What size pump?

[nvhunter]

I am growing in an area that doesn't have water. I want to set up a drip/spray system. I have 12 plants with small 4 inch radius spray heads connected with 1/4 hose. What size pump would I need to pump the water from the bucket to the plants with enough pressure?

 

[Rodrigo]

I have a drip system for my veg room and an ebb & flood system for my flowering room, so...

It depends on a couple of factors; How high do you need to push the water, with what diameter hose (essentially how much water you need to push for the system to work). Most small water pumps for aquariums are not designed for pumping water up, despite what they say about lifting an X gl/hr up a certain height. When the water reaches whatever distributor you're using for splitting the flow into each individual 1/4" hose the pressure drops and you only get a few drops, not enough and can be unreliable.

I've found that it is better to have an oversized pump and use a common valve to regulate flow. I was using a 3600lt/hr pump that I knew was way too powerful and big (in size) but it was what I had lying around. so I later changed it for small pump that was supposed to be perfect but I encountered that despite being the most powerful in its size and price range it struggled to get the water through the distributor and hosing (I also use 1/4" vinyl hosing for the drips, you don't need any spray or sprinkler or drip tip, the end of the 1/4" hose is fine).
So now I'm running on a very small 2600lt/hr pump that's perfect because it's small enough so I don't have to overfill the reservoir to have it completely submerged (10lt, about 3gl reservoir).

So in short, get a pump bigger than those cheap ones that fit in the palm of your hand. It should pump at least 1500lt/hr (about 400gl/hr) up to a height of 2-3mts (6-10 ft) and use a valve to regulate the desired flow.

Hope it helps.

Good luck and happy growing!