Blumat auto watering

[sanjuan]

huntingbb: I'd compare the Blumat system reservoir to an ebb-and-flow system res. If you let light in, never clean it, and have high temperatures you'll get algea. But you're picturing a DWC situation when you say "hydro" and that's not what this is at all. Actually, the Blumat system is cleaner than ebb-and-flow because there is no recirculation. It's a drain-to-waste (but there is no waste!).

rives brings up the interesting question regarding aeration of the reservoir.
Is anyone here using an airstone?

 

[overmyhead]

huntingbb: I'd compare the Blumat system reservoir to an ebb-and-flow system res. If you let light in, never clean it, and have high temperatures you'll get algea. But you're picturing a DWC situation when you say "hydro" and that's not what this is at all. Actually, the Blumat system is cleaner than ebb-and-flow because there is no recirculation. It's a drain-to-waste (but there is no waste!).

rives brings up the interesting question regarding aeration of the reservoir.
Is anyone here using an airstone?

i have one 2' flexi diffuser up top and two in the main rez

 

[greentrich]

Huntingbb:

FWIW, my res temps got as high 84* for a couple days. Up until about a week ago (started to cool off here), res temps were in the upper 70's, low 80's. I'm in my 9th week and things are looking great. No adverse effects from less than ideal res temps.

This is my first time using a res (and blumats) so I had the same concerns when I was reading 84* in there. Mine also sits outside a tent, subject to ambient temps, and light proof. I had asked another member here about it, and they had mentioned the same thing you did about it being more crucial when the roots are sitting in water.

I change/clean my 10g (of which I only use 6g) res once a week. Never had any algae or damaged plants, so roots seem to be rocking. I'm using smart pots and in the 3rd week of 12/12, there are still roots growing out of the pots. So my guess is things are all good.

I do not use an airstone or any pump (for mixing) in the res. I tried using an airstone in a smaller container before going the res, but it seemed to not agree with the nutes I am using. I was using a pump to keep the mix mixed at the beginning, but also found that it didn't help. Not using either...my fertigation solution looks very nice: stays mixed up and PH babysitting is not needed. From what I've read, using coco (especially with smartpots) pretty much eliminates the need for an aerated res. I use Botanicare moisture formula coco, and it's pretty spongy. Point is...I think the medium is getting enough O2 with the coco/smartpot combo.

Something else of note: Coming from the hand watering world, I always had green algae growing on top of my coco, specifically on the peaks of the perlite in the coco. Nothing too alarming, but there was always a little green on the top layer. Now switch to blumats: not one speck of visible algae, even with res temps sitting ~80*.

This drip system is really something else, entirely underestimated.

 

[huntingbb]

I ran mine all summer on a small elevated reservoir fed with an auto-top off system. It is relatively cool here, but temps were in the low 80's. I had debated about using a bubbler in it, but wound up deciding it could potentially cause more trouble than it was worth if the air bubbles started causing vapor locks. The reservoir was covered, the outside taped with aluminum tape, and in a darkened room (outside of a tent). I never had any algae or noticeable scum build-up. Root/water temperature is not the issue in soil that it is in hydro.

AAAAHHHHHHHHH

huntingbb: I'd compare the Blumat system reservoir to an ebb-and-flow system res. If you let light in, never clean it, and have high temperatures you'll get algea. But you're picturing a DWC situation when you say "hydro" and that's not what this is at all. Actually, the Blumat system is cleaner than ebb-and-flow because there is no recirculation. It's a drain-to-waste (but there is no waste!).

rives brings up the interesting question regarding aeration of the reservoir.
Is anyone here using an airstone?

yeah exactly, i was thinking in specific hydro/dwc terms, i'm going back and forth between coco + blumats and hydro/dwc

i have one 2' flexi diffuser up top and two in the main rez

2 foot? wow.... i did plan on having a bubbler per rez

Huntingbb:

FWIW, my res temps got as high 84* for a couple days. Up until about a week ago (started to cool off here), res temps were in the upper 70's, low 80's. I'm in my 9th week and things are looking great. No adverse effects from less than ideal res temps.

