biggerbud420 said:

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

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RootsRuler said:

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.

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costanza said:

I was worried about the roots too but they dont seem to have effected anything, maybe I got lucky

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hour said:

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 pots	AC Infinity 3 gallon fabric pots (much softer & thicker material)
Transplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g FABRIC pots	Transplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g PLASTIC pots
Placed on bases @ day 20F	Placed 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 pots	Currently 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.

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hour said:

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 pots	AC Infinity 3 gallon fabric pots (much softer & thicker material)
Transplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g FABRIC pots	Transplanted to final pot @ flip from 1g PLASTIC pots
Placed on bases @ day 20F	Placed 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 pots	Currently 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.

Click to expand...

Average_Joegrow said:

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

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Novaracer69 said:

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. View attachment 1325753

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costanza said:

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.

Amazon.com

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Organic.Alchemist said:

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?

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costanza said:

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

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costanza said:

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

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Organic.Alchemist said:

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?

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