Setting up dtw coco 2.5x5 tent

rkymtnman

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I came across those not realizing til now that is like a 40 gal reservoir of botanicare but stacked times 4 or 5. Would be the same thing but more gallons but less space for other totes with separate solutions/drain waste. Id be just as good with a shelf and reservoirs on each shelf but the botanicare would be nice if it was more than 12” high.

I have a 2x4 veg tent two plants and 2.5x5 flower two plants. Or that was the idea, to flower two big plants or I could get more plants in smaller pots but hoping either way to have ease of use with larger reservoirs. Just not sure how many gallons I need. If I have to refill reservoir sooner than I would like to, to make this work for now and not join the flood club, I guess I will do that.

Heck anything is better than using a 5 gal bucket for a reservoir. Made me hate coco for a little while.
how about an old hot water heater? those are tall and skinny.
 

medidedicated

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how about an old hot water heater? those are tall and skinny.
The problem with tall and narrow is the siphoning effect, I read water level in reservoir needs to match the halos in pots or less, otherwise it will siphon until it does match. I don’t know how true it is but rather not find out the hard way. Otherwise the good old manufature that makes those blue drums that everyone uses, I could just get one of those.

I like tall and narrow also so the pump can stay submerged without having to tip the reservoir to keep it in use towards the end of that batch as wouldnt you want to use as much of it as possible before topping it or tossing it? Or at least with out having to remind yourself to tip it towards the end.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
The problem with tall and narrow is the siphoning effect, I read water level in reservoir needs to match the halos in pots or less, otherwise it will siphon until it does match. I don’t know how true it is but rather not find out the hard way. Otherwise the good old manufature that makes those blue drums that everyone uses, I could just get one of those.

I like tall and narrow also so the pump can stay submerged without having to tip the reservoir to keep it in use towards the end of that batch as wouldnt you want to use as much of it as possible before topping it or tossing it? Or at least with out having to remind yourself to tip it towards the end.
i just leave 1 port on my manifold open to stop siphoning. sounds like you got some good ideas. now comes the testing phase.
 

medidedicated

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i just leave 1 port on my manifold open to stop siphoning. sounds like you got some good ideas. now comes the testing phase.
I looked up watering manifold, never used those before so hard to understand how that works, how can you apply that to my set up with just tubes, 3 way pieces and valves/halos? Won’t water come out that manifold if one is open but not connected to anything?

It would help a lot to know exactly what you mean, I would love to have a taller narrower reservoir.
 

medidedicated

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I don’t work with enough plants to have a manifold so I never got to look into those and how it can be used to prevent siphoning. I could probably search just that and get an idea.

If I figure that out, that opens alot of options of reservoirs I would otherwise not look at but would run better.

I was aiming to work with 2 plants flower and 2 mother plants air layered in 2 gallons to clone. That was the plan furthest down the road when I get set up and running.
 

medidedicated

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I guess I have good days and bad days finding info.
The below made sense. If anyones wondering. Might as well make the thread informal.

Make a pinhole in the highest point of the pipe. You will lose a bit of water this way, but if it is above the tank, the water will drip back in (provided it doesn't spray too far.) You could even put it just under the tank lid.
Install a tee and riser at the highest point of the pipe. this will need to be high enough to avoid the pump pressure pumping water out of the riser.
Install a vacuum breaker valve. This is basically a non-return valve, letting air into the pipe but not letting water out.
direct the outlet of the pump to a high point via a short tube. Collect the water in a funnel and feed the water from the funnel to your plants. Funnels can be made from the top of plastic bottles, cut off and inverted (you may have problems with thread compatability though.)
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i also drilled a small hole in my pvc riser ( 24 inches i think?) at the bottom. just to be double sure. i'm usually confident to leave my system alone for 2 weeks. and if it siphons out , then i'm screwed. lol.

in a 30 gal trashcan, that actual manifold is probably 6 inches from the top. then 1/4 aquarium tubing out to each plant site (up to 5) . and a digital timer to feed as many times as needed

it's empty now. maybe i'll take a pic later
 

medidedicated

Well-Known Member
I do have two condensate pumps so it isnt a concern other than wasted solution. Rather concerned that the pump fails. It is a little giant.

I think I will get two of these, make a hole just under the lid in the tubing and buy a vacuum breaker for the feeding reservoir. Thanks yall for helping me figure this out.

No table needed, just two of these side by side which will make for the same set up except larger. It is made for liquid so theres that. 55 gallons. Veg tent will have the 10 gallon tub idea. With all the math for flower reservoir, it would give me close to 4 gallons per plant per day for 7 days, so not overkill.

Heck I do not know. I rather have more than needed so long as it is safe. Cost the same as a brute can but made for liquids which makes me feel better. Is it a more durable structure than a trash bin?
 

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medidedicated

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Do you have an expectation for your garden you where looking to hit?
I some how missed this comment. Not high expectations for now until I find genetics to keep and run over and over to eventually hit my goal, a pound a harvest. As soon as possible, like every 2.5 months. Rather with two or more plants. Was wanting the larger reservoirs to have ease of use, refilling only once a week or close to it.
 

medidedicated

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I misread the eagle products, it is saying not for liquids appearently. But people use it for that. Or so it says, but the weight limit sounds like it could hold water. I am coming across cheaper options for 80$ of collapsing rain barrels which is going to help with space when not in use. I guess key thing to look up are things meant to hold water. This one has good reviews but not many.