This is my first time using a res (and blumats) so I had the same concerns when I was reading 84* in there. Mine also sits outside a tent, subject to ambient temps, and light proof. I had asked another member here about it, and they had mentioned the same thing you did about it being more crucial when the roots are sitting in water.

I change/clean my 10g (of which I only use 6g) res once a week. Never had any algae or damaged plants, so roots seem to be rocking. I'm using smart pots and in the 3rd week of 12/12, there are still roots growing out of the pots. So my guess is things are all good.

I do not use an airstone or any pump (for mixing) in the res. I tried using an airstone in a smaller container before going the res, but it seemed to not agree with the nutes I am using. I was using a pump to keep the mix mixed at the beginning, but also found that it didn't help. Not using either...my fertigation solution looks very nice: stays mixed up and PH babysitting is not needed. From what I've read, using coco (especially with smartpots) pretty much eliminates the need for an aerated res. I use Botanicare moisture formula coco, and it's pretty spongy. Point is...I think the medium is getting enough O2 with the coco/smartpot combo.

Something else of note: Coming from the hand watering world, I always had green algae growing on top of my coco, specifically on the peaks of the perlite in the coco. Nothing too alarming, but there was always a little green on the top layer. Now switch to blumats: not one speck of visible algae, even with res temps sitting ~80*.

This drip system is really something else, entirely underestimated.

again i was thinking of dwc, could you expound about the lockout that can be caused because of bubbling?

does one need a pump in the rez recirc'ing?

should this be submersible or external if so?

 

[greentrich]

again i was thinking of dwc, could you expound about the lockout that can be caused because of bubbling?

does one need a pump in the rez recirc'ing?

should this be submersible or external if so?

I never experienced lockout. IMO the airstone just made my nutes collect into particles. Really strange, I even made a thread about it asking ?'s, no one really had an answer...so I ditched it.

I don't recirc, I dtw...without the wast as SanJuan metnioned. The purpose of the pump I was using was just to keep the mix all mixed up. It was a sub pump and was used so the nutes wouldn't settle. They did anyway, plus heated up the res. I took it out about a a week ago and my solution is actually better for it. No settling and it stays cooler.

Hope that answers your questions.

 

[huntingbb]

I never experienced lockout. IMO the airstone just made my nutes collect into particles. Really strange, I even made a thread about it asking ?'s, no one really had an answer...so I ditched it.

I don't recirc, I dtw...without the wast as SanJuan metnioned. The purpose of the pump I was using was just to keep the mix all mixed up. It was a sub pump and was used so the nutes wouldn't settle. They did anyway, plus heated up the res. I took it out about a a week ago and my solution is actually better for it. No settling and it stays cooler.

Hope that answers your questions.

so your saying that the bubbles mixed the rez sufficiently?

 

[greentrich]

Nope...I ditched the airstone. Nothing in my res but water and nutes now. They stay better mixed without any stone or pump. Weird I know, doesn't make sense to me really...but it is what it is.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Herborizer]

I always airstone my res. I use two very large airstones. I have tested and my res will not stay mixed otherwise.

I would not advise having a reservoir without some sort of mixing system in there. Like airstones or pump.

 

[greentrich]

I always airstone my res. I use two very large airstones. I have tested and my res will not stay mixed otherwise.

I would not advise having a reservoir without some sort of mixing system in there. Like airstones or pump.

Ya now THAT makes sense. What I am experiencing doesn't. Which is why you need to test your own Huntingbb. I've noticed you will usually get differing advice from different members. Herborizer isn't wrong, neither am I. We're just experiencing different things with different methods/environments.

It's easy to run a couple tests before you get your setup going, that's what I did with the stones, found they don't work so good. I would rather find out before I get going what's going to happen instead of during the run. This is a pretty subjective hobby when it comes to the finer details like this, and is usually better left to the person in charge of THAT grow to determine what's best. I run a type of coco and a line of nutes that some praise, and some think is complete garbage. I've had nothing but success using the same stuff for two years. This run is no different, and is actually a HUGE improvement.

