wut exactly failed and wut leaked?
The failure was on the part of the circulating system - I didn't understand water pressure well enough the first time around, and the first bucket would overflow - still haven't gotten it totally figured out, but I think that I'm getting there - the main point is that your return line to your rez needs to be larger than the output line, or your buckets are gonna overflow everytime, even from the little pressure that a 185GPH pump provides (you're all prolly saying "duh" right now, but for a moron like me, that was surprising).
And the leaks came from the grommets, or more specifically, the uneven holes in the buckets.
For some reason the 3/4" wood drill bit that I use sometimes makes an imperfect hole in the buckets, and when I insert the 1/2" hydro grommets, even though it seems watertight, it's really not.
Went to Home Depot and got some plumber's putty to try and fix the system that I've got in the works right now, and also bought some clear epoxy for the future systems (gonna put it on the grommet before installing it, thereby ensuring that they're all leak-free).
So, that's my story - BTW, if anyone is interested in building a circulating system, that link to the UK420 I posted has some really good food for thought in it - got me thinking about building a drip system to each bucket to make it circulating, among other things.
I've got enough buckets to start a 'test group'. That will easily let me know if aero-ponics or bubble-ponics yields more, as well as which is easier to maintain. I think I'll wait and head over to the local hydro store to get my fittings after I see what you have going on with your set-up. All of those years of plumbing experience is finally paying off for me.
I'll take a look at your manifold and see if I can fabricate something or if I need to buy it. My present set-up works fine, I just don't like the fact you can't get to the insides of my big girls in the 37 gal tote without rotating the baskets.
Besides, the individual buckets give me complete access all the way around.
That was some wild PVC set-up in those pics posted with no dialouge. Was it some kind of support, or was the PVC intended for another purpose as well? I'm pretty good with the 3/4" PVC, as all of my aero-ponics systems are made from 3/4" PVC, each powered by a 264 gph sub-pump, and distributed via 360' sprayers. I'd really like to know the benefit of the PVC framework they had going in their buckets?
Maybe we can do another wake-n-bake!
