Blumat auto watering

[OrganicJ]

Does the final 8cm drip line have tobe a straight open line? Can u add a t split and make a circular drip line around main stem? or can u split the 8cm line into 4 to get more watering coverage? Obviously trying to avoid multiple blumats per pot/for a smaller pot anyway, 1 gal or so.

 

[budman678]

dude, you are going to have to drill a hole into the rez...no way around it.

not to be short, but id you are unwilling to get out of your comfort zone a little then the blumats are not for you....

look through my current thread, i have some detailed pics of my blumat setup.

 

[OrganicJ]

Oh and also, in a perpetual system, how hard would it be to be removing plants ready to chop and adding new ones into the flower loop? Just throw the blumat from plant that's getting chopped into the new flowering one? Although you probably have your perpetual plants in order of size and age in flower and adding a new young flower in the spot of th maturest ones prob isn't ideal.

 

[sweetestsin420]

its not that im not willing to get out of my comfort zone,is that id hate to spend 75+ dollars,on something that i know i wont be able to rig up,and then end up sitting in a box in my attic,that sounds VERY complicated,im a girl not a handyman,i dont know half the things you guys are saying,and i know i maybe seem annoying with all my newbie questions,but not everybody can build an entire house with just 2x4's and some ducttape,let alone a girl whos only experience is hammering stuff to the walls...i guess im stuck handwatering

 

[ak-51]

sometimes I forget to water,and I have to be up early to water them,it gets old reallyy fast.

Blumats will make your life a lot easier. The time, money and energy investment that you make initially will continue to pay dividends for as long as you run the system. You will do less work in the long run.

i dont get WHY you need all that,cant you just use whatever comes in the kit?

Most of the people in this thread have at least a year experience with blumats and they (and I like to think myself as well) have together worked out a lot of potential problems that you can run into with this system. You might try rigging it up some totally novel way that just happens to work correctly the first time, but the easiest way to do things is to just follow the directions we can give you. Maybe once you feel comfortable and familiar with the way blumats work you can try some unique setup. I think it was Weed Killer that came up with a new way to run things that a few people seem to like.

like whats with all the holes and tubing and stuff??

It has to do with maintaining a constant level of pressure in your reservoir. Most people run a 2 reservoir system: 1 raised up that is directly feeding the Blumats and another lower one that is larger. The lower one is used to replenish the upper one to keep it at a constant level. Unless it is kept at a constant level the pressure at the drippers will fluctuate and throw off your calibrations.

for that i might as well go with a drip setup,both seem the same in terms of complicated!

Blumats are self-adjusting drippers, so this basically is a drip setup, although more advanced than others.

can i use them the way that picture shows?with the fish bowl?

No. That picture with the fishbowl showed Blumat Jr.'s, which are not appropriate for use with anything but pure water. You cannot put anything but nutrients in Blumat Jr.'s. We use either regular or maxi Blumats.

id hate to spend 75+ dollars,on something that i know i wont be able to rig up,and then end up sitting in a box in my attic

I'm sitting on at least $2k of gear that is not being used right now. Sometimes you try new things and you lose time and money, sometimes you try new things and they pay off. It is what it is.

that sounds VERY complicated,im a girl not a handyman

It might sound overwhelming at first but believe me it's really simple stuff once you can wrap your brain around it. Nobody walked into this thread and 20 minutes later knew everything there is to know about blumats.

Be more confident. You CAN understand this and it IS something that you can do (I'm pretty sure). Don't buy them until you get a better understanding of how they work. Read this thread for a couple of weeks and you'll have a better understanding of what is going on.

And this isn't the 50's, "I'm just a girl" isn't a valid excuse.

 

[TribalSeeds]

its not that im not willing to get out of my comfort zone,is that id hate to spend 75+ dollars,on something that i know i wont be able to rig up,and then end up sitting in a box in my attic,that sounds VERY complicated,im a girl not a handyman,i dont know half the things you guys are saying,and i know i maybe seem annoying with all my newbie questions,but not everybody can build an entire house with just 2x4's and some ducttape,let alone a girl whos only experience is hammering stuff to the walls...i guess im stuck handwatering

Home depot will take anything back with no questions... Even a drill.
The Blumat version of the bulkheads we're talking about come 1 per patio kit, but wont fit larger lines. Those are the black circles that the tubes are connected to. They are barbed(ribbed) and the tubes slide right over them and wont come off.
The hydro store has all this stuff in the same section(except the blumats & brown 3mm line) and Im sure would be rather helpful to any girl coming in there. Just a bunch of dudes in there everytime I go...

