How big is your reservoir?

[phxazcraig]

Last month I set up my first irrigation system. Do-it-yourself, using instructions from cocoforcannabis.com. It's drain-to-waste and it's working!

But, I'm not getting through a full week with my irrigation without having to refill. I have a 14 gallon reservoir, and I'm coming to the conclusion that I would have been happier with a 30 gallon one.

For a 4x4 tent with 4 plants in 3.5g Air Pots and coco, what size reservoir should I have? The goal is to be able to mix up a week's worth of nutrients at a time.

Bonus question: What sort of amounts of water are you putting through a single plant growing in coco?

 

[tobh]

i use the same size as you do, but only run 12 gallons in it at a time. wish i had the space for a much larger one so that it didn't require so much maintenance. in rockwool i run through 12 gallons in about a day and a half with six plants by week four of flower.

a larger res will do a few things:

1. keep the pH much more stable
2. keep the EC much more stable
3. decrease manual intervention for a longer period

 

[SofaKingHigh]

I want to set up a irrigation system so bad. I have a question for you guys tho, do you guys have well water or do you have a 2nd res to fill and let the chlorine air off? I currently have a 15 gal res that I fill and let sit for 12 hours with a circulating pump that comes out the top and back in. Then I use the water from 15 gal res to fill my 5 gal bucket that I mix my nutrients in. I use 5 gallons for 6 plants in about a day and half. The 15 gallons lasts 3-4 days, I have the room I could get a 55 gal drum but I’m stuck on thinking I’ll need 2 55 gal drums.

 

[11Hick11]

I'm using one of those HD Bins (I think they are 25 gal) and use 15 gal a week. They get water 3 times daily now with about 250ml per plant drainage, at this time there are 9 pots, 4 of those are 1 gal the rest are 2 gal. This is on a 1 minute timer with the inline valve turned half way.
Inside I have 2 air stones and a tank wave maker which seems to be doing great.

 

[SofaKingHigh]

I'm using one of those HD Bins (I think they are 25 gal) and use 15 gal a week. They get water 3 times daily now with about 250ml per plant drainage, at this time there are 9 pots, 4 of those are 1 gal the rest are 2 gal. This is on a 1 minute timer with the inline valve turned half way.
Inside I have 2 air stones and a tank wave maker which seems to be doing great.
View attachment 1215551
View attachment 1215552

Are you just putting tap water in to refill?

 

[11Hick11]

No, using RO. I stop by one of the water fill ups with a pocket of quarters once a week lol

 

[phxazcraig]

I want to set up a irrigation system so bad. I have a question for you guys tho, do you guys have well water or do you have a 2nd res to fill and let the chlorine air off? I currently have a 15 gal res that I fill and let sit for 12 hours with a circulating pump that comes out the top and back in. Then I use the water from 15 gal res to fill my 5 gal bucket that I mix my nutrients in. I use 5 gallons for 6 plants in about a day and half. The 15 gallons lasts 3-4 days, I have the room I could get a 55 gal drum but I’m stuck on thinking I’ll need 2 55 gal drums.

I'm spending a fair amount of time in my 'water plant' making a few gallons of distilled water each day. And supplementing with RO water as well, when needed. I just make a bit with this little gizmo and dump it into a bucket. (Or just get a gallon or so from the RO system. ) Anyway, I bought a bucket on Amazon, and probably stoned shopping, but a big box of 16 buckets showed up! I've been making good use of them. I use 3-4 for building up my 'raw water'. I use 3-4 more for holding runoff water for watering the houseplants. And more for misc. But it means the way I do my water that most of it is a few days old before I start mixing nutrients with it. I have a 12 gallon tub that I put in the bathroom when needed, and I pour my buckets into that to get 10 gallons. Makes the mixing easy. Then I mix up 10 gallons, keeping EC in check. Or overdoing EC then diluting later in the reservoir. Still working this out. Only done 3 reservoir changes so far.

So I have several buckets lying around, some holding RO/distilled water, some holding runoff, some empty. Works for me.

My girlfriend has a big plastic 55 gallon drum she bought to collect rainwater. Still in a wrapper, but it's pretty large. Not only might it not quite fit in a closet, if it did, it would be hard to clean and move when needed. My 14 gallon blue plastic reservoir at least fits nicely in a closet in the grow room (keeps it dark and out of the way), it's not hard to pull out and rinse in the tub.

When I'm mixing water in the big tub, I try to get the pH right once I've mixed the nutes, or at least leave it a little bit high. When I fill the reservoir (bucket brigade from the bathroom), the Bluelab pH controller adds pH Down as needed to keep the pH right on target. I just make sure to change water soon after a watering so there is plenty of time for things to adjust before the next feeding.

 

[SofaKingHigh]

I'm spending a fair amount of time in my 'water plant' making a few gallons of distilled water each day. And supplementing with RO water as well, when needed. I just make a bit with this little gizmo and dump it into a bucket. (Or just get a gallon or so from the RO system. ) Anyway, I bought a bucket on Amazon, and probably stoned shopping, but a big box of 16 buckets showed up! I've been making good use of them. I use 3-4 for building up my 'raw water'. I use 3-4 more for holding runoff water for watering the houseplants. And more for misc. But it means the way I do my water that most of it is a few days old before I start mixing nutrients with it. I have a 12 gallon tub that I put in the bathroom when needed, and I pour my buckets into that to get 10 gallons. Makes the mixing easy. Then I mix up 10 gallons, keeping EC in check. Or overdoing EC then diluting later in the reservoir. Still working this out. Only done 3 reservoir changes so far.

So I have several buckets lying around, some holding RO/distilled water, some holding runoff, some empty. Works for me.

My girlfriend has a big plastic 55 gallon drum she bought to collect rainwater. Still in a wrapper, but it's pretty large. Not only might it not quite fit in a closet, if it did, it would be hard to clean and move when needed. My 14 gallon blue plastic reservoir at least fits nicely in a closet in the grow room (keeps it dark and out of the way), it's not hard to pull out and rinse in the tub.

When I'm mixing water in the big tub, I try to get the pH right once I've mixed the nutes, or at least leave it a little bit high. When I fill the reservoir (bucket brigade from the bathroom), the Bluelab pH controller adds pH Down as needed to keep the pH right on target. I just make sure to change water soon after a watering so there is plenty of time for things to adjust before the next feeding.

I’m lucky enough to be growing in my basement in a 10x12 room. So I have the room for a bigger res, right now I have no water in my grow room but as soon as summer comes I’ll be changing that real quick lol. I’m carrying 5 gallon buckets down my stairs 2-3 times a week which is a upgrade from using 1 gallon jugs, but still sucks. I’m thinking I’ll need 2 reservoirs one for plain water with pump and air stones to get the chlorine out and then a res for mixing nutrients in to feed from. Also will have air stones and pump.

 

[11Hick11]

Here is that HD Bin with 15 gal in it.
It lasts 7 days total with the 3 1 min waterings a day with 9 plants in 1 gal & 2 gal pots. Here you can see that wave maker doing its thing.