Hey guys, struggling to get my Octopot system up and running. I tend to overthink things and I just want to clarify some stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Pics attached are of a failed attempt and much has changed since them, but they illustrate a couple concerns.
Light can get into my control reservoir and my plant reservoirs. Is that OK? The light gets into the control reservoir through the dipstick level indicator. Same as the plants, but the plants also get light in around the edge of the sleeve. A good amount, there's like a 1/4" gap all the way around the sleeve and the reservoir lid. I can easily see inside the res, which means light is constantly getting in. I thought this was a no-no for hydro? Do I need to do what I can to minimize/remove the light from the res?
How to deal with gravity when I need the hoses to go over containment? I don't think I can fight gravity, so the only answer I can see here is to raise my controls up so that the bulkhead fitting is above the containment both in the control and the plant res? Was hoping to keep them at ground level. I suppose I can throw together a small stand to ensure they are level and the tubing doesn't go higher than the reservoirs. I need everything to be in containment in case of leaks - second story, already leaked a gallon my last grow and have a stain downstairs on my ceiling from it.
Keeping the reservoir sterile? I used hydroguard in my test and a few days later it was just nasty, like looks like I was cooking up botulism or the next version of the plague in there. 2ml per gallon didn't seem to do anything. I have plenty of hydroguard and I also have five gallons of 35% h2o2 (doesn't mix with hydroguard I know) and pool shock. I'm thinking about dropping the hydroguard and moving to h2o2, thoughts?
I filled a grow sleeve four times and never got it to be straight up and self supported. They didn't slouch, but the thing sits on a very small platform with a simple key and it doesn't want to stand upright. I had to tie them off to support themselves. The sleeve is about 1/2" diameter too small for the lid hole and the lid doesn't support anything because it's just set on top. Are these capable of sitting upright by themselves without a lean or a support? Do I need the octogrid for this? WTF am I doing wrong? I see so many pictures of octopot grows and the bags are just standing upright without an issue and this seems absolutely impossible at this point.
Anyone know if the PPM in the octopot instruction guide is on the 500 or 700 scale?
I'm using louder powder nutes and the feeding chart on louder powder says to use 1000ppm (500 scale) on seedlings, but the chart on the octopot site has FAR lower numbers. Which should I be listening to?
Air stones or recirc pump in the main reservoir? I have a recirc pump right now just sloshing water around for 20 minutes every 2 hours. Not sure which is better, that or air stones.
Light can get into my control reservoir and my plant reservoirs. Is that OK? The light gets into the control reservoir through the dipstick level indicator. Same as the plants, but the plants also get light in around the edge of the sleeve. A good amount, there's like a 1/4" gap all the way around the sleeve and the reservoir lid. I can easily see inside the res, which means light is constantly getting in. I thought this was a no-no for hydro? Do I need to do what I can to minimize/remove the light from the res?
How to deal with gravity when I need the hoses to go over containment? I don't think I can fight gravity, so the only answer I can see here is to raise my controls up so that the bulkhead fitting is above the containment both in the control and the plant res? Was hoping to keep them at ground level. I suppose I can throw together a small stand to ensure they are level and the tubing doesn't go higher than the reservoirs. I need everything to be in containment in case of leaks - second story, already leaked a gallon my last grow and have a stain downstairs on my ceiling from it.
Keeping the reservoir sterile? I used hydroguard in my test and a few days later it was just nasty, like looks like I was cooking up botulism or the next version of the plague in there. 2ml per gallon didn't seem to do anything. I have plenty of hydroguard and I also have five gallons of 35% h2o2 (doesn't mix with hydroguard I know) and pool shock. I'm thinking about dropping the hydroguard and moving to h2o2, thoughts?
I filled a grow sleeve four times and never got it to be straight up and self supported. They didn't slouch, but the thing sits on a very small platform with a simple key and it doesn't want to stand upright. I had to tie them off to support themselves. The sleeve is about 1/2" diameter too small for the lid hole and the lid doesn't support anything because it's just set on top. Are these capable of sitting upright by themselves without a lean or a support? Do I need the octogrid for this? WTF am I doing wrong? I see so many pictures of octopot grows and the bags are just standing upright without an issue and this seems absolutely impossible at this point.
Anyone know if the PPM in the octopot instruction guide is on the 500 or 700 scale?
I'm using louder powder nutes and the feeding chart on louder powder says to use 1000ppm (500 scale) on seedlings, but the chart on the octopot site has FAR lower numbers. Which should I be listening to?
Air stones or recirc pump in the main reservoir? I have a recirc pump right now just sloshing water around for 20 minutes every 2 hours. Not sure which is better, that or air stones.