 

[sweetestsin420]

ak51 i LOVE your attitude hun! "its not the 50's,thats not a good excuse anymore"..i def can respect that,lol. thats some good advise!

the thing is,its sooo hard having to do diy stuff,like come on man,girls brains are wired different,guys are into blackops and shit,were into the sims lol,

i will TRY to figure these things out,but when you throw around words like "bulkhead fittings,pressure regulators"..its like uggh,are you talking about bluemats or the space station,my mind goes blank. i will read this entire thread,but before i do

do i NEED a second rez?..can i just topoff my rez,so the level stays consistent?

and should i just go with the drippers?in terms of money,and setting it up,which one is better?..im looking to spend less than 100$..and NOT do all that drilling and stuff,i dont really get how drippers work,but im sure its alot easier than this,and im not a huge growers,i just do enough so that me and my homegirls have something to smoke lol,i only do one run every year,maybe two...

 

[FlowerFarmer]

By a deck and patio kit - it includes instructions.

It contains everything you need to run 12 plants although it only includes small lengths of the 3mm dripper line which means you must keep your 8mm distribution tubing close or secured to your pot's lip to prevent it from "pulling" on the 3mm line and kinking it.

It contains a thru-hull fitting that will need installed in an elevated res. You can make this hole with a drill and drill bit.. or if you cannot locate something like that you may be able to heat up something to punch/melt a hole through your elevated res.


You top off your single elevated res before it runs dry or gets too low.
To setup the blumat initially.. you handwater to run-off, open knob full flow..then dial to cling + 1 arrow. Thats it.. walk away from them and let them do their magic.



You can go regular drippers with a reservoir, pump, timer, 1/2" tubing, 1/4" barbs, and some 1/4" line. Blumats are much better in my opinion and no more complicated then rigging up a normal dripper setup.

 

[TribalSeeds]

ak51 i LOVE your attitude hun! "its not the 50's,thats not a good excuse anymore"..i def can respect that,lol. thats some good advise!

the thing is,its sooo hard having to do diy stuff,like come on man,girls brains are wired different,guys are into blackops and shit,were into the sims lol,

i will TRY to figure these things out,but when you throw around words like "bulkhead fittings,pressure regulators"..its like uggh,are you talking about bluemats or the space station,my mind goes blank. i will read this entire thread,but before i do

do i NEED a second rez?..can i just topoff my rez,so the level stays consistent?

and should i just go with the drippers?in terms of money,and setting it up,which one is better?..im looking to spend less than 100$..and NOT do all that drilling and stuff,i dont really get how drippers work,but im sure its alot easier than this,and im not a huge growers,i just do enough so that me and my homegirls have something to smoke lol,i only do one run every year,maybe two...

Even with drippers youre going to need to drill a hole or be a surgeon with a knife.
Topping off everyday would work, but its not the full blumat experience if it requires any work at all and doesnt keep the pressure within range. Thats the art of the blumat.
You will also end up with nutrient settling at the bottom if the res is not keep agitated enough.

 

[ak-51]

do i NEED a second rez?..can i just topoff my rez,so the level stays consistent?

You could just top it off constantly, it would just be more work. These things work best when the upper reservoir is elevated as high as it can reasonably be. Mine, which are 5-gallon buckets, start at about my chin and go up above my head. It would be a real pain to top that off every day unless I was using a pump, and if I'm using a pump I might as well have it on a timer so it just does it by itself... see where this is going?

and should i just go with the drippers? in terms of money,and setting it up,which one is better?

I would go with blumats over traditional drippers because blumats will adjust the amount of nutrient they feed to the plants over the entire cycle; traditional drippers will not adjust themselves. Traditional drippers would probably be cheaper. Traditional drippers would probably slightly easier to set up, but only slightly.

im looking to spend less than 100$..and NOT do all that drilling and stuff

It's unlikely that you'll get everything setup for under $100. You can do it but it would be a real bare bones setup. You will have to drill at least one hole, and if you're competent enough to drill one hole you're competent enough to drill a bunch of holes.

