I started with Gary’s 13gal “fallponic” package, which has 3" returns and 3/4" supply. But from day 1 I built it differently.
3" drain is thick black; 3/4 fill is thin blue; 3/4 drain (incl valve & pump) is red
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I connected the 3" plant drains all together in a main drain, did not plumb the buckets directly together. This saves a large number of 3" bulkhead fittings (anyone want to buy some from me?).
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See the diagram, the left-most connector has a plugged opening to extend the system (I have a 5’ x 10’ tent, I could add 4 or maybe 6 more plants inside the tent).
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I did use the 3/4" supply and “fallponic” setup.
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I did use the Hydrofarm 4 outlet air pump. In fact, I added a similar 2 outlet air pump – I have one bubbler stone in each plant, and two in the res.
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I did use (on the first grow) the water pump that came with the kit. I’ve since replaced it with a much larger pump (see the thread at Magnetic higher-end pumps for RDWC).
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It bugged me that I was unable to drain all the way to the bottom of the plant 13g buckets. So I raised them on 2" thick cinder blocks, and plumbed the ‘drain kit’ (with bottom drain) in, with a ball valve and a dedicated pump. I use this to recirculate more when mixing nutes as well (the drain pump outlet is into the res), but be careful to have more capacity in the supply pump than the drain pump or you could possibly overflow the res.
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Because the plant containers are on 2" cinder blocks, the amount of fluid in the reservoir is about 2" higher than it would’ve been. I find that this works out pretty good, the water for the plants is below the 8" netpots, but the res doesn’t have any wasted capacity.
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I would not use the 8" netpots again. 8" is a bit of a specialty item (6" more common), and I don’t see why you need more Hydroton because the roots are almost entirely outside of the netpot.
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I may need a chiller, but don’t have one. Sigh.
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(Nutty #1) I also went a bit nutty with the controls… Semi-automatic nutes change equipment/setup
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(Nutty #2) I have a Milwaukee pH controller and an inexpensive peristaltic pump (usually pumping 10% pH Down), which keeps my pH dead nuts at 5.8. (This may not be so nutty, really)
