A Simple AutoFill System for Octopots
Greetings OctoPoddlers,
I just cobbled together an Octopot auto fill system that seems to work perfectly and cost under $20 total.
In the picture below, the little red container is pretending to be an Octopot. The white bin is the Controller and the grey tub on the left is a ten gallon reservoir.
When the Reservoir is full, and the two blue-handle valves below it are open, the Controller bin will fill until the floater check-valve rises up and shuts off the flow.
The water level is adjusted by the float valve and currently set for the height of water in a “Full” 1 gallon micro octopot container (about 3.5"). The magic trick here is that if the Controller is set on the same level (floor/table/rack, etc.) as the Octopot, this setup will maintain the same water level in the Control Unit and as many Octopots as are connected to it.
As the plant drinks and draws down the red octopot, water from the Controller will refill it. Once the water level in the Controller itself drops, the float valve will open and the reservoir will flow until everything below is back up to full up again. As long as the Reservoir has water, all the attached octopots will stay full.
The tubing and fittings all snap together easily. You only need to drill a 5/8" hole to install the float valve and bulkhead fittings and you’re done.
Please let me know if I’ve completely missed something obvious, but I think I’m going to convert my entire six-octopup system to autofill as soon as this grow is done. Cool thing: If you decide not to use the Autofill for a grow, just turn off the two valves and disconnect the tubes.
Simple, cheap and nerdly fun to play with.
Any questions, comments welcome. Or if you’d like a component list let me know. The AmaZone has everything needed.
Cheers,
-Grouchy
PS, Hat Tip to @Nagel420 for his plumbing tips!