first hydro-drip system

hey i have a few questions relating to this, and i've seen that video hahah

im going to be doing a drip system with just a small amount of rockwool and hyrotron per plant and plants hang over the res and drip back into it. ive heard having a bubbler is good just to circulate the water, but would the dripping do enough? my container has 2 rows and 5 holes per row, i think its around 10-15 gallons

also since im going to be using a small amount of rockwool (no bigger than 2x2) and the plastic mesh container that the hydrotron sits in is like 3x5, should i water more frequently since it will dry out faster? i heard some one say 2 mins every hour was good but that sounds like too much

and im going with lowryder #2 so i think my little (totes do u call them?) mesh containers/pots will be big enough

thats kind of what i'm running now in my flowering area. i can have up to 4 rubbermade totes flowering at a time with 4 plants per tote. if you go small (lowryder is a good strain for this) i think you'll be ok with smaller rockwool, but if you want plants taller you'll have to transplant them into 4 x4 or bigger. bigger roots = bigger plant. i'm shooting for 2-3 ft finish height so i have 4 x 4 cubes in 6 inch net baskets filled with hydroton.
as for your other questions. your right on having bubbles (air) in your res. more air to your roots once they grow out into the tote. it will act like a bubbler once they do and you may need to cut your feedings back to keep from nutrient burn. i do 5 min feedings 3 times a day. most timers go every 15 min, but they make ones that can do by the min. make things alot easier to adjust later on. usually run around $20.

yeah i just bought the same one you have. my room is all set up and waiting for seeds. i decided to just use all 8 settings and do 10 mins every 3 hours. its going to be about 90+ and very dry everyday of summer where i live so i think ill be ok. hope they live! ha

where and how can i get the zone drip head, drippers i need for the drip system i see that home depot has alot of things you can use for this but its all made for hooking up to a regular hose pipe...

Instead of using hydroton, I was going to use coco coir for a similar setup. Anyone else concur? Good idea?

Use extreme care dripfeeding RW. It is very easy to overwater. A cube with a seedling in it will need dampened about 1x/day for a minute or two.

Once there's roots out of the bottom of the cube, it can be nested in a pot of pellets and fed with a drip ring:

You can buy or DIY drip rings, just some flexible tubing with a bunch of 1mm holes and a tee fitting. Drip rings allow you to water the pellets around the RW cube without watering the cube. A single-point emitter will only wet a column of pellets but a drip ring will wet nearly the entire pot, giving much more hospitibly damp pellets for the roots to form in. Pellets can be watered much more frequently than RW. You could start with about 5 drip feeds/lights-on for a few mins at a time.

Drip systems require frequent cleaning of the drip emitters with plain water & a toothbrush. Failing to do so will result in drippers clogged with a crust of nute salts.

Originally Posted by sloeginfizz

wow.. just finished transplanting to larger containers with clean hydroton. this is my first experience using hydroton and its extremely dirty. multiple rinses needed. last thing i need is a clogged dripper.

Hey man. I work at a Hydroponics store here in NJ. You can run a constant feeding cycle like me for your drip irrigation. Unfortunately, no matter what you do, you will always have a little algae somewhere, but minimal growth it is the key.

My feeding cycle is currently at 1400 ppm on a 24 hour feed cycle, 2 hours off when I change my solution every 10 days.

Looks like in your most recent pics that you have a ppm too high for the plants in its current stage. I noticed this due to the fact that your tips are yellow. It's fine, but if your pH takes a spike, 1, you will get major failure from lockup, and 2, if you keep overdoing the ppms (nutrient content), you might have some problems later.

Your setup looks good, just trust me when i tell you, when you get a little more money, get away from using the Rubbermaid containers. They leak too much light no matter how well you cover them, and also they flex causing leaks. They are not for holding water, but are GREAT to use for your first run through. Its what I used, but it causes you to have to check more variables.

Light exposure, pH, leaks, and Algae all come with the Rubbermaid setups. Lookin good kid.

[QUOTE=sloeginfizz;80685]

i'm using the same tote for the resivoir in the flowering area. i can use the pump i orginally had in the veg since its within the overhead height. i have a 6 zone drip head for it also. i'm finally going to be able to use the 600 watt hps light that i bought last fall. woohoo.. haha

What pump did you get that can run the dripper? They need like 15PSI - what to use and how loud/quiet? Submersible sump pump?