Hey!
Sorry, just uploaded the pics in the original post.
Yeah the system has been on since morning and the water in all the pots is at the same level, more or less.
I’ve used a 1/2 inch pipe as mainline and have 1/4invh feeder lines to the pots
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It could just be slow, put a ruler or something in the pot and see if the level rises in a few hours. The water level in all the pots should rise together
It looks like you are lifting a wet netcup (?) Out of the pot, that would lower the level…
How bout a pic of the whole system so we can see the plumbing?
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Okay, I get the picture now. Lol,
Your setup looks fine and I’m betting that it is working correctly. I didn’t realize that you already have thirsty plants pulling water at the same time your controller is delivering it. Right now, each pot is pulling water up to saturate the lower part of your soil in addition to feeding the plant. Until things stabilize for a few days you can’t really compare the level in each pot.
I don’t see a way for you to know the water level in you pots without removing the lid and the pot to look. That by itself will lower the level in the pot. Have you considered making some kind of float level indicator so you can see the level without disturbing the pot? The Octos come with a little bobber & stick widget that comes in really handy.
Let it settle down overnight and see how it looks.
Good Goin @kevinmalone!
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Thanks!
I’ve just learnt so much from you!
Thank you for making it easy for all of us.
I have switched off the system for tonight because I found some leaks at a couple of pots
I’ll be getting a silicon tube tomorrow to seal them up and then switch the system back up.
Thanks a lot for making it so easy for all of us once again!
The RO fittings are a real life saver 
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Greetings OctoPoddlers,
I’m getting the room set up for a Fall grow using the autofiller and I thought I’d drop a few pics and notes. The system has been off duty for a few months so we’re starting from scratch with new plumbing connections, leak checks etc.
Here’s the general layout.
The main rez is the grey box on the left, it holds about ten gallons, enough to give me about a week off duty with a room full of plants during heavy veg. For startup, I added two gallons of fresh water and tilted it up to build up a little extra pressure.
Two gallons is enough to fully charge the controller and fill one octopot. The green bag Octo in the middle is our test pilot. The other pots are positioned about where I want them and tubing runs are in the vicinity of the pot they will feed. The tubes are extra long because each pot is on top of a “Lazy Susan” turntable. Spinning them will give me easy access to each plant as they grow.
All the valves in the system are turned off to start. After checking for leaks at the main reservoir, I turned on the first valve and water streams into the empty controller box.
That part goes pretty fast because the Rez is a couple feet higher than the controller. The controller is sitting on two boards to set the water level at the high point in the mini octopots.
Once the controller is full, the float valve stops the flow and after leak checks the exit valve at the controller is opened and water flows to the manifold.
I pulled the black endcap off the manifold to check the flow rate at the manifold, then opened the valve for the black tubing heading for our test octopot. I spotted and fixed a leak at the octopot valve, then opened it up and watched as the flow began to dribble into the dry pot. Dribble may be an exaggeration, with two inches of hydraulic head it is super slow, but that is just how it works. As long as that languid flow is faster than your plant is drinking, all is well.
This part is so slow that it’s painful to watch, so I fired up a bowl of @Floyd’s wonderful Gorilla Grove bud and called it a day.
The next morning I found the Octopot full up with no leaks, ready for service. Hard to tell in the pic, but the netcup and clay pellets are wet about half way up.
This pot is ready for action. The cup in the middle is currently empty, a placeholder for a Turbo-transplant (hat tip to @Jetdro!).
Sometime next week, one of Frankenstein’s Daughters will abandon her current dixie cup condo for an exciting new life filling that placeholder spot. The soil below will already be damp and the netpot/reservoir will only be two inches or so below. I predict the hungry roots will find their way to the water in less than a week. Once the seedling is settled, I’ll add more soil up to the brim of the fabric.
By early December, this pot will be full of weed, this room will be full of weed and I’ll be checking trichs several times per day in anticipation of a nice harvest.
-Grouchy 
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It seems like this would not be suitable for a 5 gallon or bigger pot. Looks like the max is about 3 gallons?
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Good question @Greenup,
The three Gal pots are 10” Diam and they could be as tall as you wanted.
Not sure what you’d gain other than more dry inches of soil at the top. Longer trip for roots to hit water?
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I keep thinking I could go water only but no way to do a 7.5 gallon on these 
Have to build one. CrunchBerries thread has one design. These minis are more my size though 
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I am asking about the pot size because i have tried 3, 4 and 5 gallon on 4 different wicking systems:
- AC infiinity self water - with a 4 pack it worked out to $15 a plant so i talked myself into it.
- Lylee Self Water - 4 for $30
- GroBuckets - 10 pack for $100 on sale. These don’t require a fabric pot but you supply your own bucket. But I have an infinite supply of food grade buckets from my buddies restaurants. These are great for outdoor plants. I have a couple cannabis, Raspberries in one, a couple brussel sprouts and a ground cherry. All have done very well. I haven’t used indoors yet. the down side is it takes up a lot of vertical space but its water vessel and pot in one.
- Made my own grobucket style using two 5 gallon buckets, string, a bottle, pvc, and a drill.
They all work so freaking great I can’t believe it. Only the AC infinity one is wide enough for a 5+ gallon pot. At least the pots I have tried. I have used fabic pots sitting on wicks as well as plastic pots with wicks ran through the bottom. All are so good. However, they can be a pain to fill because the pots cover the whole thing. Even with the AC ones that have extra room, I am still spilling water filling them up. And I just want to build an auto fill system into the mix for fun. These brown cube ones you are getting on amazon were first recommended to me by @Rhino_buddy 3 years ago but they are often sold out so I grabbed the white round ones that are often in the same listing on amazon. I just use them with my own wicks rather than use the net baskets they provide. Then I just sit a fabric pot on top and i can’t believe it works so well. Seems like about any container that can hold water and support the weight of a pot will work with the wicking system. Only thing is you can’t have a super deep rez with the string method because there is a maximum height that the water will suck up through the string. So shallow and wide and filled from a bigger reservoir automatically sounds awesome. I suppose with a system where you have a soil/media filled net basket, maybe this isn’t an issue.
