Blumats. Who's using them?

xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
I think it's the upgrade to the tubing, double tank fittings, etc. I wasn't planning on running two tanks as much as playing with the idea of a loop system and whether it's better to run that from a T or from two connections to the reservoir.
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Yeah that black tubing that came with the kit I got is pretty stiff. Kind of hard to work with. That's why I ended up getting some of the 3mm tubing so I could just put that stiff plastic tubing around the base of my tent and then use longer 3mm lines to connect to it. I never thought about a loop. I just went plug and play except for the 3mm extensions.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
Yeah that black tubing that came with the kit I got is pretty stiff. Kind of hard to work with. That's why I ended up getting some of the 3mm tubing so I could just put that stiff plastic tubing around the base of my tent and then use longer 3mm lines to connect to it. I never thought about a loop. I just went plug and play except for the 3mm extensions.
Click to expand...
I've read a few reports of the standard black tubing being hard to work with but also eventually cracking/braking, its silicone vs. the PVC or hard plastic. I'd probably do an order direct rather than Amazon, because I could order additional tubing, etc. at the same time...and the pricing is better than Amazon once you look at tax/shipping.

The loop thing makes sense to me...it creates a system where you get more even pressure since it's 'pushing' from both sides...also if you get something that clogs along the way, the other side of the loop is still functional.
 
JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
I've read a few reports of the standard black tubing being hard to work with but also eventually cracking/braking, its silicone vs. the PVC or hard plastic. I'd probably do an order direct rather than Amazon, because I could order additional tubing, etc. at the same time...and the pricing is better than Amazon once you look at tax/shipping.

The loop thing makes sense to me...it creates a system where you get more even pressure since it's 'pushing' from both sides...also if you get something that clogs along the way, the other side of the loop is still functional.
Click to expand...
I use the loop system with a separate on/off valve opposite my res to purge my lines usually at least once a week.

As for the black tubing, I noticed it cracks when not always in use. The pieces I used in my flower tent that always had water in them help up ok. But the ones I used in my veg tent that I wouldn't always be using would crack.
I like the red flextube it's super easy to work with and is pretty hard to kink. Holds up well over time so far too
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
Billy the Mountain said:
I"m curious, what size were your small pots?

I had a similar experience, I normally use 2 or 3 gal fabric pots w/ coco but the blumats definitely worked better in a 5 gal pot vs. 3 gal pot.

I used 3 additional drippers in addition to the carrot.

I would also recommend using 100% coco as it allows the carrot to be evenly saturated. With perlite added, you can get more/less perlite
touching the carrot which will throw off its response.

I plan on tinkering with them again over the summer
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They were 6x6x4” or so. I’m not sure of the actual amount, but I would say between a half and gallon. I’ve also never used perilite, but I found out that they didn’t work well with rockwool a couple of summers ago.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
JustBlazin said:
I use the loop system with a separate on/off valve opposite my res to purge my lines usually at least once a week.

As for the black tubing, I noticed it cracks when not always in use. The pieces I used in my flower tent that always had water in them help up ok. But the ones I used in my veg tent that I wouldn't always be using would crack.
I like the red flextube it's super easy to work with and is pretty hard to kink. Holds up well over time so far too
Click to expand...
Seems like its worth it for both ease-of-use as well as long-term functionality. The medium with upgrades looks like it's 130$ shipped, and an extra 25' of the red tubing is 20$
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
Hey @Jjgrow420 , @xtsho , et al.,

Now that we're in 'spring' (doesn't seem that way with about 14" of snow this week)...I'm gearing up to order a Blumat system. I'll be away a bunch of time as the season rolls on with some family commitments as well as a 10 day stretch of vacation. But I if I like how things work, I'd move to trying it as a semi-permanent watering system.

Some questions and request for guidance on doing this.

-Right now I'm only running 2 plants in 5g. bags (though I have other non-related plants in the tent I'd use it for as well).
-Medium is Promix HP+
-Current water/feed schedule is ~4 days & alternated feed/water, and top-watered by hand.
-Using GH Maxibloom (and MaxiGro in early veg), Epsom & a bit of molasses (to feed the mycos, etc).
-I've been using Recharge during watering.

^^ how do I need to alter how I'm feeding (aka 5-7g Maxi per gallon). I assume if it's just a long weekend I'd just fit it into my schedule depending on how my weeks are rotating...but when I go for 10 days or whatever... I also know that I wouldn't be able to use Recharge or molasses in the Blumat res. Alternately how do I work 'around' this when going back and forth if I'm not using it all the time?

Looking at something this size or equivelent: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00F724IBS

Other things I need to consider having/using? I figure 1 5g res bucket may not be enough, but I can certainly do a two bucket system or use one larger tup/container. Would run gravity, with the res outside the tent. Even at peak grow time I was using ~2g per plant per watering with 25% runoff, so in a non-runoff system I'd be using about 1.5g twice a week per plant.

What additional things do I need to know/consider here?
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Ok so
When I'm using the blumats I won't really go above ec 1.6 and that was in mid flower.
Seemed like 1.1-1.3 was pretty ideal. You can still hand water in the recharge and whatever else whenever you like. I dunno if you'd really want to go 'back and forth' between the system. Not sure if turning it off would affect the carrots seeing as how they run by taking in and letting out water I'd assume the 'balance' would be upset and may take tweaking each time you 'turn them on' again.
Dont take how you watered before as an indicator on how much they will drink. Could be similar could not be. My res is 20 gal on 12 plants in 7gal promix hp In mid grow they'll drink that up in maybe bout 3-4 days? You also want to not let the res run too low as this can cause pressure issues and under/over watering. Make sure your res is sitting a meter above the carrot. Salts are fine just dont opt in for the drippers, although they are sweet, they clog up within 2 weeks usually running salts. I had less problems with maxibloom and calimagic. More issues with gh trio but still was ok. Additives are generally a no go.
I've never experienced issues with the black line. I ran the elbows and made it all nice nice. It is rigid and fairly difficult to work with but some zip ties make short work of it.
I never had a runaway. Only once it came close but it would just overwater, runoff a bit and shut off. I think it was justblazin that suggested using a pond liner underneath. It's great peace of mind. In a 5x5 a foot up it can hold something like 200+gallons so a 20gal res would be like pouring a glass of water in a dry pool.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
Yeah, I was thinking that too. Especially if I've got to move plants around and make sure they're safely in vessels to catch runoff in case of an 'issue'.
Click to expand...
Honesty, it's expensive, but it's real nice to have is the quick connect 3mm shut offs. Overkill yes BUT if/when you need to move a plant around or whatever it's nice to not have to shut off the whole system at your main shut offs then purge the air out afterwards.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
Yeah, I was thinking that too. Especially if I've got to move plants around and make sure they're safely in vessels to catch runoff in case of an 'issue'.
Click to expand...
I wouldnt worry about runaways. If you set the carrot properly and do everything the way the instructions tell you the carrot won't runaway. I even had clogged up drippers and it didn't runaway. When I took the 3mm line off the dripper ring, it pissed water in a stream and leaked only because the carrot took a min to get the moisture reading but the water was filling the pot too quick (I was there watching the whole thing). I bumped them often moves pots side to side etc etc. No problems.
Now with hp I dunno I heard perlite can mess with the sensor so I'm putting a small bit of bx around the carrot just to make sure
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
Sorry for the multiple posts I'm just going through this post by post so I don't miss anything. Wouldn't want to have anything unanswered.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
Another thing.
Filters are kinda key. I think they reduce pressure a bit but they keep the big bits from getting through. You can buy the irrigation filters on Amazon. If you go back some pages I talked about them there and the boys helped me out and found the reducers I needed. I believe all the links are there too. Go with a mesh size of 100+
If I missed anything let me know. Lol
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Jjgrow420 said:
Ok so
When I'm using the blumats I won't really go above ec 1.6 and that was in mid flower.
Seemed like 1.1-1.3 was pretty ideal. You can still hand water in the recharge and whatever else whenever you like. I dunno if you'd really want to go 'back and forth' between the system. Not sure if turning it off would affect the carrots seeing as how they run by taking in and letting out water I'd assume the 'balance' would be upset and may take tweaking each time you 'turn them on' again.
Dont take how you watered before as an indicator on how much they will drink. Could be similar could not be. My res is 20 gal on 12 plants in 7gal promix hp In mid grow they'll drink that up in maybe bout 3-4 days? You also want to not let the res run too low as this can cause pressure issues and under/over watering. Make sure your res is sitting a meter above the carrot. Salts are fine just dont opt in for the drippers, although they are sweet, they clog up within 2 weeks usually running salts. I had less problems with maxibloom and calimagic. More issues with gh trio but still was ok. Additives are generally a no go.
I've never experienced issues with the black line. I ran the elbows and made it all nice nice. It is rigid and fairly difficult to work with but some zip ties make short work of it.
I never had a runaway. Only once it came close but it would just overwater, runoff a bit and shut off. I think it was justblazin that suggested using a pond liner underneath. It's great peace of mind. In a 5x5 a foot up it can hold something like 200+gallons so a 20gal res would be like pouring a glass of water in a dry pool.
Click to expand...
And now I'm going to reply to each and every one. ;)

Thanks, this is good info. I don't know about a pool/pond liner, my tent is a weird size...33"x60" which may make it a no-go. But I'm sure I can figure out something...

I figured no additives really...I'm overall happy so far with the GH Maxi stuff...it's been super easy to measure, and while I know people have a problem with it dissolving, I just weigh it and put it in my water a day or two before using it and it's fine. I hit my sickly looking hot pepper seedlings with it the other night and within 48 hours they've completely turned around.

I honestly enjoy hand watering and I'm not doing a huge room of plants...right now just two (Sativa/Durban Poisons) and before was just doing 4x autos per grow. My thought this time is since the Durban Poison will get taller/bigger to just concentrate on keeping them under control. This is my second time with Xtreme Mykos and Recharge and I think it's been beneficial. I'll know at transplant, this weekend.

With my water schedule at every 4 days, it really amounts to me needing this for just longer stretches, but if it ends up being a more productive system in terms of growth, I'd consider full time.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Jjgrow420 said:
Another thing.
Filters are kinda key. I think they reduce pressure a bit but they keep the big bits from getting through. You can buy the irrigation filters on Amazon. If you go back some pages I talked about them there and the boys helped me out and found the reducers I needed. I believe all the links are there too. Go with a mesh size of 100+
If I missed anything let me know. Lol
Click to expand...
This is valuable to know. I was thinking about it but hadn't fully formed my thoughts. I'll add this to my list for implementation. I'm hoping that I don't have sediment issues, but you never know. It's well water and all...
 
K

Kgrim

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
Seems like its worth it for both ease-of-use as well as long-term functionality. The medium with upgrades looks like it's 130$ shipped, and an extra 25' of the red tubing is 20$
Click to expand...
I have the "Medium" Tropf 12 carrot kit, got it from Growgreenmi.com on one of their "Dank Deals" and it was $68.95 shipped.
Haven't implemented it yet, as I don't have my rooms all situated yet. Hopefully can get the new light hung in the bud room, cull out a couple males, transplant to their final home and get the Blu Mats hooked up and running.
 
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