Do it yourself MicroOctopot Auto Fill System

[GrouchyOldMan]

@MNGrower

what’s the consensus on aerating the rez?

Consensus on Octo aerating is pretty clear: No one seems to have had good results adding additional aeration to the Octo reservoirs.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t some way it would work, but the results are pretty good without it.

I’m betting that the Octo roots get plenty of air via the air gap built into the geometry of the pots. I’m not the only one who has noticed that the plants seem to really like it when I let the reservoir run down to nearly empty before refilling. As though the variation in air exposure is beneficial, kinda like waiting for your soil to be nice and dry before watering heavily.

[MNGrower]

10-4 I will go by the communities suggestion

[SaintAliasKnife]

tried different setting. all it did for me was change the length of time on the spike. ph still rose. I’ve seen ppl run small airstones in the 6g octos with monstruous success. but as the saying goes, it’s not the sword, its the hand so…

personally, I dont think it need air. I do have a mixing pump in the main rez that stirs the waters once a day for 5 min.

[GrouchyOldMan]

@SaintAliasKnife

I do have a mixing pump in the main rez that stirs the waters once a day for 5 min

That is a prudent upgrade @SaintAliasKnife.

What is that chem you found to kill algae in the main rez? Aquarium product?

[SaintAliasKnife]

a pinch of the below in a 10gall when I smell anything or sides of the rez do not squeek on drag of finger. I use it sparingly. I noticed an increase in sludge in my tubes when used regularly. PIA to clean. damn near replaced them.

Amazon.com: API POND-ZYME SLUDGE DESTROYER Pond Cleaner With Natural Pond...

[GrouchyOldMan]

OctoBuggery!
[I posted a version of this elsewhere, but I think it might be of interest to this crew…]

I had a plant recently that was ailing in a way I’ve never seen before. On closer inspection, I realized that the tiny white flecks floating on the surface of my octopup reservoir wasn’t actually perlite dust when I saw them swimming about happily!

This lovely Gorilla Grove plant, newly in flower…

…was being menaced by these creepy octo bugs. I noticed them first scattered across the water surface in the micro octopot reservoir.

Then they multiplied and began forming into clusters. This behavior seems intentional, if you scatter a cluster, they’ll begin randomly twitching about until they find a friend and one by one, reassemble. Unwelcome guests in my octopuppies!

They are very hard to photograph, but these show some structure. I think they are bright white, about 1 millimeter in length.

The OG Pest Wizards promptly identified the little buggers as Springtails, a common but fairly innocuous critter commonly found in aquariums where they feast on algae. They aren’t particularly harmful, but I didn’t want them around.

Before a complete refresh of the reservoir, I dosed them with Hydrogen peroxide, and Hydrochlorous Acid. Those both seem to kill the adults but not the eggs.

I also purchased a submersible UV sanitizer light to keep them from coming back.

This widget is intended for aquariums for sanitizing the water as it flows into the circulation pump. It produces 15 watts of UVC which is enough to kill or deactivate organics that get anywhere near it. I can verify that it kills SpringTails with extreme prejudice, and it has also kept the walls of my main reservoir from getting slimey.

It has a convenient timer that allows you to choose how many hours the light should shine each day. The lowest setting is three hours and that’s what I’ve been using. The light is waterproof and stays in the reservoir permanently.

Seems to work so far, $20 on the AmZone!
-Grouchy

[BU2B]

Very interesting topic! Great info
Thank you

[GrouchyOldMan]

Greetings Old Friend!
Glad you enjoyed the read, you provided loads of background knowledge that I make use of daily!

[Gpaw]

Good post!
l was wondering if there was something along those lines.

Cheers
G

[SaintAliasKnife]

springtaills? they’re hamless but creepy. peroxide cleared them for me. 3ml/gallon

I like that light tho.

[MNGrower]

@GrouchyOldMan I think I got these in one of my single Rez now. I’m wondering if they came from my pro-mix bx soil

But there aren’t many in mine.

Question is @SaintAliasKnife ypur 3ml/gallon is that with the plant in the Rez and nutrients? Or a cleaning? Cause I think they will still be on roots and in the net cup etc.

[SaintAliasKnife]

I added 3ml/gall of 37% peroxide in the main rez. no point in individual.

[MNGrower]

Ok so autofill is underway.
Testing is complete and connections tested

Gonna move it to the room tomorrow. Got a few things to do yet. With running the line from Rez through controller

[GrouchyOldMan]

Picture Fing Perfect execution @MNGrower!!!*

Isn’t it fun to play with it in Test Mode? Plant #3 just drank a gallon, how long does it take to completely equalize? How many days can you get out of that big Rez?

Plenty I reckon, but you’ll soon know. Nerdie fun, like a really cool science fair project… that grows elite WEED!

You are gonna have some fun with this Brother! I hope you’ll share some of it here.

-Grouchy
PS, one tip, I’d stick with non-organic salts for your nutes on the first few runs. KISS.

[MNGrower]

Yeah man it is gonna be awesome and as for nutes I’m using gh flora series for these.

Can’t wait till I get this in the flower room

Then time to make up another one for the veg tent

Edit:
I did do the block up method for the controller. I do wonder if a bigger controller would give a bit more pressure to the flow though

[GrouchyOldMan]

@MNGrower

I do wonder if a bigger controller would give a bit more pressure to the flow though

That, is a very good question @MNGrower,
Short answer is that the Controller size won’t help much.

But you may be looking in the wrong place for the limiting factor.

In the end, the capacity of these little 3mm tubes to deliver up to a gallon day to about eight big plants is about the limit.

The original genius behind Octos is @OctoChris, and the reason they are called Octopots is because he envisioned his original OctoPots to serve eight plant networks in a commercial veggie environment,

My own experience was that my ten-gallon main reservoir was capable of providing 13 days of healthy growing for six large and thirsty Canna without anybody complaining.

Somewhere up above in this thread, I think I ran some math on the flow volume, but I reckon this system is capable of handling 6-8 Monster octos as long as the main rez lasts. I bet it could do a month with a mega Reservoir, if conditions were optimized.
-Grouchy

[Smooth]

So the gravity feed supplies enough PSI to function the float valve.

[GrouchyOldMan]

@Smooth

Hi @Smooth,

So the gravity feed supplies enough PSI to function the float valve.

Well the Main reservoir is typically above the controller and the octos. That provides plenty of pressure to operate the float valve. But the regulated water level is below the float valve in the feed to the octopups and they are all at the same very low flow hydraulic head pressure level.

It’s slow but water seeks its own level every time.

Make sense?

[Smooth]

Yup. I just didnt think there would be enough hydrostatic pressure to activate float valve. Interesting.

[MNGrower]

Update:
I’ve moved the system to the flower room and am testing for leaks and capacity

I’m gonna have to upload the videos to YouTube or something and then post them here!
Stay tuned

Here is the video link so you can check it out.
Octopup System with auto fill - Flower Room

Thanks @GrouchyOldMan and everyone for your help.

At lowest level here are pics of the pots basically just touching the net pot. And I will adjust up with either a 3/4” or 1.5” board