DIY Auto-Watering & Drain to Waste System.

[dingo bingo]

39 minutes ago, OddNut said:

@dingo bingo I’ll second the top spin 12s pretty good bits of kit I have 4 of them at the moment. I’ll also second that dripping slowly is better for saturation. I once pulled the flow regulators out of the topspin because they get clogged now and again and in turn this upped the flow rate. using 60 40 mix the nutrient literally flowed straight through my pots without saturating anything. I had underwaterd plants but massive run off  took a while to figure 

 

Do you run a filter before the top spin? I've ran mine for a few crops now and haven't had any blockages.

 

You live and learn eh! I love the simplicity of 100% coco, easy to clean away after a crop, maximum space for roots and still has great drainage. Will try some fabric pots soon as they seem worth a punt.

[dingo bingo]

5 hours ago, Magicmunchietree said:

I have attached a picture of the room (taken 2 weeks ago), I run 2 x 600w air cooled lights and I have 6 X 8litre fabric pots evenly spaced with a scrogg but the canopy is full wall to wall. I wanted more but things sometimes don't go as planned. I have one garland 80x80cm deep tray, and two 60x60cm trays that I have made bamboo cane grids for that sit on top of the trays, that allows run off to drain into so the pots arent sat in it. It could be better I know. Im harvesting tomorrow, I have 9 babies lined up for next time so I plan to make an amendment or two. I trialled the fabric pots and my stems were amazing, thicker than a brush stail so I put that down to air/water ratio from the pots. 

 

Are you in a loft, just out of curiosity? I know nothing has leaked since I have been doing it manually, which leads me to believe it would be ok on an automated system. However if a dripper fell off and the timer broke whilst on im getting water everywhere, and water always travels down lol....

 

I recycle once my 70litre res is empty, then I just use the same pump with a another length of hose I cut specially for, to pump it back from the 3 trays to the main tank, only if the run off EC is the same as what went in however. I could send 140L through the plants into the trays without overspill like. And it takes me 4-5 mins to get run off with the black drippers, and I think thats because Im doing it twice per day and the coco is still fairly moist. But my pump does really kick it out fast.

 

See what you think, thanks for the detailed response.!

 

I'd say you definitely want to be watering at least twice a day with only 24L of coco under each 600. Have you got height to play with? I sit my pots in a 1m/sq danish tray, it has a drain which empties in to a bucket sat beneath - just need some height to build a frame for the tray to sit on but then all your run off is already collected every single time (I used to spend so much time mopping up run off with a sponge ). The fabric pots sound good - I'll try some out soon!

 

No I'm not, but my run off buckets can still overflow (yet to buy deep trays for them to sit in in case of overflows). Other than run off overflowing I guess its just a timer failing that would cause a flood - but do timers stay on if they fail? I have a feeling they stay off if broke - hopefully I'm right.....

 

Personally I never re-use any water, all run off is waste.

[OddNut]

@dingo bingo 

 

yeah I’ve always had a filter before my drippers. Just happens now and again, doesn’t really matter if you have multiple drippers per pot and nothing a good scrub of the heads won’t sort between runs 

[Magicmunchietree]

12 hours ago, dingo bingo said:

 

Personally I never re-use any water, all run off is waste.

Thanks for the feedback, twice a day is where they seem at their happiest. Although it will be 9 next time not 6. I was on three times per day but it did get tedious and thought it was overkill. Ill look into that danish tray, sounds interesting.

[PKush]

UK420 brethren, good day.

 

Found these for a few quid in Home n Bargains.  Not bought them yet but thought was fitting for this topic anyway.

 

[stickyblack]

Nice find @PKush .. I would remove the drippers and make dripper rings.. couple pumps and your good to go 

Edited March 1, 2018 by stickyblack

[Benpetert]

Can't wait to give this a go. Hand feeding has become a real chore.

 

Only question I have is how noisy are the maxi jet pumps? Well also, how necessary is it to have an additional pump to keep the res circulating? 

 

My tent is in my bedroom so need to keep the noise down really. 

 

Thanks. 

[K71]

On 27/03/2018 at 3:04 PM, Benpetert said:

Can't wait to give this a go. Hand feeding has become a real chore.

 

Only question I have is how noisy are the maxi jet pumps? Well also, how necessary is it to have an additional pump to keep the res circulating? 

