![]() Key Takeaway: Before buying a pump, make sure you can find its head height chart. As pressure increases, the flow rate (GPH) decreases. This water weight has to be pushed by the pump and creates pressure. Head height is very important because as the height increases, so does the weight of the water in the tubing. Dutch bucket systems normally have a head height under 1ft, but there will be some additional reduction in flow because of how long the tubing is to reach multiple buckets. Vertical systems will have a much higher head height since you’re pumping water to the top of a vertical grow chamber. In NFT and ebb & flow systems this will normally be around 2 feet or less. To calculate head height, measure from the bottom of your nutrient reservoir (where your pump will be located) to the position where the pump hose will feed into your hydroponic system. Head height refers to how high your system is from the bottom of your nutrient reservoir. We'll respect your privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time. Multiply the total number of towers by 2 to get your flow rate.īut wait, there’s more! There is one more question to answer before you’re ready to pick the perfect hydroponic water pump.īy entering your email address you agree to receive emails from Happy Hydro Farm. These systems need about 2 gallons of water per hour, per tower. Vertical and Tower systems are also easy to calculate volume. Multiply 2 by the total number of buckets to get the total flow rate needed. Each bucket needs to receive approximately 2 gallons of water per hour. Multiply that volume by the number of channels in your system to get the total system volume.ĭrip irrigation systems, aka Bato Buckets and Dutch Buckets, are pretty simple to calculate. Once the water reaches a depth of around ¼”, take note of how much water was added. Since NFT systems don’t use a lot of water, I like to use the marked 2-quart buckets you can get from a big box store. Plug the ends of one of your NFT channels, and begin adding water to the channel. That is your flood volume.Ĭalculating the volume of an NFT system works similarly to an ebb & flow system. Take note of how many gallons it took to reach that point. Begin adding water to the flood tray until the water reaches the overflow port and begins draining back into the reservoir. Next, fill up a container with a known amount of water (5-gallon buckets work well here). ![]() To figure out the volume of an ebb & flow system, first plug the fill port so water doesn’t immediately start draining. For instance, if you’re using 5-gallon buckets each bucket is probably holding around 3 gallons of water. If you’re using a deep water culture system, it’s pretty easy to figure out how large the system is. Before we do that, let’s answer the last two questions. Check out the Ebb & Flow Pump Sizing section for more information on calculating your own GPH Multiple.Ĭonfusing? Don’t worry, I’m gonna walk through the calculations for each system type. Systemġ The 20 multiple is based on a 3 minute fill time. I’ll help you calculate your actual pumping power (also called flow rate) a little further down.Ĭlick on the links in the table to go directly to a specific section. Note: These values are gallons per hour (GPH) recommendations. The table below will give you a general idea of the pumping power needed for your specific system. If you need help with that, check out this beginner’s guide to hydroponic systems. There are a lot of options when it comes to hydroponic systems. Third, how high above the reservoir will the system be?Īs long as you can answer those questions, I’ll help you answer the rest!Īlready know what size pump you need? Check out the 5 Best Hydroponic Pumps & Aerators I use and recommend. To select the best water pump for your hydroponic system you need to know a few things ahead of time.įirst, what kind of system are you building? Picking the right size hydroponic water pump or aerator isn’t rocket surgery.
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