Auto Watering Setup (help/incite needed)

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bpkop

bpkop

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Quick breakdown of my current setup:

VEG: 4x4 tent w/2x 4 bulb t5s 9-16 5gal pots

FLOWER: 5x5 tent w/750w Gavita DE 9-16 5gal pots

I plan to trigger it "by hand" at first to get a good sense of how much water they need and how long ill have to run the pump, then get a digital timer once i dial it in.
Just lookin for some incite on if this setup should work well.

Went with a 550 GPH pump because ive seen a bunch of people complain about drip rings not evenly spreading the water flow and i feel like people dont take into account the "overhead" drop in output of their pumps. The tote holding the water will be about level with the pots and should only have to go up about a foot to get to the tops of the drippers. I have a tray that will fit in my flower tent and i plan to raise it up a few inches at a slight slant so any overflow can drain to waste. Gonna have to figure out a low profile container to collect the run off to keep humidity down in the flower tent.

Right now i use promix so i shouldnt have to water more than once a day (sometimes every other in early flower/smaller plants) and i plan to try out some coco once i get this setup figured out.

So heres my plan:

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Drippers:
Drippers


Any help is appreciated. Ill be starting a grow journal running this setup once all the parts come in and i can test it.
 
Vagician

Vagician

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I think it looks good. Most people don't put the tubing in a circuit like you plan on doing and instead have a cap on the end of the lines which causes some pressure differences on the emitters. Some plants get soaked and some don't get enough. Your setup should water very evenly.

I think a 550 gph pump will be plenty. Is it a bottom feed pump?

How tall is your tent? If you want a container to catch your runoff you could put the tray up on some short wooden sawhorses and run a drain tube from that into a bucket. This way you could put your feed tank underneath the tray as well. I always liked this method because you can store all your tools and nutrients inside the tent. To get your drainage slope, lay a 2x4 on the sawhorses opposite side of the drain and set the tray on that.
 
bpkop

bpkop

42
33
I think it looks good. Most people don't put the tubing in a circuit like you plan on doing and instead have a cap on the end of the lines which causes some pressure differences on the emitters. Some plants get soaked and some don't get enough. Your setup should water very evenly.

I think a 550 gph pump will be plenty. Is it a bottom feed pump?

How tall is your tent? If you want a container to catch your runoff you could put the tray up on some short wooden sawhorses and run a drain tube from that into a bucket. This way you could put your feed tank underneath the tray as well. I always liked this method because you can store all your tools and nutrients inside the tent. To get your drainage slope, lay a 2x4 on the sawhorses opposite side of the drain and set the tray on that.


Thanks for the response!! I went with one of the active aqua submersible pumps. I dont think its bottom feed but im pretty sure you can get the adapter to make it bottom feed. Im goin with about a 40 gallon tote so it shouldnt run dry with one watering but thanks for the tip!! Ill definitely have to do the bottom feed adapter before i make it fully automated. For now ill just be flippin a switch to turn it on and timing the watering cycle/checkin how much water it consumes as well as run off amount collected.

Unfortunately i dont have a ton of headroom. Im running a 5x5x6.5 tent but with a gavita and GG#4 im about at max height (depending on height before flowering/stretching).
Planning to build a 6" stand for the tray and even that is pushing it unless i can figure out a way to raise my gavita (which is already as high as the bars in my tent allow) Could probably make something that can give me a couple more inches on the light but only got about 6 inches before the reflector hits the top of the tent. GG#4 stretches a fair bit and they dont particularly like being flowered super short. Yield suffers a little. Could LST them but they really seem to like to grow au natural. haha

Im thinking of getting a low profile tote thats about 1'x 2' x 6-12" tall. I want to dial in the system so that theres minimal runoff since i wont be recirculating it back into the system so id like to waste as little as possible. But for now just focusing on getting it out of the flower tent so that it doesnt raise humidity.
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

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I'd want to use something like a 1/4HP bottom feed submersible utility pump with a pressure regulator. Those submersibles like the eco pumps are ok for small runs of naked ended of 1/4 tube but they have extremely low pressure and it doesnt take much to plug up a dripper, and they wont run many drippers at all.
 
bpkop

bpkop

42
33
I'd want to use something like a 1/4HP bottom feed submersible utility pump with a pressure regulator. Those submersibles like the eco pumps are ok for small runs of naked ended of 1/4 tube but they have extremely low pressure and it doesnt take much to plug up a dripper, and they wont run many drippers at all.

