AutoPot & Timers - Why?

[Jams67]

24 minutes ago, darksecrets999 said:

Yeah this is precisely the reason I’m not running autopots again. I thought the PlantIt timer could handle feeding during only lights on. Turns out you either feed at night or can only feed once a day if you want to feed during lights on only. Massive ballache

Hey bud, its actually been working  pretty good for me, and a bit different to how i expected. Right now ive got it set for 5 minutes every 12 hours it was on 15 minutes every 12 hours using 4l a day. I had one of the aqua valves stick open on my last test before turning on the system. It was a bit of plastic blocking one of the sponges on the valve. The good thing with the timer being set to 5 minutes if it got stuck open again there would be little to no overspill as it takes about 5 minutes to fill up. 

 

When I move to flower I’m not sure how I will set the timer as the 12/12 lighting means they will be getting fed at lights off, not sure if its really that big a problem anyway. In the wild it rains all times of day and night so I dont think it would be something they couldn’t handle. I might switch to one feed every 24 hours and set the timer for however long it takes to use the same amount of feed but then id loose the added flood protection so not sure on that one.

[Jams67]

Just now, J.C said:

As a bit of an update:

 

I didn't put a timer in at all. I spent a long time do additional research, speaking to some AutoPot staff and decided it wasn't needed. Plants have been doing great and I'll continue keeping an eye on them and report back

Thats good to hear its working well for you too mate. What stage are you at and how much feed are you going through per day?

[darksecrets999]

Just now, Jams67 said:

Hey bud, its actually been working  pretty good for me, and a bit different to how i expected. Right now ive got it set for 5 minutes every 12 hours it was on 15 minutes every 12 hours using 4l a day. I had one of the aqua valves stick open on my last test before turning on the system. It was a bit of plastic blocking one of the sponges on the valve. The good thing with the timer being set to 5 minutes if it got stuck open again there would be little to no overspill as it takes about 5 minutes to fill up. 

 

When I move to flower I’m not sure how I will set the timer as the 12/12 lighting means they will be getting fed at lights off, not sure if its really that big a problem anyway. In the wild it rains all times of day and night so I dont think it would be something they couldn’t handle. I might switch to one feed every 24 hours and set the timer for however long it takes to use the same amount of feed but then id loose the added flood protection so not sure on that one.

Yeah my main concern is flower too. There’s one thing with the soil being wet and it’s another with the medium being drenched in a pool of water 24 hours a day. That’s like it raining nonstop all day and night. Even with plants growing outdoors the ones that yield best are the ones that do have a wet and dry cycle. Sure they’ll grow just fine being in an autopot of water all day and night but will they necessarily be healthy? The buds might be nice and fat but will they be free of mould?

[Jams67]

Just now, darksecrets999 said:

Yeah my main concern is flower too. There’s one thing with the soil being wet and it’s another with the medium being drenched in a pool of water 24 hours a day. That’s like it raining nonstop all day and night. Even with plants growing outdoors the ones that yield best are the ones that do have a wet and dry cycle. Sure they’ll grow just fine being in an autopot of water all day and night but will they necessarily be healthy? The buds might be nice and fat but will they be free of mould?

Yeah I think in flower I will probably go with 1 cycle every 24 hours unless they need to go unattended for a few days then I might revert back to the 2 x 5 minute cycles. I think the roots can be lying in water when tray is full but the clay pebbles at the bottom of the pot should be creating enough of a barrier to stop the soil (or coco in my case) from getting oversaturated. I would say the timer is well worth it though, even just the added flood protection makes it worthwhile to have for me.

[darksecrets999]

Just now, Jams67 said:

Yeah I think in flower I will probably go with 1 cycle every 24 hours unless they need to go unattended for a few days then I might revert back to the 2 x 5 minute cycles. I think the roots can be lying in water when tray is full but the clay pebbles at the bottom of the pot should be creating enough of a barrier to stop the soil (or coco in my case) from getting oversaturated. I would say the timer is well worth it though, even just the added flood protection makes it worthwhile to have for me.

I’m 5 weeks into flower and I’ve been manually turning mine off (I’ve got a stop tap) 7 hours into the 12 hour lights on schedule and I’ve noticed the buds really fatten up

[J.C]

@Jams67 - Literally just flipped them, they're going through 100L every 6-7 days at the moment, but this might be skewed as we've had a hot week

[Jams67]

Just now, J.C said:

@Jams67 - Literally just flipped them, they're going through 100L every 6-7 days at the moment, but this might be skewed as we've had a hot week

Cool I’m hoping to flip within the next week, I’m using much less feed it seems, well depends how many plants you have I guess but Ive got 4 in a 1mx1m tent and going through 4-6 litres a day (roughly going by the measuring stick I made) Maybe I need to up my feed a little but they seem to be doing fine.

