DarkFox

Evening people..

I've been trying to come up with an idea to solve this for a while so if you have any ideas PLEASE pitch in....

I use a long shallow res (18cm of water is full) in my NFT set up. Now, because I'm a good boy, the res is covered with light proof white-black-white. The problem is, seeing how much water's in the res..... The only way at the moment is to put my hand in, touch the top of the pump, and guess how deep the water is on top of it by using The Force, and while The Force is strong in my family, It's not very accurate .....

So, I need a way to see the level of water in the res without uncovering it or looking into it.

Any ideas? Please....

DF.

penguin

Hi DF

I use 1/4" wooden dowels as dipsticks, through the access hole. I put gallon increment lines on the dipstick with a permanent marker. Calibration is different for each of my standard tank sizes, so I write the bin size on it. And it's not particularly accurate, but close enough for my purposes. Accuracy will be tough with a wide/shallow res, but still probably better than the force.

Maybe related: I use a turkey baster to take the res samples for daily EC/pH testing.


penguin

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Kurlan

Another simple solution is to make a small hole on the side of your container near the bottom. Then run some tubing into the resevoir and the other end up the side of the container and somehow fix it in place (some heavy tape will usually do. Caulk the hole so no water leaks out. Behold, now you can simply mark where the water line should be on the ouside of the container and fill without constantly checking the inside (a pain in the ass with big plants).

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-Kurlan

My first yield: {Almost 6 ounces}
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foxxnelson

hey you know those floats in the tanks in toliets? concidered making something along the lines of that, you could make a float connected to a rod that keeps a valve closed when the water is in the right spot and when the water level goes down so would the float opening the valve, you could maybe hook a 5 gallon bucket to it with a tube and put the bucket higher than the res an let gravity do it work that way you would only have to check the bucket when you need water.

grass_hopper

kurlan's onto something but also hard to do with a shallow wide res. Personally, I like the dipstick method. Drill a small hole in the top of your res and dip the dowel in until it hits the bottom. Then you'll know exactly how full up is the res. Good luck

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DarkFox

Thanks penguin, Kurlan, foxxnelson and grass_hopper.

Once again, I ask, and this site delivers, I appreciate it guys...

At the moment I'm slowly building up my automation equipment (I'm aiming to be fully automated in 3 grows time... ) so I was actually hoping for some sort of electronic constant read out type thing. I've found loads of magnetic float gauges that can be attached to (or come with) digital readouts but they all seem to be for much deeper applications, like 1 metre or more depth tanks.

It's the shallowness of the tank and the fact that it's sitting on the floor that's making it difficult....

grass_hopper

If you get inspired , here's a very simple water level indicator you can put on the side of your res that will cost a total of about $1 and can be installed in less than 20 minutes.

MATERIALS LIST
Barbed elbow: $.44
1' of tubing: $.10
2 plastic nuts (from electrical dept): $.10
5 g of silicone $.001
Rubber stopper: $.25
Knowing your res level: Priceless

You can calibrate the thing by setting it up on your res, and adding 1 liter/gallon at a time using a standard container, like a milk jug or pepsi bottle. Just mark the level with a permenant marker as it rises with each gallon. Oh, and make sure your pump and/or aerostone is alread in the res And try to get the hole in the side of the res as low as possible. Drill the hole carefully and make sure the nuts are super tight and sealed WELL with silicone to avoid leaks

The main component is the barbed elbow with threaded end:



These are available at most larger home centers & hardware stores. The above photo came from dripirrigation.com

Here's the diagram:


Good luck

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__________________
"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."


Ancient History:
Blueberry/Mazar (started in hydro, moved outdoors)...Skunk#1/Blueberry in Soil
Botanicare 42 Site Cloner - a Review...Grass_Hopper's Butane Honey Oil (BHO) Thread

Website goodies:
Grow Guide...Cecil_B's CO2 Enrichment Guide...Grower's Dictionary...Getting Females From Standard Seeds

DarkFox

Thanks a lot grass_hopper, I appreciate your time in posting that...

I've got some of those elbows left over from my watering kit but didn't know they were called that... I'll definitely be building it, I love the simplicity.

I think I've found a marine company in Florida and a caravanning company in Australia selling electronic things that might work. I've sent them some questions and I'm waiting for their reply. I won't post a link to the sites 'cause they're commercial but I'll post some pics if I get one or both.

If they do the job I'll buy THOUSANDS of them and sell them as hydro accessories and this time next year I'll be a BILLIONAIRE!!!! HA-HA-HAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

penguin

Good post, grass_hopper. My only concern would be that the clear tubing will grow algae. Also, the stopper isn't necessary, and I don't think it will work as intended with the stopper present.

DF, if your goal is to fully automate, then being able to take water level measurements may not be as important as maintaining the desired level? In that case, I'd go with an auto-topping system controlled by a float valve.

Your res geometry is pretty limiting. If you can get the res up off the floor, then you could maybe connect (auto-level) it to a tall/skinny controller, and then use a float valve in the controller to regulate the water supply line.

If you want to track water usage, you may have better luck measuring the supply flow, rather than res level?



penguin

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grass_hopper

Yup you're right - topper needs a small airhole.

Many small off the shelf hydro kits have these kinds of things. They just have to be cleaned at each res change.

__________________
"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."


Ancient History:
Blueberry/Mazar (started in hydro, moved outdoors)...Skunk#1/Blueberry in Soil
Botanicare 42 Site Cloner - a Review...Grass_Hopper's Butane Honey Oil (BHO) Thread

Website goodies:
Grow Guide...Cecil_B's CO2 Enrichment Guide...Grower's Dictionary...Getting Females From Standard Seeds