420]

Okay... I had stopped using my controller but am debating whether to sell it or not. Mainly cuz I haven't a clue as to how to properly drain my system without making a complete mess. Now do I have to drain the farms into the controller meaning if I empty the controller, will the nutes from the farms drain back into the controller so all I would have to do is empty the controller? If so, I guess I need to have the tubing running from the farms to the controller pretty much at ground level right? I know some of you have tried to answer this but I want to know from a variety of people. Even you Stinkyattic if you have dealt with this before. The people at the hydroshop said I have to use a wet vac pretty much to drain everything.

[herbie the love bud]

You don't need a wet vac, just you a cheapo water pump and 1/2" line to a drain. There will still be _some_ water left in the system below the fittings, but its not a critical amount.

[SAP420]

I actually found a water pump here at my house that was for a yard fountain and tested it out and it pumps like 2 gallons of water a minute so I think I will use it by setting it in the contoller and pumping everything out from the controller. That should work fine I believe. Any ideas of where I can get tubing from? I have the pump, just need some tubing to attach to it. It pumps really fast. Thanks!

[herbie the love bud]

home depot or your local hydro store.

[SAP420]

O.K. I purchased a 10 foot long piece of tubing to hook to my water pump and tested it out on one of the farms I had to drain and it worked like a champ! I don't have a nearby drain so what I do is drain into a nearby bucket (10 gallon) and dump it down the tub drain. Question now is... can I just use the pump in the controller to drain all the farms since all the levels will drain to the same level right? Or do I have to drain out all the farms one by one. I figured that draining from the controller would be the best way. Please let me know what you think.

[SAP420]

Check out this thread link anyone! Now tell me, do I need to have my controller tubing running straight into the hydrohut the way this guy does in order to create perfect flow to the farms? If so I can just drill the hole into the tent to do that. Another question is, the way I have the hose is that it goes up and into one of the flaps and then down which I think restricts alot of the flow to the farms? Let me know thanks!

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[herbie the love bud]

If it's only going up an inch it won't matter TOO much, but not preferred, more than that you have a problem.

[SAP420]

yeah mine definitely went up more than an inch... I will have to modify my tent a bit.

[hatecable]

ahh.. thats what it was then. The pressure was getting lost in having to force the water up hill to get out of the tent. That and not being able to finish emptying once the water level in the farms hit the level the tube was at going out of the tent. So your going to give the controller another shot then?

[SAP420]

Yes I am gonna try it again next grow tho. I only have 1 female out of those 4 that I had growing but I will let her flower out and then try some more with the controller. Any recommendations for making the hole for the tent? Drill bit, knife, anything that won't fuck the tent up?

[hatecable]

if its a plastic based fabric i would go with melting a hole in it. I dont mean just stick a lighter up there and let her rip, but find something metal that is reasonably the size you want, heating it on a stove and the letting it melt its way through. That way you wont have any unraveling of the material. Otherwise you may can find a large hole brass gromet kit that you use to repair tarps. That might run you 8 bucks or so, but it would be a professional looking hole.

[herbie the love bud]

That was excellent advice from hatecable. But you should actually sit your WF up on something at least an 1" or 2".

[SAP420]

instead of modifying my tent?

[hatecable]

No i think he means to just raise the farms up to help it drain them completely. It would be hard to get the hoses to lay perfectly flat for the entire line to the controller so you'd raise the farm up slightly above the inlet of the controller to ensure a good flow and complete emptying. You dont want sediment from the hydroton and heavy particles to stay in your nut solution for the entire grow.

[herbie the love bud]

Exactly. And if you raise it higher than the inlet to the tent then you don't need to modify the tent.