Hey all… always been a Roots Organic Grower, recently switched to autopots and growpito.
I need monitors, ph/ec/temp would be nice. I like the Bluelab Guardian, but it’s pricey and I would need two for dual reservoirs.
Anyone point me in the direction of something similar or perhaps a monitor that can do dual reservoirs?
New to this “hydro” stuff and struggling a bit… having data at a glance would sure save me some time.
No need to monitor Rez constantly
You only need to ph and ppm befor you feed , simple pens will do
But a good make of course , blue lab , Athena or alphera I think they called , millwalkie also
Havin a bad spelling day lol
It’s not laziness, I have ec and ph pens… it’s my old ass with a bad back that’s got me thinking of saving a step. I do get the cost vs effort aspect but I figured I’d see what’s out there/$$. Sometimes I don’t mind spending the coin to make it easier on myself.
I remember you being kind enough to steer me to Escobar thread for pointers, I’m about 100 pages in so far.
My problem lies within the autopot setups, and setting proper ph. I learned the hard way about drift and how time/temp can alter. So I’m tiring of the checking daily… with said back.
Using the same feed in nursery pots and growpito with good success by hand feeding. So I’m kinda lost why the autopots differ…
Sounds to me like it’s the auto part that’s doing it as it’s the only difference
Ie delivery of feed and amount , with hand watering you give a big volume at once helping to maintain the ph as it mixes in the pot
Where as with the auto pot , delivery is lots of times but small amount thus not keepin original ph and quickly turnin to old pot ph
I’m just visualising the delivery of both and how it reacts to/with original pot ph
I’m only shooting breeze as I know nothing of auto pots and just assuming due to name
Maybe auto pot is best suited to higher ph mediums ie soil or moreso organic even
I am Mapito flood and drain ( good volume flooding tray )
I check my ppm and ph in rez and adjust
I flick switch and flood tray
I flick switch off and tray drains
Then I come back in 2-3 days and repeat : )
“ Hamme hydros og topic “ is another great thread : )
Is it distance with tubes , Rez you correct ph but in line it stays old ph
Sorry on a wake and bake : )
I was up late last night in Eskobars thread. Reread and up to page 310. I believe I found the issue, and it’s two fold.
I charged the growpito too low at 5.0-5.2ph, and maintaining the res at 5.8.
I have a fellow over at AFN who runs this medium in autupots also…he swore by it and led my decision to go that direction. Between him and the growpito salesman I’m misinterpreting things…
Today I pull the 4gl containers, flush the growpito at 5.6, refill res at 5.6 and turn the res back on. Added a water pump… it’s a bit too large I believe and warmed the water/raised the value to.much.
I’ll get there… thanks for the input. Hope that was clear…
When I give my Mapito a gooood flush flush then flush ( water free here ) I use 5.5 to set it
I then use 5.6 and use the start feeding ppm and flush till what goes in has same ph and ppm as what comes out , then I plant ( ph should be 5.6 comin out and ppm no more than 50ppm shy )
5.8 ph is for when plants start showing flowers ie w2 ( 14 days ) and I also change to flower nutes too then
That’s very close to what my notes say from reading last night. I have a tote with 20 gallons at 5.6 to flush and fill after lights off at 10am.
Turned the res off last night to have dryer containers this am.
Also, found this monitor, cheap. I’m going to order one just for s&g’s…
Next is smaller water pumps for both res that shouldn’t raise temp too much. My reservoirs are 12gl each.
Thanks again @ifish
If your ever flush with cash , give flood and drain a go
I use a couple of the milwaukee brand ph dosers on my reservoirs. They work ok. They only do ph not ec. Make sure you keep the end of the probe that floats in the water cleaned off as it will give false readings when dirty. Always run in conjunction with trusted meter to verify. Iv never been able to calibrate the milwaukee properly with calibration solutions. I just make them read the same as my blue lab combo meter.
Appreciate your feedback on that piece of gear. I don’t need auto dosing, but at a glance monitoring would be awfully convenient to my back…
Eventually…
You bet. It does make it nice to just stick your head in to look instead of pulling out meters couple times a day. Just wanted to stress the importance of a weekly debris removal from probes. The false readings have caught me off guard a couple times. Im all about making the grow easier. Some call it lazy. I call it time management 
I have both a milwuakee pH meter and an EC meter. Just bought the EC meter yesterday since my cheap Amazon one broke but have had the pH meter for about a year now and I love it.
They’re also cheaper than other name brand meters, so there’s that.
