How to recirculate a 4 bucket waterfarm system with a res and controller?

I was told the feed hose should be a smaller diameter than the drain hose.

1/2" flexible tubing connected to the bottom of each bucket for draining. Already in place.

The stand alone res of the waterfarm has a 1/2" hole at the bottom. I am going to put a water pump inside to push the water out. Then use a diameter changing adapter on the outside and either flexible 1/4" or 3/8" for a feed tube. I'm going to drill a hole 2/3 of the way up on each lower bucket for the feed line. Not done yet.

The 8 gallon res is ~12" in height, the seperate 13 gallon controller which goes on top of the res is ~18" in height. (the float in the res will not be needed)
How can I get the water to get back up into the 2 1/2 foot high controller? I can't see the water pump being strong enough to push water through the feed lines into the 4 buckets and then somehow having enough pressure to force the water through the drain lines up 2 1/2 feet.

The easy way is to use just the 13 gallon container as the main res, raise the 4 waterfarms to 2 feet in height and let gravity drain it. I'd rather have the 21 gallons though. Do I need the 21 gallons or is 13 enough?

you have to add pump into drain rez, and pump solution up to main rez...you need a some type of floatswitch to make it all work.

You can use your resivour as your controller and just keep it level w/ the buckets,just do as latewood said and use a pump to empty out the system. You can also switch the feed pump(at nute change time) to your empty out drain line

BTW. Shut off valves are lifesavers in the long run. I would run one at the begining of the drain line and one at the end of your empty out drain line.

multi-flow

controller

and, that was great extra tips there Snoop...The cut-off valves and even a 1 into 2 switchvalve would be good to route fluid to either main rez, or to waste by installing switchvalve...cool

I went the easy way out and elevated the waterfarms 2 feet. The drain on the waterfarm is about 1 inch from the bottom of the bucket so it did not have much fluid in the bucket.
On the inside of the bucket I connected an elbow with ~4 inches of hose to the drain plug. Now each bucket holds about 4-5 inches of fluid.

I put another plastic tube into the waterfarm exactly like the current one. From the main res, water flows from a water pump through a 1/4" hose which is threaded through this plastic pipe. A seperate airline with an air stone attached to it is also threaded through the same tube.

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Originally Posted by PigSnout

I went the easy way out and elevated the waterfarms 2 feet. The drain on the waterfarm is about 1 inch from the bottom of the bucket so it did not have much fluid in the bucket.
On the inside of the bucket I connected an elbow with ~4 inches of hose to the drain plug. Now each bucket holds about 4-5 inches of fluid.

I put another plastic tube into the waterfarm exactly like the current one. From the main res, water flows from a water pump through a 1/4" hose which is threaded through this plastic pipe. A seperate airline with an air stone attached to it is also threaded through the same tube.

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Sounds great! :thumbsup:

Would love to see a pic :o

I have done this in a little different manor,It worked well but not the best.I will draw a diagram, because im not at this time running the system.I am thinking of firing the system back up tho,and elaborating on the recirc. part.

The room is real tight so it's tuff to get a picture. Here is a drawing of it.

http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gravity6oh.png

Do you guys think something like this will work? I have a pump with a reservoir built in, as well as a float switch. What i'd like to do is have a main holding tank above my plants on a shelf, with the individual drippers coming off of the bottom, to each plant, feeding by gravity through 1/4 vinyl tubing to the plants.

After it hits the plants it will flow down through drains in each grow pot, down to a pump I have below the plants, collecting in the pumps reservoir until it kicks on the pump, and is pushed back up to the holding tank at the top again.
The pump holds about a gallon, so i'd expect it to kick on every half hour or so give or take ten minutes. The pump is a condensate pump I use for air conditioning installs to collect condensation, so its rated to run alot, and it made of PVC.

I'm planning a trip to a hydro shop in about 2-3 weeks, and I could pick up a normal pump and drippers and do it the typical way, but since I have this stuff already, i'm dying to give it a go :) What do ya think?

The only problem I would see is getting oxygen to the roots. I would add a bubbler/air pump to the top reservoir, but wouldnt all the air just stay up top since that where air goes?

So,Pigsnout, It sounds like you are running them basicly like an flood and drain set up, but you are constantly flooding right?The fill pump is always on?

Here is a little better diagram than before

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hondo

So,Pigsnout, It sounds like you are running them basicly like an flood and drain set up, but you are constantly flooding right?The fill pump is always on?

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Until the pumps go off with the lights.

Here's a pic of one of them. Not too clear. I left the cheapo camera on again and wasted the batteries. The 3 larger leaves on the bottom are/were yellowing.
My Ph was fluctuating too much. I probably didn't clean the hydroton thoroughly. It is alot more stable now. Between 5.8 and 6.0 the last 12 hours. Checked it about 5 times.

The mylar is dingy. The water is splashing too much off of the hydroton. I either have filled the bucket with too much hydroton or the air pump is pumping too fast. I'll turn the pumps down a bit and if that doesn't work, a cover will be placed over the ring section that is close to the mylar.

update
1. ending 3rd week of flower it's either NL or White Widow. You can see the hermie plant leaves on the left of the photo thats either WW or NL also (mixed them up at birth)

2. waterfarms in veg ending 3rd week
3. waterfarms in veg ending 3rd week, tops of back two plants with mylar covered

using 125w fluro 8000 lumens output 50% true BLUE SPECTRUM 6500k and 50% true RED SPECTRUM 2700k- (whatever that means)

Everyone says there will be a huge difference when I use my mh and hps lights. Cant wait till the temps drop and I can use my 400. (Maybe by then I'll spring for a decent camera)

It's a narrow room sorry about the quality of the pics

The pic seen in the June 10 th post is the same plant as the female in flower