Dtw kit

Cabrone

Cabrone

Well-Known Member
I started in soil years ago. I have been doing ebb and flow buckets with hydroton for the last 5 years. I am thinking of switching to dtw coco.
Most people today say dtw coco gets the best results. I like the ease of a kit rather than guessing what components work best together.
Has anyone had experience with this kit or a similar set up that you like?
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12 Plant Kit • All-in-One HydroLock Indoor Irrigation System

HydroLock Covered Irrigation 12 Plant kit contains everything you need (except long PVC and reservoir) to turn any garden into an automated watering powerhouse. This quick install kit allows the grower to irrigate like a PRO using 3/4 inch PVC in many different configurations and layout...
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What is the best timer to control feed times? I've read that it must go down to the second and have delay times of a couple hours. I have a mechanical short cycle timer but it only has a max off time of 1 hour.1648836021505418023980772306420.jpg
How often should you feed a day? Even if you feed 4,5, or 6 times a day you need a longer delay than 1 hour.
 
Failmore

Failmore

Well-Known Member
I plugged one of those into a normal house hold timer. That way I could water ever 4 hours for a few min or so.

I do not do coco tho. So watering times I got no clue.

You need a wet dry cycle. Most water once or twice as far as I know.
 
GreenhouseGreen

GreenhouseGreen

Well-Known Member
For the DTW, have you looked at Floraflex gear? They have some nice stuff. Their kits don't go past 8 plants, I think. However they have a room builder that sort of builds a custom kit for you.

For the timer, how open are you to a full environmental control system like a Trolmaster Hydro-X or similar? It will definitely cost more than a timer but it's pretty nice to have, in my opinion.
 
Cabrone

Cabrone

Well-Known Member
GreenhouseGreen said:
For the DTW, have you looked at Floraflex gear? They have some nice stuff. Their kits don't go past 8 plants, I think. However they have a room builder that sort of builds a custom kit for you.

For the timer, how open are you to a full environmental control system like a Trolmaster Hydro-X or similar? It will definitely cost more than a timer but it's pretty nice to have, in my opinion.
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I have looked into the floraflex stuff. It looks nice but seems like its over priced. I have heard of troll master controllers but I guess I didn't realize it would even control irrigation pumps. I thought just lights, fans, a/c, etc. I will definitely look into them.
 
GreenhouseGreen

GreenhouseGreen

Well-Known Member
Cabrone said:
I have looked into the floraflex stuff. It looks nice but seems like its over priced. I have heard of troll master controllers but I guess I didn't realize it would even control irrigation pumps. I thought just lights, fans, a/c, etc. I will definitely look into them.
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For Floraflex, they usually have discount codes floating around. When I bought mine, I got like 40% off. For the Trolmaster, there's an option for Programs. Basically anything that can be controlled simply by giving or taking power away can be controlled by that. I have my pumps and veg lights hooked up as programs.
 
Cabrone

Cabrone

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
What's wrong with a regular timer on a drip system? I drip 4x per day in coco.
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I do have digital timers. If I feed 6 plants from 1 manifold, I can run the feed pump for 1-2 minutes at time? Or however long it takes to get a 20% runoff? Seems pretty simple? I feel dumb for not thinking simple. Thanks for the advice.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Cabrone said:
I do have digital timers. If I feed 6 plants from 1 manifold, I can run the feed pump for 1-2 minutes at time? Or however long it takes to get a 20% runoff? Seems pretty simple? I feel dumb for not thinking simple. Thanks for the advice.
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If you put drip emitters on the end, you will be running for more than a 1-2 minutes. I put 4 emitters in each pot, and usually run for around 5 minutes per interval. I just shop-vac out the waste every few days, although I am planning to automate that in the future.

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Cabrone

Cabrone

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
If you put drip emitters on the end, you will be running for more than a 1-2 minutes. I put 4 emitters in each pot, and usually run for around 5 minutes per interval. I just shop-vac out the waste every few days, although I am planning to automate that in the future.

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Would you have a recommendation on a brand of coco or a blend of coco/ perlite that you have found to work well?
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
I would put it together from scratch, for real cheap.

