I am putting together a grow tent and I believe I have everything stitched together, but I’m struggling on what controllers I need to make it easier By knowing what to use to automate things. Before I buy the components I wanted to run it by everyone.
Tent: 4’x4’x7’ (purchased)
Light : HLG 240v Scorpion Diablo ( I am purchasing for future move plan into a larger grow space).
Ventilation: ac infinity combo kit 6” fan, carbon filter, smart controller , 2 clip fans . 4” Hepa filter at bottom of tent.
Climate: Rollable AC Unit and a Dehumidifier. Plan on using the ac infinity system and vent out window.
Water: I would love to make watering as easy as possible, so I really take suggestions here. So far I plan on a DIY system. 30 gal reservoir, water pump hooked to drip halos , and with a timer that counts seconds. plan is just monitoring the soil and spacing out watering intervals.
Nutrients: soil , ILGM nutrients
So can I piece the system together with less expensive controllers or get a whole system?
Here is me piecing it together:
- Light - thing is the light is 240V. So I was going to convert to 120v. Then I can use on a 120v smart device / power strip .
- Can I control the HLG Light with AC Infinity smart controller?
- I could use the niwa smart power strip ?
- As anyone used Trolmaster systems for environmental controller?
- Ventilation- ac smart controller
- Rolling AC and Humidifier - Inkbird Combination Humidity Controller IHC200 Temperature Controller ITC308
- Water: this is the simplest thing I thought I could do. Plan was to have Reservoir with circulating water , temp controlled, aerated, 300gph water pump hooked to drip halos where water is distributed evenly to plants. Pump set for different time intervals by me checking on plants. For the return Water I could get small bulkheads and use plant saucers and have it go to a bucket.
- Nutrients: plan on using same soil from seed to harvest , 5 gallon fabric pots, I purchased the nutrients kit from ILGM
Does anyone have knowledge on these products?
Spartan Series controls - these seem decent in price
AgroTek - everything is super expensive (I can use these company if I only need a couple things to make my grow work).
GrowTronix - price adds up fast
Trolmaster - recommended on HLG website or the cheapest of 3 options they recommended
BlueLab - $$$
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There is alot of automation stuff out there but I honestly dont see how i could benefit from anything else in my big tent.
I open it just a few times the entire grow,
I run
autopots with coco and perlite,
ac infinity controlled intake and exhaust,
Inkbird controller on an air conditioner,
Digital dehumidifier.
Autopots are way simpler, more reliable, more flexible, then any other form if hydroponics.
No pumps, chillers, wider ph range, absolutely no waste water ever, the list goes on…
4 goldleaf and 1 purple space cookies in a 4x6 in autopots.
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So you really only use the inkbird controller. That’s be a lot cheaper
Man I been fighting myself on moving to hydroponics, I just know soil better. I guess I really need to learn about it.
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The inkbird only controls a window ac, if it was a digital ac I wouldn’t even need the inkbird.
There are so many options/ forms of hydroponics and these autopot set ups are pricey but not really compared to a nice proper rdwc with big pumps and chiller.
I could have more wifi monitoring types of stuff but other then just being neat to see ot from any where, its not like I’d be micromanageing it anyway.
Once its dialed in it just does it’s thing 
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I pulled the trigger and got the auto pot spring system. Do you think ilgm nutrients will work? What do you use with your autopots?
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So you will not regret the autopots my freind
I use General hydroponics nutrients.
Maxi series here lately ( a one part powder)
Maxi-gro for veg and maxi-bloom for flower.
I have used alot of GH Flora series also which is (a 3 part liquid) that is mixed together. It gives more control over nutrient ratios and some people like that ability but it’s not a necessity at all.
I also use silica and Hydrogaurd.
These are not a must have but silica gives some good benefits and the “Hydrogaurd” is a hydroponics microbes kinda like the Recharge growers use in soil.
Silica is cheap and goes along way but the Hydrogaurd is crazy expensive “In my opinion” 
I use to use h2o2 (brown bottle hydrogen proxide) at 3-5ml per gallon instead of using any microbes like the Hydrogaurd.
I got the Hydrogaurd to see if any difference, so far I don’t see any difference but this my first grow with it so I don’t want to say 100% it’s not worth the money ($50 for a quart!)
As far as the ILGM nutrients goes. I actually do not know anything about their nutrients.
But I will say with extreme confidence, no matter the nutrient brand, if it says “hydroponic nutrients” it will work.
Nutrients is really about cost effective, the plants can not tell where the minerals they use comes from. NPK is exactly the same to any plant when it takes it up no matter brand name or source be it organic or mineral based.
Contrary to what people think, there is no organic forms of minerals, only organic sources…
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Really appreciate it. I’m gonna need to study a bit lol.
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Jacks 321 is what I use. Simple with dope results.
Okay so after everything I went with Jacks 321 kit. So what equipment do I need to get correct measurements for nutrients in auto pot water reservoir ?
Like a digital ph meter?
Digital water thermometer?
Ph up and ph down additive
Jacks 321 nutrients
Also what ratio perlite and coco fiber you use? 50/50 mix? Do you add any bug treatment additive to mix?
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I use these for ph and tds/ppm of nutrients
I advice a good ph pen but cheap tds meters work just fine as long as you dont drop them all the way in the water as the $10 ones are not water proof…
But that $10 cheap blue tds meter I’ve been useing over a year now and it is still just as accurate as the $100 bluelab truncheon
.
Ph up and down, any brand works really.
I use foxfarm cultivation nation alot and it is 70% coco, 30% perlite and it works great.
I also mix my own with up to 50/50.
Some do fine with straight coco but I like at least 30% perlite, expanded clay or something to help aeration…
Autopots with both my orders sent a booklet with tips and suggestions. You should get one but their site probably has the same info somewhere if not.
They also have youtube videos showing how to set them up if needed…
As for bug treatment, I never have but if you’re concerned, some Mosquito bits mixed in and some DM earth on the top once the autopots are turned on would do good i believe…
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Hi duke a stumbled upon this journal, I see you mentioned converting a 240v to 120v. How do you do that?
I am no electrician and I’m looking at purchasing an HLG refurbished light but only available are 240v. How do I know if I can use that 240v light safely? Don’t want to girl down the house 
Thanks in advance!
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You would convert the light itself from 220v to 110v. You buy the cord from them for 110v and you will have to look at the wire diagrams they provide. Them switch out cords.
I ended up keeping the light at 220v (because all the awesome efficiency numbers for how good a light it is. Well those numbers are only for 220v not 110v) finding the water heater upstairs that is running on 220v line. It’s the only thing hooked up to that line so I tapped into it, and made a “junction box” which is where you splice a new wire (for my light) together with the existing wires. You have to turn the power off at the breaker box first! It’s not hard if you do some YouTube search’s for “DIY junction box” it shows you better than I could ever explain.
@Mouthbreather sorry for late response I didn’t see it until now.
