phxazcraig
- Posts
- 598
- Reactions
- 712
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2022
- Points
- 93
First, I've done almost everything step-by-step according to the cocoforcannabis.com grow setup guide. But I've made particular changes to the watering setup described
here: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/diy-automatic-watering-system/
The things that worked fine from the cocoforcannabis guide were the auto-draining saucers, the sump pump, the air pots, and the general put-a-pump-in-a-tank-on-a-timer watering system. My grow tent is a typical 4x4 from Gorilla Grow, except for a 1-foot extension on the height. The light is a 650w LED. AC Infinity fan with muffler inside the tent, 6 inch ducting to a carbon filter outside. I settled on growing 4 plants per crop, and I only grow one crop a year. All pretty standard stuff that works well. My harvests are around 1.75 pounds of bud. I've previously posted on my setup in a long thread here called 'explosive growth in coco coir': https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/explosive-growth-in-coco-coir.136487/
The watering system is where I had lots of issues, now solved. I have a 33 gallon reservoir sitting in a bedroom closet. Per the cocoforcannabis guide I stuck a pump on a timer at the bottom of the tank, and set a schedule for periodic watering. Immediately I had a problem mentioned in the coco guide, but never the simple solution. The problem was siphoning. When the 33 gallon reservoir is full, the water level is a good 1 foot above the watering level at the plants. Once the pump started watering, siphoning would drain the reservoir down after that. The solution was extremely simple: break the siphon. I took an awl and made a small hole in the water feed line just below the lip of the reservoir. When the pump ran on its schedule, a few drips of water came out and dripped back into the reservoir. When the pump shut off, siphon pressure was lost as air came in that hole, and the siphon effect was solved.
The second problem was harder to solve, and the solution is a bit rube-goldberg-ish. The problem was extremely inconsistent feed amounts between a full and empty reservoir. As the water level dropped, pressure dropped and less and less water was pumped. I had too much runoff with full reservoir and none with empty reservoir. My reservoir empties about every 2-3 days.
The solution was fairly simple - maintain the same water level for the feed pump. I could not do that with a reservoir and a pump at the bottom. I collect buckets of RO water, mix in nutrients in a vat, then bucket that into the reservoir every 2-3 days. My solution was to add a 'feeding bucket' above the level of the reservoir. I put the timed pump in that bucket. I drilled holes near the top of the bucket and put some drain hoses through those holes. I used leftover hose and grommets from the coco guide for this purpose because I had them on hand. Trial and error (ie floods) taught me I needed 4 hoses to drain the thing properly. I added a second pump into the reservoir that just pumped into the feed bucket continously. The 4 drains I put in a few inches from the top kept the water level at a constant height. Nutrients continuously flow up to the feed bucket and back down into the reservoir. Now, every time the feed pump goes off, I get exactly the same amount of nutrient volume regardless of how full the reservoir is.
For this grow, I just got everything right, finally. I put in a new sump bucket (old one cracked - flood!) and took time to custom-fit all new tubing into it. No leaks, better drainage. I put in hose filters at the drain saucers to prevent clogs downstream. Better craftsmanship than when I first tried this 3 years ago. Now, the whole grow has been, for the first time, easy. Just inputs and monitoring and trimming. Waste drains in a big bucket, and I put that into smaller buckets. All the plants in and around the house now get lots of nutrients for a few weeks!
I did a lot of dumb stuff in the early days, and experience is making life a lot easier. For once I moved the grow tent (temporary structure in a bedroom for 3-4 months/year) 18 inches from the back wall. Now I can finally squeeze around back and trip from the back side. Duh! My extra foot of height in the grow tent has certainly proven worthwhile as I can get the grow light up to over 6 feet and still have room above it for the fan and muffler. My watering system is finally (finally!) leak-free. Knock on wood there. I've flowered the plants early enough to not get desperate for headroom when the flower stretch gets done. I've scheduled my grow starts (from seed) early enough to give me time for a full grow and harvest and dry before I leave on a vacation trip. (I travel yearly).
