Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Remember to purge any air bubbles with a syringe inside the cap and in the carrot..
Blumats. Who's using them?
- Thread starter Jjgrow420
- Start date
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Tape and drippers 3 sensors seems like overkill but it'll work
I'm sure you could just use 2 maxis and 10 drippers 5 off each carrot
LeastExpectedGrower
Well-Known Member
Yep. Planning on being careful.
My only deviation from their boilerplate is that they say to water fully one day then re-water the next and set the units for your 'ideal' soil moisture level. I think what I'll do is my usual water to 20% runoff tonight, set up the system & bleed it, but close down the drippers until tomorrow and use that soil moisture level to set their drips.
LeastExpectedGrower
Well-Known Member
The Tropf units are completely different in how they work and what they do though.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Put the carrots in when your ready to turn it on. If you put then in today and they start to dry a bit the water will start to come out the carrot. When you set it it might be fucked up
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Yes 100% diff. You could run 1 carrot in a 10 gal but 2 would be better. I run 1 in a 7 gal
McShnutz
Well-Known Member
You can use any on-demand pump. The flow rate is your choice. Whatever your pump preference, It must have a pressure switch installed on the pump or purchased separately. An accumulator of your choice, but I've used small hdpe ones and also larger steel with epdm bladder. I prefer the steel w/ bladder. Pressure reducer is necessary with any variation of pump system configuration. My system goes as follows...
Municipal supply...
Carbon...
Pump...
Ro membranes...
Pump...
Deionize....
Accumulator...
Multi outlet manifold w/ optional bypass...
Pressure reduction...
Garden
I have other components within the bypass manifold such as, electric solenoid on intergral timers, pressure reducers, in-line sediment filters and a dosing pump. These are optional and only used in tandem with the main system for optional additive injection (fertigation)
Sustainable Village can supply you with the bulk of the blumat line, however a pump can be sourced from Amazon. Aquatec and surflow are two brands I use along with any switches for Pressure control.
A pumps system isn't something you can cheap out on, but it's cheaper to source components separately than to outright purchase a complete kit.
LeastExpectedGrower
Well-Known Member
Up and running...I think.
The layout right now is a bit of a pain, given all the hot pepper and tomato plants also in the tent (that I also want to keep watered for now)...but it makes sense. I have the light on the far left dimmed down as far as it will go, and the two on the center/right are all the way up, providing the 620umol I want for the Durban Poisons.
Two lines off the tank, making a loop, with a drain/bleed tucked at the far end of the loop right between the tomatoes and peppers. I have the two Durbans first, one on each line from the reservoir. I had to pull one of the filter units, as it was leaking. Really slow leak but it was there. The rest of it is solid and no leaks.
I did the carrot set up last night, and then again this morning I re-did it just because I wasn't sure I got it right. The soil is all wet enough right now and actually probably closer to an ideal point of moisture than it was yesterday.
I didn't have a fancy pond-liner or anything that fit this space, but I do have 10mm sheeting and have a piece inserted that goes up the sides of the tent about 4" on each side, so should anything get out of control it will stay in the tent not the floor. The wires on the lower right look dodgy, but they're just sensor wires coming in the tent and heading upwards.
The layout right now is a bit of a pain, given all the hot pepper and tomato plants also in the tent (that I also want to keep watered for now)...but it makes sense. I have the light on the far left dimmed down as far as it will go, and the two on the center/right are all the way up, providing the 620umol I want for the Durban Poisons.
Two lines off the tank, making a loop, with a drain/bleed tucked at the far end of the loop right between the tomatoes and peppers. I have the two Durbans first, one on each line from the reservoir. I had to pull one of the filter units, as it was leaking. Really slow leak but it was there. The rest of it is solid and no leaks.
I did the carrot set up last night, and then again this morning I re-did it just because I wasn't sure I got it right. The soil is all wet enough right now and actually probably closer to an ideal point of moisture than it was yesterday.
I didn't have a fancy pond-liner or anything that fit this space, but I do have 10mm sheeting and have a piece inserted that goes up the sides of the tent about 4" on each side, so should anything get out of control it will stay in the tent not the floor. The wires on the lower right look dodgy, but they're just sensor wires coming in the tent and heading upwards.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Forgot to say Teflon tape the threads on the filters. All of them.
I prefer to run the perimeter of the tent with the 8mm line rather then running the lines all willy nilly
LeastExpectedGrower
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I actually have some tape and didn't even think about it. I'll take to it in the next day or two. Not too much work to pull the one that's still in place and do it quickly as well as the one that's now sitting on my shelf.
I had planned on running it around the perimeter, but ended up with the path of least resistance, because each of the little pots really wanted the drip tube to be in a certain place, etc. I knew it would be a bit of a cluster given so many little pots. It'll all clear up in the next few weeks...once we hit mid-may we should be out of the 'frost zone' and I'll be able to get the veggies out in the garden.
jimmytownbound
Well-Known Member
Thank you that was most helpful.
lusidghost
Well-Known Member
If a cheap pump breaks then it just turns into a gravity fed system. Blumats are pretty simple. You might as well setup a regular automated system with all of that.
LeastExpectedGrower
Well-Known Member
Note that really about 60% of this list is pre-watering system and mostly the 'water treatment' system.
jimmytownbound
Well-Known Member
Is there an affordable automated system that senses moisture level and keeps my living soil at an optimal moisture level?
lusidghost
Well-Known Member
I don't think there's a better setup for organics, to be honest. I'm going to use mine to water a bunch of chili peppers this summer.
jimmytownbound
Well-Known Member
After you guys help and some Amazon shopping. I can build the same pump system with the same pump and accumulator as the sustainable system for $260 compared to $408.
lusidghost
Well-Known Member
Just buy a cheap pump. If you really care buy one with dry protection for a bit more money. A RO system is its own thing and if you use one that's cool, but there's no reason to spend hundreds of dollars to create the tiny amount of water pressure needed to have a res sitting on the floor.
McShnutz
Well-Known Member
That was the original use of everything. And I can still use it for the purpose of automated fertigation of a separate grow. The manifold w/bypass allows me to tie in a blumat rig in addition supplied by an "as needed" on demand purification system with extra on demand storage via the accumulator vessel.
Yes a gravity system would work too, but I'd have to maintain that. With a closed pressure system I have virtually zero maintenance, aside from filter/ membrane monitoring. But I have in-line ppm meters and filter monitors as well as flow monitors for all that.
Also I think it's worth stating that I've acquired and upgraded all these gadgets over the years. If I had to purchase everything right now it would exceed $3,000.
