Automatic Drip Irrigation (in Coco)

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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
I bought this cheap rather shitty drip feed kit off amazon and I'm not very happy with it (poor flow rate for one): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B088M15C5D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have recently found out about these bluemat tropf sensors, but have heard some mixed things, notably that just going to an automatic drip irrigation system is better. I have an 800GPH submersible pump now that I was going to try with this crappy kit but I think it will just blow the lines.

Are those ring halo things best? For now it is to water 5 plants in 8" pots that are in coco (so multiple feedings per day ideally) but my next grow will be like 1 or 2 plants in 18" pots.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I use blumats and coco. They're great. Some people have problems but the only problem I can think of was not using them sooner.
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
I read that they dont provide adequate irrigation during late flower when the plants are drinking like sorority whores.
 
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Wayne55

Well-Known Member
I'm currently using floraflex floracaps with the multi-flow bubbler(8outlet manifold) dtw and its going great. 4 plants with 2 lines to each plant. Minor adjustments to the line placements during the first few feeds and you can get good water coverage.

All that being said, I'm currently getting parts to switch over to the auto feed setup described on cocoforcannabis.com with hydro halos from bloom Brothers. Everything drains using a flood table at the moment but I might also try their self draining saucer DIY to get more grow height out of my tent.

The reason I'm switching is that I had such amazing growth with the floraflex setup that one plant tree trunk was growing into the side of the floracap and I was worried it would break the cap and/or hurt the plant bc I had just flipped to 12/12 . So I cut/broke the cap off myself and It was a huge pain in the ass.

I'm sure I'll have to fiddle with the hydro halo setup to make it work just like I had to with floraflex but cocoforcannabis has not let me down so far in any of the info they've provided.

Here's a link to the hydro halo setup on cocoforcannabis. Or Google floraflex, both are good options just be aware of tree trunks and aggressive branching running out of space in the floracap. Is your 800gph pump adjustable to lower the flow? If not you may want to downgrade to like 400 gph. It depends how high your pumping it.

Automatic watering CFC
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
Wayne55 said:
I'm currently using floraflex floracaps with the multi-flow bubbler(8outlet manifold) dtw and its going great. 4 plants with 2 lines to each plant. Minor adjustments to the line placements during the first few feeds and you can get good water coverage.

All that being said, I'm currently getting parts to switch over to the auto feed setup described on cocoforcannabis.com with hydro halos from bloom Brothers. Everything drains using a flood table at the moment but I might also try their self draining saucer DIY to get more grow height out of my tent.

The reason I'm switching is that I had such amazing growth with the floraflex setup that one plant tree trunk was growing into the side of the floracap and I was worried it would break the cap and/or hurt the plant bc I had just flipped to 12/12 . So I cut/broke the cap off myself and It was a huge pain in the ass.

I'm sure I'll have to fiddle with the hydro halo setup to make it work just like I had to with floraflex but cocoforcannabis has not let me down so far in any of the info they've provided.

Here's a link to the hydro halo setup on cocoforcannabis. Or Google floraflex, both are good options just be aware of tree trunks and aggressive branching running out of space in the floracap. Is your 800gph pump adjustable to lower the flow? If not you may want to downgrade to like 400 gph. It depends how high your pumping it.

Automatic watering CFC
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I'll look into it, thanks. I figure I already have a pump, all the tubing, t-fittings, 2 big bags of sprayer heads that came with the shitty kit that I bought that I may as well make the most out of this stuff if I can, though the bluemats are appealing.
 
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Wayne55

Well-Known Member
The linked page also has a schematic for a drip emitter system that would make use of those T connectors, tubing, etc that you already have but my only question would be about the 800 gph pump and if its too much power
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
Wayne55 said:
The linked page also has a schematic for a drip emitter system that would make use of those T connectors, tubing, etc that you already have but my only question would be about the 800 gph pump and if its too much power
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Yeah I know it is probably overkill, I want to use it with a fan controller so that it doesn't run that much pumping.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
You can buy a micro jet pump for £12/15 in the UK you'll find them cheaper in the US probably, we usually pay more for goods.
 
DrKiz

DrKiz

Well-Known Member
Wayne55 said:
The linked page also has a schematic for a drip emitter system that would make use of those T connectors, tubing, etc that you already have but my only question would be about the 800 gph pump and if its too much power
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I run 1/4 Horsepower sump pumps in my irrigation systems. I tried those shitty aquarium pumps. Maybe for small reservoirs, but if you're using 30-55 gallon reservoirs, you'll find with the fish pumps the flow drops off as the reservoir level drops... inconsistent flow rates.

At least that's what I found.

Plus the fact that sump pumps drain the reservoir down to 1/8". Those crappy aquarium pumps leave 2" at least on the bottom.

I had nothing but problems with them.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
I've bought 3 micro jets in 10 years two are still working, over that period they must have switched on/off millions of times, they almost completely empty a saucer/tray as they draw from the bottom.
 
lungbutter

lungbutter

Well-Known Member
the topspin drip sets seem pretty popular from other grows ive seen.

ive used blumats before which are awesome when setup but ive flooded the grow room a couple of times with them.
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
Yeah this 800GPH pump isn't nearly as powerful as I figured it would be, but for $25CAD *shrug*. The issue I'm having right now is the inconsistency of the pressure of water reaching the end of the plant in the line (5 plants, with drip feeder). The ones at the end get way less pressure and the first 2-3 are overflowing well before the last ones are done being watered, so I dunno what to do. I might try splitting the input with a t joint so like 3 plants on one side and 2 on the other, it's really thin tubing though so I might have to upgrade it anyways. Debating whether to just hand water the rest of the way, like 5 weeks left to go.

