Water reservoir questions

TreeFiddy350 · Feb 11, 2019

Can somebody point me in the right direction for getting a water reservoir set up?
I’ve been seriously considering either blue Mats or floraflex.
I am growing in soil. In smart pots
I would like to automate the watering for the plants, but I keep hearing about a reservoir.
Can somebody point me in the right direction so that I can figure out how to put this together?
Also, I plan on having about 4 trays that are 4x4ft. 10-16 plants in each 4x4.
Which do you think would be the best route for this? 1 big one or 4 smaller ones?
Ps. Sorry for such a noob question.

xtsho · Feb 11, 2019

I just use an 18 gallon rubbermaid tote with a small pond pump in the bottom for circulation and aeration. Then run tubing to the blumats. I'm only running one 4 x 4 tent so it sizes perfectly. I add more nute solution about once a week. Makes watering a breeze. With the amount of trays you'll be growing you might look at getting one of those large food grade plastic barrels or a rain barrel and run everything from that. They come in various sizes. You can also use a pressure reducer and connect directly to a water source. Good luck.

TreeFiddy350 · Feb 11, 2019

xtsho said:
I just use an 18 gallon rubbermaid tote with a small pond pump in the bottom for circulation and aeration. Then run tubing to the blumats. I'm only running one 4 x 4 tent so it sizes perfectly. I add more nute solution about once a week. Makes watering a breeze. With the amount of trays you'll be growing you might look at getting one of those large food grade plastic barrels or a rain barrel and run everything from that. They come in various sizes. You can also use a pressure reducer and connect directly to a water source. Good luck.

I might do that! How do you manage your ph stability in that?
Also, I see you’re growing in coco. With coco, do you need to add nutrients often from seedling to flower?

Renfro · Feb 11, 2019

TreeFiddy350 said:
I might do that! How do you manage your ph stability in that?
Also, I see you’re growing in coco. With coco, do you need to add nutrients often from seedling to flower?

Once the seedling exhausts it's seed provided food supply you willl need to feed it in coco every watering. Never let coco dry out like you do in soil. RO water helps with pH stability. If pH is still unstable you could use a pH dosing pump to maintain it for you or just check periodically.

I use 30 gallon barrels on cement blocks to mix my nutes in. A float valve fills that barrel with RO water. Once filled I turn off the water from the RO filter with a valve by the barrel. There is a pump in the barrel and air stones to keep it mixed and oxygenated. I also use ice probes to cool it and keep it from warming up. A barrel like this can easily be connected to a blumat setup. I just use mine for hand watering.

TreeFiddy350 · Feb 11, 2019

Renfro said:
Once the seedling exhausts it's seed provided food supply you willl need to feed it in coco every watering. Never let coco dry out like you do in soil. RO water helps with pH stability. If pH is still unstable you could use a pH dosing pump to maintain it for you or just check periodically.

I use 30 gallon barrels on cement blocks to mix my nutes in. A float valve fills that barrel with RO water. Once filled I turn off the water from the RO filter with a valve by the barrel. There is a pump in the barrel and air stones to keep it mixed and oxygenated. I also use ice probes to cool it and keep it from warming up. A barrel like this can easily be connected to a blumat setup. I just use mine for hand watering.

Ok sweet! Yeah I’m lookong into that meter to handle the ph, but was seeing if people had other ways of doing that. And damn. So basically start giving nutes from the get go?
Give them 2-3 weeks in red solo cups then transplant and then from there on out just give nutes with watering?

xtsho · Feb 11, 2019

TreeFiddy350 said:
I might do that! How do you manage your ph stability in that?
Also, I see you’re growing in coco. With coco, do you need to add nutrients often from seedling to flower?

The nutes I use stay stable for a very long time. No need to mess with them. Coco needs constant feed so a steady nutrient solution feeding constantly.

Water reservoir questions

TreeFiddy350

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xtsho

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TreeFiddy350

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Renfro

Well-Known Member

TreeFiddy350

Well-Known Member

xtsho

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