 

My tent is in my bedroom so need to keep the noise down really. 

 

Thanks. 

Got to keep the feed well mixed.

pumps give off a light hum, they also heat up the solution and keep it at the right temps.

 

an alternative to a pump to keep the nutes mixed is a powerhead https://goo.gl/images/6VFm8d

im going to give one a go next time instead of using a normal pump

[RePtOiD]

Can those that have their systems setup and running help me on afew points im about to purchase the parts of my system to be.  Right ive got the shape of my system sorted thanks to golden syrup for that, itl be one big square basically everything will be made out of pvc tubing

 

1.  How does everyone find using the nipples plugged into holes in the pvc tubing that then connect to drippers has anyone experienced any leaks or pop outs when using them.  maybe inline T with the reducers are a dearer but better option?

 

2.  Im thinking of either using them adjustable sprayer drippers so i can turn sites off should a plant die or if i don't get enough cuttings ect or open pipes with Y at the end.  How has everyone found drippers for clogging? which would you use?

 

3.  Does anyone use anti clogging additives like drip clean or wetting agents to help maybe are they needed or just snake oil?

 

Thanks.

[RePtOiD]

Also anyone know the inner diameter of the 16mm pvc tubing by any chance? thanks

[Robot808]

15 hours ago, RePtOiD said:

Can those that have their systems setup and running help me on afew points im about to purchase the parts of my system to be.  Right ive got the shape of my system sorted thanks to golden syrup for that, itl be one big square basically everything will be made out of pvc tubing

 

1.  How does everyone find using the nipples plugged into holes in the pvc tubing that then connect to drippers has anyone experienced any leaks or pop outs when using them.  maybe inline T with the reducers are a dearer but better option?

 

2.  Im thinking of either using them adjustable sprayer drippers so i can turn sites off should a plant die or if i don't get enough cuttings ect or open pipes with Y at the end.  How has everyone found drippers for clogging? which would you use?

 

3.  Does anyone use anti clogging additives like drip clean or wetting agents to help maybe are they needed or just snake oil?

 

Thanks.

 

The nipples plugged into the pipe, they can leak a little m8

 

I don't use drippers, i just have the 4mm pipe going to the pot held in place with a stake, free flowing like. Ive never had a problem with clogging & ive never used any drip clean or anything like that.

 

Hope thats of some help to you m8

[RePtOiD]

Hi robot thanks for the reply i think due to the fact that im going to use a high pressure pump i really dont want to come in and see a nipple popped out of the tubing and water spraying up to the lights or worse so im going t go with the T reducers that afew people seem to be using.

 

Now what size reducer will i need the spaghetti dripper tubing is what internal diameter? i need to make sure what ever reducer i get the tubing will fit over.

[Stardowg]

On 31/10/2012 at 4:47 PM, Bluez said:

Ok cool, I've just moved over to Dutch pro as a mates using this with drippers and not having the same probs as me, and he's not even running to waste.

Do you not have problems leaving the run off? Surely humidity shoots up and then buggars your carbon filter??

Have you always had them lifted off the floor? I'm just hoping that me lifting them up has solved my problems.

Im using dutch pro 2 for my coco  feeds no issues yet with product 

[Stardowg]

Great thread this on coco ive read through every page on this thread and you guys r excellent wish u all the best .learned so much just reading threw threads 

[squirrel]

Terrific thread, thanks everybody.  I've been using a pump, lines and drippers for quite a while to make watering easier, growing in compost, but when I put in a larger reservoir, 80 litres instead of 30, I started to get problems with siphoning before I had even switched the pump on, from the increased water pressure in the larger tank.  Fortunately I noticed that one of the plants was sitting in a puddle in its saucer when it shouldn't have been wet at all *before* I flooded the grow room!  So I took the pump right out of the tank, it can't flood anything while sitting in a plant saucer, and came here to do some research.

 

I am now fairly sure I know what to do to stop it happening, but one thing that puzzles me a bit is why does Saint's updated version, with the antler inside the tent and a long return line back to the reservoir work?  That's a lot of line the air has to work its way through.  It seems to me that it ought to work better with a much shorter return line, inserted into the main tube nearer to the tank?  Is there a reason why that's a bad idea?

 

Thanks for your help