What valve are you using for automation ?
I’m away from the garden, but I will post that when I get back
For the AutoPot remote control of watering, the heart of this is an Ecowitt WS3910, although you might find another one more suitable. This model can also monitor CO2 with another sensor.
I have an Ecowitt moisture sensor in each pot to monitor moisture level with the WS3910. From there, I can either use the IoT function in the Ecowitt to operate the solenoid valve with their AC1100 Smart Plug, or I can operate the solenoid valve with the AC Infinity 69 Pro controller, which controls other functions in my tent.
The solenoid valve is a US Solid USS-MSV00052 ball valve, normally closed 2-wire auto return. It opens on a signal from one of the controllers above, and will close when the signal is removed or with power loss. The connection is 1/4 female NPT so I need 1/4 male NPT to 1/4 barb connectors. This unit is 120v AC, but there are other options. This solenoid will be in the outlet of the AutoPot reservoir. The 120v power to this runs into a small control enclosure, in which I will have the terminal block, fusing and an LED showing activation. The 120 v supply feeds the Smart Plug and from there goes to the control box.
I have all the pieces but I have not built this yet.
Note that the solenoid is not automatically opened, but needs the operator (me) to turn it on.
It may seem expensive, but it’s worth it to me to have better control, in this case with the BIO 365 soil.
If you are using other freely draining grow medium, this is likely not necessary
If anyone has constructive thoughts, I am listening
Controller: Amazon.com
Moisture sensor(s): Amazon.com
Solenoid valve: Amazon.com
Fuse holder: Amazon.com
LED: Anything will do, but I found this one: Amazon.com
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I love both automation and autopots and that is a great idea, however it completely misses the purpose of autopot, that is no electricity required.
I feel you with the overwatering, there is a trick for that, the guys from autopot mentioned it quite a lot and is to bulk up your mix with more perlite/ vermiculite.
Personally I go 50 50 no matter if the base soil comes already with perlite mixed in.
For the 8.5 litters that I have been using lately,4L each and a little clay pebbles at the bottom (about 2 fingers) and some space at the top for hand watering during the first couple of weeks.
Trust me it does wonders, Works in coco too.
Pakore, that is exactly the direction I am taking, 50/50. I want to leave the AP on and feel confident leaving it alone. I really want the remote control as a backup, because that’s the type of nerd I am.
Thanks for the input.
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Im running 100% perlite in my autopots this run and dont ever see myself going back to anything else. Not seeing any of the overwatering issues i preciously was when i first started using them.
Edit. Actually its like 95% perlite. I started my plants out in coco loco in solo cups and transferred into straight perlite. Its been working awesome.
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Yep, i am also consider myself a bit control freak when it comes to growing.
Definitely I’ll keep an eye on your progress 
That is dope!
Let me dig more in to your ways and I see how do I apply it.
Did you find algae issues, like the top bit turning green with all the humidity?
Cheers
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There is some slight algae build up on top, but nothing majorly concerning. I might end up buying a bunch of the square toot control discs to put ontop the perlite to help with this issue while still allowing breathabilty.
It’ll be two weeks tomorrow since i transplanted into the 2 gallon autopots using straight, pre washed perlite. Heres the difference from 2 weeks ago. Noticed some pretty bad calmag def on my gmo so i upped my feed for this rez change.
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I take it you haven’t finished any in perlite and autopots? I will be VERY curious how your roots look. Did you stack the bottoms with anything? What size perlite did you use?
I’ve used autopots for awhile and I’m hit or miss on root development.
The autopot nerds always say it has a “dry” period. Well, just about every medium we use wicks like a mofo. So it never actually has a “dry back” and the bottoms are sooooo soggy.
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Ive been using autopots for about a year now and all of my runs have been in coco loco ammended with perlite. I run the airbases in all my pots. My first run with them, my roots really struggled the first round. Flower turned out ok, but plants had no rigidity to them. Real floppy, stretchy, and couldnt hold the weight of the buds. I attribute a lot of that to shitty, weak, roots. My last run i added about 2 inches of perlite optop of the airbases before mixing in my medium. Plants and rooted looked better, but still not impressive. With this system and the way plants are constantly wicking up water, your medium needs max aeration and i figure the only way to get that is to remove the coco loco and try straight perlite. I can already tell my plants are growing better and stronger. Root system seems to be developing much stronger and faster. One of my buddys used to grow plants in hempy pots using straight perlite and always had great results so i dont see why it wouldn’t work in this system.
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My only concern this run is im still using canna coco, which is a nutrient base specifically for running plants in coco so hopefully I dont run into any issues being “cocoless”. Im also adding 5ml per gal of silica blast to my rez.
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