Blumat auto watering

[rrog]

Exactly what I had planned. Great. Again, thanks man

 

[sunnydog]

Hi Sunny. I don't understand. Two drippers running from a carrot. Two drip points along the diameter. The third point is the carrot. Why is a third drip point required?

I thought you wanted a triangle of drip points...

 

[wisco61]

I am finishing up another successful blumat run and continue to find ways to refine the system. This run I used coco and DE in 2 gal Geopots. I used GH flora at 6/9 with silica and calmag. I didn't use drip clean or anything and haven't had any clogging issues at all. But, the most pleasant surprise this run were the Geopots.

I got the tan colored Geopots and found an easy way to dial in the blumats. After the initial dial in, you can get them perfect by making use of the tan color and square corners of the Geopots. What you are looking for is just the very bottom corners of the pots to be moist, you can easily tell because of the color change in the tan cloth. And since the Geopots have square corners on the bottom as opposed to the round bottoms of other brands, its works great as the moisture will collect in the corners just before a run away. Here is a picture, I found I just have to glance at the bottom corners of the pots to tell if they are dialed in right. If you wanted drier pots, dial in to the slightly moist corners, than back off a 1/4 arrow more.

Anyways, thought I would tell of my experience incase anyone is planning an order of blumats and fabric pots, the tan Geopots are an excellent partner to the blumats.

 

[rrog]

I've been kicking the idea around of elevating the supply line to slightly above the blumat level, and turning the T's for the 3mm take-off points so that they point down (right now my supply line is at floor level with the 3mm T's pointing up). It seems that this would help keep them from getting an air lock - the air would naturally hug the top of supply tubing and hopefully get pushed along toward the vent at the end of the run. Has anybody tried this?

Looking to hook this up today. Running 8mm from the BM pressure reducer all the way to a raised end that has a valve. This valve represents the highest point in the system. So a straight uphill run of 8mm. Overall, this supply is somewhat elevated above the BMs themselves.

I will have six (I have 6 plants) of the supplied 8mm Tees pointed down as Rives suggests. Along the underside of this 8mm supply. Soaking the carrots and lines right now. I'm using a very clean big plastic irrigation syringe to run water back and forth in the 3mm lines. Also squeezing the 3mm between my fingers while underwater to break them in a bit, remove air, etc. I can see how an air bubble in this system could stop the press.

Also, given the small hiding spaces in the lids of these things, assembling underwater and making a concerted effort to get the air out of the carrot is a big deal, it would seem. An air bubble in there is compressible and might slow the shutoff

 

[rrog]

Air leaking into the core of the unit could cause the problems that you described with one unit... although it seems unlikely that it would happen to so many units at once. I see 4 places where air could be leaking in:
1. Where the ceramic meets the light green plastic, solve with thing ring of silicone
2. Where the unit screws together, both light green plastic, solve with teflon tape
3. Where the white diaphragm meets the light green plastic, possibly a very small amount of silicone

Where the light green plastic and the dark green plastic meet is not important. It is not airtight.

AK-51 do you still feel these precautions are worthwhile? These seem like harmless things to do, so with no downside and a potential upside, why not? Also, I think we'd want aquarium silicone.

 

[Herborizer]

AK-51 do you still feel these precautions are worthwhile? These seem like harmless things to do, so with no downside and a potential upside, why not? Also, I think we'd want aquarium silicone.

In my experience this is not needed at all.

 

[sunnydog]

AK-51 do you still feel these precautions are worthwhile? These seem like harmless things to do, so with no downside and a potential upside, why not? Also, I think we'd want aquarium silicone.

Don't look for trouble..........

 

[wisco61]

Also, given the small hiding spaces in the lids of these things, assembling underwater and making a concerted effort to get the air out of the carrot is a big deal, it would seem. An air bubble in there is compressible and might slow the shutoff

If u give them a good 24 hours to soak they will soak water through the ceramic cones and fill completely. But its still best to fill underwater. A container big enough to stand the blumat up vertically makes it easier to get no air.

 

[rrog]

OK I assembled and ran the 8mm from the pressure reducer to the end with the valve. All works fine. Watered the plants thoroughly, per the rives method. Tomorrow I'll connect the BMs and distributors.

Also, the emergency shutoff is in place and working fine. Any runoff will trigger the valve to shut off water.

 

[Protea]

I am finishing up another successful blumat run and continue to find ways to refine the system. This run I used coco and DE in 2 gal Geopots. I used GH flora at 6/9 with silica and calmag. I didn't use drip clean or anything and haven't had any clogging issues at all. But, the most pleasant surprise this run were the Geopots.