[darksecrets999]

Just now, J.C said:

@Jams67 - Literally just flipped them, they're going through 100L every 6-7 days at the moment, but this might be skewed as we've had a hot week

How many plant pots?

[darksecrets999]

19 minutes ago, Jams67 said:

Yeah I think in flower I will probably go with 1 cycle every 24 hours unless they need to go unattended for a few days then I might revert back to the 2 x 5 minute cycles. I think the roots can be lying in water when tray is full but the clay pebbles at the bottom of the pot should be creating enough of a barrier to stop the soil (or coco in my case) from getting oversaturated. I would say the timer is well worth it though, even just the added flood protection makes it worthwhile to have for me.

I’ve just had an idea. What if you had 2 reservoirs and 2 timers. Have the second res connected to the tube of the first res going into the trays via a T junction. Then have one of the res’s flood your system for an hour when lights come on. Then have the second res flood your trays 6 hours later

[Jams67]

19 minutes ago, darksecrets999 said:

I’ve just had an idea. What if you had 2 reservoirs and 2 timers. Have the second res connected to the tube of the first res going into the trays via a T junction. Then have one of the res’s flood your system for an hour when lights come on. Then have the second res flood your trays 6 hours later

Nice idea mate

[J.C]

@darksecrets999 & @Jams67 - I'm in a 1.2m x 2.4m tent with 8 plants, all 15L AutoPots

[darksecrets999]

13 minutes ago, Jams67 said:

Nice idea mate

Scratch that. I’ve figured it out. So I’ve bought a Wi-Fi water timer from Amazon. It’s meant to be connected to a garden tap. It comes with a reducer to 1/2 inch. I’ve also bought a 1/2 inch screw to barb reducer this 13mm Barb to 1/2" BSP Thread Male Hosetail https://amzn.eu/d/2uLH2bC.

 

then I’ll connect a 13mm pipe to the barbed part of that and connect a 13mm to 9mm barb reducer to that to connect to the autopot tubing. Then on the other end of the Wi-Fi device will be a 1/2 inch (13mm) male end. I’ll just plug some 13mm tubing onto that and have another reducer to reduce to 9mm and then have my autopot tubing connected to that and have it flowing into the autopots. Then I can turn the water on and off at leisure from wherever I am (at work). I’ll turn it on one hour after lights come on for an hour and then again 6 hours after that for an hour and then leave it off until the following day. It’s all coming from Amazon tomorrow. I’ll let you know how the Sunday project goes

[Jams67]

22 minutes ago, J.C said:

@darksecrets999 & @Jams67 - I'm in a 1.2m x 2.4m tent with 8 plants, all 15L AutoPots

 

Ah then we are not that far off using the same amount per pot per day, thats good to know 

 

Just now, darksecrets999 said:

Scratch that. I’ve figured it out. So I’ve bought a Wi-Fi water timer from Amazon. It’s meant to be connected to a garden tap. It comes with a reducer to 1/2 inch. I’ve also bought a 1/2 inch screw to barb reducer this 13mm Barb to 1/2" BSP Thread Male Hosetail https://amzn.eu/d/2uLH2bC.

 

then I’ll connect a 13mm pipe to the barbed part of that and connect a 13mm to 9mm barb reducer to that to connect to the autopot tubing. Then on the other end of the Wi-Fi device will be a 1/2 inch (13mm) male end. I’ll just plug some 13mm tubing onto that and have another reducer to reduce to 9mm and then have my autopot tubing connected to that and have it flowing into the autopots. Then I can turn the water on and off at leisure from wherever I am (at work). I’ll turn it on one hour after lights come on for an hour and then again 6 hours after that for an hour and then leave it off until the following day. It’s all coming from Amazon tomorrow. I’ll let you know how the Sunday project goes

Nice one mate, let me know how you get on with that, sounds like a better solution for timer

[J.C]

@Jams67 - Despite a few people on here not liking the system, I've found it to be really good, maybe because it's the first time I'm not hand watering. I'm still on the "old style" system with the thinner pipes so have had to be a bit careful on which nutes I use so it doesn't block the tubes. I have a feeling that with proper maintenance I shouldn't have any flooding issues

[Jams67]

20 hours ago, J.C said:

@Jams67 - Despite a few people on here not liking the system, I've found it to be really good, maybe because it's the first time I'm not hand watering. I'm still on the "old style" system with the thinner pipes so have had to be a bit careful on which nutes I use so it doesn't block the tubes. I have a feeling that with proper maintenance I shouldn't have any flooding issues

Yeah I’m finding the same so far, its my first grow so I cant compare to anything else but its been very convenient, and being able to let them go unattended for 4 or 5 days is ideal. I have the newer ones with the bigger tube, the only problem I had was one aqua valve getting stuck open and that was due to a bit of plastic debris in the tray blocking one of the seals, luckily this happened on a test run and was able to sort it out quick.