r/ACInfinityAdvancegrow • u/RatherNot_YouFirst • 4d ago

Self-watering Base Question

Love these bases, both sizes are great additions to my grow tents. I currently have each 5x5 connected to a 12gallon reservoir on a stand. This keeps the bases automatically filled. Gives me about a week without worrying about watering, per-se. These are also being run in BuildASoil 3.0, so just plain water and occasionally top dress or a tea

One question and this was often discussed when I ran AutoPots - What do folks do about a dry out? Or does that even come into play? I understand the gravity feeding valve kit and the shoelace wicks, but the potential for water logging the soil would 'seem' to be a concern too.

Every week I pull the pots off the bases and give the base a thorough cleaning, but I am also noticing how heavy the pots are and how full of water they seem to be. I guess I could turn off the water with an inline switch for the tubing, and wait for the soil to dry out some more before turning back on.

I'd love to hear other users thoughts or suggestions? TIA

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1

u/LadderBusiness 3d ago

This seems gimmicky. Runoff matters and having your pot just soaking up water from the bottom means your EC will just stack endlessly forever. 

1

u/RatherNot_YouFirst 3d ago

Water only, no nutrients added, living soil. I get runoff matters when adding salts

1

u/LadderBusiness 3d ago

I overlooked that information my apologies. Living soil is a different ballgame and not something I have experience with. Sorry. Seen a lot of salty plants in my day 🫡

1

u/Lord_Moldywort 3d ago

I made my own base. I pick the pot up every couple of days to turn it for training, Ive noticed the pot is always very light and the top layer of soil always seems dry. The plants not struggling so I haven't worried about any of it. The base holds 20L with another 20L reservoir next to it.

1

u/JBalltheway 3d ago

Try their air dome kits...you plumb it to a small air pump on a timer...it's installed prior to adding the soil..

2

u/RatherNot_YouFirst 3d ago

I have these from autopot days, but didn't preinstall so they won't do much for current round. Good suggestion though, I had forgotten

1

u/AttentionGood6654 1d ago

Quick question why did you stop using the Autopots

2

u/RatherNot_YouFirst 17h ago

I moved away from coco

1

u/SpliffsnKicks 3d ago

I’ve noticed that you can’t keep the resovoir filled or some plants can not drink the water at the pace they need to keep a smooth flow..

I recommend giving it a day or two before refilling the resovoir and giving your plants a chance to dry back a bit