Blumat auto watering

[brickweeder]

...Does anybody know if it's safe to use food-grade stainless steel in coco w/ nutrients?

Here's an abstract summary from an experiment with different metals, including several types of stainless, in nitrogen and complete mix nutrient solutions.

Laboratory corrosion tests were conducted on aluminum, carbon steel, chromium, and chromium-nickel stainless steels to evaluate their suitability as constructional materials for storage, transport, and applicator tanks for “nitrogen” and “complete-mix” liquid fertilizers. Two types of corrosion tests were conducted: (1) Partial immersion of small specimens of each material in each fertilizer solution, and (2) Simulated service tests in which small tanks fabricated of each of the test materials were partially filled with each of the fertilizer solutions. The amount and type of corrosion was evaluated by weight-loss determinations, thickness changes, pit-depth measurements, and metallographic examinations.

The results of the corrosion tests showed that in the nitrogen fertilizer solutions aluminum and several chromium and chromium-nickel stainless steels, were not attacked while carbon steel was attacked. In the complete-mix fertilizer solutions, only the chromium-nickel stainless steels were not attacked while aluminum, carbon steel, and three chromium stainless steels were attacked.
https://corrosionjournal.org/doi/abs/10.5006/0010-9312-12.11.53

 

[saitama]

Here's an abstract summary from an experiment with different metals, including several types of stainless, in nitrogen and complete mix nutrient solutions.

Laboratory corrosion tests were conducted on aluminum, carbon steel, chromium, and chromium-nickel stainless steels to evaluate their suitability as constructional materials for storage, transport, and applicator tanks for “nitrogen” and “complete-mix” liquid fertilizers. Two types of corrosion tests were conducted: (1) Partial immersion of small specimens of each material in each fertilizer solution, and (2) Simulated service tests in which small tanks fabricated of each of the test materials were partially filled with each of the fertilizer solutions. The amount and type of corrosion was evaluated by weight-loss determinations, thickness changes, pit-depth measurements, and metallographic examinations.

The results of the corrosion tests showed that in the nitrogen fertilizer solutions aluminum and several chromium and chromium-nickel stainless steels, were not attacked while carbon steel was attacked. In the complete-mix fertilizer solutions, only the chromium-nickel stainless steels were not attacked while aluminum, carbon steel, and three chromium stainless steels were attacked.
https://corrosionjournal.org/doi/abs/10.5006/0010-9312-12.11.53

Thanks. I went ahead and purchased some BPA free reusable plastic straws

 

[kritios]

With the "deep watering" a straw inserted vertically under the dripper, 3gal and bigger pots are not a problem for one carrot.
CC

The straw sounds like a good idea for deeper watering. I noticed the directions for the blumat refer to pot circumference, but not depth. I am running a 7 gal/28 l pot: I wanted to see how big a plant I could run under a good LED. I've vegged for 5 weeks and I top-watered with pure water a few times.

I ended up picking up a blumat maxi, its the one on the right. I now have one maxi and one regular dripper and the pot seems a bit heavier.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Yes it works well and what you need to remember that moisture wicks away from the point the drip hits the soil in all directions equally (well as I said before, gravity will make sure it goes a bit more downwards than sideways).
Ideally you want the bottom end of the straw to sit right in the center in the pot and by that you're moving the point where the drip hits the soil vertically to the center of the pot instead of the surface center of the pot.
Best of luck and keep experimenting!
CC

 

[kritios]

Thanks, Chevy, These are good tips.



I've been really pleased with blumats and LED's together. My last grow was under T5's and handwatering. This grow is going sooo much faster: the picture on the left below was 11 July, the right picture is from today. I've never had this kind of growth indoors in two weeks! I'm excited to see what this system can do!

 

[JustBlazin]

Hello all
Hoping some can help me out with my red question. Went to the hardware store and the only barbed fittings with a rubber oring or washer were in the electrical section, so I got the only two sizes they came in, so I am wondering if I have an intake of 5/8 ID 7/8 OD and overflow of 3/4 ID 1" OD would that work? Or are they to close in diameter and might cause flooding? Also is there something else I should be using to hook to my res like the tank connectors that come with the blumat that have the rubber and the back nut part(I couldn't find any fittings with rubber washer or a plastic nut like the one blumat provides) sorry all I'm a super noob with reservoirs and watering systems
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction
Thanks
Justblazin

 

[brickweeder]

@[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]saitama, how are those straws working with the blumats to keep your pot better watered?
[/FONT]

 

[Maltburga]

I've tried several times now to screw the tensiometer together without getting a bubble but I can't do it. I've tried the dropper method adding drops to get the level above the top of the carrot. I've tried screwing the top on fast and slow. I even tried screwing it in particially under water.

