Drain to waste in coco coir. Automated watering systems anyone?

visajoe1

visajoe1

Well-Known Member
I just made my own auto feed drip system using 1/2" line, 100gph pump, and digital cycle timer I already had. nice steady trickle; 2 minutes gives me 16oz of feed. just needed the drip line, fittings, shutoffs, and a bucket with lid. expandable to well beyond my needs or capabilities. its all setup and ready to go, but im not going to use it until i move these (4 plants) into flower tent. it would be a royal bitch to undo it all and move it 20ft after 10 days, lol
 
Mass Medicinals

Mass Medicinals

Well-Known Member
visajoe1 said:
I just made my own auto feed drip system using 1/2" line, 100gph pump, and digital cycle timer I already had. nice steady trickle; 2 minutes gives me 16oz of feed. just needed the drip line, fittings, shutoffs, and a bucket with lid. expandable to well beyond my needs or capabilities. its all setup and ready to go, but im not going to use it until i move these (4 plants) into flower tent. it would be a royal bitch to undo it all and move it 20ft after 10 days, lol
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Bump to keep this going. Visajoe1 or anyone else with a working DTW set-up.

Could anyone post photos of the set-up or links to the supplies? We have 2 weeks to build/buy a DTW set-up for a week of being away from the plants. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Currently we are hand feeding drip-to-waste.

Thanks!!!
 
rayuki

rayuki

Well-Known Member
great thread, im currently interested in trying something like this transitioning from soil, i have 10 x 3gallon airpots i want to get some use out of instead of letting them sit unused, are they ok to use in a DTW system? have you guys got any pics of your actual setups? do you need to have it up on a table or similar so you can have your runoff underneath? are canna nutes fine to use in a setup like this?
 
sacballa

sacballa

Active Member
Mass Medicinals said:
Bump to keep this going. Visajoe1 or anyone else with a working DTW set-up.

Could anyone post photos of the set-up or links to the supplies? We have 2 weeks to build/buy a DTW set-up for a week of being away from the plants. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Currently we are hand feeding drip-to-waste.

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
www.cocoforcannabis.com

DIY Automatic Watering System for Indoor Cannabis - Coco For Cannabis

Complete plans for an automatic watering system for your indoor cannabis grow. Everything you need to set up a drip system for your grow room or tent.
www.cocoforcannabis.com www.cocoforcannabis.com
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
My setup, right now using 5 ports or the 8 port manifold for my vertical grow.

I have removed the hardware from the rez and installed them on a separate stand so I could add a lid to the rez.
20190918_101836 (2).jpg

I have removed the cut off valves as I do not get any syphoning from the rez.

20181005_095126 (3).jpg

I run these up too 16 plants, thinking I could do 24 in a SOG but when I ran that before I had to go to drip emitters as I ran out of volume. With this new pump at 3 gallon/minute I think I would have plenty of volume.

The with fitting inline is a quick disconnect so I can move the plants from the tent to work on them.20181005_095120.jpg

20191217_103639 (2).jpg

Here is a pic of my current grow.
20191230_130752 (2).jpg20200101_121754 (2).jpg20200112_094140 (2).jpg20200108_095918 (2).jpg20200108_095923 (2).jpg
20200112_094140 (2).jpg
20200116_090131.jpg
 
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Nrk.cdn

Nrk.cdn

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
My setup, right now using 5 ports or the 8 port manifold for my vertical grow.

I have removed the hardware from the rez and installed them on a separate stand so I could add a lid to the rez.
View attachment 4461166

I have removed the cut off valves as I do not get any syphoning from the rez.

View attachment 4461165

I run these up too 16 plants, thinking I could do 24 in a SOG but when I ran that before I had to go to drip emitters as I ran out of volume. With this new pump at 3 gallon/minute I think I would have plenty of volume.

The with fitting inline is a quick disconnect so I can move the plants from the tent to work on them.View attachment 4461164

View attachment 4461175

Here is a pic of my current grow.
View attachment 4461176View attachment 4461177View attachment 4461183View attachment 4461180View attachment 4461181
View attachment 4461183
View attachment 4461190
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What kind of disconnects are those attached to the orange hose? Also..orange hose..PE 1/4 inch tubing? Pex tubing? Vinyl?

