Will do, thanks for the invite!
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One other tip, before you fill the container with media, but after you have the hydroton in there, do a liquid test to see how much water/fluid it takes to bring the level to just below the top of the hydroton. That way you have a baseline for how much it takes to take it from empty to full. I like to do this once every time I change bucket sizes for reference.
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In a typical SIP there is a drain hole at that level, just to be safe 
Cheers
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Yep. That’s true. Intentionally don’t do that here to prevent spillages but easy to add if desired. Add a catch tray underneath or so
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Yep. That works fine too. Usually don’t have room for drain lines in SOG when they are packed tightly side by side but many ways to approach this, just sharing what works for me here (simple as possible). Emptying a catch tray in full flower is a pain plus water in open air pushes up the RH and creates a harbour for mould and bacteria. I’ve done it many times that way (including this last run) but prefer this way in SOG.
Not an earthbox or traditional SIP here, this is purely my interpretation based on the same basic principles. It shares some similarities with a hempy, too.
Usually combine the system with an automatic fluid delivery system but that’s too complex to go into here (optical or hall effect sensors on each pot and peristaltic pumps plus microcontroller to keep each pot filled precisely.) I need to build it again.
I might show that at some stage but not now.
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This is a great write up man
Thanks for this. It’s a cool tech
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No problem thanks
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Here is a cheap plug and play option for auto watering these micro sips.
It basically has a combined peristaltic pump and timer and can deliver 400ml/min.
Instead of using the drip tubes, feed lines go into the feed pipes.
I have built my own in the past but this is much more accessible for folks that don’t fancy electronics work.
https://www.amazon.com/RAINPOINT-Automatic-Drip-Irrigation-IK10P/dp/B08Q8JZP6M
My micro SIPs use around 250ml each every 4 days or so, from there we can calculate the timing to keep the them at the desired level.
Say we have nine plants, we need to deliver 2.25 litres every 4 days (9x250ml). At a delivery rate of 400ml/minute we have an estimated on time of 5.6 minutes every 4 days (2250ml/400ml=5.6).
We can break that down into shorter cycles more regularly (5.6/4 = 1.2 mins a day) you get the idea.
Gives a starting point at least for setting it up.
Spec says 10 plants max but I will test it on more since we will not use the drippers so will have much less restriction in the lines and likely can use it on more. Will get one to test and report.
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Pump is on the way, in the mean time here is how to make a manifold so that you can turn on/off flow to each pot:
I use aquarium air manifolds as they are nickel plated and perfect size for drip line.
One three way connector
And some tubing to make this:
Each output can be shut off or opened. Three way connector is the input and we can put valves on the feed lines to each pot to fine tune the flow rate per pot if desired:
Apart from the manifolds, all the other bits come in the kit with the above pump: drip line, T fittings, blue flow control valves (which is handy).
I will make a little wooden board to fix the manifolds to also so we can make it rigid and number the outputs etc.
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Made a backing board for the manifold, to keep things nice and tidy. I used a laser but could be done with a handsaw, Drill and a permanent marker.
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Pump arrived, it works as expected but will take a little dialing in
The manifold really isn’t necessary, everything you need is in the kit and it’s super simple to use. I just like the manifold as it reduced the amount of potential leak points.
The little drip tubes that come in the kit can be used just pop them in the SIP feed tube. The backpressure they provide is actually useful to even out flow to multiple outputs.
This pump would work on a larger sip with single output too, just cycle it more often.
Anyway, that’s enough from me.
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Put together a test setup with the standard kit material from the auto watering system.
Nine Micro SIPs and made lines as recommended in the docs: straight line capped at the end with T fittings along the line that branch off to each feed pot.
Each feed tube has a blue valve to adjust flow rate.
With those valves turned 1.5 turns from closed I measured flow rate to each bucket with a measuring jug (to see that the flow was even to each) gives a starting point to adjust flow up/down using the valves.
With this setup and nine outputs we get a flow rate of around 25ml per minute measured (per SIP)
My target was around 250ml so, this means I need around ten minutes of flow every three/four days or so.
We can sub divide that cycle time any way we would like to or do it all in one 10 min cycle once every 3 or 4 days. Will do a bit more dialing in but since SIP are capillary it will work the same with 200ml or 50ml. I just want to avoid it running too dry.
In short, the manifold isn’t necessary really just spend some time getting to grips with flow rate and pre tweaking before install.
This is where the measurement of fluid per SIP to go from dry to full that we did earlier comes in (250ml for me).
Combined with SIP I would say this has to be the best type of system going, easy, scalable, automated and like octopots or other SIP grows great plants with no fuss
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Amazing systems
Great job
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Cheers paps.
Simple is good 
less shit to fail.
One other positive with peristaltic pumps worth mentioning, doesnt matter a bit if they run dry so that’s one less thing to worry about
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