Blumat auto watering

[ak-51]

So my first blumat grow is over with now and it was quite the success in my book. The girls looked healthy throughout, no runaways or any other critical failures, good yield.

I am in the middle of switching my setup around so everything is torn down right now. I'm wondering about switching up a few things now and I have a few questions:

1. The blumat fittings and seem very overpriced where I got my patio kit from originally. I had read at some point in this thread about Kent Systems fittings. Can anybody tell me specifically which pieces they got and for what? They have a pretty large catalog and I'd greatly appreciate some guidance.

2. With the nutrients I use (Botanicare line), the sediments tend to settle at the lowest point if they're not stirred. The last run I had rigged up some methods to mitigate this. I had the pump refilling my elevated res pumping towards the bottom of it, hopefully stirring up anything that had settled. I had air pumps running in both the elevated res and the lower res to keep some movement. Later I removed the air pump in the lower res and just threw a ~350gph pump in there to stir on a timer. Despite all of this sediments seemed to still accumulate in the lines. When I regularly bled the line there would be a good run of really dark liquid coming out before the color normalized. I was wondering about the possibility of having a slow fixed drip at the end of the line running into the lower res. It seems like doing that would keep the liquid in the line fresh and aid in keeping the whole solution uniform between the line, upper res and lower res. I'm wondering though if the constant pull through that would have an effect on the blumats? I imagine the quicker the drip at the end, the more effect it would have. The risk is that there would be some kind of siphoning effect and the drip lines would start sucking air backwards through the pinch point into the line if the flow towards the end was strong enough. I'd been going pretty light on everything except for the Bloom but I think if this system worked there should be no problem running the full levels of everything.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rives]

Congratulations, AK! While the blumats have some idiosyncrasies, they work better for me than anything else that I have used. I can't help you with the Kent Systems question, but your continuous circulation idea sounds like it might work to me. It's similar to what is done with industrial hydraulic systems in cold climates - you run from the end of the circuit through a metered orifice and it keeps all the oil warm and your response times consistent. Anyhow, my suggestion would be to take a length of the 3mm tubing (maybe using one of the 8mm>3mm 90's) and loop it up above the elevation of the blumats in your pots before bringing it back down to the your lower reservoir. That way the blumats would have priority flow over the recirculation loop.

 

[Slangheat]

1. The blumat fittings and seem very overpriced where I got my patio kit from originally. I had read at some point in this thread about Kent Systems fittings. Can anybody tell me specifically which pieces they got and for what? They have a pretty large catalog and I'd greatly appreciate some guidance.

Think Lazyman is the dude who gave the tip on the Kentsystems route...

3/32'' barbed tees are what you want to purchase from them:
http://kentsystems.com/index.php?file=c-con_product_details&iProductId=NzIx

The 3mm drip tube that you cannot substitute, will fit perfectly onto these 3/32" equal sized barb tees.

From there, you can use any diameter line for your manifold... I use 1/2'' poly tubing from Home Depot. Take the bottom of your tee, and poke it into the poly tubing so that you have the tee sticking out with the double side out like a "T". Now, you can plug 2 blumat sensors into each tee, and plug those sensors into their respective pots, rather than one tee per sensor like the folks who purchased the kit do. So, under my 1k, I have 8 plants hooked up to blumats, but only 4 tees off the main line.

Aside from the 3/32" barbed tees you can jazz it up with quick disconnects etc, and this route makes it really simple for us who just want to order the 3mm drip tube and the sensors and modify our own setup from there.

Hopefully Lazy chimes in if he's got anything to add...

 

[NachoConQueso]

I've finally gotten past clogs in my distributors. Ever since, the blumats have performed flawlessly. I let my Protekt mix in there well before I put in the Dyna-Gro. No drip clean and I've even let my res go completely dry to see if it would clog and after a simple main line purge all my distributors were dripping perfectly even. Success!

 

[Budsworth]

Following Lazyman's advice (you're one of the good ones, Lazy)...I built a smaller version of his system. I'm in Coco and I'm using Head's and Rez's modified Lucas formula.

This crop has been really pleasurable. I adjust to no run off...and it's like these bad boys are just sucking the nutrient solution right out of the reservoir.

Efficient with great results thus far. Another four weeks to go...but things are looking amazing.

 

[Scrogerman]

Lets see some pics Budsworth? cant wait to try the Blumats out, after everyones endevours, problem solving & the like, i feel confident id get it right first time.

G'luck

 

[ak-51]

So another quick question about these Kent System fittings...

If I want to use 1/2 ID tubing for the feed line (which I do), I'll need to adapt from the 3/32 size that fits the drip line. I don't see any kind of adapters on their site, but their quick connects seem to fit together regardless of each pieces barb size, do I just use the quick connects to do that?

