Blumat auto watering

[Señor Chang]

PBP user here.
In my 4 gallon reservoir goes either PBPG or PBPSbloom, Cal/MG, Silica Blast, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and some other misc stuff.
I get a lot of sediment at the bottom of my res that gets stirred up every time I add to it.
I have a hazy to almost opaque water line to boot.
I have had zero clogs, and only minor overflows when trying to micro-manage the drip adjust.
I purposefully create a living res and coco medium.
I am sure that a clog will happen, but all the particulate that I'm encountering is dust like and not chunky.
I do massage the 3mm drip-line from time to time to encourage anything to break free and drip out.
I believe that the advice not to use organics with the Blumats is good advice.
But it is not etched in stone.

Happy Growing!

 

[sunnydog]

hey, im gonna be using blumats with canna cogr slabs. what do you mean by this? I thought I found a post detailing the dial adjustment a while ago but I can't find it anymore.

Something about using a different length distributor hose than recommended and different top cap tighnesses as well... was that you?

musta been REALLY stoned!!!

 

[felderosa]

Adjustment is made by giving the plant a good watering, closing the valve till just a drop clings to the hose, then tightening two or three more arrows.

was looking for this quote for a while, thanks sunnydog! May I recommend adding this to your list of helpful posts in the original post?

 

[felderosa]

lol, I mean dripper, not distributor... you recommend the dripper hose to be 2 cm shorter than blumat's recommedations?

 

[icdog]

Does anybody run the blumats with a res and a pump with the pressure reducer? I did a search and can't find anybody but I can't see why it wouldn't work if the reducer will work on a tap.

 

[MrAwder]

Manifold for stacked vertical (bobbleracks)?

Manifold for stacked vertical (bobbleracks)?

Are there any examples of a manifold setup for stacked vertical pots similar to bobbleracks? Or stadium?

My plan is to use the elevated 5 gal res with overflow technique, but my concern is splitting the line into 2-3 "levels" in parallel and wonder if this will effect pressure. The other option is to run a separate line from the res for each level... but I'm not sure if that will make any difference.

 

[rives]

Are there any examples of a manifold setup for stacked vertical pots similar to bobbleracks? Or stadium?

My plan is to use the elevated 5 gal res with overflow technique, but my concern is splitting the line into 2-3 "levels" in parallel and wonder if this will effect pressure. The other option is to run a separate line from the res for each level... but I'm not sure if that will make any difference.

I have my bonsai mom's in an old upright freezer, and have used two different levels with no issues. I think that as long as you have a good elevation change to the uppermost circuit there would be no problems. I would be cautious about the total number of plants on a single 8mm line coming out of the reservoir, though.

 

[dargo]

My water tank is in a room above the grow, its cold up there and the water in the tank is 3C-10C. I only have water and a airstone in the tank (organic soil, only needs watering) should I add a tank heater aswell, or... as my tuebing runs from the celing of the grow room and all around it and its black will the heat from the growroom warm the water inside the tubeing enough to not shock the plants when it drips

 

[sunnydog]

Are there any examples of a manifold setup for stacked vertical pots similar to bobbleracks? Or stadium?

My plan is to use the elevated 5 gal res with overflow technique, but my concern is splitting the line into 2-3 "levels" in parallel and wonder if this will effect pressure. The other option is to run a separate line from the res for each level... but I'm not sure if that will make any difference.

Kinda like this; https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110619

This is a good idea ( I think)!

The other option is to run a separate line from the res for each level...

 

[MrAwder]

Thanks sunnydog. Based on the "I think" part I am taking it you feed all your lines out of a single bulkhead from your res now? I just read your thread but didn't see anything specific except a picture with a crazy amount of lines running all over. You're feeding 60+ pots which is more than I would have so it seems like the pressure is not too much of an issue.

While I got you here another question about your setup, are you running loops? I'm guessing you are since all the wisdom says to, but does it make it hard to get at your plants if you have 4-5 levels of loops? I'm picturing opening the door and having loops at chest/waist/knee height... seems like it would be a nightmare to get in and work on anything.

So based on the idea of multiple lines/bulkheads off the top res, what about fitting it out with some 1" PVC run along a wall, exiting the res, and then just tap your 8mm (or 1/2") feed line into that.

 

[rives]

While I got you here another question about your setup, are you running loops? I'm guessing you are since all the wisdom says to, but does it make it hard to get at your plants if you have 4-5 levels of loops? I'm picturing opening the door and having loops at chest/waist/knee height... seems like it would be a nightmare to get in and work on anything.

I got tired of trying to work around the loop crossing the door, and changed my plumbing to where a feed line comes up on each side of the door (separate lines back to the reservoir), and then ran the feed lines in a U-shape across each wall and across the back, where they join. Each loop is fed from each end this way, and you still have good access.

 

[Tyga]

can anyone post up a picture of there blumat setup? I ordered these a while back.. picked a bad day to try and set them up. I cut some shanky ass hole in the rez to connect and that was dripping ilke hell. Then the second I started pouring water in the rez the blumats flooded the shit out of all my plants...
Can someone tell me what I did wrong? besides the shit hole in the rez haha. I hear people talk about soaking the cones in water first?

 

[WasntMe]

Reading the directions that come in the box and the piles of quality info in this thread would be a good start to get past the square one basics.
R.I.F.

 

[McSnappler]

Yeah, that.. ^ I'm amazed how many times I've seen questions asked that are answered in the tiny little booklet which comes with the kits!

 

[Tyga]

Reading the directions that come in the box and the piles of quality info in this thread would be a good start to get past the square one basics.
R.I.F.

THANKS!

 

[Bonzo]

 

[OPT]

Hey guys!

Too much reading in this thread to search out a specific answer to my question, so I'll just shoot it out there.

I'm interested in using these blumats with my coco setup using H & G Nutrients, and while you feed coco every watering, how do you combat any PH swings from the nutrients sitting in the water resovoir before it's used by the plants?

Most the time, as Nutrient solution sits, the PH fluctuates...wouldn't this cause problems with blu mats?

I guess the way I'd like to do it is just fill the res, then just top it off when needed by just mixing and PHing my coco nutes in a seperate bucket, then topping the blu mat res off...will that work well?

OPT

 

[Herborizer]

Blumats are a drain to waste configuration. Meaning, you are not recirculating the runoff back to the res. beyond that, the ph should be able to get stable in your res. water quality and the nutes + additives you use make a huge difference in ph stability. For example, pure RO water is difficult to ph stabilize.

 

[Bonzo]

 

[Shamrock]

I have read through about half of this thread and thanks to everyone who has contributed info. I am getting ready to order the patio kit and I know that I will need to order a roll of the 3mm tubing but what about extra 8mm tubing and extra fittings?

i was thinking of getting a few extra of each type of connecter......any help would be much appreciated.

I will be running 9 of the 3.4 gal airpots in a 5x5 tent. Pure canna coco.