AdvancedNewbie
Well-Known Member
DIYer, how's your setup working? Any new pics? Always interesting to see different ways.
Automatic nutrient refill systems - Anyone use one, or know of a good DIY way?
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berkman858
Well-Known Member
Yeah dude, WTF?!?
Awwww,... you guys missed me, lol
Been busy with work, and i got dicked around on 3 of my noids. Guy said he shipped them but then tracking shows its delivered to someone else. I want my parts buddy!!
.....but this is what i have so far...
I found these jugs at wallymart, they hold like 6 liter, so should be perfect for dumping a gallon of nutes into. I was going to put a shutoff valve in every line, but spending $18 on these jugs with a valve in the spout saved me over $20 at home de pot on valves. It's just a gravity drip so nothing heavy duty should be required. Gave um a little lift in the ass end too, should get me most every drop out.
If you look at the tip of the spout in the middle,.. you can see a Watts PL-3004 is in there. 1/4 quick connect to 1/8"npt, it jams into the end of the spout so tight i didn't need anything else to stop as much as a drip.
One of the reasons i didn't post pics yet is because i think this area will change. I think i found a source for some cheaper N/O valves. $100 for 3 was too much, might only cost me $15 a piece though. So 6 of those 9 drippers might get replaced by noids in a week. As you can see, i'm already looking to expand, when i get this working on my ladies in veg, i'll add 3 more syringes to dose another small res on the bottom shelf. Actually i plan to drip bleach too, maybe other additives in time. All it should require to add a a 4th, or 5th, or 6th drip is buying a new jug, 2 more noids, and a syringe.
The massive 6 gal res,.. ha..
I love that i can fit this fucker on a shelf i wasn't using in my grow room, gonna free up so much floor space being eaten up by big res's. You can see the high, low, and common sensor bolts too, they connect to the liquid level controller.
Here you can see the noid that'll control the water in, i went a bit beefier on this one, from a seller i trust, no need for cheeping it here. Liquid Level Control to the right, i mounted it under a stupidly small tupperware container, protects it from getting banged.
A little pic of what this all will hopefully keep feeding someday, lol
Hopefully i have everything to platy with by next weekend.
Been busy with work, and i got dicked around on 3 of my noids. Guy said he shipped them but then tracking shows its delivered to someone else. I want my parts buddy!!
.....but this is what i have so far...
I found these jugs at wallymart, they hold like 6 liter, so should be perfect for dumping a gallon of nutes into. I was going to put a shutoff valve in every line, but spending $18 on these jugs with a valve in the spout saved me over $20 at home de pot on valves. It's just a gravity drip so nothing heavy duty should be required. Gave um a little lift in the ass end too, should get me most every drop out.
If you look at the tip of the spout in the middle,.. you can see a Watts PL-3004 is in there. 1/4 quick connect to 1/8"npt, it jams into the end of the spout so tight i didn't need anything else to stop as much as a drip.
One of the reasons i didn't post pics yet is because i think this area will change. I think i found a source for some cheaper N/O valves. $100 for 3 was too much, might only cost me $15 a piece though. So 6 of those 9 drippers might get replaced by noids in a week. As you can see, i'm already looking to expand, when i get this working on my ladies in veg, i'll add 3 more syringes to dose another small res on the bottom shelf. Actually i plan to drip bleach too, maybe other additives in time. All it should require to add a a 4th, or 5th, or 6th drip is buying a new jug, 2 more noids, and a syringe.
The massive 6 gal res,.. ha..
I love that i can fit this fucker on a shelf i wasn't using in my grow room, gonna free up so much floor space being eaten up by big res's. You can see the high, low, and common sensor bolts too, they connect to the liquid level controller.
Here you can see the noid that'll control the water in, i went a bit beefier on this one, from a seller i trust, no need for cheeping it here. Liquid Level Control to the right, i mounted it under a stupidly small tupperware container, protects it from getting banged.
A little pic of what this all will hopefully keep feeding someday, lol
Hopefully i have everything to platy with by next weekend.