This year I made more dumb mistakes, but not in the grow tent. I managed to drown/mess up 2 of 5 seeds in my intended 4-plant crop. So I had to run out and get new seeds to start a new crop 1 week late. (Vacation plans in June). I learned more about germinating seeds and got 6 out of 6 new seeds to sprout. That left me with 5 plants with no place to grow them, so I put them outside. Except it's too early to put them outside, due to the light schedule. (I'm in Phoenix, AZ). Light is still dark outside 12 hours/day, and these were feminized photoperiod seeds. I now have puny plants that have begun flowering. Oh well, I had nothing else to do with them. Wonder what they will do as the days get longer?
here: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/diy-automatic-watering-system/
The things that worked fine from the cocoforcannabis guide were the auto-draining saucers, the sump pump, the air pots, and the general put-a-pump-in-a-tank-on-a-timer watering system. My grow tent is a typical 4x4 from Gorilla Grow, except for a 1-foot extension on the height. The light is a 650w LED. AC Infinity fan with muffler inside the tent, 6 inch ducting to a carbon filter outside. I settled on growing 4 plants per crop, and I only grow one crop a year. All pretty standard stuff that works well. My harvests are around 1.75 pounds of bud. I've previously posted on my setup in a long thread here called 'explosive growth in coco coir': https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/explosive-growth-in-coco-coir.136487/
The watering system is where I had lots of issues, now solved. I have a 33 gallon reservoir sitting in a bedroom closet. Per the cocoforcannabis guide I stuck a pump on a timer at the bottom of the tank, and set a schedule for periodic watering. Immediately I had a problem mentioned in the coco guide, but never the simple solution. The problem was siphoning. When the 33 gallon reservoir is full, the water level is a good 1 foot above the watering level at the plants. Once the pump started watering, siphoning would drain the reservoir down after that. The solution was extremely simple: break the siphon. I took an awl and made a small hole in the water feed line just below the lip of the reservoir. When the pump ran on its schedule, a few drips of water came out and dripped back into the reservoir. When the pump shut off, siphon pressure was lost as air came in that hole, and the siphon effect was solved.
The second problem was harder to solve, and the solution is a bit rube-goldberg-ish. The problem was extremely inconsistent feed amounts between a full and empty reservoir. As the water level dropped, pressure dropped and less and less water was pumped. I had too much runoff with full reservoir and none with empty reservoir. My reservoir empties about every 2-3 days.
The solution was fairly simple - maintain the same water level for the feed pump. I could not do that with a reservoir and a pump at the bottom. I collect buckets of RO water, mix in nutrients in a vat, then bucket that into the reservoir every 2-3 days. My solution was to add a 'feeding bucket' above the level of the reservoir. I put the timed pump in that bucket. I drilled holes near the top of the bucket and put some drain hoses through those holes. I used leftover hose and grommets from the coco guide for this purpose because I had them on hand. Trial and error (ie floods) taught me I needed 4 hoses to drain the thing properly. I added a second pump into the reservoir that just pumped into the feed bucket continously. The 4 drains I put in a few inches from the top kept the water level at a constant height. Nutrients continuously flow up to the feed bucket and back down into the reservoir. Now, every time the feed pump goes off, I get exactly the same amount of nutrient volume regardless of how full the reservoir is.
For this grow, I just got everything right, finally. I put in a new sump bucket (old one cracked - flood!) and took time to custom-fit all new tubing into it. No leaks, better drainage. I put in hose filters at the drain saucers to prevent clogs downstream. Better craftsmanship than when I first tried this 3 years ago. Now, the whole grow has been, for the first time, easy. Just inputs and monitoring and trimming. Waste drains in a big bucket, and I put that into smaller buckets. All the plants in and around the house now get lots of nutrients for a few weeks!
I did a lot of dumb stuff in the early days, and experience is making life a lot easier. For once I moved the grow tent (temporary structure in a bedroom for 3-4 months/year) 18 inches from the back wall. Now I can finally squeeze around back and trip from the back side. Duh! My extra foot of height in the grow tent has certainly proven worthwhile as I can get the grow light up to over 6 feet and still have room above it for the fan and muffler. My watering system is finally (finally!) leak-free. Knock on wood there. I've flowered the plants early enough to not get desperate for headroom when the flower stretch gets done. I've scheduled my grow starts (from seed) early enough to give me time for a full grow and harvest and dry before I leave on a vacation trip. (I travel yearly).
This year I made more dumb mistakes, but not in the grow tent. I managed to drown/mess up 2 of 5 seeds in my intended 4-plant crop. So I had to run out and get new seeds to start a new crop 1 week late. (Vacation plans in June). I learned more about germinating seeds and got 6 out of 6 new seeds to sprout. That left me with 5 plants with no place to grow them, so I put them outside. Except it's too early to put them outside, due to the light schedule. (I'm in Phoenix, AZ). Light is still dark outside 12 hours/day, and these were feminized photoperiod seeds. I now have puny plants that have begun flowering. Oh well, I had nothing else to do with them. Wonder what they will do as the days get longer?
