Sergio - Thanks pal. You are building something really cool here. And with a good bit of innovation! The extra wire for the Tek, and that manifold are way cool IMO.
In my testing at check valve adds no loss of flow to what you are doing - more work for the peristaltic pump to be sure - but the pressure can't get back to the source reservoir (due to the way the peristaltics work) so it doesn't slow it down. And IMO, if you have a peristaltic on the end of all 4 of those lines, you have no threat of draining your ferts if something slips. It's just that one connection to the main return line that has me worried.
I don't have a lot of experience with John Guest lines. They work great for me in my drain/fill solution, but I still have a solenoid on each of the lines so that any leak in a JG fitting (if it happens
) won't drain my tank. Same issue IMO where your 1-2-4 fitting connects to the main return flow.
Thanks for sharing the reason for the rubber. Good solution. I put in a T with a great big screw cap so that I can unscrew it every year, shake out the bio balls, and wash them out. And guess what? I've done that twice now, and they were so clean, I kicked myself for not just making it a straight piece of PVC! Instead of having that big giant "T" on my diffuser. Here I thought I was being clever, but in fact it appears to me that cleaning the inside of a diffuser is completely unnecessary. Or so it seems. Maybe it's good to have that option, but is unnecessary unless something goes very, very wrong inside your lines.
Here's another thought you might not want to hear though... Will all that CO2 degrade that rubber? I dunno - could be safe. Clever solution anyway.
