Hey guys, I’m new here since my local forum is closed.
I’m thinking of building a new grow box, 60x240cm and plan to grow SOG style in rockwool.
I’m confused about what kind of drip irrigation system I should use. I have 2 Floraflex bubblers, which work very well. But 2 is not enough, I need more for my new grow box. I’m having a hard time deciding whether to buy more Floraflex bubblers, or whether to use CNL valves instead.
The advantage of Floraflex bubblers is that they are easy to install and maintain. I just need a pump that delivers between 20-60 psi and they will work. But CNL valves require a Pressure Regulator.
Any ideas on what will work best? And can anyone recommend a good, quiet and preferably cheap pump that can deliver 30-60 PSI?
CNL/pressure regulated drippers will probably give you a more even distribution than the floraflex bubblers, but to use them it sounds like you’d have to mostly rebuild your setup, or you could just pop a few more bubblers in and go.
What kind of pump are you using now?
Any decent 1/4hp + sump pump will run a lot of 0.5 gph drippers. I’m using a 120v seaflo diaphram pump, great high pressure pump but it isn’t exactly quiet. 24v option’s can be had for ~$50 though.
If you’re going to go the drip route, I personally recommend netafim brand drippers. They are CNL and usually work outside the range of specified PSI. You can just use barbed T’s in your irrigation lines to have them wherever you want.
Any drippers you get from home Depot or Lowe’s are absolute garbage in my opinion.
I have measured them using cylinders with milliliter markings and running them for 10 minutes etc and they are all junk except for Netafim.
I’ve used the floraflex gear (The caps and the clips) and it’s all very solid.
I’ve done a lot of experimentation with rockwool in various hydroponic systems and you can see it in my journal here if you feel like it.
You can see in my journal I literally start with the floraflex setup drippers using barbed T’s like I mentioned, and the caps clips etc.
Eventually I find Netafim drippers.
The rest of this is my own personal opinion that that you may or may not find helpful…
Ultimately I believe flood and drain is way easier to maintain and results are better than drip.
Here’s another journal I did a long time ago doing flood and drain with rockwool:
I pretty much always return to flood and drain, because The buds end up denser, The maintenance is way easier, and drip is honestly a pain in the ass unless you really have it dialed in and have extensive experience using it (which you may already have, I don’t know)
Even with the floraflex caps, You end up with water channels in the blocks and they just don’t saturate well.
If you want to do a SOG with rockwool the best way to go is flood and drain in my opinion.
I realize I only partially answered your original question (despite a three paragraph rant).
They don’t sell pumps with a PSI rating, because that depends on your setup.
You need to use a calculator like this one:
Pumps are sold in GPH. So you might want to put in all of the other inputs first, then find the GPH you need. Pretty much any pump brand you can get on Amazon works just fine. I have used many of them including hydrofarm, ecoplus, etc.
So to summarize, put in the estimated length of the system, then the tubing size and go from there.
That will give you an estimated PSI and then you can match that to your drippers.
My grow area measures 60×240 cm, which corresponds to approximately 2×8 feet in American measurements. This gives space for around 64 plants. However, I think having that many drippers directly on the drip lines might be too unreliable.
I have some fittings that fit 25 mm hoses, so it’s safer to mount the drippers onto the main hose and run individual drip lines from there.
The pump calculator doesn’t seem to work, and I wasn’t aware that GPH could be converted to PSI. So if I buy an aquarium pump with enough GPH and use a 30–40 PSI pressure regulator, would that be enough for the system to function properly?
I live in the EU, where drippers and tubing are easy to find. However, components like air bleed valves and lateral flush valves are hard to get. Also, Floraflex equipment is 50–80% more expensive in EU hydro shops. That’s why I want to build a reliable system with as few parts as possible.
I’ve tried ebb and flow during the flowering phase, but it’s difficult to keep the humidity down in bloom. That’s why I want to switch to a drip system: I’ll place a coco mat at the bottom of the tray, set each 10x10cm rockwool cube on top, and cover the entire tray with film to prevent humidity from escaping into the grow space.
I’m moving soon, so I’ll need to completely rebuild my system. It still has to be stealthy, so that my neighbors can’t hear any noise or smell anything.
My old grow cabinet was 120×240 cm, which was already too big, so I’m building a new one at 60×240 cm.
In terms of cost, CNL drippers and the Floraflex bubblers come out about the same. I already have some parts for both setups. For the dripper system, I just need the drippers and 25 mm hoses. For the Floraflex system, I need six bubblers and some rigid tubing.
About the 3-phase pump you recommended– is it noisy too? According to the AliExpress page, it only produces 40 dB of noise. If I build a sound-dampening box around it, I can probably reduce the noise even further.
Price-wise, it’s perfect. And since the pump’s RPM can be adjusted, I could buy a more powerful model and run it at 50% speed to reduce noise. At that price, I could even keep a backup pump on hand in case it fails.
I think this was the one I used before – or at least something similar:
It could push the water through as long as I removed the internal colored flow restrictors inside the Floraflex bubblers. But it wasn’t an ideal pump. Every time it started, it would shake itself loose from the bottom of my reservoir, and it eventually broke. It also didn’t provide the water pressure I needed.
I see that there is a lot of different info and opinions about the number of plants in SOG.
Anything from 16-45 plants per m2. I thought 64 wasn’t much. They are cloned in 4x4cm cubes and finished in 10x10cm rockwool cubes with a coco mat at the bottom.
