I am planning a nft or I guess a dft since I'm going to use round pvc. I'm going to connect 6 5ft pieces of 3in pvc with 2in holes every 8 to 10in for the girls. 6 or 7 plants per pipe. I will be doing SOG style grow from clones under a 1000w hps. The 6 5ft pieces will all be connected so when water is put in the top it will flow down to the next pipe then to the next and so on until it gets back to the res that will be connected to the bottom pipe. They will be set with 1in of fall every 40in. That's the basic setup I'm planning. I have been reading that one of the biggest problems with this setup is the pump fails and roots dry out. I was wondering if there is some sort of fabric that I can put inside the pvc to absorb water and keep the roots wet incase of pump failure. I will be checking them every 24 hours to record data. Let me know if there are any flaws in the system I have over looked aswell. Thanks update: I will be usuing 4 to 6" pvc not 3"
ahhhhh I was reading through and about to be like "youre gonna need bigger pipe" and then I saw the edit while I havent made on of these, Ive always wanted to they seem to work very well but require skill to make work. Pumps dont burn out that often but if youre really worried, just use more than one. hell use THREE! have them all on the same timer and youre golden. dont add ANYTHING to the inside of the pipes. Thats root territory and if somehow you have a bockage you WILL regret it. looking forward to some pics of a sexy clean NFT
Thanks for the input. I will be getting a back up pump but didn't think about running them at the same time. I'm also looking into a UPS incase of power outage as some one mentioned in another forum. I think with all the bacups I won't need to put anything in the pipes, and I would have been screwed if there was a blockage and I had felt running through. Glad I posted It will be a couple weeks before I get everything going but I will take pics of the build and post them
keep in mind the start up energy needed for pumps is greater than many UPS' can handle and plan accordingly. Typically, you could just use a cup and run some water through yourself IF you have a power outage. you could do this a couple times a dayu and be just fine ESPECIALLY with an established root system. Remember, roots dont usually just sit in water. looking forward to seeing this grow