Testing AC Infinity self watering bases

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biggerbud420

biggerbud420

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how often did you have to actually water them ? 1 or twice a week ?
 
RootsRuler

RootsRuler

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Very Cool! When I saw the pic of the roots popping out of the pot I thought "Uh oh! Root Bound!"...

Did that affect them at all? Doesn't look like it judging from the mad nugs you grew.

Send ACI a link to this post and let them know that they need to add in PH and EC probes in the reservoir that will link to their controller.
 
costanza

costanza

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how often did you have to actually water them ? 1 or twice a week ?
During veg they would go 7 days without having to water but once I flipped to flower I was filling up the bottoms 3 times per week and top watering every other day
 
costanza

costanza

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Very Cool! When I saw the pic of the roots popping out of the pot I thought "Uh oh! Root Bound!"...

Did that affect them at all? Doesn't look like it judging from the mad nugs you grew.

Send ACI a link to this post and let them know that they need to add in PH and EC probes in the reservoir that will link to their controller.
I was worried about the roots too but they dont seem to have effected anything, maybe I got lucky
 
costanza

costanza

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Cool thread, I've been hunting for reviews of these to see how others are getting along. I'm at 55F on my first run with these and have a second tent @ 33F, both in coco and running the H&G lineup with cocos A+B. Wanted to leave my observations on the roots air pruning issue, perhaps we can eventually crack the code here.

The plants on day 55 have not adhered to the wicks or bases, but the plants on day 33 have had a vice grip on the wicks (and pots don't budge, so res too) since day 14. The day 55 plants are like 3x the height of the day 33 plants, just absolute units, so it's really surprising to me that they're not the ones in the res... but I have some variables.

Day 55 Plants (Not even adhered to wicks)
Day 33 Plants (Adhered to base via roots on wick/in res)
iPower 3 gallon fabric potsAC Infinity 3 gallon fabric pots (much softer & thicker material)
Transplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g FABRIC potsTransplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g PLASTIC pots
Placed on bases @ day 20FPlaced on bases @ flip
Hand watered until placing on bases (obviously)Hand watered until roots reached bottom, ~14 days from transplant
Fan beneath canopy resulting in tons of air movement around potsCurrently no fan beneath canopy

It could be the sum of all the differences for all I know, but the AC Infinity cloth pots are super plush like thick felt. Perhaps this is more permeable for roots than the iPower pots. Additionally, the AC Infinity pots sit flatter on the bases. This could be due to the soft material conforming more, the slightly wider footprint of the AC pots, or the fact that the iPower pots were well rooted before placing on the bases - causing some lumpiness on the bottom.

Some additional notes/stats/findings:
  • I had zero tip burn on several phenos in late veg (no bases) @ 8ml/gal A+B. I maintained this dosage once I started using the bases and noticed slight tip burn on two phenos. As a result, I have never exceeded 8ml/gal. This likely is in line with what I've read about needing less nutes for constant feed systems (blumats, capillary mats, etc)
  • I have no visible deficiencies or plant health matters despite never exchanging the base's res or testing it in any way. pH in is always 5.9 or 6.0, and I've found Cocos A+B in my RO water to be stable for days in my water mixing/storage tank (so no clue what's going on in the bases, but I haven't had any cause for concern)
  • I don't have to hand water. If I'm going out of town for more than 48 hours I'll fill the bases until water is visible at the perimeter holes of the top plate and then saturate the pot, but not to run off.
  • I have occasionally hand watered the remainder of a bucket after filling the bases. The lucky recipient or two never indicated that this was a positive or a negative - and again it's never been enough to cause run off.
  • I had a minor fungus gnat problem but they seem to have gone away after switching to these, and don't bounce back during the occasional hand watering where the top layer is damp for a few days. Otherwise the top half inch or so is dry.
  • The bases are depleted in a little over 48 hours from mid flower on. The pot remains heavy for another day though.
  • The water level indicators show FULL with like a half gallon in there, so they're not a very good visual indicator. I always fill until water is coming up to the perimeter holes of the top plate.
I think the bases could be improved if they just cut out the grate area, and I intend to do that on mine. I use a battery powered pump on a stick thing to fill my bases since doing it at floor level with a watering can is impractical and time consuming. Sometimes the grate shifts the water flow and it rolls over the edge of the base, quietly, and results in some water on the floor. I'd rather just stick my fill tube in the base. A plate insert and a grate insert would be good accessories - they could just pop in. It'd also be a large enough area to stick the sucker tube of these pump on a stick things inside for flushing the res if one were so inclined.

