Blumat auto watering

[jav2043]

I would really like to incorporate blumats into my setup but after reading through this thread, it seems most people like them when they're dialed in. To get them dialed though sounds a bit complicated with people getting flooded grow rooms. While getting flooded is no biggie, I really don't want extra work. I will be using peat instead of coco so I was curious if the peat is more likely to have runoff using these?

I will be installing these into 2'x2'x8" beds that will have four plants each going into bloom around 7-8" as well as two 10 gallon smarties. How many should I order?

Lastly, everyone is using the tropf style but it sound like kinda a hassle while the junior seems pretty easy and you can still adjust the flow rate. I'm gathering the tropf style waters much deeper than the junior? Is this why everyone likes them? I want simple.

I am putting this on my Christmas list so is there anything else I should order that wouldn't come with the starter kit?

Interested as well as I just purchased the starter kit myself and will be using on mother plants in 3 and 5 gallon pots with promix peat. Read some pointers on dialing in but growing in a tent and can't afford to have my 10 gallon reservior flooding and leaking out causing damage to tenants below me.

Bump

 

[Former Guest]

Doesn't your tent come with a waterproof floor? Mine does and works well.

 

[jav2043]

Doesn't your tent come with a waterproof floor? Mine does and works well.

Yes it has it does have a floor. Guess I would have to try make sure it would hold for peace of mind but clean up would be a pita when trying to make my life easier goes wrong.

 

[Former Guest]

It will hold had an ebb and flow table drain and it was fine.

 

[rives]

I would really like to incorporate blumats into my setup but after reading through this thread, it seems most people like them when they're dialed in. To get them dialed though sounds a bit complicated with people getting flooded grow rooms. While getting flooded is no biggie, I really don't want extra work. I will be using peat instead of coco so I was curious if the peat is more likely to have runoff using these?

I will be installing these into 2'x2'x8" beds that will have four plants each going into bloom around 7-8" as well as two 10 gallon smarties. How many should I order?

Lastly, everyone is using the tropf style but it sound like kinda a hassle while the junior seems pretty easy and you can still adjust the flow rate. I'm gathering the tropf style waters much deeper than the junior? Is this why everyone likes them? I want simple.

I am putting this on my Christmas list so is there anything else I should order that wouldn't come with the starter kit?

Doesn't your tent come with a waterproof floor? Mine does and works well.

Peat is roughly the same as coco for runoff. In either case, chunks of perlite up against the spikes makes the problems worse - you want a nice, snug fit between the media and the spike with no voids.

I've never used beds or pots larger than 3 gallons, but would probably start with one spike per plant in the beds and 2 in the pots. Balancing the ones in the bed is probably going to be a bit of a trick since you won't be able to tell which one is set too wet unless you catch them in the act. 10 gallon pots are going to be very large for blumats - I've dropped from 3 gallon air pots down to 5-liter, and still grow the same size plants - the biggest yield out of one so far is 8.3 ozs, and usually average in the 4-5oz range.

The Jr's are definitely not what you want. The only way to adjust the flow from them is by changing the elevation of the reservoir, which will change as the reservoir is depleted, and they are continuous siphoning - they don't shut off when the media gets to the desired moisture content. They also aren't capable of high flows since they water through the porous ceramic spike rather than controlling a drip line. They are "ok" for small ornamental house plants and not much else.

The patio kit should get you off to a pretty good start. I would get a coil of 3mm hose so that you aren't restricted by the length of the supplied hoses that attach to the 8mm line, around 5-10 each extra of the fittings (T's, L's for the 8mm line), and a few valves for the 8mm line. At a minimum, you will want a valve at the reservoir to shut the line off and one to purge off the air in the line. If you want to run a looped feed, then you will also want another reservoir/rain barrel adapter.

I wouldn't suggest the tent liner as being adequate to catch runaways. Mine flop around, the corners don't inspire much confidence, and the volume is less than my reservoirs. You need to calculate the relative volumes of each and make damn sure that the catch pan will hold everything that the reservoir can supply. If you can possibly plumb into your home sewer system with the drain, it is far better.

 

[Kozmo]

Is the dripper tube actually dripping? It looks like it may be a really tight angle and could be kinked, that's the only other oddity I could find in your pic.

Yeah man, that black hose sucks, doesn't it? I found no easy way to get it straight to the point where it stays straight. As you're linking up all of your containers with the drippers, try just having one hose curve one way, then the next hose curve the other way, on down the line. Kinda like ~~~~~. You feel me?

What if I used my heat gun to make it more plyable. I figure that would work.
Just got in a starter/beginner BM's. it came with five carrots.

 

[Former Guest]

Thank you for answering Rives!! Your explanation if how the juniors work is great! I tried searching the thread using the word "junior" and couldn't find much. Hopefully others will find that useful as well.

Right now I'm flowering in 3 gallons but they need water frequently now and I am sick of hand watering hydrophobic peat. I thought this would make a huge difference keeping the soil moist and less hydrophobic. I wanted to do small beds because I thought that would help keep the soil moist but if you've got such excellent results, perhaps I will hold off on my baby big soil beds

I really appreciate the time you took to answer!!!

 

[rives]

Take a look at the 2-stage reservoirs in the thread. I use a large lower storage reservoir with a small (4-gallon) upper reservoir. A lift pump gets kicked on twice a day, and there is a large return line from the top rez to the bottom one so that the juice just flows back to where it started once the upper rez is topped off. Dead simple - no float switches or sophisticated controls, just a timer running the pump for a few minutes twice daily.

