As I'm designing my grow spaces, I'm wondering what everybody does when they need to drain/change their reservoir or bubble buckets or whatever. In a week's worth of reading the forum, I really haven't seen anyone address this issue. I don't have enough space to raise my reservoirs or bubble buckets off the ground. I'm dealing with six feet of vertical space only, and 5ft in another space. I'm getting ready to use a third space that will only give me four feet of vertical space. I see all these tutorials for making reservoirs, or cloners, or bubble buckets, and they all involve drain pipes being installed in the bottom. What the hell do you guys do with that water? My current plan involves either a wet vac or a sump pump. Those are the only two practical options I can think of, and they don't seem ideal. It seems pointless for me to install drains in the bottom of my reservoirs because I have no place for the water to go but up. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks for the reply. So, are you draining buckets, a large reservoir, or what? How big are they, and how long does that take?
I’m only draining about 7 gallons. Never timed it but it’s fairly quick Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a 25 gallon system and use a pump that goes on an electric drill to drain mine. Takes maybe 5 mins to drain the whole thing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Bingo mate, what he said . ️ Can also use it to pump water up to the attic if like me your girls are roof dwellers Sent from my SM-J330FN using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Use my spare submersible pump to get it down to maybe an inch of water, then close the ball valve on the outside of the reservoir on unhook from the union to drain the rest of the way. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
I use one of these utility pumps, gets basically all the water and is super quick. I've seen them on craigslist for pretty cheap
Okay, I came up with a solution for my particular situation. I'm growing SOG style in one gallon pots that look like 2-liters. They're basically twice the volume of a 2-liter. Six inches in diameter rather than the 2-liters' 4.5 inches. I need to fit as many of those containers in the tent as possible to maximize yield, so they need to be touching each other. Therefore, it is Impractical to use individual saucers for each container to catch the runoff. Here is what the containers look like: I'm growing hempy style, and I will be hand-watering. The water leaking out of those drain holes in each container can be a big problem. If it collects around the bottom of the tent, it could become a breeding ground for multiple pests, diseases, and can add humidity. So, I'm going to get these for my two 2x4 flowering tents: https://m.lowes.com/pd/Freedom-Comm...ssembled-White-Vinyl-Fence-Blank-Post/3158963 I'm going to cut them into four 4 -foot pieces, then cut them in half long ways creating four 4-ft long u-shaped troughs. I'm going to use PVC underneath to slightly elevate one end higher than the other by about 2 in, so the water will flow toward one end. Also, I'm going to have to elevate them seven inches off the floor so I can fit this underneath for the water to drain into: Sterilite® Clear Plastic Under Bed Storage Bin Clear with White Lid 7gal Then, I will position the drain holes on each container so that they are in line with the opening of the trough. The drainage water will fall down into the trough and flow to the end, eventually falling into the tote. I will either empty the tote by hand or pump it out. So, I will have to sacrifice about 9 inches of vertical space which is definitely do-able.
Add a triple nipple T to your pump output (line going from res to plants). Put an inline quarter turn globe valve (double nipple style) on the 2 sides of the T that dont go to res. Close valve going to plants, open other valve with hose attached to it (hose into empty bucket), turn on res pump. When done emptying, open/close both valves accordingly. The t and 2 inline valves cost like 4 dollars at big box store. No need for a large additional pump unless that is what you really want to do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk