Question about drip fed drainage

hey all,
this is my first post, i would like to say you's have a pretty cool community here at RIU.

i do not fully understand the drainage side of drip fed systems.

Q1. how often do you drain your daughter pots
Q2. is there a constant water level in the daughter pots
Q3. is there a preferred way to link the pots for equal & accurate levels.(im planning 2 rows of 15 plants)

thank you in advance.

Hello
1. Usually the pot in the pot is used for Cap Ebb and flood.
2. With cap and flood the bottom pots are drained(pumped) back to the main reservoir.

Drip feeders are usually ran with tables or trays that have a drain fitting that either drains back to the reservoir to be recirculated or to waste(sewer).

ok.
my plan was to run about 30 plants in hydroton in bags & pots with a feeding ring and a drain.
what is this system called?
one pot per plant.

recirculating drip??

don't waste your time with that method...

what system would be better for me ..
what is so bad about recirculating drip?
i have limited space ..
i need minimum maintenance to the pots (after i set them up i dont wanna touch em for a crop's time)
any help appreciated

Im currently using a RDWC w constant drip at the moment, i have 4 2gph drippers running to each of my 5gal pails and the res sits outside my tent.... it takes a bit to get dailed in with this system but once you do it works okay (not great). I will be taking out the drippers after this harvest and converting to just a RDWC without drippers because that system will help pull oxygen into the roots system and hydroton. My advice (if you do go with the constant drip system) is make sure you get a inline filter so you dont clog your drippers and make sure you have a way to check your water lvl in the pails, also try to get your res outside the tent to help combat high res temps.

how do you control your drainage (gravity or pump).?
do you use feeding rings.?
thanks for the replys

how do you control your drainage (gravity or pump)?.
how do you check you pails?.
do you use feeding rings?.
thanks for the replys

I control my drainage with gravity, as the water comes in from my drippers it fills my pails to just over half way then it starts to flow back into my res by water pressure. If I raise my pails a inch the lvl drops by a inch and if I lower the pail the water lvl will get higher.

is a pump theoretically possible ..?

Yes it is possible, but the more pumps you have the more heat you have to combat

my massive hideout said:

what system would be better for me ..
what is so bad about recirculating drip?
i have limited space ..
i need minimum maintenance to the pots (after i set them up i dont wanna touch em for a crop's time)
any help appreciated

Click to expand...

Flood and drain is better. They make different sized flood trays for different spaces. The pots can be moved around if need be. There's no drippers to clog up. Only one pump that comes on for a few minutes at a time once or twice a day.

I use 3.5 gallon buckets, each has a 1 1/4 inch drain cut 2 inches from the bottom of the buckets on the side. The top has a 6 inch cut out for the pots/baskets. The baskets have 2 inches of rockwool lining the bottom and then the cube with the plant sits in the middle on top the rockwool. I suround the rockwool cube with potclay or hydrotron and cover the top to provent alge. All the buckets are connected together with 1 1/4 tubing that gravity drains back to the res, they are all higher then the res. I feed the plants with drip spreads that are attached to a submersible pumps in the res with 1/8 tube on a timer 10 minute every 3 hours. Each bucket has a airstone and so does the res. The system is a bit of work to setup but once done it works good. I change my res once a month or add as needed. Other then that, I watch the PH and temps to make sure all's good, but truth be told I left on vaction for 10 days and came back to see the system working fine and my plants where huge.

So when people tell you the systems arnt' any good take it with a grain of salt, any system can work good, it comes down to what works for you.

Peace

Here's what one of my buckets look like