NFT help/question

[Classicman]

Hey guys, I have been successful with DWC in the past but now I'm trying to maximize space and simplify life by moving to an NFT design.

I was wondering what you all think about the flow rate for my gullies. I have zero NFT experience but to me the flow seems a bit high. I placed a ball valve on the send to reduce the flow but then I couldn't get the water to evenly spread down the gully. Also, the pump gets noisy when I do that and I fear heat issues by putting too much back pressure on it.

Space is quite limited, 2'x4' footprint in total so the gullies are approximately 2.75' long which leads to question number 2, would 4 2" net pots be too crowded? Will go straight from clone to 12/12 as I do not have much headroom either. May even ScROG (slightly) the SOG to restrict height and double whammy as a support structure as no grow medium will be used. Opinions on that would be cool.

Pump is your basic Eco 396, PVC is 1/2", runs into the gullies after the T fitting and is capped off on both sides with 3 7/16" holes drilled on each to feed the water/nute mix.

 

[Classicman]

I did post a video showcasing rate of flow however that link has been removed since the video hosting site utilized was deemed unworthy of trust due to potential trojans or other malicious software infecting and affecting other users. That said, sendvid.com has the highest ratings possible by all noteworthy web safety monitors including, but not limited to Google, McAffe, and Norton. Additionally, the irony in trusting hosting sites like Facebook and Youtube (Google), both of which are widely known to collect and sell our personal information for profit as well as handing over our personal info to the government, over an anonymous and known malware-free site like sendvid.com eludes me to the fullest; especially considering the subject matter at hand here.

/rant

That said, this may help someone out in the future so here goes:

I measured the flow from each gully. I'm getting almost exactly 1 gallon every 30 seconds. Everything I've read regarding NFT says this is too high by either 100 or 200 percent - 1/2 to 1 gallon per hour seems to be the accepted norm. I do intend on experimenting once the clones are in place regardless and I will post up my findings.

My solution to regulate was the valve but like I said, even distribution of flow becomes an issue.

What I did to solve that was to cut a 4" piece of spare pvc and place it in the gully perpendicular to the bottom/top surface. Then I ran a hair dryer on it for about 30 seconds. I let it cool off with the pvc still in place and did this 2 or 3 more times (as necessary) down the entire length of each gully. The change is invisible to the human eye however the water now stays focused down the middle of the channel. I'd post a vid but there is no way in hell I will ever host anything on the sites supported here.

If anyone is running a pure NFT system, I'd love to hear about your findings related to flow rates and pump timings.

 

[verticalgrow]

yea man, 2" net pots are way to small--- its better to use a 3" or bigger rock wool cube.

FLOW RATES: water runs permenantely on 18hrs and off 6hrs during veg cycle
12hrs on and 12hrs off during bloom

OTHER FLOW RATES: use a timer for the water to come on for 15mins and off for 2hrs
then rinse and repeat to keep roots white and healthy.

 

[420bigfatty]

This is my first time trying hydro and i chose NFT. My setup is a 10' piece of gutter cut in half and placed side by side elevated slightly for water flow to be no problem. I use a 30gal plastic tote with a somewhat large pump. I also throttle the water flow down a little with a ball valve. i have more flow to one side than the other because of the design. I used one 1/2" pipe from pump and fed one side with a T and 3/8 tubing. The other side I 90 over to it and put another ball valve at end to throttle water to that side. I have not measured water flow at all but one side is definitely getting more water than other side. I pump my nutes 24 hrs a day with no noticeable problems! in fact they are doing fantastic!! Doubled the size of the plants maybe more compered to soil. I also have a rather large air pump with the air intake coming from a room without co2 injected into it for fresh oxygen and i put a flat air stone under each plant and of course to my nute tote. I use 4" rockwool. I don't see where flow rates have much to do with this unless of course its too low. at least for me that is!
Hope my 2 cents helped
Later