How to fully automate reservoir top offs!

[Lazyman]

My tall boy came with a garden hose (3/4"GH) adapter, but you could adapt THAT to a faucet, just bring it with you to Ace hardware or whatever and they'll help you with the adapters and such.

Nice thing about the tall boy too, if you ever upgrade to a big RO like a Merlin, they recommend the tallb boy as a prefilter so the RO membranes last longer. Good investment!

 

[smokadepep]

nice, shouldn't be hard to find, thanks for the fast response dude, can't wait to get mine set up

 

[Lazyman]

No problem bro, good luck!

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

Hey Lazy, I've got a question for you. I need some reservoir management advice, though on a much smaller scale then you've been talking. I'm planning on feeding with a Tropf Blumat setup, which is a gravity feed system that keeps the medium at a constant moisture. I want to have my main res below my plants, and a small 1 gallon or so res up above the plants, so that the gravity feeding will work. How can I put together a system that will keep the small 1 gallon res up top (about 4-5' above the main res) topped off? For reference, I'll be using a 10 or 20 gallon main reservoir.

Here's a pic of what I'm planning on setting up, maybe this will show a little better than my explanation. The circular container on the bottom left is the main res, the square on the left side at the top is the mini res, and there's a line connecting the two and a line going to the feed line distributor. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Lazyman]

Hehe that's funny, was just talking about that very idea a couple days ago.

So, your low res just needs a water pump, and the float valve/timer setup above, but the bucket is a trick.

The bucket has to have an electric float switch in it, to kick the pump on and off as needed. I have seen threads on how to build these on IC, do a search and it should turn up. This will make sure both the lower and upper res are always full.

I may do something similar, so let me know what you find man!

 

[autopotking]

i was in the shop the other day and saw the autopot smart valve mounted of a piece of 10mm x 3 mm metal strap the strap was bent over a res like a meat hook and the smart valve pushed onto it and sitting at the level of water required and run to a gravity tank to keep the level at 25 mm+/- of the required level. Hope this helps, BTW the gravity tank had a ball valve to the tap.

 

[Bazarocka]

Tagged

Tagged

Hey guys, after years of trying and using different systems, I think I've hit on the easiest way to automate reservoir top offs.

I pretty much always run a heavy-duty garden hose into my rooms, makes it MUCH easier to produce water in the room. I typically put them onto a 2 or 4-way splitter, so I can have a garden hose for rinsing out buckets, reservoirs, etc without using up my filters.

Once you have your line and splitter installed, pick up a Rainbird hose timer that will allow you to turn the valve ON for a set period daily. For me, 2 hours is enough time for my Tallboy filter to completely fill both of my 115gallon reservoirs.



I set the ON time to a part of the day when the pumps and timers aren't running at all, so if the reservoirs are filling they aren't pumping out at the same time. This is very important! If you set the ON time to when your lights are on and the pumps are running, you'll get floods, period. My Rainbird has a small button to activate the fill manually, which is nice for res changes and for making drinking water.

My Tallboy came with a hose end fitting for the inlet hose, so that part was easy. Lowes (or your local hydro store) carries 3/8"OD poly tubing and push fittings, so I got an array of shutoff valves and tees.

The single filter outlet runs down under my tables to a 3-way splitter:

1 line to north res
1 line to south res
1 line to drinking water/handy line.

Each reservoir has its own shutoff valve and float valve (from local hydro store) and it's ALL push fittings, no wrenches needed to connect or disconnect lines, woot!



Now I can leave my room for a week without worrying about running out of water.

If this doesn't work for your particular setup, holler and I can tell you how to do this with an inline 3/4" sprinkler valve and a programmable sprinkler timer, but it's more involved!

Hope that helps you guys out.

Gotta Give You A Shout when I get Time.. Boz

 

[sexybudandnugs]

i just fill a container up with RO water.. and use a toilet valve to fill up at a certain level

 

[mosca negra]

Very good thread Lazyman! I like the simplicity of your terrific system.