I think Ideally I would have a T with 1/2 barbs on the opposite sides and the 3/32nd barb on the perpendicular one, but that seems like a really odd piece to find.

 

[wisco61]

You just stick the 3/32 barb into the 1/2" feedline.

 

[ak-51]

I'm starting to feel dumb here. All I see is pieces with 2 barbs on either side or quick connects. Are you saying to puncture a hole in the side of the feedline to jam it in? Or just jam it in the end and it'll fit?

 

[heady blunts]

you punch a hole in the feed line and push in one leg of the tee. then attach two drip lines (so two blumats per tee).

 

[whadeezlrg]

I'm starting to feel dumb here. All I see is pieces with 2 barbs on either side or quick connects. Are you saying to puncture a hole in the side of the feedline to jam it in? Or just jam it in the end and it'll fit?

casa de canna has a little tool made specifically for puncturing holes in drip tubing, it's by all the sprinkler/drip supplies and is maybe a few $ a most. after you pierce the hole plug the fittings in and 9 times out of 10 you will have a water tight connection

 

[wisco61]

I'm starting to feel dumb here. All I see is pieces with 2 barbs on either side or quick connects. Are you saying to puncture a hole in the side of the feedline to jam it in? Or just jam it in the end and it'll fit?

http://www.kentsystems.com/index.php?file=c-con_product_details&iProductId=NzIx

 

[sunnydog]

Finally!!!

Finally!!!

Sunny has FINALLY hooked up the pressure reducer.
This will (eventually) supply 60-100 sites
I will advise.

 

[dargo]

[youtubeif]gollYy4mwDg[/youtubeif]

 

[rrog]

Pardon my not reading the first 90 pages of this amazing thread, but why is no one simply hooking up a garden hose to household well water? Blu sells a hose thread pressure reducer so I thought more would use a hose.

EDIT: I see the concern is endless runoff. I'll be running organic soil, so I'd only be running straight water. The constant pressure of the water line should reduce low pressure runoff issues, I guess. I could look at a washing machine tray, and shutoff valve with water sensor(s).

I’m watering between 3 and 6 plants, each in a 7 (liquid) gallon pail. Same diameter as a standard 5 gallon, but taller. Should I use a “max” carrot in each? Seems like others do. Maybe 1 carrot and 1-2 distributors per pail?

 

[sunnydog]

EDIT: I see the concern is endless runoff. I'll be running organic soil, so I'd only be running straight water. The constant pressure of the water line should reduce low pressure runoff issues, I guess. I could look at a washing machine tray, and shutoff valve with water sensor(s).

I’m watering between 3 and 6 plants, each in a 7 (liquid) gallon pail. Same diameter as a standard 5 gallon, but taller. Should I use a “max” carrot in each? Seems like others do. Maybe 1 carrot and 1-2 distributors per pail?

I am testing the B/M regulator unit now.
Yes, my initial concerns were in case of run-on, to limit the amount of water available.

I have not used any Maxis' yet; an interesting experiment might be to use a max and a standard in the same pot....

 

[dargo]

was ment to post this above......

I got my blumats set up in the greenhouse with the tank in the garage, the water line goes under the patio and up into the greenhouse. im really pleased with it and only wish I had set it up sooner!! Im using organic grow bag dirt (new horizon) and with the ph ajusted to 7 on my water I have completed loads of auto grows this year so far only watering them. so the blumats mean the only job I have now is planting and harvesting

Video of the setup here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRwBM0xcjUE

 

[rrog]

I hate to deal with a res tank when I'm just feeding water. No nutes, no mixing. http://www.amazon.com/Floodstop-Washing-Machine-Valve-Shutoff/dp/B000GF5DR4/ref=pd_bxgy_la_text_b

A solution

 

[massivecalyx]

I just took the plunge and get me some blumats.. Have had them for about a week so far and I'm still tweaking them but I'm in love. I use a 5gal bucket as a res for 9 plants but I'm thinking of upping that because they seem to go through that in a day almost lately. Damn heat.

Is Drip Clean highly recommended? I'm using maxibloom kiss method with a dose of tigerbloom the last 2 weeks before the flush. I also use epsoma salt and lime for ph buffering. Although I think im going to start top dressing the lime instead of mixing it into the water.

 

[rrog]

http://www.smarthome.com/71151/Washing-Machine-Valve-Shutoff-Kit-Leak-Detector/p.aspx

Here's another shut off valve with water sensors. Each pail has a deep saucer. I could place a couple of sensors right on the floor, so if one overflows, sensor triggers the water to stop.

It can also be programmed to call me when the alarm is triggered.