everyone, here is an SOS for expert autopoters. 
For reasons too long to explain, I am only using the vases and the acquavalve trays, so no tank.
I was top feeding, but with nutrients specific for hydro feeding, my runoff ppm was always high; I did some research and found out that the nutrients for hydro go through the soil, which is not ideal as the soil has its composition, which gets flushed out by top feeding thus altering the values
So I decided to fill the trays with the nutrient solution where the acqua valve is. I figured I top nutrients solution up as they get absorbed.
I post some pictures. Am I doing something unbelievably stupid? Maybe with the acqua valve water just cover the bottom enough or else the roots would drown?
Thank you
No expert by any means, but they will not drown, if you have Hydroton pebbles in the bottom then enough perlite/vermiculite mixed in (I used coco coir), I top fed without run off my 3 gal fabric bags for 2.5 weeks IIRC, then just filled res 500 ppm of AN and turned on the water bases, they seemed to go fine and did not miss a beat, hope this helps if not I will reread your post and see what I did not see or get!
Hi, thank you very much for your advice. I figured it shouldnât be a problem; I have the airbase as well. I am sure you know what it is, which further helps the roots; it can be used instead of a base of hydrotone.
But I am still anxious about the wrong technique. I was top-feeding them but I then read hydroponic solutions are formulated for bottom feeding, from the bottom up instead of the top down, which drags away some of the medium components or something to that effect
I started to feed by tray 2 days ago. These are my 8 weeks babies, switched them to flowering 2 days ago
Nice growing, hook up that res you will not regret it, makes a easy grow, and thick plants as you are seeing, dont use the Airbases is why I went fab bags and copper sleeves
I think this was the size when I turned on the Autopots
And when I was done and started chopping buds
Itâs not specific Growmie, top or bottom feed or hydro set up. You shouldnât top and bottom feed simultaneously though. Iâve been running various size auto pots for 4 years now. Iâll top feed on the seedlings at transplant for approximately 2 weeks then turn the reservoirs on. Doesnât get much simpler than that 
@Bentstick , what are the copper sleeves?
Sorry not sleeves ,they are called potsocks
One of the chief advantages of Autopots is feeding from a standing rez. Definitely recommend you set it up as instructed and you will never go back.
Iâve been using Autopots for 4 years now and have tried different variants like using a fabric pot instead of the supplied plastic pot. This time Iâm using the factory pot, air dome, coco/perlite with 4" of hydroton on the bottom and a pot sock.
Current plant:
Itâs working flawlessly 
Hi, thank you for your input.
I understood everything you said but the âpot socksâ.
I am aware of how to use the autopot, the problem is that i put myself in a situation that connecting the tank to the pots has become too problematic, that was due to my inexperience, next grow i am going to do it right, but for this crop i want to try and feed them manually by pouring water where the acquavalve is and top it up as they drink. My question is, even if this is not the intended use of the autopot, are the plants going to be ok? i am not aware that should cause damage to the plants, also by reasoning, the logical conclusion would be that the plants drink from the bottom, the only difference instead than the little tube from the tank is going to be me who tops up the water.
Nonetheless i wanted other op[nions
Naw you should be good feeding the pot by hand just keep up on it and do not let it dry out 
Hi, thank you for your input.
You didnât like the airbase? i thought next grop to even use the airdome but noe i donât know.
Do you mind me asking: why you think the airbase is bad? did you get any problem? or you just prefer the copper sleeves?
i top fed when they were babies and vegetive, i switched them into flowering and only feed bottom. As i explained i cannot set up the autopod for this crop, i need to carry on feeding them at the bottom by pouring myself the solution in the trays where the acquavalve is, and i wanted to know if i am risking to do something stupid or if the only downside is more work for me but mt plants going to be ok>
Never tried the airbases, understood by conversations was not needed with the fabric pots and Hydroton, so never gave it another thought!
I wasnât aware of them too, i was only aware of some other different ways to prep the bottom of a vase used in autopot, one way is to put a square of copper at the base of the vase, it comes with the autopot set,
On top of the copper is better to put a base of Hydroton, pellet, or instead than pellet, you can use an airbase, a plastic square with holes to put on top of the copper. Now it looks like there is a sockpot, like the square of copper but with walls, All that is to control roots, because with the autopot system they can grow inside the little tubes which carry the nutrient solution.
I run the airdome with plastic pots but like you I just run coco/perlite/hydroton in fabric pots without the additional air.
The sockspot is a very different setting and it sounds good. I look into it for the next crop.
The airbase can be used alone or with the dome and viceversa like @Myfriendis410.
Anything I can do to help?? I did notice in your pic that it looks like your float isnât installed correctly
No floats, heâs manually adding nutes to the base. HE is the float!
@ACMilan I use autopots with the airdomes. I put about an inch of perlite around/over the airdomes then fill with my medium (ProMix). I love the airdomes! Always air to the roots, they grow incredibly fast with them. I also put some landscape fabric over the domes so the perlite doesnât fill them.
Youâll be fine bottom watering them without the res, but if you are using the airdomes, think about topping the bases up DAILY! My 4 plants that I just put in my 3-gallon autopots ad turned on, went thru 16 liters in 4 days, and the Promix was already moist when I turned the system on. Conversely, 13 plants I have in 1 gallon pots also took 4 days to go thru 16 liters of food! The autopot plants have more than tripled in size vs the others only doubling.
I understand that and trying to help with some visual aids. Look closer at his trays⌠looks like floats
. Read several post up with his difficulties setting these up
I see the tube thatâs supposed to connect to the floatsâŚbut no floats!
(scrolls back, sees that you are talking about and goes Hmmmm).
@ACMilan I wouldnât recommend taping the feed line to the pot. Sure, makes it nice and neat, but if you put a shutoff valve near the filter coming out your res, you can âshutâ the system off and then lift out the plants for maintenance, or even spinning 90degrees if needed. With air domes, I have the lines come out of the pot and then a connector from the airdome tube to the tube going to the air pump. I can disconnect my air and lift the pot out of the base. Just remember to hook the airlines back up and open the valve again when done!