Build some kind of a rolling slanted waterproof table frame (pallet?, steel, trex decking, or 1" PVC pipe/fittings maybe, and use heat gun to bend slight curves you need for proper runoff) that is sturdy enough to overlap corrugated PVC roof panels over the top.

Could drain right into a gutter, just like the roof on a house. Down into a drain, or waste water res with a float switched bottom draw pump leading to another drain.

Use any grow bags/pots you want with regular compressed blocks of coco,, and make a looped manifold of poly tubing going around the plant site areas, with double drip feed lines/stakes for each pot. Can set it right down on the roof panel/s.

Hookup pump/res/timer,etc. Good to go.
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Cabrone said:
Would you have a recommendation on a brand of coco or a blend of coco/ perlite that you have found to work well?
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I'm not too particular about my brand of coco, but I've found Canna Coco to be real good. I generally reuse my coco, so I don't buy it often. I usually just use whatever perlite is readily available, although I have recently started using rice hulls in place of perlite, which work great, and rice hulls contain a lot of silica as well.
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
Nice, I like that one a lot. I was looking at other 12v pumps, but that one is nice with the overflow res included. My plan is to power it with my 12v solar panel system, which I also use for my lung room ventilation and clone lights.
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Make sure to get one with a built in float valve if you plan on just buying a bilge pump. Unless you want to use a timer or setup a float valve.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
1648928944959.png1648930169772.pngThese superior brand utility pumps are decent...




If dead seat on a 12v system though (lots of advantages vs AC), I would probably double up on the bilge pumps. I don't think I could trust just one $20+ pump to keep my boat from sinking, but maybe 2 of them to keep my grow room from flooding... (J/K my entire floor is a giant waterproof bilge, with built in floor drain..)

They do make standalone bilge pump float switches/valves, that are higher quality than the built in parts.. I would have to recommend the best pumps/valves in the marine industry, probably not a cheap all in one auto unit.. At least not until I talk enough people into using them before testing myself, haha.

That compact marine shower bilge looks so handy though, I of course tossed one in my cart for future projects.. It does have overflow just in case? I would otherwise make my own bilge unit with a bigger tub, and put my own bulkheads/screened off area. Larger capacity in case it failed, more than the total volume in the system.

I dunno about you guys but when I ran drain to waste coco, it sure attracted fungus gnats. If I ever did it indoors again, I would make the waste water system impenetrable. Not a single flyer could fit through the micro mesh screening I'd have going around the entire bilge area.
 
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PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Drop That Sound said:
View attachment 5112195View attachment 5112206These superior brand utility pumps are decent...




If dead seat on a 12v system though (lots of advantages vs AC), I would probably double up on the bilge pumps. I don't think I could trust just one $20+ pump to keep my boat from sinking, but maybe 2 of them to keep my grow room from flooding... (J/K my entire floor is a giant waterproof bilge, with built in floor drain..)

They do make standalone bilge pump float switches/valves, that are higher quality than the built in parts.. I would have to recommend the best pumps/valves in the marine industry, probably not a cheap all in one auto unit.. At least not until I talk enough people into using them before testing myself, haha.

That compact marine shower bilge looks so handy though, I of course tossed one in my cart for future projects.. It does have overflow just in case? I would otherwise make my own bilge unit with a bigger tub, and put my own bulkheads/screened off area. Larger capacity in case it failed, more than the total volume in the system.

I dunno about you guys but when I ran drain to waste coco, it sure attracted fungus gnats. If I ever did it indoors again, I would make the waste water system impenetrable. Not a single flyer could fit through the micro mesh screening I'd have going around the entire bilge area.
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Yeah, I was thinking two pumps for redundancy would be best too. No one likes floods. As far as gnats, I haven't had an issue for a while. Last time I did have an issue it was because them came in on some rice hulls, but now I rinse my rice hulls pretty well, and will often sterilize them with H2O2 prior to use, which seems to kill off and gnat larva. I also intermittently use beneficial insects and nematodes which likely keeps the gnats at bay.
 
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