Grow Mediums Aquavalve problem ?

[Shantam]

Hello,

i am a total noob wich started on the 1st July a first grow, you can see my post about it here :
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/1st-grow-girl-scout-cookies-auto.66340/

I have problem with the acquavalve that does not refill with water.. since morning it's empty and what ? is it a normal process for the substract to be completely dry before new feed ? or is it the acquavalve that is blocked... maybe by the nutes ? It's the first time i am using the res and I only fill my res with 15 liter..

My nutes : Advanced Nutrients: pH Perfect Sensi Grow/Boom, Bud Candy, Voodoo Juice, , Rhino Skin, Calmag Xtra

It's been 10 hours now that it's dry.. i thought normally as soon as it's completely dry it will bring new water right ?

on the pics the plant which present more bright leaves is the one where the acquavalve is empty..

 

[lunarman]

Couple of options to unclog. I like to combine both methods.

1. If you have an air pump hook it up to the res end and run air thru the line. Remove the aquavalve from the tray and disconnect it from the line when you do this. See if any gunk comes out.
2. Also put hot tap water in a big syringe and run it thru the line a few times.

And check the aquavalve is not cloggged by just blowing some air thru the input and see if air comes out the pinhole inside the valve.

Your tray should never be dry btw. since it is, you must have a clog or the valve is not seated right.

 

[bushmasterar15]

What @lunarman has said. The aquavalve got plugged. Where the water line that goes into the aquavalve to fill got plugged it's a very small hole and sometimes nutes buildup can block it you can just take a 30ml syringe with warm water and flush, reconnect the res line and turn back on. It should then fill back up. I have a 1/4" shutoff attached to each of the lines right before they enter the tray that way I can shut off the res line to the tray and flush the aquavalve. In the one pic you can see the shutoff coming off between the res line T connector and tray.

 

[Shantam]

Yes you were right it was plugged ! so i disconnected the pipes, put water inside the transparent pipe, and blow inside the black pipe which is connected to the 2 acquavalves, put them back and water came again to the acquavalve.

Problem solved !!! for helping me !

I join the pic a what plugged the pipes, inside the red box there is a little cloud of nutes probably, so i watch my res and cleaned lots of little clouds like the one inside the pipe. I don't know which kind of nutes do this but i'll have to watch this until the end of my grow.

Another option is that i let the top of the res open and that dust came inside. So after cleaning my res i put a paper on it. I will see if the clouds are coming again or if it was just dust..

Thanks again for all the good informations you gave me @lunarman and @bushmasterar15

 

[jdot]

I’m on my first grow with Autopot’s too.....question, did you ever let the res go dry? I’m just curious...that looks like bad buildup. I have been worried about that.........

 

[Shantam]

@jdot : no i never let the res dry.. but i'll have to empty it when the plant will enter the flo stage..i don't think it will cause any problem..

 

[Ivean]

This is why I use biotabs or similar nutes. No build up in the res or tubes as only water goes througj it

 

[bushmasterar15]

I also run House n Garden Drip Clean in my res. nock on wood so far 2 complete grows without any clogged valves.

 

[Shantam]

I also run House n Garden Drip Clean in my res. nock on wood so far 2 complete grows without any clogged valves.
View attachment 938640

I tried to find some drip clean as Hansbricks was using too and i tried to copy maximum of its settings, but it's not available in my country. There is another product but my growshop told me it was no good to put it at the same time you are growing plant, they say i should run it only after the grow just to clean, but it was not drip clean. I think i will order from abroad some drip clean to avoid such situation.

One thing i did not understand from your post @bushmasterar15 it is : "nock on wood" .. translated in french it doesn't give sense... so are you putting the drip clean in the res at the same time with all the nutes ?

 

[bushmasterar15]

I tried to find some drip clean as Hansbricks was using too and i tried to copy maximum of its settings, but it's not available in my country. There is another product but my growshop told me it was no good to put it at the same time you are growing plant, they say i should run it only after the grow just to clean, but it was not drip clean. I think i will order from abroad some drip clean to avoid such situation.

One thing i did not understand from your post @bushmasterar15 it is : "nock on wood" .. translated in french it doesn't give sense... so are you putting the drip clean in the res at the same time with all the nutes ?

(nock on wood) is just another way of saying being safer then sorry. I do add it to my res at the same time along with my other nutes. If you can't find Drip Clean www.amazon.fr/Additif-Nettoyant-plantes-House-Garden/dp/B016MV51U4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1533604454&sr=8-2&keywords=drip+clean another product you might is HydroGuard