Blumat auto watering

[Ichabod Crane]

well, im all set to order my kentsystems pieces (200 x 3/32" barb tees) but I want to be sure that those are what I need to fit the blumats to 1/2" ID feed line/manifold.

I believe what you need is the unions not the tees to connect to the 1/2 inch line.

 

[Coco Sagan]

I believe what you need is the unions not the tees to connect to the 1/2 inch line.

zuh? id love elaboration! i'm about to make the purchase so if I could get some details that' be great

 

[Coco Sagan]

https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=94110&d=1292816265

here's a pic of Herbovizer's setup, what is he using to connect his 3mm lines to the 1/2" hydrofarm tubing that he's got runnin?

 

[redbudduckfoot]

Probably the barbed fittings from Kent Systems. Somewhere in this thread.

RBDF

 

[Ichabod Crane]

It looks like he is using 3/32 inch unions from kent.

 

[ekomsi]

3/32in tees or unions are made to connect the bigger main manifold tubing to the 3mm brown tubing that goes threw the pinch valve on the blumat sensor.

Whats the best way to make the 3/32in hole in 1/2in tubing I need to make 50 holes for my 3/32in barbed unions(straight connectors). drill bit? what size?

 

[Coco Sagan]

i believe u can just use a tube hole puncher thang, one of those gimmicky hydro store impulse buys

 

[Coco Sagan]

Thanks! I'm seeing how he is just using unions for his single-blumat per-pot setup. I guess for my purposes I'll need the tees since i'm doing 2 blumats per site to cut plumbing in half...ish.

It looks like he is using 3/32 inch unions from kent.

Probably the barbed fittings from Kent Systems. Somewhere in this thread.

RBDF

3/32in tees or unions are made to connect the bigger main manifold tubing to the 3mm brown tubing that goes threw the pinch valve on the blumat sensor.

 

[sunnydog]

We're outfitting our 24k warehouse with these hopefully soon, and i'm trying to come up with the best ways to split up our reses / best blumat setup.

We have 8 7-gallon smart pots per tray, w/ 12 trays each. So 96 7-gallon plants total. Is one blumat maxi enough for each 7-gallon smart pot? We have 4x8 botanicaire trays so runoff can happen accidentally but we're aiming for almost none.

I'm thinkin a 55-gallon drum in each corner of the room. Is that enough to feed 24 plants w/ a res fill up every 2 days? Or should we look into getting those 105-gallon standup reses?

I really really like ekomsi's idea of pumping your nute solution that is mixing in a 55gallon drum into a 25 gallon elevated res w/ an overflow line, as quoted below from his original post in his "Huge Experiment..." thread:



Any input on the res size or even the efficiency of outfitting an entire flower room this way? Thanks peeps!



PS It's a medical grow so the intent w/ the blumats is just to free up time for other duties instead of wanting to go on vacation for 2 weeks or something. The blumats will be closely monitored at all times.

Using a pump/pressure vessel as per Weed killer is probably the best way to go for this.
As it is a PITA to get to my site, I check on them ONCE A WEEK.

 

[sunnydog]

Tip

Tip

To make getting the 8cm length stick out on the drip line, I cut a piece of drinking straw to the proper length to use as a guide.

 

[rrog]

Make sure your drip line is @ the recommended 8cm long.

Sunny, you mean 8cm after the carrot, right?

 

[Weed Killer]

Dave
I have seen the boost systems, the 804-013 looks perfect, just add a regulator, but I also could not find a seller.

Coco Sagan
Over in the vert forums eastbay is using a Dosatron fertilizer injector on a run to waste top feed.

In theory with several blumats there would be enough flow for a dosatron to function and you could run without a reservoir at all

 

[Coco Sagan]

Dave


Coco Sagan
Over in the vert forums eastbay is using a Dosatron fertilizer injector on a run to waste top feed.

In theory with several blumats there would be enough flow for a dosatron to function and you could run without a reservoir at all

Holy shit.... I scratched my chin and made the exact same face after reading that possibility. Thanks for the info!

Sunnydog, huge props to you and everyone else that have contributed to this over the past couple years. i wish you continued success!

On a coco-note, it's kinda been freaking me out how low I feed my flowering plants these days (PRE blumats). I rarely go above 1.6, usually stay around 1.4 EC for bloom nutes.

how much lower do you think i'll have to adjust this for blumats? how did you make the change yourselves?

 

[Dave Coulier]

Holy shit.... I scratched my chin and made the exact same face after reading that possibility. Thanks for the info!

Sunnydog, huge props to you and everyone else that have contributed to this over the past couple years. i wish you continued success!

On a coco-note, it's kinda been freaking me out how low I feed my flowering plants these days (PRE blumats). I rarely go above 1.6, usually stay around 1.4 EC for bloom nutes.

how much lower do you think i'll have to adjust this for blumats? how did you make the change yourselves?

I run my res at 45-50% of normal strength in my res for Blumats, but Ive been known to bump it up should the soil solution have a low EC. Thats for veg, pre-flower.

Right now, Ive got my flower res at around 65% of normal strength but they're flowering heavily now.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Dave what is you EC for your nutes?

 

[Dave Coulier]

Dave what is you EC for your nutes?

I run GH 3 part series(5/5/7), and I think EC is .7 ms/cm when I cut nutes down to 50% Strength.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

thanks

 

[Dave Coulier]

Dave
I have seen the boost systems, the 804-013 looks perfect, just add a regulator, but I also could not find a seller.

Coco Sagan
Over in the vert forums eastbay is using a Dosatron fertilizer injector on a run to waste top feed.

In theory with several blumats there would be enough flow for a dosatron to function and you could run without a reservoir at all

Oh, I believe we think along similar lines. The next thing I would like to add to this setup is injectors. Ive never worked with them, so more research to do there, but Im seeking as much automation as I can with my blumats. Call me lazy, but the less work I have to do, the more time I can enjoy my ladies.

I picked up the 804-023 model as its easily available, and some decent deals out there if you google long enough.

I also just snagged a good pressure gauge. I did some research, and for our purposes the pressure gauge should be 0-30 psi since we are working at 15 psi. That will give us better accuracy, and shopping around for an Grade 1A accuracy gauge is ideal for our purposes. Anything more accurate is too expensive and I dont think is needed.

I went with this gauge myself. Now im just missing the pressure reducer/watts regulator. I think Ill grab a similar model to what you have weedkiller. I was thinking this model P60-M5-2B. 2-way, 0-60psi range. Any thoughts on my choice?

 

[sunnydog]

Sunny, you mean 8cm after the carrot, right?

Yes.

 

[sunnydog]

Dosatron

Dosatron

If the dosatron works well, it is the answer for peeps running nutes in their water. Cool. However, I must say, I am always skeptical about such things.

Since running the pressure reducer, I have had no post adjustment phase(week 1) issues( run-ons or dry- outs). I check once a week. If there is a way to provide pressure with nutes, BINGO!