I have the 20 gallon Texas controller and like 6 of the waterfarms still. Purchased 2001. Still use it lately for feeding a newer rdwc system. May adapt it for my grobuckets now. Five quarts at least every 48 hrs. And they’re not even flowering yet.
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Seems like it could work. Not a bad idea!
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Ok cool I’m glad I didn’t lose track of how it works! I haven’t run an Autopot yet myself but I’ve been following the DIY threads a lot because those are my favorite three letters
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@JOHN1234 is right that a solenoid float valve should be pretty easy to hook up, you could also use a manual filler like this
Funny, I just read this today trying to solve my yellow leaves. Apparently brass should not be used.
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Ok, I think I now understand your want. A continuous level from the res?
In that case, you can use this for a continuous analog output that can be trended.
It’s too big for my control box.
My control box is just 4 inches in height and it won’t work as a standard attachment to anyone’s garden as everyones control boxes would be different.
A weight scale under the control box? Yeah that could be one way. You would have to modify the code to account for the water from the control box that will not empty out since the outlet bulkhead would be a couple of cm’s above the base. So if you fill the system once and then shut the valve you can after say 12 hours find the weight that has to be “tared” in the system to 0. Hope I am making sense 
A manual filler for? I already use a float valve that’s connected to the control box like a standard microOcto system
Um , no, that is being done by the float valve already.
I want a way to stop the flow in the control box as an when I want and then I want to be able to re open the flow via a solenoid valve after the water in the system has been taken in by the plants completely and then a “delay” and then I reflood the system.
So I need a way to tell me when the water in the control box system has been emptied out so I can operate the solenoid valve
Yes, this is exactly what I want to be connected. Now need to figure out a way to operate this automatically so I can reoopen it when the water from the control box system empties out
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its 110v. you can plug it into a smart switch with a loop timer. 8hr close, 16 open.
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Hey @HolyAngel. Appreciate the suggestion. Just did my 2nd complete clean w h2o2 and the clear slime has returned on one set of roots.
As a quick treatment, I used your old suggestion of bleach. .2 ml/gal with my regular feeding. No pool shock on hand.
Do you have any preference for brand or source for calcium hypochlorite? Any issues with PH when adding this? Do you compensate w PH down?
Thanks!
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Ah, I had purchased 500g of some lab grade Calcium Hypochlorite off amazon a couple years back for around $12, but it’s no longer for sale. You can use poolshock in a pinch but for longterm I’d recommend some lab-grade if you can at all find it. Maybe here:
https://www.mercedesscientific.com/buy/product/calcium-hypochlorite/CLENCdbd7c4fee085f373b922b4db697d2b72?ID=/EK-Industries/mfr-B3H
500g will last a looooong time. I think the math was somewhere around 40k-50k gallons 
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Oh I forgot to mention. I haven’t noticed it alter the ph much at all at the concentrations needed to sterilize. 0.5mg/l or 5ppm of free chlorine is what’s used to sterilize water for drinking. We’re generally only hitting 2-3ppm of free chlorine as-is, and going up to 5-6ppm when needed. That’s like 0.0117g of calhypo so very negligible on PH. I DO always need to use PH up tho in general, due to the maxibloom. I rarely need ph down unless there’s a bacterial bloom. In which case, more calhypo 
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Thanks for all the info!
Have a great one! 
Have one more to place in there, and another pot to to fit in. The NL#5 in the bottom right corner has been booming with the auto waterer. Can’t wait to have time to set the other tank up and get it plumbed to the other tent. 
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Thanks to @GrouchyOldMan and everyone else in this thread for throwing down on a great DIY autofill system!
I’ve been wanting to make a move from organic water-only soil growing to hydro/octopot style. I’ve got a set of the big 6 gal octo’s, but I didn’t want to have to limit my plant count down to 4 in my 4x4. I bought a couple sets of those small round mini-octos on amazon and realized their base is so small that an auto-fill is going to be necessary.
I finally got around to making up a system and can’t wait to give it a shot on my next run! I plan on running 9 round mini-octocs in my 4x4. I’m just about finished figuring out my float set point (lowest level), and then my 2 different objects for med and high adjustments to the controller. It’s working a real treat so far, and has been a lot of fun playing the role of micro-plumber.
These round mini-octos are so small that the controller level adjustments are much finer than even the square minis yall are running. I plan on keeping the plants in 2 gal fabric pots, using Promix HP and AN PH Perfect Trio (just cause I had it lying around).
So where is the line for the micro-octopot badge?
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I’m in it! 
Looking awesome man! I haven’t jumped in and bought any of those round ones yet. I wanna get a couple more square sets but they fly off the shelves. @Greenup said he’s trying to source them, so maybe we can have a supply line around Amazon. They don’t seem to exist in the world anywhere else.
This sways me away from them even more considering my basement is quite out of level. I have to be very careful about the control placement because it sets uphill from all my octopups. I didn’t realize it was so sloped until I let the one in the opposite corner fill, and it was full to the opening in the top. So I’ve put some pieces under the lower pots and everything is generally the same height now. It’s been a real fun project and I can’t wait to refine it and set up another tent.
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Nice @Greenup Hopefully you can source them, i look at amazon 4 days a week and alway out of stock, been doing this for the past 40 days, and no LUCK…
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Yeah they don’t have much room for averaging. @Jetdro just finished a run with some of the round minis and didn’t like them because of how often he had to fill them, but I’m hoping the autofill will take care of that.
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Sorry to hear that. I wonder if the Chinese manufacturer has any idea of why these are becoming so popular? LoL
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