Calling all autopot users!!

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Rdub

Rdub

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Any autopot users out there experience one of the pots in their system not wicking any water and drying out? I mean... if I wanted to top water I would have just done soil in airports ffs. Other 3 pots wicking water just fine. The aquavalve is working as intended the pot just doesn’t suck water out of the tray. Growing in 50/50 coir perlite with an inch of Hydroton and airdomes in the bottom. anyone else experience this
 
BloodShot

BloodShot

538
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Any autopot users out there experience one of the pots in their system not wicking any water and drying out? I mean... if I wanted to top water I would have just done soil in airports ffs. Other 3 pots wicking water just fine. The aquavalve is working as intended the pot just doesn’t suck water out of the tray. Growing in 50/50 coir perlite with an inch of Hydroton and airdomes in the bottom. anyone else experience this
Nope, but I have experienced about every other thing that could possible go wrong with them and at times I really wished I had of stayed with fabric pots and promix.
 
Rdub

Rdub

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Nope, but I have experienced about every other thing that could possible go wrong with them and at times I really wished I had of stayed with fabric pots and promix.
Yeah this is my first run with them and I’m less than impressed. What kind of problems have you ran into and what did you do to fix em? Asking in advance lol
 
BloodShot

BloodShot

538
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Yeah this is my first run with them and I’m less than impressed. What kind of problems have you ran into and what did you do to fix em? Asking in advance lol
My first problem was an issue I had with a slime developing in my reservoir.
I can say that it is probably something in my tap water that I run through a filter "or the nutrient additives I used in bloom and flower" and hope to correct this issue by switching to an RO filter. The filter in the rez filled with slime and made what looked like a nipple that blocked all but a trickle so to have good water and good nutes is first and maybe I should have just stuck with what I know and used which was AN 1,2 and 3. .but I wanted change and went to granulated cheaper plant food which caused some problem also with some things not breaking down quickly in the water even after shaken and stirred etc. Also a waxy coating on the water top develops after a few days in a jar so it can't help the system.
Because of my water or the additives I have also had to start and continue to use a natural enzyme cleaner in my nutrient mix.
So all that aside it was not an issue with the system though.

Second problem I had was not flooding "which was worrying me" but the pots will run dry if you don't clean the floats and lines on a weekly basis* (especially dealing with the nutrient and water issue I was)
Third problem was the pots do flood "luckily I was home" because of gunk or sticky floats or the floats not being put into the pots correctly, but mainly I think the floats just need to be cleaned weekly especially if you have a gunk build up in nutrient solution.
Take care to take the small rubber air stoppers out of their holes and squeeze them hard to "reform" them and make sure you don't do it over the bathroom basin or you will have to take off the p-trap and maybe do it twice because you didn't learn the first time like me or it could have been the hash plant ...

Third issue I had with the autopots deals with the two fabric sheets. One video says to put them in one way another video says to put them in another way, so there is that.
I put one sheet on the bottom water tray that the pot sits in with the copper side up , still unsure of that but it works so knock on wood. I put the other in the pot bottom.
I am still unsure of how beneficial the air lines into the bottom of the pots is so I run it only while the lights are on and also unplug it at times as I don't care for the noise of the air pump. Heat could be an issue with the short lines they supply and the small pump that gets hot inside my tent. I use my own pump now and also attached much longer lines to the air domes.
My experience has taught me that regular maintenance is a must in my situation for now.
I am still not fully trusting of the system and fear a flood so I try not to keep the reservoir much over half full.
I certainly "under my circumstances" would not feel safe leaving for days while this was full and on.
I don't think any of this solves your case of the non wicking pot though especially if all your pots are equal and i realize this could be from my way of running it as I explained, so I really feel that this should be great if I can get my water and nutes down.
Just know that you are not alone in this and in the end I am hoping for a problem free system because so far it has been a lot of work regularly for a system that is supposed to be
IMG 5358
 
BloodShot

BloodShot

538
143
My first problem was an issue I had with a slime developing in my reservoir.
I can say that it is probably something in my tap water that I run through a filter "or the nutrient additives I used in bloom and flower" and hope to correct this issue by switching to an RO filter. The filter in the rez filled with slime and made what looked like a nipple that blocked all but a trickle so to have good water and good nutes is first and maybe I should have just stuck with what I know and used which was AN 1,2 and 3. .but I wanted change and went to granulated cheaper plant food which caused some problem also with some things not breaking down quickly in the water even after shaken and stirred etc. Also a waxy coating on the water top develops after a few days in a jar so it can't help the system.
Because of my water or the additives I have also had to start and continue to use a natural enzyme cleaner in my nutrient mix.
So all that aside it was not an issue with the system though.

Second problem I had was not flooding "which was worrying me" but the pots will run dry if you don't clean the floats and lines on a weekly basis* (especially dealing with the nutrient and water issue I was)
Third problem was the pots do flood "luckily I was home" because of gunk or sticky floats or the floats not being put into the pots correctly, but mainly I think the floats just need to be cleaned weekly especially if you have a gunk build up in nutrient solution.
Take care to take the small rubber air stoppers out of their holes and squeeze them hard to "reform" them and make sure you don't do it over the bathroom basin or you will have to take off the p-trap and maybe do it twice because you didn't learn the first time like me or it could have been the hash plant ...

Third issue I had with the autopots deals with the two fabric sheets. One video says to put them in one way another video says to put them in another way, so there is that.
I put one sheet on the bottom water tray that the pot sits in with the copper side up , still unsure of that but it works so knock on wood. I put the other in the pot bottom.
I am still unsure of how beneficial the air lines into the bottom of the pots is so I run it only while the lights are on and also unplug it at times as I don't care for the noise of the air pump. Heat could be an issue with the short lines they supply and the small pump that gets hot inside my tent. I use my own pump now and also attached much longer lines to the air domes.
My experience has taught me that regular maintenance is a must in my situation for now.
I am still not fully trusting of the system and fear a flood so I try not to keep the reservoir much over half full.
I certainly "under my circumstances" would not feel safe leaving for days while this was full and on.
I don't think any of this solves your case of the non wicking pot though especially if all your pots are equal and i realize this could be from my way of running it as I explained, so I really feel that this should be great if I can get my water and nutes down.
Just know that you are not alone in this and in the end I am hoping for a problem free system because so far it has been a lot of work regularly for a system that is supposed to be
View attachment 885111
Also why I am leaning towards a super soil which I may only have to add plain water to etc.
 
Rdub

Rdub

188
63
Do you use clay pebbles or airdomes at the bottom of your pots?
 
BloodShot

BloodShot

538
143
I knew I missed something, I meant to mention that I was going to use hydroton but used the supplied perlite that came with the kit I purchased.
I also use the air dome yes.
I used enough perlite to cover the air domes which sit on top of the fabric piece i actually used a bit more than I would have but divided the bag between the 4 pots.
 
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