Blumat auto watering

[Demilanceata]

I need some forks like that to hold up the end of the drip line. I always just end up making little coco mountains between the carrot and the end to prop it up, with mixed results.

I used scissors to cut some seemingly firm plastic package which I had laying around, doesn't really have to be much to do it's job. I also considered basic iron wire, but decided that cutting thin plastic was easier than shaping the wire... Took only a few minutes cutting up a dozen of small more or less Y-shaped forks, which seem to last for a good time.

 

[nachoconqueso]

Are root mounds a common thing for everyone using blumats?

 

[Lapides]

Are root mounds a common thing for everyone using blumats?

You mean like the roots starting to grow above the surface of the soil? If so, then yeah, it's pretty common, and very cool in my opinion. I, and others I believe, have actually had roots grow up out of the soil and start reaching into the dripper line. Somewhere in this thread, folks show their 'root mound porn'.

 

[nachoconqueso]

You mean like the roots starting to grow above the surface of the soil? If so, then yeah, it's pretty common, and very cool in my opinion. I, and others I believe, have actually had roots grow up out of the soil and start reaching into the dripper line. Somewhere in this thread, folks show their 'root mound porn'.

Oh yeah I forgot people did that. I do the distributor thing with supports and the roots will reach all the way up there. So crazy. Any other systems besides blumats that produce the root mound?

 

[GuFF]

It looks like this is only available in 220vac though. Does anyone know of something like this that works on 120 vac or 12VDC?

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/...gn=partsfeed&gclid=CLmp5e_OqbYCFVKf4AodyzoA2A

Been using this pump and it works great.

 

[GuFF]

Hey guys what about running a Ultraviolet light to keep the water clean?

I use a coralife turbo twist UV sterilizer and it works great, just make sure you don't undersize the pump because the 'predicted' gph of the pump will suffer do to the flow restrictions within the sterilizer housing. I had a 55 gal res gunk up on me with the sterilizer but it was becuase i undersized the pump. I also position the pump inline rather than submerged so it doesn't heat the water as much. One thing to remember about uv sterilization, only the water that goes thru the sterilizer will be disinfected, so have the return and inlet to the res as far as possible from each other.

Fwiw I also use a ecoplus commercial air pump and sweet water airstone to make the res look like a hot tub.

 

[skyview]

@rives & Dave.

Good point rives.
I, as a matter of fact only help friends with their indoor projects, but am a guerilla farmer myself for obvious reasons.

For us it is best to visit my friends places as little as possible and let the blumat's do the work for me.

Basicly I only take care of raising the lamps and do an occasional feed once a week, starting when they are in full bloom.
My favorite setup has got one cubic meter of soil, 2 blumat tensiometers (one up and one measuring at the bottom) has got 3 x 400 wtt hps above them and is real easy to maintain this way.

Blumat auto watering & blumat tensio meters DO seem to work for us Dave.( But note that I am an exp, senior grower wich might make some difference )

offthehook - 2 questions for you (and anyone else with similar experience):

1. You mentioned different optimal moisture levels for different strains. Can you add anything more specific now?

2. When you say using Blumat Digital meters "one up and one measuring at the bottom," how deep do you put the one up?

 

[Canniwhatsis]

Fish tank water has cleared my rez and lines, Hooray for beneficial bacteria!!!!


Just up potted a girl into a 20 gallon smart pot and stabbed a maxi into it with 4 distributor heads,.... lets see what happens!

 

[ak-51]

Fwiw I also use a ecoplus commercial air pump and sweet water airstone to make the res look like a hot tub.

Do you feel that there is a benefit to using the air pump in the res? I haven't run any air in my reservoirs for a while now because:

1. I don't think they're helpful, except for the minor amount of stirring they do.
2. I think increased levels of dissolved oxygen in the lines will increase the prevalence of air bubbles forming there.
3. I think that the nature of the medium I use (coco) and the dripping action provides sufficient oxygen to the root zone.

I have also heard, but cannot individually confirm, instances of the bubbling causing pH swings and contributing to bacterial growth. Increased levels of dissolved oxygen leading to increased bacterial growth makes sense to me. The pH thing is just something I read one time here, I don't know why it would cause that but I'm just throwing it out there.