This arrangement allows me to gone for up to two weeks with no problem, and the blumats insure that the ideal moisture content is held.

 

[bikhomes]

remember there is no need to fill your res all the way up in the beginning. if you can only handle a runoff of 5 gallons, start with 5 gallons and when you're confident things are running solid you can bump it up.

i have a 55gal res and an empty 40gal "safety" res below my tray but i started with 15gal. no need to experiment with tons of nutes and RO.

 

[Ez Rider]

I would really like to incorporate blumats into my setup but after reading through this thread, it seems most people like them when they're dialed in. To get them dialed though sounds a bit complicated with people getting flooded grow rooms. While getting flooded is no biggie, I really don't want extra work. I will be using peat instead of coco so I was curious if the peat is more likely to have runoff using these?

I will be installing these into 2'x2'x8" beds that will have four plants each going into bloom around 7-8" as well as two 10 gallon smarties. How many should I order?

Lastly, everyone is using the tropf style but it sound like kinda a hassle while the junior seems pretty easy and you can still adjust the flow rate. I'm gathering the tropf style waters much deeper than the junior? Is this why everyone likes them? I want simple.

I am putting this on my Christmas list so is there anything else I should order that wouldn't come with the starter kit?

Nothing complicated about dialing in the blumats...takes a 2-3 days at most. The jr's don't work the same way...I wouldn't use them for anything myself, but they'd probably be ok for SMALL plants/pots, but not much else. The jr's are for water only. Ant nutes would clog the cone. Also, the jr's have no flow adjustment, don't know where you got that idea. Peat should be fine. I used promix on my first blumat run with good results. I think coco is better suited to the near constant drip of the blumats, but that's just my .

You can get by with 2-3 in the 2x2's, but I'd go with 1 dripper for each plant. You may need the maxi's for a 10gal pot. You will definitely need a TREE to make the 10gal pot worthwhile. 1 thing you'll quickly learn is that with blumats, it's better to have a smaller container rather than a large one. I started with 3.5 gal air-pots. I'm now in 1.25 gal air-pots...and they work better.

Whatever kit you get, you'll want to shitcan the black, 8mm line that comes with the kit, and get some of their "flexible" 8mm tubing...you'll be glad you did.

 

[Former Guest]

Thank you! The website said the flow was adjustable but how rives explained showed me it's really varied depending in the height of the water in the rez and the height the rez is sitting. I saw people replaced their 8mm tube with white. I have organic biobizz nutes and compost teas. I don't want to use them with the blumats because their really thick sludgy so I'm sure I will have some issues. I was going to feed by hand watering. My soil is a water only but sometimes the nutes are needed so luckily it's not often. I had a 25 gallon rez empty in my tent and it held. I think a 5 gallon would be ok. I want to get a cooler so I can convert it to a rez.

 

[Ez Rider]

Thank you! The website said the flow was adjustable but how rives explained showed me it's really varied depending in the height of the water in the rez and the height the rez is sitting. I saw people replaced their 8mm tube with white. I have organic biobizz nutes and compost teas. I don't want to use them with the blumats because their really thick sludgy so I'm sure I will have some issues. I was going to feed by hand watering. My soil is a water only but sometimes the nutes are needed so luckily it's not often. I had a 25 gallon rez empty in my tent and it held. I think a 5 gallon would be ok. I want to get a cooler so I can convert it to a rez.

The 8mm line I get is terra-cotta color. I get it straight from SV. I'd also recommend some "support stakes" for the 8mm line. They're handy for keeping the 8mm line in place, and also for holding the 3mm line above the "root knuckle" that WILL form under the drip.

You don't want to run sludgy organics. I tried(Botanicare line), and it was more extra work than I care for. It required constant work to keep everything flowing properly.

Why waste $ on a cooler? Plastic totes are cheap and plentiful.

 

[beta]

.

 

[Former Guest]

Whoops. See below. Double post.

 

[Former Guest]

Root knuckle?! Um....SOLD.

I have yards if the 1/2" black tubing already. Is water temp not an issue? The whole reason I switched to soil was I got root rot in my hydro. I also read that temp wasn't an issue but vapor lock was and white tubing helped?

 

[rives]

Water temperature has never been a problem for me. My reservoirs never get dumped, just added to and I've never had an issue with scum or whatever. Vapor lock can definitely be an issue, that is why you need a purge valve. I'm not sure how white tubing would help.

 

[Former Guest]

It's in the first post in a list of threads. They said they thought the white made the tubes less hot which in turn caused the vapor lock. I'm quite fine using black tubing and if this isn't any issue for you guys, I'm sure it will work out for me. Weekly purges are find and continuous fill ups with no scrubbing sounds amazing! Picking out my stuff right now.

 

[rives]

I suppose that it is possible, but it's a little hard for me to believe. Gasoline can vapor lock because of heat because it will start vaporizing at slightly below 100 degrees F and the resultant bubbles can block the flow. For water to vaporize inside of an enclosed and pressurized line, I would think that it would have to be at or near the boiling point. At that point, you've got other troubles!

 

[Kozmo]

Tubing

Tubing

I've seen in the a few prior posts the mention of purchasing supplies from "SV". What is that? I see the white tubing on the side of my "patio deck starter pack I purchased. Is that the white tubing that is mentioned?



Thanks in advance

Kozmo

 

[Eighths-n-Aces]

"SV". What is that?
[/QUOTE]

sustainablevillage.com