I am pretty sure sunnydog does but you will have to pm or ask him right after he posts in here. He swings by every once in while to see how we are all doing.
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Blumat auto watering
- Thread starter sunnydog
- Start date
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- blumat drippers irrigation watering
I am pretty sure sunnydog does but you will have to pm or ask him right after he posts in here. He swings by every once in while to see how we are all doing.
budderfly has laid it all out on his thread "Building a 4x6 hidden room"
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7227838&postcount=287
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7245222&postcount=290
still working on it....I am thinking 2 carrots per large milk crate . yeehaw..
Bwanabud
Active member
Thanks Sunnydog, just finished tweaking a room and hadn't got to the PM yet.
I received quote and spoke to Steve at Blumat, he was great,,,full of excellent info & a really nice guy,,, and he got my 40 plant pressurized system information over to me. Everything looks good, I'm ordering up for 1 of my rooms
Going to do a test grow, and add more systems.I'm going with Steve's full pump system kit, Reg. sensors in each plant, 3 drippers in each plant, flush stakes...the whole shabang !!
PS: If I can figure out how to get the system to make beer, I'll never leave the room
Bwanabud
Active member
I will certainly try to do that, my time is a serious problem...so a full DIY info thread would be impossible for me.
But the system will work great, I have a lot of hydronic/mechanical/pump experience & education...so the system is very simple to me. I discussed some changes from the stock system for my needs with Steve @ Blumat, and he agreed it's a winner. So once I get the sensors balanced out, all I have to do is keep the rez clean/full. My rez is in a location that's -2 F today, so care must be taken to control temp of feed water & pipe freezing concerns...but that's under control now anyways
I'll make sure to check back with info to add to the thread, it should be a wonderful journey..appreciate all the help and info from members.
I got blumats set up in my room about a week ago, and so far it's been awesome! I am having one issue, though. Right where the water is dripping from the blumat, I have fuzzy white mold growing on the surface of the perlite. (I am running 100% perlite because that's all I have. Next round I will likely switch to coco.)
What can I do to get rid of this mold? A quick google search doesn't seem to bring up many tips for this problem.
What can I do to get rid of this mold? A quick google search doesn't seem to bring up many tips for this problem.
I will certainly try to do that, my time is a serious problem...so a full DIY info thread would be impossible for me.
But the system will work great, I have a lot of hydronic/mechanical/pump experience & education...so the system is very simple to me. I discussed some changes from the stock system for my needs with Steve @ Blumat, and he agreed it's a winner. So once I get the sensors balanced out, all I have to do is keep the rez clean/full. My rez is in a location that's -2 F today, so care must be taken to control temp of feed water & pipe freezing concerns...but that's under control now anyways
I'll make sure to check back with info to add to the thread, it should be a wonderful journey..appreciate all the help and info from members.
Been running blumats for 3 years. I like them a lot but you better be prepared for runaways as it's part of the game. They just all of a sudden decide to drip like mad and try to drain your res. The other side of the coin is after being set some will underwater and have to be adjusted. Better have a place for the overflow to go when they go whack, it will happen
The white stuff is the microherd that organic soil growers talk about. It's a community of microorganisms that thrive on the oxygenated nutrients you're providing. It's very much the same beneficial stuff that grows on wet/dry aquarium fillters & won't hurt your plants.
the protege
Member
If you were putting together a 5x5 tent and planned on some mix of 5 gallon and 10 gallon containers, what Blumat system would you go for?
This will be gravity fed and as I understand it, 5 gal is the maximum for a single carrot. So if I ran 10 - 5 gallon pots, I'd need at least 10 carrots. If I ran 5-6, 10 gallon pots, I'd need two per so 10-12.
Is this correct? Should I purchase the basic patio 4x8 system and just add two additional carrots? Is anything else needed besides loads of 8mm tubing?
This will be gravity fed and as I understand it, 5 gal is the maximum for a single carrot. So if I ran 10 - 5 gallon pots, I'd need at least 10 carrots. If I ran 5-6, 10 gallon pots, I'd need two per so 10-12.
Is this correct? Should I purchase the basic patio 4x8 system and just add two additional carrots? Is anything else needed besides loads of 8mm tubing?