My next attempt will be using boiled water.

How important is it to be bubble free?

 

[saitama]

I've tried several times now to screw the tensiometer together without getting a bubble but I can't do it. I've tried the dropper method adding drops to get the level above the top of the carrot. I've tried screwing the top on fast and slow. I even tried screwing it in particially under water.

My next attempt will be using boiled water.

How important is it to be bubble free?

It is very important that you don't have any air bubbles. This cannot be stressed enough.

You are supposed to assemble the blumats completely under water...not practically. The dropper is also supposed to be used to 'force' any air bubbles out of the top side while it is submerged. The dropper has zero use or effect outside of being completely under water. The dropper is used to force air out, not to fill.

I use a syringe, making sure there are NO air bubbles inside it and then I send a jet of that water into the cap until I don't see any air bubbles. I do this maybe 3-4 times and everything has to be completely submerged to avoid any air bubbles. If you let the cap go out of the water, you need to start over.

Did you soak the carrots overnight? Boiling water will help get the oxygen out of the water. I usually let my carrots sit in water for 24-48hrs and have no issues and don't boil, even though there is a decent amount of oxygen in my water.

 

[saitama]

@[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]saitama, how are those straws working with the blumats to keep your pot better watered?
[/FONT]

I definitely want to say they help, but when the roots start growing around the bottoms, they get 'clogged' and the water just fills to the top of the straw and it's basically the same as not having it lol. I do like the idea of the water penetrating deeper into the pot, though, so I'm going to use them moving forward indefinitely.

 

[kalopatchkid]

I bet you could get the drip line on a 1/8" barbed drip stake but not sure if that would work better than a straw.

 

[Maltburga]

It is very important that you don't have any air bubbles. This cannot be stressed enough.

You are supposed to assemble the blumats completely under water...not practically. The dropper is also supposed to be used to 'force' any air bubbles out of the top side while it is submerged. The dropper has zero use or effect outside of being completely under water. The dropper is used to force air out, not to fill.

I use a syringe, making sure there are NO air bubbles inside it and then I send a jet of that water into the cap until I don't see any air bubbles. I do this maybe 3-4 times and everything has to be completely submerged to avoid any air bubbles. If you let the cap go out of the water, you need to start over.

Did you soak the carrots overnight? Boiling water will help get the oxygen out of the water. I usually let my carrots sit in water for 24-48hrs and have no issues and don't boil, even though there is a decent amount of oxygen in my water.

The carrots I did perfect first try. The tensiometer is much trickier because you can't put the head in the water.

I had an idea last night to wrap the top of it in a zip lock and seal it with tape so I can quickly dunk under water and screw together. Will give it a go tonight.

There was a website I visited that said it isn't essential the tensiometer is bubble free to work?

 

[Maltburga]

I've realised I probably have confused you. I'm talking about the Digital tensiometer.

Have boiled some water and will try my zip lock idea tonight. Currently it's reading 66mbar. Haven't watered my 80x80 bed for a few days now. stuck waiting for a 100mbar reading before I dial my maxis and regular carrot in.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

The carrots I did perfect first try. The tensiometer is much trickier because you can't put the head in the water.

I had an idea last night to wrap the top of it in a zip lock and seal it with tape so I can quickly dunk under water and screw together. Will give it a go tonight.

There was a website I visited that said it isn't essential the tensiometer is bubble free to work?

Assemble the blumats in a bucket, fully under water. Head and carrot. Both underwater. It's easiest done bubble free if you "fuck" the open carrot with your pinkie a couple times, that will stress all air bubbles left out of the carrot. The do the same thing with the green head. then screw them together underwater.
It doesn't matter much if the brown valve knob at the top is screwed shut or left open when you put head and carrot together as you will set the drip once the drip line is introduced and the carrot in the soil.
Don't overthink it, blumats were designed for gardening-happy grandmas

Happy experimenting.
CC

 

[Maltburga]

Redid my entire layout tonight. This time I used all the little bits of knowledge I picked up to hopefully nail it. Went with a loop on the 8mm and have 2 maxis and a normal carrot each powering 3 drippers. Have spaced out the drippers evenly to cover my 80x80CM bed.

