1m2 16 plant drip system Walk through

[pistils]

1m2 16 Plant Drip System

hey there,

i have been mad busy building grow chambers to get some plants into bloom that are well overdue for 12/12.

to make it less work i decided to go drip so i havent the headache of remembering when each plan needs feeding, so its going to be timed and i will simply check PH and ec, adjust as necessary and flush the tank and pots each week for a day to stop salt buildups..

Heres a walkthrough of me building the drip manifold to cater for 16 plants in 6.5L atami square pots, on a 1m2 ebb and flow tray.


ITEM LIST

3m length of 15mm black delivery tube
4m length of 4mm flexi drip line
4 x 15mm right angle fittings
1 x 15mm T junction fitting
1 x 15mm Inline Filter
1 x nipple hole punch
16x 4mm barbed insert nipples
16x dripstakes

ADDON NUTE MIXER MANIFOLD: optional

2 x 15mm inline taps
2 x 150mm lengths of 15mm delivery tube
1 x 15mm right angle fitting

Step 1
is simply looking at your space and cutting your pipework to the right legths, as mine is a 1m2 table i will need 2 lengths to reach from front to back of the table and roughly .4 m lengths x 2 to complete the curcuit.

You could simply cut 4x 1m lengths and have it run around the outer edge of the table but then you need different length driplines and i think this way is nicer as it fits snug inbetween the pots shielding it from the light once the pots are in place.



It may help to add a line of the pots you intend to use as it will help you see where the pipes need to sit to not be in the way.

Step 2
this is where you need to decide where you want your pump to meet the manifold, if you are a neat freak you may place it in the centre, i like it off to 1 side (as i will add a mixer manifold to this basic straight to pump setup to enable me to stop nute delivery to driplines and divert the pumped water back to the back of the reservoir.. fast mixing my nutes to stabilize ph and ec quicker), as dosing multiple chambers can be very time consuming and it is also a way of restricting the flow to the drippers to slow down the drip rate as you release some pressure straight back into the tank thus aerating the nutes each time your drippers are on.., i'll add that as an update to this thread later. but placing your manifold T piece into the front cross section of your ringmain, placing it to 1 side will allow you more room to mix nutes and check ph/ec.
see image above and measure the fitting section , then remove from the piece of pipe to keep distance apart same when T piece is fitted.


Now thats ready for your down section straight to filter then pump or can add a mixer setup as mentioned above. details later on.

Step 3
Now take the ringmain and place on floor or table and place pots inplace so you can judge where drip line holes will be required, complete along the 1 length and copy across to the other length.
You should punch 2 holes next to each pot as this ringmain will feed pots either side of itself when installed.
Stage 4 Take the punch again when ready to insert nipples,

Sit into hollow void of punch

Press your nipple into the holes you made in stage above. repeat till alll 16 holes have nipples fitted, you will know they are in as they snap into place.

Voila , nipples ready for driplines


Stage 5 place ringmain back inplace on table and measure distance with length of dripline from nipple to centre of pot.

repeat till you have 16 lengths the same length as the first.

Stage 6 place your chosen dripstakes onto each of the 16 driplines you now have. then simply place these onto the nipples you already fitted to ringmain and we're nearly done.

Stage 7 Tidy things up and secure everything in place by drilling 2 holes through the table edge to secure your lines in place with zipties. you can drill extra holes to clip things to, ie ph minitor remote probe lead etc.





There you have it, all that is required is the drainage into the tank, which is really simple, but i will add the last 2 stages to this How to tmrw as i ran out of time today.

Hope it helps someone..

Pistils.