Are you looking to get started using a hydroponic system to grow hemp or cannabis? As more states move to legalize cannabis, more and more people are looking into growing these products.
Hydroponic systems are a great way to grow cannabis and hemp, allowing for shorter grow times and more frequent harvesting. While there are a significant number of hydroponic solutions, many growers prefer drip irrigation systems for their efficient nutrient delivery and water-saving benefits.
To get the best results from your drip irrigation system, you'll need to install a water filter. Choosing the right filter keeps your water pure.
Why Do You Need a Water Filter?
Water filters are a necessary component of any irrigation system, and your drip irrigation system is no different. They keep your system clean and allow you to produce the highest quality crop possible.
No matter where you source your water from, it contains contaminants that may damage your crop and impact your growing efforts. Some of these are microscopic and can contribute to plant diseases that threaten to reduce your yield and impact the quality of your crop.
Other water contaminants, like soil, are easier to see. While they may not be particularly harmful to your crop, they can clog your drip irrigation system. It's imperative that you make sure these larger particulates are removed from your water supply.
What to Consider When Choosing a Filter
To find the right filter for your irrigation system, you'll need to consider a few key factors. This will help to keep your system in the best shape possible.
Where Your Water Comes From
If you're using municipal water(tap) in your irrigation system, the water is free of larger contaminants. So, in this situation, you probably won't need to add a robust filter. However, you will still need a filter to remove certain chemicals.
On the other hand, you may choose to get your water from natural sources like ponds or rivers. In this case, your filter is responsible for removing all contaminants from the water. You'll need one that can filter tiny pathogens and larger particulates like dirt, plant matter, and other organic compounds.
Easy to Clean
Over time, your filter will need cleaning. If you're using treated municipal water, you'll have to clean less often. However, those using untreated water need to clean their filters often, sometimes multiple times a week.
Because cleaning will be a regular chore, consider how simple to cleaning process is when looking for a filter. On some filters, removing the screen for cleaning is easy, but other filters require you to take apart the sprinkler head assembly.
To save time and effort, look for a self-cleaning filter. Self-cleaning is one of the most desired irrigation filter features.
You Might Need More Than One Filter
One filter might not be enough to properly clean your water. If your water supply has a high level of solid debris, you'll need a set of filters to handle the load.
Additionally, you'll want to remove harmful chemical agents from the water treatment process from your irrigation water. Some filters aren't up to that task on their own.
The Different Kinds of Hydroponic Filtration
There are a number of options for filters suitable for your hydroponic system. Here are some of the main options out there.
Screen Filters
Screen filters are the most common type of irrigation system filters for a drip irrigation system. They are typically the least expensive filter option, and they do a great job removing hard particles like rust from your water supply.
However, these filters are prone to clogging. Softer organic material tends to smear across the screen, and that causes a dramatic drop in water pressure and can clog your system.
To avoid this, you'll have to invest in a self-cleaning system or take the time to manually remove the screen and rinse or brush it clean.
Media Filters
Filtering water through media like gravel or sand is an effective way to remove larger contaminants from your water supply. If you're using water from a river, pond, or lake in your irrigation system, you'll greatly benefit from a media filter.
Media filters are composed of two chambers separated by a strainer. A top chamber contains the media, usually gravel, and the bottom chamber collects the filtered water.
They work by forcing water through the top chamber. As water passes through this chamber, the media absorbs the contaminants. Then, the filtered water passes through the strainer and collects in the bottom chamber.
To clean a media filter, you'll use a simple backflow method. You inject water through the filter in the opposite direction. This lifts the contaminants from the media and they exit the filter through a separate valve. In the process, the media never leaves the filter.
Depending on the quality of your water, you may need more than one media filter to ensure that the water is suitable for your crop.
Disc Filters
These filters are the preferred choice for many smaller irrigation systems. They are effective at removing a wide variety of contaminants from your water supply, from larger pieces of matter like dirt and sand to smaller organic compounds.
Disc filters are made up of a filter housing with a number of small nylon discs stacked inside them. Each disc has grooves of a specific micron size.
In operation, water flows through the filter and compresses the discs. While water passes through the collection of discs, contaminants cling to their grooves. You can link a number of disc filters together if your water needs robust filtration efforts.
You'll seldom have to clean your disc filters. Fortunately, the cleaning process is as easy as unscrewing the filter housing and rinsing the discs under clean water.
Centrifugal Filters
Centrifugal filters are ideal for removing large amounts of matter from a water source. You'll need these if you use well water and it's filled with debris like sand or dirt.
These systems work on a simple principle. As water enters the filter chamber, it's forced to spin. This rotational motion pushes the debris to the outer wall of the filter. Clean water then makes its way through the top of the filter.
While these filters are effective at removing large amounts of solid contaminants from your water supply, some smaller bits may make their way through the filter. You'll want to use these in conjunction with another filtering solution.
Carbon Filters
To ensure the health of your crop, you'll need to find a way to remove water treatment chemicals like chlorine from your water supply.
Carbon filters are ideal for this purpose. These filters are containers filled with activated carbon. The production process of activated carbon increases the surface area of the carbon by dotting its surface with many small pores. This allows microscopic contaminants to cling to the carbon, effectively filtering your water. You'll likely want to install this kind of filter alongside a disc or media filter.
While you won't have to clean your carbon filter in the traditional sense, you'll need to periodically replace the activated carbon in the containers. If you live in an area with heavily treated water, you'll be replacing the activated carbon often.
Reverse Osmosis
While most municipal water is free of larger contaminants, you'll still need to find a way to remove the other very small contaminants that are present in most city water.
Membrane filters up to the task, and reverse osmosis is the best and most popular kind. These filters make use of a membrane with incredibly tiny pores one nanometer in size. They can remove something as small as ions from a water supply.
In a reverse osmosis filter, water first passes through a pre-filtration system. Common pre-filtration efforts include a carbon filter and a sediment filter to remove solid debris. Then, the water passes through the membrane filter before collecting in a storage tank.
Of all kinds of water filtration, this is the most thorough. Make sure that you use a proper pre-filtration system to preserve your membrane filter.
Due to their size, these filters get dirty incredibly quickly. You'll likely have to employ a self-cleaning system to ensure the continued operation of your reverse osmosis filter.
Choosing Your Ideal Filtration System
When it comes to irrigation for cannabis, no single filter is the catch-all solution. In most cases, you'll have to prevent larger debris from entering your water supply and reduce the number of chemicals like chlorine present in your water.
The majority of cannabis and hemp growers will benefit from using a carbon filter in conjunction with a mechanical filter like a disc filter. You could also invest in a reverse osmosis filter, which combines the two with a membrane filter, giving you the most complete filtration process.
Drip Irrigation Systems Require a Filter
Drip irrigation systems are one the best ways to grow cannabis and hemp, and investing in a filtration solution to keep your irrigation system up and running is an absolute necessity.
Various kinds of sediment filtration and membrane filtration offer significant benefits and allow your plants to grow up healthier and stronger.
Ready to get to work? Flora Flex has all the hydroponic supplies you need. Visit their website and check out their irrigation products today.