I did stuff around with adding a T on my gravity fed bucket with clear PVC to act as a guage and supposedly to keep air out of the main line but I found this didn't work. I had air bubbles coming from my release valve/manual watering hose. I guess I didn't look at the diagram properly for how it's meant to work...

Anyway the worst part was waiting a week for the bed to hit 100Mbar in the middle of the bed. I got impatient and have dialed in while the reading was 92. This is close enough I think and it gives me room to dial them in a mini turn or two to hit the magic triple digits.

Just goes to show my previous grow I was watering waaaaay to often.

Now to monitor over the next 48 hours and see which direction she blows.

 

[LostTribe]

I need to know why the soil is drying out? I soaked the carrots for a week and the tops for 2 days assembled under water no bubbles. Watered a little put carrots in the plumbed to the Rez. Got all the air out and stoped at hanging drip then dialed back more closed by 2 triangles. After 24 hours didn't seem they were working so I did the hanging drop again and this time only 1 more triangle closed. Same today still getting dry. I tried a 3rd time and only went like half a triangle for tonight and watered again.

Rez is about 1 ft above the tops of the carrots top of Rez water is about 1 more ft. Just feeding RO.

What am I doing wrong???? I've got a week to get them working gonna be away for a week.

Thank you!
LT

 

[saitama]

I need to know why the soil is drying out? I soaked the carrots for a week and the tops for 2 days assembled under water no bubbles. Watered a little put carrots in the plumbed to the Rez. Got all the air out and stoped at hanging drip then dialed back more closed by 2 triangles. After 24 hours didn't seem they were working so I did the hanging drop again and this time only 1 more triangle closed. Same today still getting dry. I tried a 3rd time and only went like half a triangle for tonight and watered again.

Rez is about 1 ft above the tops of the carrots top of Rez water is about 1 more ft. Just feeding RO.

What am I doing wrong???? I've got a week to get them working gonna be away for a week.

Thank you!
LT

Hi LT,

You need to elevate the res to 6'+. I would also water to the saturation level you desire (almost completely) and then install the carrots.

 

[LostTribe]

Hi LT,

You need to elevate the res to 6'+. I would also water to the saturation level you desire (almost completely) and then install the carrots.

I only have 3 ft max on this veg space.

 

[Fitzera]

I only have 3 ft max on this veg space. So are they worthless?

I wouldn't say they're worthless, but I would say you need more hydrostatic pressure most likely. Instead of raising, try a larger reservoir. I use a large outdoor garbage can onto of a 1 step work stool thats a big higher than a foot. Garbage can is kept 3/4 full with ro water and a couple air stones for good measure. The only issue I've had, even though I use ro water, the pail I used are also used for ewc tea and I feel there is still some little bits that I miss when I clean them. That and my cats are always playing in the pails of water. Anyhow, I have found sediment plugs up the valve I have coming off the res. Its such a small hole. I pull the hose off the res side of the valve, purge the hose. Pull the valve off and blow through it both ways. Turn it open closed a few times and blow again. Then put it all back together and purge the whole line for air bubbles. I do this every 7-10 days.

Also, im running 18 carrots in 9 7gal fabric pots...so the more carrots and line, the more pressure required obviously.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

I only have 3 ft max on this veg space. So are they worthless?

Nah you're good, until recently I have never used more than 2 feet of vertical elevation for the reservoir...
If you can have directly next to the plants or just outside the tent it will work. If it's further away you'll need to raise it a bit. The directions on how much are on the tropf blumat page.


It's best to water to full saturation, then install the carrots for "last drop hanging", then close 3 more marks.

Since you watered it might take a couple days for the soil to dry enough to suck the water from the carrots and open the valve in the cap.
BTW they're good to go after an hour's soak, no need to water them for days or even weeks, the clay is not that thick, water will permeate it quickly.
When i set mine I try to be around for a couple days to see if they're responding to the soil drying out so that I can intervene if something went wrong. After they have opened and closed again for the first time, I tend to forget about them.
Best of luck
CC