Basically here's my pitch for blumats: My plants love em, there's very little wasted water and nutrients, and I can leave my setup for days on end and it'll just keep on running. It takes time, money and energy to get everything dialed in and running right but it is worth it.

 

[rives]

I believe that any setup that you use with drippers is going to take a pump, timers, and associated plumbing. Might as well put that into effect on a blumat double-reservoir system. Additionally, I think that sizing the pump for drippers is far more critical - if you are just feeding an elevated rez, you only really need to concern yourself with the pump being able to handle the head height (the elevation difference from the pump to the highest point in the system).

Regarding the vocabulary and the different pieces of equipment, check out the blumat site so that you can tell what they are calling each thing and what it looks like.

http://www.blumat-shop.de/Tropf-Blumat/

 

[greenmatter]

its not that im not willing to get out of my comfort zone,is that id hate to spend 75+ dollars,on something that i know i wont be able to rig up,and then end up sitting in a box in my attic,that sounds VERY complicated,im a girl not a handyman,i dont know half the things you guys are saying,and i know i maybe seem annoying with all my newbie questions,but not everybody can build an entire house with just 2x4's and some ducttape,let alone a girl whos only experience is hammering stuff to the walls...i guess im stuck handwatering

just because you have not done it YET does not mean you can't do it

i've got 4 daughters. when they say that they are not sure about anything i say ........

"whether you believe that you can, or believe that you cant, you are usually right"

i bet it was some male who said that a long time ago, but the guy was right then and it's still right

trust yourself and be willing to push your limits

and leave the duct tape at the home depot .... that is a tool that only a male is allowed to use silly girl

 

[moutaingrown]

i have my plants in lc mix one and dry amendmants and on a water faucet with the pressure reducer and 24 blumats and i think i could leave for a month if i wanted to...............awesome looking plants

 

[moutaingrown]

LOL thats typical I forgot to make my point in my last post....Sweetestsin if you have a faucet near your plants, do the blumat with the pressure reducer (you just screw it to the faucet) and you don't have to drill the first hole

 

[sweetestsin420]

mountain nope i dont have any faucets in my house,by faucets im guessing your talking about the kind that you use a garden hose with?im thinking about it,ill definitely handwater my next grow,MAYBE a dripper setup,but the bluemats are a little more expensive than id like,i can maybe do a dripper setup for less than the costs of the bluemats

 

[silver hawaiian]

Question y'all. I'm in the process of re-shuffling some of the drip lines on my setup.

I'd like to basically re-position the barbed fittings (to which the drip line connects).

Problem is, I can't remove the damned fittings from the feed line. I've even gone as far as using two pair of channel locks (one on the feed line, one on the meatiest part of the barbed fitting), and no luck. The concern, at the same time, is mucking up the 3mm fitting to which the drip line connects.

Any suggestions? I'm using all of the stock parts.

The alternative would just be to leave the drip lines connected where they are, and just run longer 3mm hose to each plant - I'd prefer a neater & cleaner setup, though.

 

[rives]

When I change my setup around, I use an Xacto knife to carefully score the tubing over the barbed fitting, and then slit the scoring clear through at the end of the tubing. You can then pull the two sides apart and free the fitting.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Got it - I was figuring that was the next step. So just score/slit the feed line at either end of the barbed fitting, remove the fitting, and then just snip off those two short (1/2" ?) slit pieces of feed line, right?

 

[rives]

Yes, after you get the fitting free just cut the damaged portion off.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

Be very careful slicing the barbed fitting with a knife...

I've created a disaster scenario in the past doing the same on larger 1/2" barbed fittings on my ebb&gro. By slicing off my old tubing I put very small slices into the barbed plastic. No biggie right..they were pretty small.. WRONG!

The system ended up with a slow drip at every single barb. I then had to dismantle everything and change out every barbed tee for a brand new one.


SH, I had the same problem not being able to get the 3mm tubing off of the stock tee. It would just stretch and would never come off. I ended up scrapping all of those parts and just going the kent systems tee route. Once you've got the right parts on hand you can virtually setup how ever you'd like without having to worry about these type of problems..

In my opinion.. ditch the 8mm line and factory parts. Get some regular tubing, regular drain fittings, and some 3/32" tees or straights from KentSystems... grab a lot of the 3mm stuff and ... never look back.