How comes every time i see pumps being used for this, it's always a 'what if' pic if you will, never have i seen anyone actually build that pump/overflow idea. From what i can understand of it, the amount you dose is determined by the volume held inside the run of piping? I don't think that concept lends itself to easy adjustability. My syringes slide up and down, moving the noids as well. With N/O noids in there, and those syringes, i should be able to dose from as little as 1-2mL, to 35mL, way more then i need.
I'm curious to know how many noids the liquid level controller can handle, i could see running 10 off it in my setup. 5 to open and dump down low, 5 to close and stop the flow above. I have 5A to play with, thats the controllers max, but i think it'll control a lot of them. I had the LLC power with a 12v 1A wall wart, and it popped 4 noids just fine. When hooked to my 12v marine battery i'm going to have 4 more amps to play with. I think i'll be able to pop a lot of noids with this bad boy 
berkman858
Well-Known Member
Looks real clean, I like the way it is coming along. Keep at it and keep posting pics. I am interested in the total cost, too.
The 3 jugs $18, LLC $50, 3 noids $42, syringes $12, another $20 on watts fittings, another $50 for 3 N/O noids if i find i don't want to mess with all the drippers to choke the flow, so tops under $190 total. More then i wanted to spend, but when i'm done, and comparing it to systems that cost four figures, i think it'll stand its ground. If i had to bust out the mL measuring cup every other day, all my nute jugs, and run the water line, just to mix a fresh batch of around 4 gallons of root juice, every other day of my life, it'd be worth it to me to spend $190 to never have to do that again, anf be able to go on a vacation, lol. Plus i love reclaiming grow room space! And, having fresh mixed nutes everyday for my ladies, priceless as visa would say. It all being 12V it would totally work for gorilla growing too, i wonder if anyones huge diversion of a water source, or big res has gotten them pinched. Better to sip daily then to chug all at once sometimes maybe. For growers who use there home RO systems to supply their plants with 0 water, sipping a little each day at home is a lot easier too, then asking the RO system for 20+ gal all at once. Well, at least that'll be the case with my home RO system and its 2gal capacity.
I'm curious to know how many noids the liquid level controller can handle, i could see running 10 off it in my setup. 5 to open and dump down low, 5 to close and stop the flow above. I have 5A to play with, thats the controllers max, but i think it'll control a lot of them. I had the LLC power with a 12v 1A wall wart, and it popped 4 noids just fine. When hooked to my 12v marine battery i'm going to have 4 more amps to play with. I think i'll be able to pop a lot of noids with this bad boy
If you have five amps to play with, you can run anywhere from 200 - 600 solenoids off of that.
Not all noids give there specs, but the one i'm using for the water pinch draws 600mA, more like 10 of them if i'm lucky,.. still don't know the draw of the N/O noids,.. still testing the drippers too...
SwissCheese
Well-Known Member
Interested to see how this turns out.
Yea you're right,.. my bottles do say shake it up, and i could air stone the nute jugs to do that, maybe i will, but have you ever used GH nutes? Only brand i know to come in transparent bottles, which no company would do if like most brands, they got sediment at the bottom of there jugs. GH is just like kool-aid when you pour it out, i really feel like i'm wasting my time when i do shake a jug up, lol.. but an air stone for each jug would be easy 
berkman858
Well-Known Member
Yea you're right,.. my bottles do say shake it up, and i could air stone the nute jugs to do that, maybe i will, but have you ever used GH nutes? Only brand i know to come in transparent bottles, which no company would do if like most brands, they got sediment at the bottom of there jugs. GH is just like kool-aid when you pour it out, i really feel like i'm wasting my time when i do shake a jug up, lol.. but an air stone for each jug would be easy
Wasted time or not, I am completely OCD about shaking up every bottle before I use it. That's just me though, I am nutty.