Thank for posting this write up on the autofill system @GrouchyOldMan you really got me thinking about this and now I must use this knowledge to build something of my own. I love that it is so cheap and uses no power. Far better than the over-engineered system I have been working on. I am on the lookout for sturdy square-ish tough totes in small sizes to just build my own to my exact specs.
In the photos I am showing 4 gallon fabric pots on top of the white ones from amazon.
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That is a helpful comment @Greenup, thanks for adding it.
You have explored the corners of the Octo-method with wicks etc. The fascinating thing is that all of those, including Octo™ and microOctos and every other DIY experiment all seem to work pretty damned well.
Our dowdy brown gallon Micro Octos are ten bucks each on the AmaZone today and I guarantee they work PDW. They even have optional little support pillars that could easily hold the weight of a five gallon pot, as long as it was only ten inches across.
-Grouchy
PS, there was something, some feature or absence, I sort of despised about the AC Infinity auto pots… can’t remember what. Did they work great for you?
Anyways, pls keep sharing your experiments. If you build an autofiller post it here!
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The AC infinity ones work great. The little float gauge is garbage and I have removed them from all my units and i use the that hole to fill them. That is only gripe, they are hard to fill without making a mess unless you remove the plant (most of these systems if you dont have an external res). Aint no one got time for that and some of my plants are massive or held up with yoyos. I have used each of 4 at least 4 times and they are as good as new. I got a bundle of the wicking rope on amazon for like $6 so i almost always use a new one since the roots tend to grow inside the rope! I would say for the money they cost they are fantastic. But I am cheap and I like to try as much as I can. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. The only one I have used that uses the soil as a wick is the grobuckets and I do like those. the 10 pack was to share with a friend but i liked them so i kept them all.
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Last set I bought they had done away with the supports. They’re making them cheaper now. They don’t need the extra plastic anyway. Gonna order a couple more soon. We’ll see what shows up.
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@GrouchyOldMan I’m putting together my system and have a couple questions for you 
- What is the measurement for your bulkhead for the octo inlet
- What is the measurement for the float bulkhead
- What is the measurement for your controller outlet (assuming this can be as close to the bottom as possible.
- Where did ya get that fancy manifold
All of these are to the center 
I’m getting the same type of bulkheads you are showing. Also I will be doing the board method like you are showing. And what is the lowest level you have your controller set to?
Thanks for all your work!
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Hi @MNGrower,
I’m glad to help, but a little unclear as to exactly what you are asking. Do you mean where the bulkheads and float valve should be positioned on the Rez and Controller?
In general I’d put the bulkheads as low as possible on your pots and the controller. That means creating the hole for the bulkhead so that the entire washer sits on the flat surface of the basin allowing a perfect water tight seal. I’ve also begun using a silicone sealer on both the interior and exterior sides of the bulkhead hole.
The float valve in the Controller is a little trickier because it can be adjusted within a narrow range. The goal is to be able to set the float valve so that it turns off when the water level is just high enough to touch the bottom of the net pots in your octos. The boards can raise the water level from that baseline.
I provided some details on that in this post above including a pic with a ruler showing the controller water levels:
Regarding the Controller, the coolest box I’ve seen used was by @SaintAliasKnife, who bought an ammo box that works perfectly and is completely lightproof. The most likely place for the system to clog up with gunk is the float valve, so keeping algae etc. outta there is important.
This manifold is for aerating aquariums, many to choose from:
Best wishes for your success with this!
-Grouchy
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Thanks buddy and yeah you hit what I was looking for an answer. And yeah the tricky part is the controller. I wanted to do it so that if there was no board, it would be at the bottom of the net pots at least for when ya first begin so that the roots have something to get to. And then when I want to have it higher I just use the board.
It will be a bit tricky as all the stuff I will have will be outside the tent so no light gets to it. And yeah a non transparent box is what I’m gonna look for for the controller.
Thanks again for the info 
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By the way if anyone is wondering they have those plastic ammonia boxes at Walmart for like $6 
Just picked one up
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Public Service Announcement
Greetings All,
Our conversation with @MNGrower reminded me that one of the component parts that I recommended above turns out to be a bad choice for our project.
The soft and shiny black 1/4" tubing I used and pictured above is problematic and should be avoided, and or replaced.
The problem is that the softer texture of the black shiny tubing tends to deform once you set it into the fittings we are using for everything. I think you can see it at the bottom of that pic. If you reuse it it may leak. They seem to be ok if you just cut half an inch off the tubing then reinsert, but I no longer trust them.
The right tubing to use is clearly different stuff. It is harder and less malleable. Comes in blue, white, green, usually labelled for R/O water systems. I also noticed that removing this type from our fittings did not deform it.
On other fronts, I’m enjoying my current grow, five beauties including Gorilla Grove @Floyd, & OGKush @Gpaw: OctoPoddling along…
Happy growing,
-Grouchy
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Ok so I’m using GH Flora Series 3 part with Calmag and liquid kool bloom…
what’s the consensus on aerating the rez?
In veg I’m thinking it is more necessary as I feel like your rez won’t drain as fast, however I think adding some air to the rez is a good idea to keep it moving and fresh with oxygen
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looking great @GrouchyOldMan . I’m watching my seedlings waiting for them to get ready to transplant.
@MNGrower , I do not. last I did my ph spiked.
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