People saying the eagle is thin plastic that the brute cans are thicker. Nothing directly from manufacture saying it can hold liquid, but more so the opposite. Someone said they saw the weight limit was like 250 but the can full of water would be like 450 but still worked. But they are using it outdoors. So I will keep looking but this flexi thing looks good.
 

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medidedicated

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Ok I got a plan, but will have to do it when funds available. I did not end up wasting much but still spent a lot to get to this point.

Two 60 gallon flexi with a shelf capable of 600ibs holding one above the other. Same thing for veg tent but with 25 gallon flexi.

I realize I need a little more for veg and they cost pretty close to a trash bin or barrel. Bit cheaper actually.

60 sounds like mad overkill but that gives me 4 gallons per plant of two per day for a week. Thinking hard about it I recall needing about 2-3 gallons a day probably per plant on a low estimate of dry back.

Thing is if people are getting plenty from 30 gallon I wonder what was so wrong last time that I needed so much more. Went through ten gallons per 30 hours. If I could do that, that would be great. These flexi things come in 25-60 gallon so there is no in between.

The flexi has good reviews but the others make me rather use a trash bin. Edit I actually am going through solution quick already with things as is, 15 gallons in like 3 -4 days. Might end up doing this. Going to be like 500 bones. But it will make this set up as good as I thought it already was.

How the heck do people get by with such small reservoirs and more plants. Am I using too much coco per plant? Eventually moving to two gallon which I already potted one to finish in. But figured I would still be feeding more frequently, equaling the same.

What blows my mind aside from good wax is the fact this will all pay for itself in less than a year…
 
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medidedicated

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I said F it and bought everything needed. Following my plan above. If it lasts much longer than a week then at least no sudden expenses regarding that.

I can always downsize to 25 gallon and use one 60 gal for drain. I see the labor accumilating if I did not get 60 gal.

Heck 25 gal is barely enough for veg so I feel like I made the right move. This should be good for 3-5 times a day feed
 

medidedicated

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Tip from me on coco that I find helpful and my new go-to. Im not sure why veg a seedling in a cup for a week instead of potting into final container, but it is helpful to move seedlings where ever while getting set up.

I read you feed .5 EC for a week and then it can transplant and handle regular feed of .9 EC. But transplanting is hard as it doesn’t have strong roots yet that grasp the coco enough to just tip upside down and pot. I use a cup to structure a hole in the pot, slightly deeper so the seedling can sit lower, if you need to rebury a wonky stem.

So I cut the cup twice and cut around the bottom to hang by a thread and tape shut. Time of potting, undo tape, use fingers to further slices into halfing the cup and remove bottom panel. Only one side should be on to help quickly pot and keep coco together. Slide out. This way roots arent cut after the fact.

Place halos around the seedling, then even out the media so you can see where stakes are going, not into the rooted cup of coco you just potted. Will be doing this for now on if to use a cup for a seedling for a week. Otherwise it was always a rough transplant. This is very gentle.
 

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medidedicated

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So theyre halo’d up, just need time to have the clones on regular feed this weekend and receive more valves to have this pita hand watering, automated. Tip from me, you can cut tubing and have 4 plants on one drain away tray as shown.

Hoping to regulate flow to where they are all feed with the least amount nutes wasted since one is a 2 gallon. I thought just make the 1 gallons drip slower. Added a pic of my earliest potted plant growth spurting like no tomorrow.
 

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medidedicated

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Oh yea, and to have 15 gallons run out again this soon, I am thinking the 60 gal is going to be mostly used and appreciated. I guess some coco growers feed twice a day, and some 5 times a day. I am one of those up there, so this will work as planned.

Like I said 25 gallons is kinda low but the flower tent will no doubt run itself for a week. The veg will have 1.7 gallons for two plants a day for a week or how ever configuration of plant count that equals the same. Enough for each plant probably in ither words. To be refilled veg tent weekly or just under a week.

I should have an auto vegging in a one gallon for a month to take up 1x1’ while mothers or clones catch up after being swapped so that is also going to take up some veg solution.
 

medidedicated

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Made one hose too low so drain bucket leaked a little. So I put construction adhesive gorrila on it and smeared it, making a seal. Hope this works. One of them was lower to compensate for space cabinet which is dtw too and near by. Need to be able to drain properly.

I made the other holes barely in right spot where it doesnt creep up and through the hole like the space cabinet hose which is in use right now while cabinet has a soil plant finishing up. Saving space putting a tray of 4 plants in the same tent for a while before setting up another tent with drain design similar.
 

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medidedicated

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Nice and automated. 45 seconds for the left tray and 2 mins on for the two main plants. Now I just refill reservoir. I will setup the flexi when here. Or in next few weeks.

Though these tubs turned out to do ok half capacity but the tub on table ought to be closely monitored as it gets half way full so thats 20 gal 25 gal. Not bad.

Glad dialing in the rest of plants with halos turned out to be fast, first try. My halos have too many holes or too big holes because 400gph was not enough. 800gph wasnt either, I needed both 400gph and 800gph with some slack left to power the 4 halo tray of plants…

They work great but yea. Need more power. The patch job of glue was successful, no more leak. Ship is sailing. Now to rest and enjoy setup for a few weeks so I get some use out of the 70$ in tubs before finding some other use for them. Storage most likely, just like it was intended to be used for.

edit the 400gph does fine for the main two plants in 3gal though…
 

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