How are regulated drippers different to unregulated drippers?

Regulated will restrict the amount that travels through per hour, whereas unregulated don't. 

What are pressure compensated drippers?

They open under minimum pressure and regulate how much solution goes through them. 

This method is by far the best one, as you'll deliver a similar amount of nutrient solution to each plant, and this will lead to more uniform growth. If you are using drip lines rather than a drip ring, they're a must. 

Just make sure you have enough pressure from your pump to activate all drippers; even those furthest from the pump in drip lines. 

When working under high pressure you'll also want 19mm or 25mm irrigation pipe. 

How do I connect drippers?

Firstly, you connect 13mm, 19mm or 25mm irrigation line to your pump. Then you need to connect drippers to your pipe. There are a couple of ways to do this:

option 1: punch holes in your pipe

1. Punch holes into your irrigation pipe
2. Push a nipple through each hole
3. Attach drip line to each nipple
4. Attach your dripper to the irrigation line

This isn't the best option as it isn't very watertight or secure.

option 2: use manifolds

This is easier to set up and is more watertight. 

Manifolds attach directly to your irrigation pipe. You can then attach drip line directly to them, ready to connect to your drippers.

What flow rate do I need?

It depends how much you want to feed plants. and there are so many ways you can deliver more or less feed through the same dripper that it almost doesn't matter. Just make sure you don't overfeed in soil or coco. 

For example, a 2L/H dripper on a 15-minute cycle, gives you 500ml. 

If you wanted to deliver plants twice this amount, you could increase the number of feeds, increase the length of feeds or get a faster flow dripper. 

Just remember that little and often tends to work best. 

Don't forget to take your media into account. In soil and coco, which hold onto water, you want to restrict water flow more, so you'll want a 2L/H dripper or a pressure-compensated one.

In clay pebbles, which are fast draining, you can go for a higher flow rate.

How many drippers?

The number of drippers is more to do with the coverage of your nutrient solution than the amount of nutrient solution. 1 dripper per plant is normally enough to deliver the right amount of feed.  However, multiples help to distribute nutrients more evenly across your media.

Just make sure there's enough pressure from your irrigation pump to activate each dripper. And make sure you aren't delivering too much feed by adjusting your irrigation times accordingly.