Plants look super btw..
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
Thanks Bud, I will be updating this journal later tonight or in the morning. Those are 1/4" quick disconnects, on 1/4" red rubber hose. Got both when I was trying to run Blumats, that sucked, but the QD I can remove the plants from the tent as needed,
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
EDit
See my journal @
Couple of pics from my Vertical coco, DTW

Couple of pics from my Vertical coco, DTW

Update: Day 14 of 12/12 Everything is looking good, the stretch is continuing, did a bit of LST and Super Cropping today. Removed some of the fans, removed the nets and refastened the plants to the screen. After reinstalling the nets, moved the branches around to begin filling the nets. I...
www.rollitup.org
 
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gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
Ayahuasca Purple #1
20200122_100838 (2).jpg20200122_153410 (2).jpg

Group shot.
20200122_153217 (3).jpg

Made up new rez last night, lowered the EC considerably, hope to not have the issues from past grows after major trim of what I believe is causes from losing leaf mass, making the EC to high for the plant.
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Sk-one said:
As far as I can tell, no one make an off the shelf system to automate coco growing. That's why I developed this: A system that will feed the exact amount of nutrient solution required to maintain the runoff amount that you set it to. It uses digital scales to weigh the runoff, and if the amount collected is below the setpoint, on the next fertigation cycle the controller increases the amount of nutrient solution delivered by 10%. This keeps happening until the runoff setpoint is achieved. My website is www.growtekusa.com. I'm just a single person business trying to make it so I would really appreciate any support! ThanksView attachment 4981550
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Have you considered becoming an advertiser on RIU? @sunni can help.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Sk-one said:
As far as I can tell, no one make an off the shelf system to automate coco growing. That's why I developed this: A system that will feed the exact amount of nutrient solution required to maintain the runoff amount that you set it to. It uses digital scales to weigh the runoff, and if the amount collected is below the setpoint, on the next fertigation cycle the controller increases the amount of nutrient solution delivered by 10%. This keeps happening until the runoff setpoint is achieved. My website is www.growtekusa.com. I'm just a single person business trying to make it so I would really appreciate any support! ThanksView attachment 4981550
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That's pretty cool. A bit expensive, but I understand why. Did you do the programming yourself, or hire out to someone? Also how much are additional scales? I know that one of the dudes on the GML show uses scales, and he would prolly be super interested in your rig.
 
Sk-one

Sk-one

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
That's pretty cool. A bit expensive, but I understand why. Did you do the programming yourself, or hire out to someone? Also how much are additional scales? I know that one of the dudes on the GML show uses scales, and he would prolly be super interested in your rig.
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Yeah, I did all the programming. One other thing I didn't mention that it does is automatically drain the drip trays once a day. It wouldn't really make sense to sell the scales separately because they integrate with the controller and are meant to work together. Yeah, it is expensive. But if you start piecing together your own system, it adds up as well. What is GML? Thanks for your response :)
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Sk-one said:
Yeah, I did all the programming. One other thing I didn't mention that it does is automatically drain the drip trays once a day. It wouldn't really make sense to sell the scales separately because they integrate with the controller and are meant to work together. Yeah, it is expensive. But if you start piecing together your own system, it adds up as well. What is GML? Thanks for your response :)
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GML is the Grand Master Level show on Friday evenings on YouTube. He's a rep for Horticulture Lighting Group and has a panel every week. Here's a link to his YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDY8sQMuA9Hfx_5w-8J4afg

Did you do all the programming in Python? I'm just learning that myself, and hoping to learn how to program some of my own environmental controls in the future. I like what you've done. Where do the drip trays drain to? I like that idea, because I can only go a few days without shop-vaccing out my drip trays these days.
 
Sk-one

Sk-one

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
GML is the Grand Master Level show on Friday evenings on YouTube. He's a rep for Horticulture Lighting Group and has a panel every week. Here's a link to his YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDY8sQMuA9Hfx_5w-8J4afg

Did you do all the programming in Python? I'm just learning that myself, and hoping to learn how to program some of my own environmental controls in the future. I like what you've done. Where do the drip trays drain to? I like that idea, because I can only go a few days without shop-vaccing out my drip trays these days.
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The programming is in C++. Python probably would be a better choice but I just go with what I know :) The waste solution can be pumped to where ever you want. I just route the tubing from the drain pumps to a jug that is outside my tent. Thanks for the info about Grand Master Level show...I'll check it out
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Sk-one said:
The programming is in C++. Python probably would be a better choice but I just go with what I know :) The waste solution can be pumped to where ever you want. I just route the tubing from the drain pumps to a jug that is outside my tent. Thanks for the info about Grand Master Level show...I'll check it out
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Cool. I found the GML panelist who uses scales:

http://instagr.am/p/BxlDlqVhGZY/
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Personally I've been using the same automated DTW system in coco for years, with a few modifications over time. It's pretty simple:
2 circulation pumps in a res, plus one feed pump
1/.4" dirip line from the res, with T's from the main line to each plan
4 pressure compensating drip emitters per pot
large tupperware type container below the pot, with a baking rack on top of the container to suspend the pot and catch runoff
runoff gets manually sucked out by shop vac every couple/few days.

IMG_20210612_110738913 (1).jpg

IMG_20210315_185622734_2.jpg
 
ComputerSaysNo

ComputerSaysNo

Well-Known Member
cocodreams said:
Does anyone have a good automatic watering system that they like?
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I can only recommend the AutoPot. I suggest you give it a try, the system is expandable so you can easily scale up if you like it.
There are two different sizes of plastic pots (2 gal and 4 gal) and now there is also a version with large fabric pots (5 gal).

NB this is not drain to waste. It's wick-style watering from below.
 
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