I may also nerd out and use a bunch of dosing pumps to keep the bases from running dry. I wouldn't want to be gone for more than 72 hours from mid flower onward currently. I'm thinking of swapping the useless water level indicators with vertical float switches as safeties, and an arduino operating relays for the dosing pumps. I'd set the feed time for a very short period in case the float switches malfunctioned. Even if I'm not feeding enough to sustain indefinitely, if I can find a way to be gone for a week - that's awesome. This may sound like a bunch of added complexity / "why not just move to X or Y at that point" but I'm really pleased with these things and not having to dispose of runoff is great, as that would have involved a whole lot of complexity in my setup.

TL;DR I expected these to be my weekend getaway companion but I've been so surprised with how well they've worked. None of the bottom watering issues I had been lead to believe over the years manifested so I'll be using them for many runs to come.
wow great stuff, I wonder if the extra air movement from the fan helped air prune the roots on the one pheno you had, I had most of my air concentrated at the top of the canopy and barely any air at the bottom this might be the way to get them to air prune without worrying about your plant and bases becoming one. Great info, very detailed and helpful thank you for this
 
RootsRuler

RootsRuler

2,389
263
Cool thread, I've been hunting for reviews of these to see how others are getting along. I'm at 55F on my first run with these and have a second tent @ 33F, both in coco and running the H&G lineup with cocos A+B. Wanted to leave my observations on the roots air pruning issue, perhaps we can eventually crack the code here.

The plants on day 55 have not adhered to the wicks or bases, but the plants on day 33 have had a vice grip on the wicks (and pots don't budge, so res too) since day 14. The day 55 plants are like 3x the height of the day 33 plants, just absolute units, so it's really surprising to me that they're not the ones in the res... but I have some variables.

Day 55 Plants (Not even adhered to wicks)
Day 33 Plants (Adhered to base via roots on wick/in res)
iPower 3 gallon fabric potsAC Infinity 3 gallon fabric pots (much softer & thicker material)
Transplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g FABRIC potsTransplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g PLASTIC pots
Placed on bases @ day 20FPlaced on bases @ flip
Hand watered until placing on bases (obviously)Hand watered until roots reached bottom, ~14 days from transplant
Fan beneath canopy resulting in tons of air movement around potsCurrently no fan beneath canopy

It could be the sum of all the differences for all I know, but the AC Infinity cloth pots are super plush like thick felt. Perhaps this is more permeable for roots than the iPower pots. Additionally, the AC Infinity pots sit flatter on the bases. This could be due to the soft material conforming more, the slightly wider footprint of the AC pots, or the fact that the iPower pots were well rooted before placing on the bases - causing some lumpiness on the bottom.

Some additional notes/stats/findings:
  • I had zero tip burn on several phenos in late veg (no bases) @ 8ml/gal A+B. I maintained this dosage once I started using the bases and noticed slight tip burn on two phenos. As a result, I have never exceeded 8ml/gal. This likely is in line with what I've read about needing less nutes for constant feed systems (blumats, capillary mats, etc)
  • I have no visible deficiencies or plant health matters despite never exchanging the base's res or testing it in any way. pH in is always 5.9 or 6.0, and I've found Cocos A+B in my RO water to be stable for days in my water mixing/storage tank (so no clue what's going on in the bases, but I haven't had any cause for concern)
  • I don't have to hand water. If I'm going out of town for more than 48 hours I'll fill the bases until water is visible at the perimeter holes of the top plate and then saturate the pot, but not to run off.
  • I have occasionally hand watered the remainder of a bucket after filling the bases. The lucky recipient or two never indicated that this was a positive or a negative - and again it's never been enough to cause run off.
  • I had a minor fungus gnat problem but they seem to have gone away after switching to these, and don't bounce back during the occasional hand watering where the top layer is damp for a few days. Otherwise the top half inch or so is dry.
  • The bases are depleted in a little over 48 hours from mid flower on. The pot remains heavy for another day though.
  • The water level indicators show FULL with like a half gallon in there, so they're not a very good visual indicator. I always fill until water is coming up to the perimeter holes of the top plate.
I think the bases could be improved if they just cut out the grate area, and I intend to do that on mine. I use a battery powered pump on a stick thing to fill my bases since doing it at floor level with a watering can is impractical and time consuming. Sometimes the grate shifts the water flow and it rolls over the edge of the base, quietly, and results in some water on the floor. I'd rather just stick my fill tube in the base. A plate insert and a grate insert would be good accessories - they could just pop in. It'd also be a large enough area to stick the sucker tube of these pump on a stick things inside for flushing the res if one were so inclined.