Thanks for the info!

Whats a good brand pump that isnt too expensive?

Ive seen some people drill out the ring drippers a little to keep them from clogging. I already bought the supplies so now i just gotta run it and see how it works. But ill know soon if its not powerful enough. I do run "plain" water every other watering so hopefully thatll help keep clogs down to a minimum. Also RO my water before hand.
 
bpkop

bpkop

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Got it built!!! Fits perfectly!!!

So i built the frame out of 2x4s. Bottom reinforcement is a little off "square" cause i used the other half of the outter wall 2x4s. I plan to paint after this first round of flowering. Just gonna hit it with a few coats of killz or rusto to make sure its "sealed" even though my flower rarely goes past 30% humidity, just as a precaution/prevent mold from growing.

Might need to add a couple inches to the feet to make sure i can drain the runoff properly.
Bottom of the tray sits about 4-5 inches off the ground so far. So probably just grab another 2x4 to make 1.5" risers for the feet.
Conveniently the tray sits in there at a slight angle and without trying got it to drain towards the front of the tent. Probably because i rushed the feet and was using an old ass circ saw and blade.

(picture is before feet were added)

Image0


Sooooo i messed up ordering parts and forgot about 4 1/2" T fittings. So the middle 2 plants arent hooked up yet. Gotta hit the store today and get it finished up.

Image1


I originally had the tubing zip tied up to the top of the pots but as it is its too rigid right now to make that bend easily. But it did help straighten/train the tubing. Once its under the hps it loses its curve from being wound up. Im dumb and got the more pvc like tubing when i thought it was the more flexible rubber tubing. Ya live and ya learn.
I feel like i like the more rigid tubing for the outer structure but would like some more flexible tubing running from the manifold into the drippers on the plants.

Image5


Theres the 28 gallon tote. Filled it with about 20 gals for the first test watering. Could probably hold 25gal max since i ran the hose through the side. Forgot to take a picture of the inside but i have 2x 8ish inch long air stones in each that a friend gave me from an old project that he never ended up using. Definitely gonna need a new air pump soon my little one works but could help with a stronger one since these air stones are so much bigger than before.

Image3



So there they are! All working with no leaks!! Cant wait til i have time to grab the extra T fittings and finish this up thing up! With all but 2 connected the flow is fairly even. None seem to be to different in pressure output, none dribbling or shooting with too much pressure.
Roughly consumed 10 gallons in maybe 5-10 minutes. Was too busy lookin for leaks and checking pressure output to really keep track of time. But as of right now seems like plenty of water flow. Cant imagine adding 2 more into the system would change that much. This is also with the pump on "full flow" on the little dial.

Once i get the others connected im gonna tidy it up and let it run for this flower cycle. After that ill pull it all out and clean it up. Paint the frame, raise the legs, and clean up the hose length. I might also run some soft tubing off the main manifold into the drippers just to reduce the tension on the dripper a little.
I cut everything long just to be safe so i wouldnt have to recut/scrap a piece i cut too short. But all around each hose could probably use an inch or two cut off each. Letting it loosen up the tension in the line by sitting under the light definitely helps. But you can see some bowing lines and everythings a bit oversized. Pretty accurate as far as even lengths go though.
Ill clean it up soon.

So if anyone wants a detailed list of supplies i got to replicate let me know! Hoping down the line/when i upgrade my space i can fit 16 shorter plants under 1 750w-1kw bulb like this. Reeeeally Glad i dont have to stretch all the way to the back of the tent to water the back row. Especially deep in flower when it gets pretty thick in there. Gonna add a full size oscillating fan to the back of the tent soon as well because the little 6" fans in the corners have me worried about dialing in watering times and having a tray with sitting water.

Hope this helped someone! Ill link the grow journal down below once i get that written up.


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