Just run yourself a couple quick tests Hunting. All the advice from here isn't gonna mean shit when you implement it and things go wrong. I've seen very successful methods that defy a lot of advice given. That person found what worked for them, and that didn't work for others.

I guess to make a long story longer, and coming full circle to your ORIGINAL question LOL...with your ambient temps, res temps shouldn't be a problem.

 

[overmyhead]

I used the diffusers (2' doesn't really do that much on the setting I have the pump at) because I didn't see how it could hurt, I had them and felt like it would be good to stir things up. In the main res I also have a tiny fountain pump that comes on every once in a while to kick things up. made sense to me but I am really new to hydro.

 

[sunnydog]

Coming soon........

Coming soon........

CLONING with BLUMATS!!!

 

[Herborizer]

CLONING with BLUMATS!!!

Can't wait to see this....

 

[redbudduckfoot]

yep, im really interested in the cloning. im always ready for a new low-tech cloning method

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

CLONING with BLUMATS!!!

Bring it on Sunnydog!

 

[sanjuan]

Since Sunnydog is teasing us,
Has anyone tried the bonsai Blumat (for small moms, maybe)?

 

[McSnappler]

Def curious about your blumat cloning sunnydog..

 

[overmyhead]

Very anxious to see this too. THey have a flat blumat on their site that you can use with a capillary mat and rapid rooters (http://www.blumat-shop.de/Tropf-Blu...sensor--drip-tubing---T-branch-connector.html), or you could put your cuts in a keg cup of coco, put a snesor in the end one on each row and distribution dripers in the other. The reason I say coco is the not being able to over water thing. But, I have been doing a real rough eb and flow with solo cups of coco and they are rooted and ready to go into flower in three weeks pretty consistently. I lose about 1 out of 50 totally and then there have been about 5 straglers so the three times I've done it I end up with the 40 I need ready to go like clockwork. I know, it doesn't use blumats but it's working pretty well. But I think that I'll try the distrubtuion dripper thing, once I can get myself motivated enough to. I went a little overboard on an order from the blumat store so what the heck right?

CLONING with BLUMATS!!!

 

[Herborizer]

ok, i am finally getting around to setting mine up.
i am using a 5 gallon bucket, with a 1/2 in bulkhead on it.
from the bulkhead, 1/2in line will run into the grow tent, and the blumats will attach to that

i ordered the 3/32in barb from kentsystems.com
http://www.kentsystems.com/index.php?file=c-con_product_details&iProductId=NzA3
part #- NFN206 incase the link dies.

when i was first looking into these, i had a hard time picturing what it would look like (even after looking through a few threads). i could never find a picture of the res/line/dripper in one picture.

so for the people wondering what these are, here is a very basic picture of how they are setup.
res --> 1/2in bulkhead --> 1/2in feedline --> 3/32in barb --> 3mm tubing --> blumat dripper.

it would be nice if someone could update the first few posts on the first page with links/pictures. alot of the questions have been answered, but wading through 350 posts can be tiresome for some.
just a suggestion.

Great post. Thank You!

I bought my Blumats and my 3/32 parts from Kent systems. I now understand the reason for the long roll of 3mm line from this picture. I am not sure why I missed this post the two times I read this thread. This picture makes everything crystal clear.

This is how I will be running my lines. 1/2 buikhead on my res with the exact same valve shown on the picture. The 1/2 line will run to my table. From there I will have a 1/2 inch T connector. I will run run 1/2 inch line in a circle on my table, connecting both ends to the T connector from the line coming from the res. I will then poke holes into the 1/2 line and insert the 3/32 barbed connectors into the 1/2 line. From there I will use the long 3mm lines to run up to each plant and blumat.

Why do this? It seems that running 1/2 inch line from the reservoir to the table will have less friction and bring more pressure. Also, the 1/2 line is very flexible and easy to work with. Then, on the table, the 3mm (long) lines will be connected to the 1/2 line allowing for easy moving of plants etc. Basically, higher flow and easy working with the plants.

 

[sanjuan]

Kelly's post is #359--a good demonstration that I also don't recall seeing earlier.

 

[dargo]

is anyone using these in soil with canna nutes?