Automated options

[Aphatspliff]

Easy people. Not sure if this is the correct section or not!? I’ve nearly completed my first coco grow and so far I’m really impressed, love the Growers Ark nutes, but I’m hand watering and having to be there at a certain time every day is getting in the way of life. With soil I always had a couple days spare so it wasn’t so much an issue but if I’m going to continue with the coco I need to get some sort of automated watering set up. I’ve only ever hand watered so no idea what’s best. I do 9 plants in a 1.5 tent, what are my best options and what maintenance is involved?

[MonkeyBlazed]

Try Blumats auto watering system , cut down on the amount of plants and go for bigger pots.

[Aphatspliff]

Hi @MonkeyBlazed. Cheers for your suggestion. Those are the carrots that go in the top of the pots, dripper set up? How does that work in coco as I thought you needed a decent run off or you get salt build up problems? You mention bigger pots.. is this due to them taking longer to dry out? 

 

Also I’m not sure how I’m going to keep my water ph stable. It’s pretty high out the tap and even after nutes. I’ve noticed if I leave a made up solution overnight the ph shoots right up. That’s just sat in a bucket though, no movement or aeration, does that help or not? Always wondered how people do it in tanks.

 

[MindSoup]

Yeah Coco and Blumats aren't really compatible. 

 

 

 

 

[MonkeyBlazed]

Yes they might not be compatible with a regular watering system but if you used beanstalk nutes they will work. But honest its more trouble than its worth getting it all dialed in that's why i went over to using peat.  I use coco fibre when starting seedlings off, works well then i transfer into peat.

[GSZZ]

20 minutes ago, MonkeyBlazed said:

But honest its more trouble than its worth getting it all dialed in that's why i went over to using peat.

 

Why did you even recommend it then?

 

4 hours ago, Aphatspliff said:

Easy people. Not sure if this is the correct section or not!? I’ve nearly completed my first coco grow and so far I’m really impressed, love the Growers Ark nutes, but I’m hand watering and having to be there at a certain time every day is getting in the way of life. With soil I always had a couple days spare so it wasn’t so much an issue but if I’m going to continue with the coco I need to get some sort of automated watering set up. I’ve only ever hand watered so no idea what’s best. I do 9 plants in a 1.5 tent, what are my best options and what maintenance is involved?

 

Just rock a very cheap dripper. Get a big 1.5 x 1.5 or 1.2 x 1.2 tray and stick your plants in the tray on upturned plant pot saucers. You can even drill holes in the saucers if you're feeling fancy.

There are loads of threads (or there used to be) on how to make a cheap manifold, but I've attached a picture to give you an idea.

 

 

 

Pretty self explanatory I think. The components out of shot is an inline filter, flow control tap, and a small "anti-syphon" valve - but its not a proper one, its a 16-6mm autopot adaptor like you can see in the picture but at tank level firing back into the tank so as the pump turns off it lets air in the line.

 

e2a: obviously a timer, pump and tank is out of shot too but I thought best not to assume.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by GSZZ

[MonkeyBlazed]

I did not think it was an issue before it was an issue , thats why i said i use peat but it can still work with beanstalk

[Aphatspliff]

Good job I didn’t go out and buy the kit  

 

Cheers for the recommendation @GSZZ I literally have 0 knowledge about any watering system, it’s all completely new to me! No idea what inline filter to use etc. Is there anymore info on this set up in any of your old threads?

 

Just trying to get my head round how that works, so the timer goes off, water is fed for a set amount of time till you get run off into the big tray, then where does the run off go?

 

[GSZZ]

Just now, Aphatspliff said:

then where does the run off go?

 

In the tray till you go and mop it up with a big sponge and a bucket. Gives you a bit of elbow room too if you can't get there for a day or two - also gives you more output data to look at, output EC and output volume, you correlate that with your input EC and volume and you can paint a very clear picture of when to add irrigations/lower or increase EC etc.

 

Just now, Aphatspliff said:

s there anymore info on this set up in any of your old threads?

 

I can't even remember, I know I've posted pictures and stuff in threads before. @SYZYGY posted loads of stuff too (where youve gone mate?!).

 

Just now, Aphatspliff said:

 No idea what inline filter to use etc

 

IWS micro filter. You should just be able to ask for an "IWS dripper filter" in any grow shop and get given the right thing. Should.

 

 

[Aphatspliff]

Cheers dude, I’ll have a little search for some of SYZYGY’s posts. So run off will be ok sat in the tray for a couple days while I’m away as long the plants don’t drink any of it up obviously? Hopefully the humidity won’t jump up too much or I’ll have to look at some sort of dtw set up.

 

Also how do you go about keeping the ph stable in the tank? 
 

My shops pretty good but I think he’s heavily involved with autopot, hence why I’ve asked about my options on here first as he'll probably try steer me towards them. You may have even been to one of their socials, if not I’m sure you’ll know where I mean anyway 

[MonkeyBlazed]

21 minutes ago, Aphatspliff said:

Good job I didn’t go out and buy the kit  

 

Cheers for the recommendation @GSZZ I literally have 0 knowledge about any watering system, it’s all completely new to me! No idea what inline filter to use etc. Is there anymore info on this set up in any of your old threads?

 

Just trying to get my head round how that works, so the timer goes off, water is fed for a set amount of time till you get run off into the big tray, then where does the run off go?

 

Its a good bit of kit mate, when used right and is better in my opinion than flooding the place them mopping it up. Look at flood and drain or some other method, if its worth doing right that is.

[GSZZ]

Just now, Aphatspliff said:

So run off will be ok sat in the tray for a couple days while I’m away as long the plants don’t drink any of it up obviously? Hopefully the humidity won’t jump up too much or I’ll have to look at some sort of dtw set up.

 

Yep it'll be fine, the humidity shooting up can be a bit of an issue later on in the cycle but if you stay ontop of it, it wont be much in there when you do have to leave it.

 

Just now, Aphatspliff said:

Also how do you go about keeping the ph stable in the tank? 

 

It stays stable because its not being recirculated, so its kinda like set it and forget it. Well its not that cut and dry, it kinda depends on how hard your water is, but it'll steadily rise up over the course of the tank but thats not really an issue as long as it stays between 5.5 - 6.5. In my own tanks it comes out at 6 ph and by the time its come to do a fresh one it might be 6.3/6.4 and I have quite hard water.

 

[Aphatspliff]

Really appreciate your help man. I’ll sit down at some point and properly wrap my head round it all. Found this thread for anyone else that’s interested, I’ve only had a quick flick through as stoned and tired but info from GSZZ and SYZYGY on their set up in there - 

Did the auto thread that gets mentioned ever come to fruition?

[stu914]

Have a look in my profile, 'Mish-Mash' and 'Gavie' threads might give you some ideas...

[mikeydoughnut]

Listen to GSZZ and Stu and yer can’t go far wrong. It’s a lot easier than you think. I got bored during my last grow. I don’t have much else going on in my life to be fair so I’d end up sort of redundant. Definitely frees up time that’s for sure