Next grow will only be one or 2 big plants, so I'm hoping this won't be much of a problem then. I have 2 bluemat tropf maxi coming that I'm going to try with my mother plant, see how they work.

I'll put sump pump on my massive wishlist of things haha but they are like $100 CAD ish.
 
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Wayne55

Well-Known Member
Each submersible pump has a working height it will be able to pump to. For instance, my rez is 23 gallon (I only fill with 15 gal) slim Jim trash can. I had to choose the correct gph pump to lift the water out the top of the rez/trash can and to my plants. My rez is about 2.5 ft high. If I got a taller rez I would need a bigger pump to lift up and out to keep the flow rate from dropping.

guitarguy10 said:
Yeah this 800GPH pump isn't nearly as powerful as I figured it would be, but for $25CAD *shrug*. The issue I'm having right now is the inconsistency of the pressure of water reaching the end of the plant in the line (5 plants, with drip feeder). The ones at the end get way less pressure and the first 2-3 are overflowing well before the last ones are done being watered, so I dunno what to do. I might try splitting the input with a t joint so like 3 plants on one side and 2 on the other, it's really thin tubing though so I might have to upgrade it anyways. Debating whether to just hand water the rest of the way, like 5 weeks left to go.

Next grow will only be one or 2 big plants, so I'm hoping this won't be much of a problem then. I have 2 bluemat tropf maxi coming that I'm going to try with my mother plant, see how they work.

I'll put sump pump on my massive wishlist of things haha but they are like $100 CAD ish.
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So to fix your flow rates you need to make sure all your feed lines are the same length as your farthest plant. If there not all the same you will not get consistent flow. If you still have your first plants in the line getting more flow than the last plants you need to add ball valves to each feed line so you can regulate the flow to each plant. The ones first in line getting too much water will need to have ball valves a little more closed. Plants at the end of the line need ball valves a little more open.

That link gives you all this information and I think you can totally get this to work for you
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
I cut all the tubing the same lengths when I made this setup, so i dunno. I figured the 800GPH would provide more then adequate flow rate, and so far it has in that it reaches every pot (it didn't before), just inconsistent flowrates. I figured the ball cock valve thing was how it would have to be, I just dont really want to go tearing about my setup in my plants that are 4 weeks into flower, I will fuck something up lol and I need the tent to be empty to space and cut lines appropriately.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
Idk what rate my micro jet is but its supplying 8 plants with equal run off +/- 100mls.
It's not by any means a powerful pump as Wayne points out its good for 70cm flow height, that's not a problem for me as I showed you previously I've small feeder res/bucket working with a stop cock from a header tank/res so a few inches of lift is all I require.
 
DrKiz

DrKiz

Well-Known Member
guitarguy10 said:
I cut all the tubing the same lengths when I made this setup, so i dunno. I figured the 800GPH would provide more then adequate flow rate, and so far it has in that it reaches every pot (it didn't before), just inconsistent flowrates. I figured the ball cock valve thing was how it would have to be, I just dont really want to go tearing about my setup in my plants that are 4 weeks into flower, I will fuck something up lol and I need the tent to be empty to space and cut lines appropriately.
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You can buy orbit manifolds on Amazon with adjustable flow rates to each line. Cheap and easy to plumb in. And yeah, I gave up on crappy pumps, it's 1/4" HP sump pumps for me. Hammer that flow rate from start to finish of the reservoir.
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
I'm using a 30L home brewing bucket similar to this one as my res: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/c8UAAOSwg6Nc9nx0/s-l400.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Not ideal because it's opaque I know but I clean it well everytime I make a new solution and at this moment plants are drinking so fast it doesn't have time to grow orgasisms or be affected by light.

Can you link specifically what you mean by 'orbit manifold'? When I type that into amazon.ca it brings up all sorts of different products and I have no idea which one you're talking about.

This is the pump that I have, 800GPH, 24W and 10ft flow height: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07L54HB83/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That should be ok for just one or 2 plants in my next grow shouldn't it? I can't exactly return the pump now that it's been used, and as I said before sump pump is on my lengthy list of things I'll never be able to afford lol. Maybe I should start selling the weed I grow ... or maybe not because that's illegal and no way I would survive in jail with a crippling pain disability lol.
 
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guitarguy10

Well-Known Member
DrKiz said:
@guitarguy10

Here you go homie:

Orbit DripMaster 69000 8-Port Manifold, Adjustable Flow : Amazon.ca: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Find products from Orbit at low prices. Shop online for barbecues, mowers, garden tools, generators, snow blowers and more at Amazon.ca
www.amazon.ca

The pump you have will be fine for a few plants man. My comment was more for other who are running larger reservoirs with larger number of feed sites.
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Oh nice, that's cheap, like way cheaper then I had expected. And I figured my pump would probably be enough just figured I would fill in details as to how this is not a commercial setup lol, just a noob (with like 5 grows under his belt) growing 2 big plants in a tent (vs 4 or 5 small ones like I am doing now).

In these 8" pots fuck these ladies are THIRSTY. I have to water then twice a day easy. I left it for one day (migraine) came back and all the lower branches on one or two of them were REALLY sagging, like basically dead (tops still looked good).
 
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