I hear ya man. I have air pumps and 6" stones galore, so i'm sure i'll add one to each jug before i'm done since it seems to me i'm going pretty balls out on this whole system. I wonder how one will fair in a gallon of GH nutes for a few months. ATM i'm testing the low limits of the drippers, depressing the syringes all the way, and just measuring what drips out in the time it takes the res to fill (6:40sec), and the LLC to de-energize and shut all the noids. Gotta decide if i think i can work with drippers, or swap um with the NO noids
EDIT:
Low limit of the drippers established, 10mL it is,.. and jesus h christ hows that for consistency across the board
I was expecting more variance, like each was going to be its own unique baby to be calibrated in. Maybe not so much so.
EDIT:
Low limit of the drippers established, 10mL it is,.. and jesus h christ hows that for consistency across the board
I was expecting more variance, like each was going to be its own unique baby to be calibrated in. Maybe not so much so.
AdvancedNewbie
Well-Known Member
The airstone might affect pH a little, causing pH to rise. "(something to do with O2 displacing CO2)" Are there any DWC'ers out there?
I stopped needing pH movers awhile ago, but dosing of them could be incorporated too, and probably would need to be if you were running DWC. Definitely would need an N/O noid there though, the drip amount over the time the res filled would be way over what you wanted to add. I don't think air stones would cause a problem up in the jugs, before the chemicals were even mixed. But if i found it did i could have the air pump/stones only kick on only when the LLC told it to maybe, if it we're a 12v air pump with low amp draw. I'm starting to think it'll be nice and science'y looking to have bubbles flowing up through my green colored jugs 
AdvancedNewbie
Well-Known Member
Yeah, right before would be perfect, either that or some for of mechanical agitation. For some reason I'm thinking of those cheap plastic handheld fans you see kids playing with... lol Practical?
Edit: Bubbles are pretty sweet though.
Edit: Bubbles are pretty sweet though.
I don't think i could mechanically get a good nuff stir going inside those narrow, tall, and deep jugs i'm using. Bubbles from the bottom, would be much easier. Bubbles going the reverse direction that good old free reliable gravity is consistently pulling my nutes into my res is just ironical too
AdvancedNewbie
Well-Known Member
When your plants follow the bubbles, all is good brotha!
All yesterday i tested the low limit, measured every dose that would have been dropped into the res, .5mL was the variance over around 10 tests. For each individual dripper/syringe/noid setup. Variance across setups, was around 1mL or slightly more, so it did end up making them more like individual babies in need of specific dialing in, but no big deal, i wasn't expecting the marks on the syringes to actually hold true across syringes, or to what is actually dosed, not without N/O noids up top anyway.
Today i shoot to hit the right marks! I'm looking to consistently dose; 8mL, 16mL, and 24mL, in exactly 6:40 seconds, since that's how long it takes my res to refill around 4 gallons of water. Which will be what i dose of Bloom, Micro, and Grow in that order of dose.
4gal in 6:40,.. Slow i know,.. the faster you can refill the more the syringes become accurate, and the lower your low limit is, further lessoning the need for N/O noids.
I really think this can easily be done for $130, maybe less if you have parts laying around like i did, and without using N/O noids. If they were ever able to be sourced cheaper maybe it'd be worth it, but even so i would always want at least one dripper inline so there could never be a fast pour of nutes downhill.
Soon as i feel comfortable hitting my marks i think i'll replace the test water with real nutes, and begin to monitor the system actually in use.
Today i shoot to hit the right marks! I'm looking to consistently dose; 8mL, 16mL, and 24mL, in exactly 6:40 seconds, since that's how long it takes my res to refill around 4 gallons of water. Which will be what i dose of Bloom, Micro, and Grow in that order of dose.
4gal in 6:40,.. Slow i know,.. the faster you can refill the more the syringes become accurate, and the lower your low limit is, further lessoning the need for N/O noids.
I really think this can easily be done for $130, maybe less if you have parts laying around like i did, and without using N/O noids. If they were ever able to be sourced cheaper maybe it'd be worth it, but even so i would always want at least one dripper inline so there could never be a fast pour of nutes downhill.
Soon as i feel comfortable hitting my marks i think i'll replace the test water with real nutes, and begin to monitor the system actually in use.
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