[lopocs.mpeg]

hey Desert, very informative thread, thanks. just installed one tropf blumat, if they perform well im gonna set nine more.

How much drip clean do you use?
What is the maximum Ec you run?
How high is your reservoir?
Do you use something (h2o2, bleach) to keep thing clean in res? what concentration?

[Desert Hydro]

Originally Posted by lopocs.mpeg

hey Desert, very informative thread, thanks. just installed one tropf blumat, if they perform well im gonna set nine more.

How much drip clean do you use?
What is the maximum Ec you run?
How high is your reservoir?
Do you use something (h2o2, bleach) to keep thing clean in res? what concentration?

just went through all my old threads. it seems the trend in blumat usage is 1ml per gal of drip clean. EC depends on nutrients. right now those little ones are getting 1.5 EC. i do 150-200ppm cal mag into the RO water and then 1 flat tsp of veg+bloom per gal which puts me right around 1.5

if you follow calmags usage rate of 3-5ml rec dosage it will put you at 120-200ppm (40 ppm per ml)

i will soon be adding slightly over a flush tsp and it should put me around around 1.8 ec total with the calmag.

i dont think i will be going over 1.8 EC unless they ask for food. im not running co2 so i doubt i will need more.

reservoir height depends on length of rows. 1' elevation per 10' of row manifold. i usually hang mine on a shelf at about waist high or chest high depending on the room. this tent wont need but waist high.

a good recipe for a dead res is 1ml bleach per 10 gal of nutrients. i was told at this amount it is less bleach than in the tap water of most water sources. you can double that amount if there is some sort of growth already to fix a current problem. it must be repeated weekly as bleach breaks down rapidly in the presence of organic matter. i have been adding beneficials to my nutrients but will go dead res once i install the blumats and then just hand water with beneficials and kelp teas once a week or so.

[Desert Hydro]

another thing is to light proof your reservoirs! this is important as all hell with blumats. i was told algae is one of the biggest reasons blumats clog. as long as your nutes dissolve cleanly in water and dont form junk on the bottom they should be fine to run but algae growth in the line will mess shit up bad and make you hate them.

once fine tuned they are amazing. if i can make some experiments work out this round i am gonna switch back almost completely to blumats.

[repuk]

Wanted to add some more info in addition to the master DesertHydro

Most important thing I learnt with blumats: do not let the reservoir to go under 10-5% capacity, as pressure changes and flooding takes place.

Your biggest enemy with regards to clogging are air bubbles. Make sure you have a venting line, and a line valve at the end to easily purge them.

Never had a problem with algae, guess an acidic medium helps (on swimming pools algae invariably appear at PH8, keep it at 7 and they rarely appear), reservoir was on a mostly dark room too.

My experience setting blumats and Blumats Install schematic may be useful.

[Desert Hydro]

i usually add an extra 3mm line at the end and tie a knot in it to use to vent. i raise that piece of the tubing in the air and untie the knot until it purges all the air. im cheap and wont my a bunch of parts when i can do it for free.

my reservoirs are auto top off and so should everyone elses be. very easy to do. get a main res with a pump. slow is better just make sure it has enough head pressure. pump from the big to your small elevated res and have an oversized return line. you can just use flood table fittings. small for inlet big for return. pump can run continually or cycles

[repuk]

Mmm... So instead of having the "delivery" res big and elevated, this has a small aux delivery reservoir elevated, and the main one (where you mix and place the pump) can be at floor level, pumping to keep the aux one full...

No float valves? just let the oversized return to take care?

Do you shut off the pump while mixing/measuring?

[Desert Hydro]

Originally Posted by repuk

Mmm... So instead of having the "delivery" res big and elevated, this has a small aux delivery reservoir elevated, and the main one (where you mix and place the pump) can be at floor level, pumping to keep the aux one full...

No float valves? just let the oversized return to take care?

Do you shut off the pump while mixing/measuring?

i think thats the gist of it. you can either leave the pump on 24/7 or put it on a cycle timer every few hours. you could set up a electronic float valve but i would install an overflow just in case it sticks lol.

i think i will do this next. never tried it before. could be fun.....or a fucking disaster. ive flooded my upsatirs three times already and ruined my flooring already so fuck it lol

i mix in a separate res and fill my other reservoirs from that. i have a clean RO res that gets nothing but a few drops of bleach once in a while and then i pump that to a mixing res(brute trash can)

the kids are about to get their blumats installed in the next few days. just need to build the reservoir setup but i have SO MANY PROJECTS on the list!

[rives]

Works like a charm, DH.

5 gallon up on top (4 useful), 20 gallon at the bottom. The 3/4" line on the right is the feed line from the pump, the 1-1/4" in the center is the return overflow. The pump kicks on twice a day for 5 minutes to keep the upper rez topped off. Be careful of the head rating on the pump, they will run out of steam in a hurry pumping straight up. The pressure line heading to the left with a ball valve is for pumping the reservoir out.

[repuk]

Thanks Guys!

I'm short on space, thinking on building a single cylindric res out of 300mm PVC, as a 1m/3foot height one will contain 70+ Liters (18+ Gals) and will fit nicely inside the garden shed where height is rather limited.

It will be raised 40cm from the floor; I know this may be seen as not too much, but I think gravity affecting the water "column" inside the cylinder will provide an hydraulic "syringe" effect...

[lopocs.mpeg]

i have another problem. after a few days something forming in my res. Brown rust-like particles. I use r/o, sensi cal mag extra canna nutes and a few drops bleach. You have any idea what the fuck is this?