Hoosierdaddy's SWC Toob (Smart Valve controlled)

[hoosierdaddy]

THanks, eyes.

I have tested the unit through several cycles. It works perfectly.
I was worried about it not draining the whole thing before refilling, due to the thing sitting in a tube rather than flat. But the tube actually allows the internal valve to set a bit lower than normal and works out quite well.
The two port air bank lets me put just the right amount of air to the res stone and the bubble curtain.
I couldn't be more leased with the initial testing. I need to get some things finished up so I can get this baby into action.

 

[THoC]

Hoosier.... I love your style bro! I go away for abit and I come back to find youve been busy in your think tank mode! That mandala#1 must be inspirational!
Anyway thanks for the heads up about smart valves... I never heard of them ( but then im under a rock most of the time! or at least stoned ) Whats the reason. for you going to a hydro setup? I love hydro but After my last grow I was pretty sick of the amount of water changes and am thinking of going dirt the next time.

be good bro
grow well

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Thanks for taking a look at my latest project, THoC!

I had decided to go 100% coco on my next grow, and I also wanted to be able to leave for two or three days without worry. I checked out drippers and all sorts of methods, and it just sort of melded together when I remembered the Autopots and their Smart Valve.

This won't require any res changes at all. All I need to do it pour in my nutes for the period of time I want. If I am around, I will probably mix up a couple days worth at a time. It is a run to waste system, with NO waste.

And with the pots being mostly coco, I can prepare the cuts in the veg cab and just drop them in the tube when they are ready...or keep them in veg while the run in the tube is finishing.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

thats cool for such a small grow, awsome job!!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Thanks, DH. It is all my cab will allow. I may build one for the veg side someday.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Oh my gawd, it's an mPod classic! She looks like something straight out of Cupertino. What's the box look like? Gotta have the out-of-the-box experiance thing going. With a black BG and slick lighting, you could print that in HighTimes and start taking orders.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Glad you like it, Freeze!
I still have some plants to finish before I put this in action. EOM
If you are asking about the valve 'box' it looks...like a box.
Actually when you have it in your hand you can see just how ingenious the thing is.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Actually I was talking about the box the mPod comes in when you buy one in the store. This looks nothing like a DIY. It looks like a professional, commercial unit that comes with owner's manual and warranty,

I don't know if you've ever bought a new Mac or Apple product but, the out-of-the-box thing is a true RDF experiance (Reality Distortion Field). The boxes alone are cool beyond belief, then you open it and it's cooler still, then you start marveling at the design of the packaging and you haven't even gotten to the unit yet... it's like Christmas in July.

Your Groove Tube strikes me in much the same way. A true work of art. Now we just need to see if it works.

 

[hazy]

hey hoosierdaddy, I've got smartvalves on my list of things to get soon. I've been studying them, and that's how I found your thread. Johnny Chimpo uses autopots and kicks butt with them.
My concern is why you would choose to do perlite on the bottom and the rest straight coco. The future garden website says you should use a 50/50 coco/perlite mix. That's how JC does it too. That's how I'm doing it. I haven't got the valve yet, but am getting clones and seedlings ready in the 50/50 mix, so they'll be ready when i get my valve.
Anyway, your pvc channel looks interesting.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Freeze, your comments are much appreciated my friend!
Your approvals are rightfully respected.
I've never had the pleasure to take in the Mac experience, although I have associates that are under the Apple spell.
Yeah, the thing looks real good I'll have to agree, but it is so simple. At this point I have every confidence it will be a good working tool. I had some concerns about the roots overtaking the valve area, but I have constructed a couple of strainers of sorts to help stop this.
I will show pics and details later, but basically what I did was cut out a piece of the 4" PVC at about 1/8" thick. I then glued this with RTV right down to a piece of garden weed block material. This stuff is porous enough to allow moisture through, but not roots. I know that some roots can get through the stuff anyway, but just a quick lift of the pots from time to time would alleviate even that.
Anywho, after the thing dried, I cut it in halve.
The two joints on either side of the valve have a small crack on the inside, and the 4" half gaskets snap in there like they were made for it!....actually they were!


Thanks for stopping in during your search, hazy!
As far as I understand, Futuregarden recommends 3 parts perlite to 1 part coco or peat in their Autopots.
My decision to plan on using the perlite and then straight coco was due to a few things. Basically the buckets with a hole in it method is what gave me the idea to just use coco, although those guys use some vermiculite as well...I don't like verm.
And my last grow was in a 50/50 soil/coco mix and I wanted to try straight coco, so I felt this was the best of the things I wanted to try.
I will more than likely change it up in the future. I already have a Folgers coffee can (~6") epoxied around one of the 3" pots now so that it will fit in the tube.
I may try that run after this one.