This kit will get you going-
https://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_75&product_id=50
It's bare bones. You'll also need a 5 gal bucket for a reservoir or just buy this one-
https://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_69&product_id=120
Shutoff valves are good-
https://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_69&product_id=68
The stock 8 mm tubing is a pita so I built manifolds & use longer lengths of the 3mm stuff to make it easy, plus 3mm splicers & a homemade system to block off individual 3mm outlets as needed. images in my pics album.
Sustainable village has all of it along w/ spare tees & elbows. Some folks like the red silicone 8mm tubing & distribution drippers but I haven't tried them.
The kits work OK, but they're a bit of a tease, a come-on to buy more stuff to do it really well.
DizzyGround
Member
I've got a weird problem.
Plants are old, late flower.
This is approx the solution I use.
10 l water. Tapwater 0.1ec.
1ml Ca, 1ml Mg.
5ml silica
~15ml of both canna a and b
2ml drip clean.
Ends up ~1-1.2 ec
I give this to plants and the runoff is 1.5-2ec and ph 6-7.
In res the solution doesnt raise ph. How come the runoff ph is so high? Usually if ruonff ec is higher than what u give the ph should be low, not high.
Using small pots and coco so plants are rootbound.
I also get somekind of weird grey algae in res and because of it i have to clean the pipes every 1-2weeks. Would like to get rid of that too..
Plants are old, late flower.
This is approx the solution I use.
10 l water. Tapwater 0.1ec.
1ml Ca, 1ml Mg.
5ml silica
~15ml of both canna a and b
2ml drip clean.
Ends up ~1-1.2 ec
I give this to plants and the runoff is 1.5-2ec and ph 6-7.
In res the solution doesnt raise ph. How come the runoff ph is so high? Usually if ruonff ec is higher than what u give the ph should be low, not high.
Using small pots and coco so plants are rootbound.
I also get somekind of weird grey algae in res and because of it i have to clean the pipes every 1-2weeks. Would like to get rid of that too..
DizzyGround
Member
Do you run enzymes with blumats? I ran cannazym but thought that it was the cause of this grey slime like algae. But no, it still keeps growing without cannazym.
Well they seem to be yellowing a bit but at the same time little burn tips one some leaves. They look hungry and burnt at same time. I was actually feeding them 0.8ec for week or so and they started to look yellower. But there are some weird looking burn tips with rust color. Not the typical rust spots that occur on whole leaf but only the tip.
Im worried that if i give them more nutes the coco will become toxic as its already giving high ec runoff. The high ph on runoff in the otherhand might be that they really are hungry and want more nutes.
Im confused
Well they seem to be yellowing a bit but at the same time little burn tips one some leaves. They look hungry and burnt at same time. I was actually feeding them 0.8ec for week or so and they started to look yellower. But there are some weird looking burn tips with rust color. Not the typical rust spots that occur on whole leaf but only the tip.
Im worried that if i give them more nutes the coco will become toxic as its already giving high ec runoff. The high ph on runoff in the otherhand might be that they really are hungry and want more nutes.
Im confused
DizzyGround
Member
To add,
When I was feeding heavier earlier, 1.2-1.4ec the runoff ph was not that high. Now that I have feeded less nutes the runoff ph seems bigger. 6.5-7ph
When I was feeding heavier earlier, 1.2-1.4ec the runoff ph was not that high. Now that I have feeded less nutes the runoff ph seems bigger. 6.5-7ph
Is the feeding 8mm tube best to keep under the pot level or over the pot level? Just rearranged my setup and made the feed line sit above the pots to feed down to the carrot because i just automaticly assumed this was the best?
Is it best to have the feedingline feeding from under the carrot or over the carrot and down?
What option does prevent air in the lines the most? im confused on this
Peace
Is it best to have the feedingline feeding from under the carrot or over the carrot and down?
What option does prevent air in the lines the most? im confused on this
Peace
I think that the critical part is purging the system well at startup to avoid trapped air in the lines. I apparently didn't do that as well as I should have this round & had a dripper run dry because of it. It took a month to show up, which seems weird.
The plant told me, of course, by getting droopy. I've discovered that it's important to soak the soil & resoak/refill/re-adjust the carrot when that happens because the carrot will have released water into the soil & taken in air. I keep spare carrots filled & ready to go underwater in a sealed container.
I haven't had to deal with the reservoir running dry because mine is fed with a float valve.
