Help with Reservoir

LilT211

Well-Known Member
Sup fam, need a little advice. I was using a dtw approach in coco. After my droppers clogged while I was away I decided to go ebb and flow to eliminate the emitter issue again. I have two 20 gallon brute trash cans that I use as rez for my tents. My question is this, will I be able to use these as a rez despite them being taller than the table? The feed pump is located on the base inside of the can. Will it be able to drain? If not is there anything I can do to facilitate that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Treesomewanted77

Well-Known Member
With flood and drain your res needs to be below your tables because it needs to drain back unless you set it up with pumps somehow in the tables to push it back into the res so maybe drain them into a drain tote or bucket then have a pump to return to the res. It can be done but will require some extra steps and materials. May I ask why you gave up on DTW? Just remove the drippers and run a manifold so you can regulate the amount to each site. DTW works really well with either hand feeding or automated. You can find ways to make DIY drop rings should help avoid the clogging
 

LilT211

Well-Known Member
With flood and drain your res needs to be below your tables because it needs to drain back unless you set it up with pumps somehow in the tables to push it back into the res so maybe drain them into a drain tote or bucket then have a pump to return to the res. It can be done but will require some extra steps and materials. May I ask why you gave up on DTW? Just remove the drippers and run a manifold so you can regulate the amount to each site. DTW works really well with either hand feeding or automated. You can find ways to make DIY drop rings should help avoid the clogging
Thanks for the reply and advice. I’m limited on space so idk if I could afford to put a return rez inside of the tent. I’m really having a hard time dialing every single emitter in to give the same amount of solution. I’ll get it fixed and it’ll stay for maybe three days then it’s back to the bs. Constantly having issues, maybe cheap emitters? Was looking into using a manifold as you recommended but found it more cost effective at the time to go with the emitters. Do you have a specific model or brand you’ll recommend?
 

LilT211

Well-Known Member
Definitely getting this. Idk why I thought it more complicated than drippers. How many line would you recommend do you recommend running in 5-7 gallon fabric pots?
 

Treesomewanted77

Well-Known Member
Definitely getting this. Idk why I thought it more complicated than drippers. How many line would you recommend do you recommend running in 5-7 gallon fabric pots?
You could run 2 per then put a simple t fitting at the ends of the lines to split it into 2 for each line and would make it so it’s distributes more evenly. Or just make DIY drip rings and one line per pot should work eaither way will work fine
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i just use silicone aquarium tubing to each plant. i think they make a 12 site manifold too?

i only run a max of 4 plants. then i run 1 line up to the top of my res which acts as an anti-siphon and the 6th site is off.

and then all you have to do is dial in your timer to how much you are feeding. 11 minutes gives me about 20% runoff in 3 gallon pots of coco
 

LilT211

Well-Known Member
You could run 2 per then put a simple t fitting at the ends of the lines to split it into 2 for each line and would make it so it’s distributes more evenly. Or just make DIY drip rings and one line per pot should work eaither way will work fine
Thanks bro. You just solved the whole of it.
 

LilT211

Well-Known Member
i just use silicone aquarium tubing to each plant. i think they make a 12 site manifold too?

i only run a max of 4 plants. then i run 1 line up to the top of my res which acts as an anti-siphon and the 6th site is off.

and then all you have to do is dial in your timer to how much you are feeding. 11 minutes gives me about 20% runoff in 3 gallon pots of coco
Thanks bro timing was my next question. I’ll use this as a baseline and go from there. Riu is the shit fr.
 

LilT211

Well-Known Member
just don' skip the anti siphon. or you'll figure it out like i did when 25 gallons were gone after the first feeding. lol.
So to get this correct, one of the lines from the manifold should be run back to the reservoir and that’ll serve as a anti siphon?
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i run it right up the side of my res to above whatever your highest water level would be. it's pretty much just a good trickle but it stops the siphon
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
Throw the emitters away. There's no need for them! Just a 1/4 line.

Try to eliminate or reduce ALL points of failure from your system. This is a top feed with gravity drain back to the reservoir underneath.


IMG_4348.JPG
 

Treesomewanted77

Well-Known Member
Throw the emitters away. There's no need for them! Just a 1/4 line.

Try to eliminate or reduce ALL points of failure from your system. This is a top feed with gravity drain back to the reservoir underneath.


View attachment 5166054
So you run it as a recirculating system? I was under the impression that you didn’t want the runoff going back into the plant but I bet this saves on nutrients compared to a DTW setup. Obviously your having good results with this system? I always wanted to try something like this but was nervous about the runoff going back into the plants over and over again.
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
Yes. I top feed and it drains through the roots/Air Pot and is collected in the flood/drain table where it drains out the bottom to the reservoir. Every 3 hours the pump turns on for 3 minutes and top feeds the plants.


Watch YouTube videos on flood and drain hydro. I don't flood the table instead I just top feed and let gravity do the rest!


IMG_4355.JPG
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply and advice. I’m limited on space so idk if I could afford to put a return rez inside of the tent. I’m really having a hard time dialing every single emitter in to give the same amount of solution. I’ll get it fixed and it’ll stay for maybe three days then it’s back to the bs. Constantly having issues, maybe cheap emitters? Was looking into using a manifold as you recommended but found it more cost effective at the time to go with the emitters. Do you have a specific model or brand you’ll recommend?
I've been growing DTW in coco for years using emitters, and I don't have any issues with them. I use pressure compensating emitters, which helps to even out to flow rates. I do use 4 emitters per pot, just in case they do clog, but the really never do. What are you running in your res, something with particulates which caused them to clog?
So you run it as a recirculating system? I was under the impression that you didn’t want the runoff going back into the plant but I bet this saves on nutrients compared to a DTW setup.
You're going to want to dump your res weekly in a recirc system to be sure that you have fresh nutes of the correct proportions, so you don't really save much compared to DTW.
 
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