Cheers!

 

[Lazyman]

Very good thread Lazyman! I like the simplicity of your terrific system.

Cheers![/QUOte

Hey thanks man! Much appreciated, I think too many moving parts are an invitation to disaster.

 

[BrnCow]

Another thing to remember is that the less connections and components used in a water system - the less potential for leaks,cracks, breaks, etc...lol...he already said this...

 

[Lazyman]

Agreed, that also applies to pumps, timers, fans, anything that has a motor in it should be scrutinized with a suspicious eye. I'm doing an entire auto-watered 16kw grow with just one water pump and 3 air pumps now, very few things to break!

 

[_Dude]

I want to know how to attach my solenoid valve (from autotopoff.com if memory serves) to my garden hose. That's the best way to do top-offs IMO, I just don't know where to find the right fitting.

 

[Bud Bug]

For topping up reservoirs you could also get a Little Giant Auto float valves http://www.lgpc.com/QuickSearch.aspx?SearchString=RS-5&TypeID=0

They have two versions, one for when the water level is high and then its low. To pump out or in, just hook it up to a solenoid or pump.

 

[Hackk]

so here a question for anyone running a merlin...

They say an electric shutoff valve paired with a mechanical float valve is the only way to run the merlin with a booster pump because of high pressure. I understand the idea behind it, but cant imagine running 100's of feet of electrical wire parallel to the water tubing all the way to a remote reservoir in order to shut off the pump and merlin...

Do any of you use this, or seen it used? Or have ideas?

 

[Lazyman]

I have a Merlin, but didn't opt for the booster pump for this reason (and that I have 5 reservoirs, yikes!) My water runs about 45 psi so it's not horrible, I'm on a well but I think the easier fix (for me anyway) would be to upgrade the main well pump to a higher-psi model. Not fun, but simpler overall.

 

[Madrus Rose]

I have a Merlin, but didn't opt for the booster pump for this reason (and that I have 5 reservoirs, yikes!) My water runs about 45 psi so it's not horrible, I'm on a well but I think the easier fix (for me anyway) would be to upgrade the main well pump to a higher-psi model. Not fun, but simpler overall.

45psi was about what we have given our well pump & its working at just a fast trickle that fills at a rate of 22gals/hr . Just adequate enough for now ...those booster pumps are really pricey <g

Ya , the Tall Boy is almost madatory when running the Merlin off a well & alot cheaper to change out the 8-10micron prefilter in that @ $16 than risk ruining the 2 RO membranes in the Merlin ...and they go for near $100 a pop . Another thing is Merlin comes standard with a 1rst-stage carbon filter which is for clorine but running off a well not necessary & tha carbon filter can be replaced with even another 5-10micron sediment filter to protect even further the RO membranes.

Is there anyway u can consolidate those 5 rez's incorporating them into one larger rez ? Since u want more freedom from maintenance going a little overkill & consolidating into 1-2 larger rez's makes for less nute adjustments, less tinkering & more freedom . It's very easy to do with 2x12's & pondliner which is extremely durable & can also serve as a prop/support for the tables themselves . Pondliner can be bought in 5ft width (and many widths) & a custom rez can be built as long as needed , up to a 100ft long if that was the need !


Have pics if u like to see, just pm .

 

[Lazyman]

No I can't consolidate those reservoirs, I have one for veg, and one each for each row of 4 lights in flower. Those rows are at different stages (perpetual grow) and often have different stains and nute requirements. It's super easy to maintain them anyway, I just throw maxi-gro or maxi-bloom powder into them every couple days to keep the ppms up, and the ph drops because both powders are acidic as hell.

 

[Dan Cooper]

Here I am seven years later but wanted to say thank you
Hopefully I can adapt your knowledge shared to my sitch and have a safer to leave for a day or a week type setup
Thanks!!!