I got the tan colored Geopots and found an easy way to dial in the blumats. After the initial dial in, you can get them perfect by making use of the tan color and square corners of the Geopots. What you are looking for is just the very bottom corners of the pots to be moist, you can easily tell because of the color change in the tan cloth. And since the Geopots have square corners on the bottom as opposed to the round bottoms of other brands, its works great as the moisture will collect in the corners just before a run away. Here is a picture, I found I just have to glance at the bottom corners of the pots to tell if they are dialed in right. If you wanted drier pots, dial in to the slightly moist corners, than back off a 1/4 arrow more.

Anyways, thought I would tell of my experience incase anyone is planning an order of blumats and fabric pots, the tan Geopots are an excellent partner to the blumats.

can these pots teare if they get to wet.?,

 

[wisco61]

can these pots teare if they get to wet.?,

No, they are fabric not newspaper....

 

[rrog]

Well, my problem is that I have a very small grow area. 34" x 30" and only 54" of height. I have 6 seven-gallon pails in that little space. The plan was to cull three potential males. But I have 6 females. And I can't bear to chop them down...

This crowded area has shown me the great difficulty dialing in these BMs if you can't have your head right where the BM and distributors are to see and dial.

 

[McSnappler]

Fantastic Blumat summary a few pages back from Flow don't stru - didn't spot it before. Nice work! Glad this thread is still going strong.

 

[rives]

Well, my problem is that I have a very small grow area. 34" x 30" and only 54" of height. I have 6 seven-gallon pails in that little space. The plan was to cull three potential males. But I have 6 females. And I can't bear to chop them down...

This crowded area has shown me the great difficulty dialing in these BMs if you can't have your head right where the BM and distributors are to see and dial.

Rrog - I usually run three plants in a 30" x 30" scrog format, so I can imagine the problems that you are having. I picked up one of those "moisture meters" on Amazon, and then get the plant that I have good access to set the way I want. I then use the moisture meter to get the other plants set at the same level.

 

[rrog]

rives, thanks for your thoughts. What size light do you have? I have a 600W HPS Blue Hort bulb in a hood. I only ever intended to grow three. Now I'm eating my liver out at the thought of having to cull three.

I'm wondering if I should flip the lights while they're all 4 weeks old (from seed). keep the 6 smaller but bring them all to flower.

Regarding BM, I like the idea of a moisture meter. That would help me since I'm still a novice with soil. Might I ask which you purchased? Is it accurate do you think? I like meters of all kinds. I must have 12 thermometers (for cooking and grilling) 2 pH meters, a meter to measure water ppm. I'll be getting a soil thermometer for the compost pile, and likely a Dissolved O2 meter for tea. I like to define things.

 

[rives]

I use a Lumigrow ES330 fixture at the moment. Flipping early would probably be a good idea - you will need a shoehorn in there when they get going. As far as the meters go, I have both Luster Leaf models, the 1810 and the 1820. The 1820 has a cord to the probe, rather than the probe being integral like the 1810, and while it is a lot handier in tight spots, I found the wires broke pretty quickly in the cord from the cord flexing. I don't know how "accurate" they are, but they seem to be repeatable, which I think is more important.

 

[rrog]

Ordered up the 1820. Per the manufacturer, it's about their best selling meter. If the wires fail, I'll return it. They claimed that was an oddity, but what else would they say. Of the various digital and analog moisture meters, this was their top recommendation.

I'm gonna flip at 4 weeks. Thanks for the support. If I have to selectively trim buds to make room, I will.

 

[Marlo]

Really glad to see this thread is still going.
I finally switched to a water only regimen, and would love to set my blumats up again. I used them a few runs back, and can't remember where the hell I put them!
I'll find em sooner or later... Until then I'll be reading back thru this thread. I wasn't really able to fully dial the blumats in last time.
Thanks to everyone contributing in here.

 

[BigGreen]

Anybody know where I can buy them from now. Cant find them on that site
and where can I get the extra hose as well
Thanks

 

[rrog]

Planet Earth Hydro
Sustainable Village

Question that I haven't found an answer for: The little distributors have a screw. Any idea what happens when you adjust it? Also, some of these distributors drip like in the video, while others simply have the water run down the stem. Hard to calculate when there's no distinct drip.

I have tilted these non-drippers so as to encourage a drip, and while that seems to help, they definitely still want to run down the side and not drip.

Thanks