The Toob will be going into it's home tonight right after I trim and chop my latest harvest. I still have some haze and others flowering so I will wait till tonights lights on in 4 hours, and the harvest begins!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

The Groove Toob is now up and running.
I added some spaces for a total of 7 pots.
Everything is going to plan and the thing is working beautifully.

For the toob's maiden voyage I am running 2 Carnival and 5 SSH. All fem seed.
Two Carns will be in 25% coco/75% perlite.
The SSH, one is in 25coco/75perlite, two in 90coco/10perlite, one 50/50, one 100% coco.

At the moment I am finishing the Thunk from the last run in a 1.5qt pot that I set over the SmartValve opening.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

That takes a lot of skill, hoosierdaddy, to envision it, design it, and then build it from scratch. I'm really impressed.

I also like how you are experimenting to find the optimum medium to use in your SWC.

Are you going to put in a screen, LST, top, etc...? I think a screen wrapped a couple inches around your tubes would work well. Sense you're not hand watering, you don't have to worry about access to them. It could turn into a jungle in there!

 

[FreezerBoy]

Not familiar with Carnival. My SSH seeds were DOA but, I recall them having a 75 day flower period. I'll be interested to see the root situation on those with longer flowering times. My fear with this setup is, it could promote root growth to the point of choking the tube. I guess we're going to find out now.

Break a leg. Hell, break two

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Hey, Cozy.
Thanks for the kind words.
I'm a designer, so I am already geared to building things.
I am doing no topping or training on this run at all. I am in search of a special SSH and want to see the natural growth. I am also interested in how the Carns will produce with no training. They have 18 days of veg only, and I think I can keep them all maintained.

Sup, Freeze.
The Carns have a 63 day flower. The last two I did were done to my liking at 60.
A full charge of solution fills the tube about half. As it is, they will have to get past the barriers in the bottoms of the pots, and I expect at lest some time before they insist on doing that. I have the valve area protected completely from root growth, so they can grow all they want or can in the tube.
Like ya said, we will find out.

 

[rasputen]

Hoosierdaddy - I have my r/o unit plumbed to a 50 gallon drum and I turn the fill valve on/off manually. I'm using the same kind of tubing and valves as you have in your pics.

I'm thinking a SmartValve could be mounted inside the drum and make the filling automatic. Does it look like it would work for this purpose? If so, where to buy them?

Thanks,

PC

Try this:

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=HPMFV14&eq=&Tp=

I've used one for several years on my RO 30gal res and it has NEVER FAILED.

 

[hazy]

^^I think pharmacan just needs a regular float valve.

Well, now that it's been going for a few days, how's that valve doing. Specifically, does the water really get all the way used up before the valve reopens? Are the plants liking it?

Great work. inspiring innovation.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Just in case Pharma happens back by, the SmartValve will NOT work in the instance he was wanting. It seems the valve is rated for 8psi, which covers an elevated res using gravity flow through a 1/4" tube.

Thanks for stoppin in, hazy!
The valve works as designed. Due to the thing being in a tube, rather than a flat surface, there is a slight bit of water left in the very bottom of the tube before it allows another charge in. I estimate about 1/4" of solution left.

Before I put the first set in, I made certain that all the cups were wicking up the solution properly, which they are no matter which media mix they have.

The plants took to the cups real well so far. They are exploding with growth now. The only problem that I really see is the noise my res air stone is making. I can hear the air flowing in the res from anywhere in the room.
I may try the same bubbler wand in the res that I have in the tube. That thing is silent and spreads out the air much better than a single stone.

I think I am going to start a SSH selection thread, and I will post pics up there when I get them.

 

[clowntown]

Very interesting grow and setup.

Nice implementation of the idea as well.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Thanks for stopping by and the kind words, clown!

Let me run down the costs of this puppy...
4 -4" 90's @ $4ea $16
1 5ft 4" pipe $7
48" bubbler wand $14
air pump $10
two port air bank $3
20ft silicone air line $8
10 ft 1/4 nylon tubing $3
Smart Valve $20
Pots (Nawsome pet treat containers or Pringles cans)
Total $81
add for reservoir cost (Coleman cooler, etc...) & fittings $30
If you have your own res, you are in under $100

This thing is going to ruin me, as I have nothing to do. Boring as hell.
All I get to mess with now are on the veg side. I think I will construct a tray on the veg side, using a SmartValve, to keep my moms hydrated in their soil pots.
I could then take off for weeks at a time if I needed to.

My fear is that I will eventually fully automate this jewel and have no fun left at all.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

I think this would be perfect.

In the future you may want to try this with the cooltube going up the middle.