I have the autopots watering system with the 12 gallon reservoir with only 2-4 plants in 3 gallon fabric pots with 50% 50% soil perlite on it and I wanted to run the water through the reservoir often to keep it fresh. I water with only water that has ascrobic acid vitamin c powder in it to remove chloramine. Why do you need to keep the reservoir over 1 third full? If I let it run down to a little above the tube at the bottom of the reservoir then refill the reservoir it would have more fresh water in it. I plan to have the reservoir like 2-3 feet high with around 8 - 10 feet of tube on there.
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Grow Mediums Why do you have to keep the autopots watering system reservoir over 1 third full?
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I just started but have only filled it at most 1/3 lol my res is about 9”-12” abover ground. I haven’t had any issues running 4 2 easy to grow so 8 2.2 gal pots.
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I wanted to run the water through the reservoir often to keep it fresh
The AP system is not designed to perform this task.
The AP system is not designed to perform this task.
I think the instructions explain why you should keep it at least 1/3 full. It's because the res uses gravity to make the water flow. If your res is not raised up as high or higher than your plants and not at least a 1/3rd full, the water could just sit in the res and not flow.
Yeah mine is raised and I haven’t had any issues it’ll drain right down to the filter. I keep a close eye on it and also like it to drain down quite a bit before I refill. Keep it fresh I’m not sure if it matters but it makes me feel better.
Thanks. I plan to have it like 2-3 feet high. Would that make it so I could let it get lower than 1 third full? The increase in height would give it more pressure and it is only running like 8 feet in the tube. I plan to only have a few plants on the autopots and would rather not have the water sit in the reservoir a long time on there.
My res isn’t even a foot higher. So I think that would be plenty
I just finished my first grow with autopots. I had four plants. Used the 12 gal rez. Filled it initially with 9 gallons of water. Throughout the grow these four plants drank enough that I was adding 4 gallons of water a week. so the rez went from 2/3 full to less than 1/3 (Approx) full every week. I didn't ever fill the rez to capacity. I liked this because the nutrients I was adding tended to cause the rez to smell. I'm impressed with the system.
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Welcome to AFN.
So glad to see you have come in for while. This is your place to read and find out most everything about Autos. If you have any pics we would be happy to look them over.Here is a good place to start.
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The "need" to keep the reservoir more than a third full is bs, at least it is as far as valve operation is concerned. As long as the bottom of the reservoir is a foot or so higher than the autovalves, the system will work perfectly until the nute level reaches the outlet to the feed hose. The rate at which the valve will refill pots will slow with lower head, but the rate needed is tiny, so that will not matter at all.
I regularly let my 10 gallon reservoir get nearly empty before bothering to add nutes, and it never failed to properly flood to the expected level in the pots. The bottom of my reservoir was a bit more than a foot above the valves, but that amount of head was still much more than needed to feed three plants through the black ~1/4" tubing.
If you are running multiple plants and using only the ~1/4 black feed tube, you could run into a supply issue but it would be caused by the diameter of the main feed line not nute level, and the problem can be easily fixed by using 1/2" hose until branching off to each autovalve, or just raising the reservoir to increase head. There is no reason to not make use of the all reservoir capacity.
Again, this is relative to function of the valves only - arguments about nute deterioration, plugging, and the like are a separate issue.
Happy autopotting!
I regularly let my 10 gallon reservoir get nearly empty before bothering to add nutes, and it never failed to properly flood to the expected level in the pots. The bottom of my reservoir was a bit more than a foot above the valves, but that amount of head was still much more than needed to feed three plants through the black ~1/4" tubing.
If you are running multiple plants and using only the ~1/4 black feed tube, you could run into a supply issue but it would be caused by the diameter of the main feed line not nute level, and the problem can be easily fixed by using 1/2" hose until branching off to each autovalve, or just raising the reservoir to increase head. There is no reason to not make use of the all reservoir capacity.
Again, this is relative to function of the valves only - arguments about nute deterioration, plugging, and the like are a separate issue.
Happy autopotting!
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