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- #21
Skybound
Well-Known Member
My concern for crud is the slimy stuff that sticks to the plastic walls of the res when I empty it after a week or so. I usually drag out the tote after it's emptied and take it to the bathroom and give it a good once over washing with chlorinated city water. But because I want to to fully automate the grow, this might lead to other problems if I am unable to clean the tote after a few weeks, though I don't quite know how that will play out.
Regarding using an inline pump that plumbs into the tote at the lowest point, would the pump be able to hold the water back when not energized? I know the little ActiveAqua pumps do not hold anything back and water can be pumped right through one of them. I also considered using a valve, but that brings me back to a current subject that I have been banging my head against the wall for a little more than a year with, finding a 2 way plastic valve that can be controlled with a micro-controller. There are a lot of little solenoid valves on the market, but most are only one way flow, and all require a minimum of 3 psi water pressure which my little pumps, nor the static weight of 10-15 gallons of water are capable of producing. I could use a plain jane PVC valve, but that puts me in the same spot I'm in now, that is needing to be at the grow to do the res change.
A little back ground. I am as blue collar as you will find, and have spent years working physically tough jobs. Well, at 41 years old, all of that is catching up to me and I find my body is hurting everywhere all the time. That said, the rigors of managing a stealth grow can be very tedious, this I learned in my last journal. Near the end of that journal, I stumbled onto the idea of pluming all the water in and out of the grow which made life a lot easier, but running back and forth opening certain valves and closing certain other valves wasn't so easy either. Not to mention that none of my equipment worked together well. RH sky rocketed at night time and temps plummeted, and not being an avid weather watcher, my grow suffered due to my ignorance. All of these reasons and more lead me to seek full automation. So I jumped into that to keep me busy (back after I shut down my last grow) till I can find a new place to grow. I already succeeded in building what I envisioned, and am extremely close to working that into the grow.
For your DTW system, is the just water into soil, or nutes into soilless media? Also, do you have a pic of that manifold you speak of?
Regarding using an inline pump that plumbs into the tote at the lowest point, would the pump be able to hold the water back when not energized? I know the little ActiveAqua pumps do not hold anything back and water can be pumped right through one of them. I also considered using a valve, but that brings me back to a current subject that I have been banging my head against the wall for a little more than a year with, finding a 2 way plastic valve that can be controlled with a micro-controller. There are a lot of little solenoid valves on the market, but most are only one way flow, and all require a minimum of 3 psi water pressure which my little pumps, nor the static weight of 10-15 gallons of water are capable of producing. I could use a plain jane PVC valve, but that puts me in the same spot I'm in now, that is needing to be at the grow to do the res change.
A little back ground. I am as blue collar as you will find, and have spent years working physically tough jobs. Well, at 41 years old, all of that is catching up to me and I find my body is hurting everywhere all the time. That said, the rigors of managing a stealth grow can be very tedious, this I learned in my last journal. Near the end of that journal, I stumbled onto the idea of pluming all the water in and out of the grow which made life a lot easier, but running back and forth opening certain valves and closing certain other valves wasn't so easy either. Not to mention that none of my equipment worked together well. RH sky rocketed at night time and temps plummeted, and not being an avid weather watcher, my grow suffered due to my ignorance. All of these reasons and more lead me to seek full automation. So I jumped into that to keep me busy (back after I shut down my last grow) till I can find a new place to grow. I already succeeded in building what I envisioned, and am extremely close to working that into the grow.
For your DTW system, is the just water into soil, or nutes into soilless media? Also, do you have a pic of that manifold you speak of?