I may also nerd out and use a bunch of dosing pumps to keep the bases from running dry. I wouldn't want to be gone for more than 72 hours from mid flower onward currently. I'm thinking of swapping the useless water level indicators with vertical float switches as safeties, and an arduino operating relays for the dosing pumps. I'd set the feed time for a very short period in case the float switches malfunctioned. Even if I'm not feeding enough to sustain indefinitely, if I can find a way to be gone for a week - that's awesome. This may sound like a bunch of added complexity / "why not just move to X or Y at that point" but I'm really pleased with these things and not having to dispose of runoff is great, as that would have involved a whole lot of complexity in my setup.

TL;DR I expected these to be my weekend getaway companion but I've been so surprised with how well they've worked. None of the bottom watering issues I had been lead to believe over the years manifested so I'll be using them for many runs to come.
Thank You for that detailed analysis. I've been watching these from afar and most of the improvements you mentioned I agree with.

Maybe if they just made the base of the plate deeper to hold more nutrient? It would raise the pot but that isn't a big deal.
 
Average_Joegrow

Average_Joegrow

553
93
Very cool!! I have 4 of these trays on the way. Going to be utilizing them in my next grow!!
 
Novaracer69

Novaracer69

522
143
So far I really like these bases. For people using dry organic amendments you still need to top water every 2 to 3 days to keep the soil life breaking down your topdressings.
20230127 185512
 
costanza

costanza

199
63
Very cool!! I have 4 of these trays on the way. Going to be utilizing them in my next grow!!
Just to add a little tip that I incorporated on my current grow with these, I bought a cheap little liquid transfer pump and cut the plastic slots off the fill area so its easier to remove water and test res. Also make sure you have a good amount of air movement at the bottom so the roots get air pruned or they will grow into the base
 
costanza

costanza

199
63
I just ended up buying 4 more of these for my 3x3 tent
I also found out that AC does not sell replacement strings, but I did find a replacement string on amazon that is a little thicker and supposed to be more absorbent than the stock strings they include with the bases.
 
Novaracer69

Novaracer69

522
143
I just ended up buying 4 more of these for my 3x3 tent
I also found out that AC does not sell replacement strings, but I did find a replacement string on amazon that is a little thicker and supposed to be more absorbent than the stock strings they include with the bases.
Thank you! I was just thinking how do I clean these for the next run. And how can I make it keep up a bit better with 5+gal pots. I have also looked into the autopot air domes and if I had air there why not put a stone hot glued to the bottom of the res🤔
 
O

Organic.Alchemist

3
1
What sized pot would you recommend using for the roots to reach the bottom and be able to use the self watering in 3 weeks?
 
costanza

costanza

199
63
What sized pot would you recommend using for the roots to reach the bottom and be able to use the self watering in 3 weeks?
I start out with a solo cup and then when the roots start growing out the holes at the bottom I go up to a 1 gal fabric pot, usually 7 to 10 days after I transplant into the 1 gallons I put them on the bases. Last run I transplanted again to 5 gal but on my current grow I'm experimenting with 1 gallons. I'm sure I will regret it come 2nd week of floweing when I'm filling these things up daily
 
RootsRuler

RootsRuler

2,389
263
I start out with a solo cup and then when the roots start growing out the holes at the bottom I go up to a 1 gal fabric pot, usually 7 to 10 days after I transplant into the 1 gallons I put them on the bases. Last run I transplanted again to 5 gal but on my current grow I'm experimenting with 1 gallons. I'm sure I will regret it come 2nd week of floweing when I'm filling these things up daily
Basic standard when I worked in LGO's was cube plug to solo to 1 gallon to 3 gallon. Of course this is implemented in facilities that are working on a rotation so plants don't spend a lot of time in their pots except for the 3 gal.
 
O

Organic.Alchemist

3
1
I start out with a solo cup and then when the roots start growing out the holes at the bottom I go up to a 1 gal fabric pot, usually 7 to 10 days after I transplant into the 1 gallons I put them on the bases. Last run I transplanted again to 5 gal but on my current grow I'm experimenting with 1 gallons. I'm sure I will regret it come 2nd week of floweing when I'm filling these things up daily
You can use the self watering right after you transplant into 1 gallon pots or how long to you have to water from the top before the self watering works?
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

1,379
263
I would like to see more bottom-watered pots. It seems like there's a lot of potential. I have been using some for hanging plants outside that have a grate at the bottom instead of wicks. They have a similar water level gauge. My fuchsias grew well in them. The water probably moves upward by capillary action or just vaporizes upward. The roots don't go through the slots in the grate very much. I think it's because there's plenty of water in the soil. So, it seems to me this type of pot could be developed much more than it is now.
 
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