DIY Nutrient Doser

[RMCG]

Hows this working out for you? Am in the market to make my life a little easier.

Working well.

If I did this again, I would use a smaller pump on the pH side or larger on the nute side.

As it is, it is solid though.

 

[cheaplastic]

wow cant believe i just stumbled on this thread.. great PDF's.. you are the fucking man RMCG! mad props..

CP

 

[EventHorizan]

Doser Stock Tanks

For the stock tanks, I used Nalgene Bottles.

They are found just about everywhere, clean, hard acrylic, graduated and hold the right amount for me (1L).

I picked up manufactured pegboard (Target and HD both sell it), some pegboard mounts and a 'wire rack' from the same section. Could have just bolted it on to the pegboard with bolts, nuts and washers too.

Pretty self explanatory I think...

The airline is 1/4" OD from HD. 20' is like 3$.

Drill a hole in the Nalgene bottle lids to snugly fit the airline:

View attachment 139037

Push the airline all the way to the bottom of the bottle and leave a little bit of slack.

View attachment 139036

For the 'exit' side of the solutions, you need to make sure that the A and B airlines are the exact same length so as to make sure you dose properly. pH hose length doesn't matter as its only one part.

I will probably snip the bottle lid connector so I can leave the hose/lid attached to pumps when I need to refill.

@Wisher619 do you understand this setup? I really would like to automate my FNB....

 

[EventHorizan]

Any new ideas on this... I would like to bump this thread and get new info from members if anybody has anything to add... I don't know shot about getting this bumped.. Any mods explain to me how to bump?@thcfarmer

 

[EventHorizan]

The controller kicks the pump on and off. I mixed in 100ml of pH Down (Mad Farmer) to 900ml of water. It is dosed very slowly, so it spurts a little, then controller stops it when it hit its set point. It reacts fast and the liquid in the hose is 'held' there, even on a 6' length of hose.

The controllers have a 'run time' trimmer/pot on them so it will go in to fault mode (requires turning off, then back to auto) so it doesn't pump 1L of nutes into your res or on to the floor.

Just got it hooked up yesterday. I was going to wait for that crop to be done, but I am dedicating it to 'experiments'.

I watched it for several hours while I was doing other things and it was holding it within 20ppms of my setting on the TDS controller.

View attachment 140253

View attachment 140254

It is definitely not a 'cheap' solution, but comparatively speaking, its not horrible either. I was able to move a 200$ Hanna meter to another res, so it 'dropped' the cost down right there.

U still around bro? I would like to pick your brain on this...