 

[greenmatter]

has anyone here tried to turn a standard blumat into a maxi?

what worked and/or what did not?

do you guys think that the larger volume of water inside this modified version will have any negative effect on how they work?

 

[bobblehead]

has anyone here tried to turn a standard blumat into a maxi?

what worked and/or what did not?

do you guys think that the larger volume of water inside this modified version will have any negative effect on how they work?


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=36429&pictureid=1046885&]View Image[/url]

If anything the increased volume from the larger diameter PVC will be beneficial in increasing the amount of time it takes to deplete the water inside the blumat.

Damn good job.

 

[greenmatter]

i was thinking that the larger volume of water might make the control issues a little "mushy". my thought was that if they don't turn on until they are getting too dry the plants might tap the water in the tube and cause problems.

not being able to see air bubbles through the PVC is a definite drawback at this stage. i think they would indicate that things are gonna go south soon.

two of the three i made have been running for a couple days now ....... so far so good

 

[bobblehead]

i was thinking that the larger volume of water might make the control issues a little "mushy". my thought was that if they don't turn on until they are getting too dry the plants might tap the water in the tube and cause problems.

not being able to see air bubbles through the PVC is a definite drawback at this stage. i think they would indicate that things are gonna go south soon.

two of the three i made have been running for a couple days now ....... so far so good

Blumats are tensiometers, so they run on pressure. The increased diameter res doesn't effect the pressure. You kept the top and bottom the same, so I really don't think what's in the middle will make a bit of difference.

Sucks about not seeing the bubbles... but I've come to the conclusion that blumats need to be refilled/resoaked between grows.

This is really cool, especially for people buying blumats in bulk... A little elbow grease could potentially save a lot of cash if this mod proves reliable.

 

[bobblehead]

Like the g man demonstrated, it doesn't take much to do this modification.

Cut your PVC to 6" length, and bore it out. I used the whole 7/8" and the sensor and top fit like a glove.

This is a dry fit before I silicon everything together. Looks just like greenmatter's.

and for an added bonus... Are you tired of buying different fittings to make your bulkheads work with with cheaper PVC pipe? The inner threads of the bulkhead are 3/4".

 

[rrog]

And so the goal of this is to build a cheaper Maxi-carrot?? Or are we thinking these would be better than a Maxi?

 

[bobblehead]

And so the goal of this is to build a cheaper Maxi-carrot?? Or are we thinking these would be better than a Maxi?

both.

In fact... The top of the blumat is the only thing that is particularly unique and hard to reproduce on your own... I could make my own ceramic cones with plaster of paris.

 

[rrog]

How is it better

 

[bobblehead]

How is it better

I didn't claim it was better, I agreed that I think it might be better.

My theory is that since this custom maxi has slightly larger internal diameter and as a result, is going to hold more water... That it will take longer for the water inside the blumat to deplete, since the cone and top are still the same. Once enough water has been depleted the blumats stop opening and your plant dries out. I've had this happen to me, among other frustrations...

catman recommended I get a tensiometer... and so I started reading about tensiometers, and I learned that is exactly what a blumat is. After reading a study or two and really getting a good understanding of how these things are supposed to work, I think I understand where some of my problems were coming from before.

Now... I'm not saying greenmatter and I are making huge improvements on blumats... We're just a couple of guys making the best of the tools we have available to us. Hopefully we can save some people a couple of bucks by sharing our ideas.... or maybe get some suggestions to improve on our ideas and then we can all contribute to a better blumat...

Maybe I just want to cut up my $6 dripper that has killed oh so many plants... I'll never tell.

 

[rrog]

Have fun! I have a few Tensiometers, actually. Very fast and accurate.

 

[skyview]

By making these longer than the standard Maxi, it could make them work better in bigger pots and drip longer in mixes without soil. The depth of the cone determines where the on-off sensing takes place so if it's deeper, it should go longer before turning off. I would be very hesitant about trying to replace the cones though. I've done side-by-side tests with the Chinese copies and in comparison they didn't do well at all. The density and thickness of the clay seems to make a big difference.