The goal is to make small short plants with single cola. Ebb and float is not an option. The humidity is far too high, and it will also require a very large reservoir.
I’ve never used these things - found that thread after I bought all my stuff. They sound like great little pumps for high pressure systems though. Bump that thread… a lot of those same ppl are still active.
For the price it’s worth a try. But honestly I’m confused. The pump has enough pressure, but does it have enough flow to pump water through 36 or 64 CNL drippers.
@Bubble-Bob depends on your drippers, that’s ~300gph… should be plenty. Personally I’d just go w/ a sump pump if transfer pumps are out of the question. Not really any other choice.
they’ve got all kindsa emitters, bubblers, sprinklers, drippers, whatever u need, they got 'em. had them for decades. i don’t know why growers don’t use them, they’re pennies apiece. and they got all kinds of other heads. the pix i posted are just the ones i bought recently on amazon. that quarter inch spaghetti tubing comes in flexible and stiff so you can make risers, also. most of my above pix are of plugs, L’s T’s and inline splices. Grab some 1/2" wonder pipe, and hook it up to yer pump. talk about cheap and easy.
I wanted to make my own aero cloner some time ago. And people in my local forum had experiences that they clog easily and also break easily, and wear out quickly.
But if they work without breaking etc. then they are a good choice.
But for drippers, you want to use a high quality dripper system.
The cheap ones also wear out and leak.
For people who use drain to wast, it is important that the drippers are precise, so they can easily control the PH and rockwool moisture without having to water with too much run off.
Drain to wast is expensive in nutrient costs. Besides, the cheaper drippers smell of cheap Chinese plastic, which is not healthy for the plants and the smoker.
This time I am starting to recycle my nutrient solution. So my system does not have to be 100 percent precise. But it just has to be practical.
High quality dripper costs under 1 dollar in the EU, sometimes under 50 cents. So it’s not that expensive. Hoses and tubing can be bought on Ali for cheap.
But you say they have worked well for you. So maybe when I make my aero cloner, I will use these if they don’t smell like Chinese plastic, and I can find them on Ali.
Besides, Amazon has banned me for buying on Amazon.
I dunno if i said so in my post but i am not a weed grower. My experience with these emitters/drip systems come only from my 30 some years experience as a home and lawn gardener. But i don’t think Chinese make any cheaper plastic than anybody else. Plus i don’t think they smell, tho i’ve never smelled them, and i don’t think it’s gonna effect the product much, if at all.
Banned from the 'zon? I get banned from everywhere, allatime, but wow man, wtf’d u do at amazon?
I’m not sure if I’m making an Aero cloner or a DWC cloner. But I’ll try them when I clone my own.
It was a strange thing with Amazon. I had ordered products for about 2000 euros, and returned them for about 30 euros because the products didn’t match the description, and some of them were broken.
So Amazon decided that I couldn’t order from them anymore. Since then I’ve started buying all my Amazon products from Ali. It’s much cheaper, and if there are problems, Ali has live chat support.
Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your local forum closing — that’s always a bummer when you lose a good community.
For a 60x240cm SOG setup in rockwool, you’re looking at a decent-sized operation. The Floraflex bubblers are solid choice for simplicity — if they’re already working well for you, scaling up with more of the same makes sense from a consistency standpoint. Less variables to troubleshoot.
CNL valves can be more precise and potentially cheaper per dripper in larger setups, but you’re right about needing the pressure regulator. That adds complexity and another potential failure point. For SOG where you want uniform delivery across many plants, that precision can be worth it though.
For pumps in that pressure range, a few options to consider:
Aquatec 8800 series (quiet, reliable, around 60 PSI)
SHURflo 2088 series (good pressure consistency, moderate noise)
Flojet pumps (decent middle ground on price/performance)
From what I see discussed across growing communities, the Aquatec pumps tend to get the best long-term reviews for reliability, though they cost more upfront. The SHURflo is probably the sweet spot for most growers.
You might also want to consider a small accumulator tank to reduce pump cycling and noise — really helps with system stability in larger drip setups.
What’s your plant count looking like for that space? That might help narrow down the best approach.
All three pumps seem like good options, and I think I’ll go with the Aquatec 8800. I don’t know much about booster pumps or accumulator tanks yet, but I’m trying to learn more.
I recently read Athena’s Precision Irrigation Guide, which helped me understand rockwool cultivation better. Based on that, I’m planning to use Netafim CNL drippers, either 1.2 or 2 liters per hour, along with everything that comes with a proper drip system. Athena recommends using one 1.2 L/h dripper per 4" rockwool cube, so I’m going to follow that for now.
I haven’t really used rockwool optimally in the past, According to Athena’s guide, but I’m hoping to improve that with this setup. I’ve gotten big buds, and an ok smoke. But it can obviously be done better.
The plan is to grow 64 plants, divided into two trays measuring 60x110 cm. That number might change depending on how the first grow goes in the new setup. I’ll experiment with spacing and genetics to find out how many plants fit best with 10x10 cm rockwool cubes in that area.
And yes, 60x240 cm is a big space. But I’m designing the cabinet so that I can add a room divider if needed and split it into two cabinets of 60x120 cm—or even one 60x160 and one 60x80. That way, I can create both a bloom and a veg room, in case I get tired of SOG or want to grow two different plants at the same time.
I found this YouTube channel where the grower uses 3" cubes and grows even bigger plants than I’m planning to. That convinced me it’s definitely possible to grow them in 4" (10x10 cm) cubes.
With the right genetics, I should be able to get small, thick, single-cola plants.
