What kind of pump for sprinkler heads?

Noob

Active Member
What kind of pump would one use to power 12 jet sprayers or micro-sprinklers? I have a Beckett ~325GPH large fountain pump that doesn't seem to have enough pressure. Can anybody recommend a pump that is powerful enough to get a good spray from 12 or even 16 or these little jet sprayers?

If it matters, I am pumping through about 6 feet of 1/4" line per sprayer.
 

slappyboy

Well-Known Member
what mister heads do you use? if they are the round barrel looking ones with the red and blue color those suck.If they are spinners you will need a massive pump and they will fail easily.If you have the little solid red ones like I iuse in my setups then I can run 6 easy off a 150 gph pump in a larger setup with like 20 plus sprayers I use a minimum of 800 gph pump.You also have to factor the rise the pump has to do from the pump to the misters and they gph rating of each mister.Also lost pressure for filter bags and inline filters which you need in aero setups..Also no dry nutes or molasses in aero...Sincerely FilthyFletch
 

Noob

Active Member
Thanks. Can you point me to those solid red sprayers you are talking about? I have the blue and red ones you mentioned. So are you saying my ~325GPH fountain pump will work with 12 of those red ones?
 

slappyboy

Well-Known Member
As long as your pump doesnt have to lift the water more then 2 feet high from the bottom of the res to the misters and you dont have a real long mister line you should be ok with that pump.The ones you have basically will have like 10 little streams coming out like a little sprinkler.The red one have an open design that splits the stream and aerates it as it splits it.Its no a ultra fine mist like a micro sprayer or atomizer but these are what most companys use in thier aero setups.Heres the link..If you clog one of these just un screw it and blow from the top out... Alternative Garden Supply - Hydroponics & Indoor Gardening Super Store
 

VictorVIcious

Well-Known Member
If it matters, I am pumping through about 6 feet of 1/4" line per sprayer.
This part right here matters. You need to cary the largest line you can as close to the sprayers as possible. The 1/4" lines are too restrictive. I did this with a drip system and 396 gph would barly push it until I ran 1/2" line down the center. None of the 1/4" lines should be 6'. Please take look at filthy fletchs post of an aero build. VV:blsmoke:
 

FilthyFletch

Mr I Can Do That For Half
And yes I would reccomend 1/2 inch pipe if going with a pvc build.I know the big setup like the aero 60 they use 1/4 hose with what they call laser holes but thats just a plain drilled 5/74 hole to allow water to come out.I am perfecting this idea to a much better version lol
 

Noob

Active Member
I rebuilt the whole thing, using 1/2" PVC to make sort of a ring around the inside of the lid. The spray heads are screwed right into the PVC. It still doesn't really spray right, but then I am still using the crappy heads. I did order some much better heads - not the ones you linked to but some that are quite similar and were only 15c each. They are the style you talk about Filthy.

I also hooked it all up to a 633GPH pump, which didn't help at all, so I am assuming it's just the heads. That's the point of this post actually, is to ask - once I install the good spray heads this should work like I want it to, right?

Thanks again for your time.
 
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