First try at hydro: FBTO1

So this week was marked by a failed experiment. I had decided I wanted to up my game and move to a more automated "bottleponics" setup, with a feed pump for top feeding and gravity to drain the pots. I attempted to use food grade 64 ounce plastic jars with small 3" net pots in the top, fed by the reservoir I started with (and am now using again). It looked easy enough, and I had what I thought were the right kinds of drip irrigation fittings, tubing, bulkheads, etc... but the devil is in the details. I set it up, did a test without the plant (success) and proceeded to very carefully move the plant in it's rockwool cube into a new and smaller net pot, and then into one of the 3 bottleponics jars I'd built. The other two were to remain in place but without plants. Around 9:30 pm Saturday night it was set up, pumps going, with nutrients settled and pH balanced. So exciting! Well, too good to be true. Woke up Sunday morning (today) to a small puddle and pumps running dry in the reservoir. Turns out I had a number of problems. Problem one was that being outside the grow tent the reservoir was being severely over cooled and the line froze... Problem two was that the gravity draining was somehow compromised not keeping up with the feed pump, despite the test suggesting this was not an issue. It must have been a VERY near thing, as only a small rag's worth of water had collected on the floor, so the difference in flow rate was nearly identical to the evaporation rate overnight (with a period of lights off). Took a good 2 hours to clean up, disassemble, and put the old system back together again. Guess my plans for another hydro cohort on the same grow will have to wait!. Word to the wise, don't try to build a complicated drip and gravity irrigation system with bits and pieces cobbled together from your gardening stuff, Amazon, the aquarium store, etc. Get yourself to a proper hydroponics store and make sure EVERYTHING is made to work together. The crazy number of different sizes for outer and inner diameter, hose flexibility, ability to form seals over one barb or another etc. is both truly amazing and frustrating as all hell. Learned my lesson, though, and will take stock before making any further adjustments. I think a fully custom setup using wood with plasticized inside liner and proper large diameter PVC piping to fit standard irrigation hoses would be a million times easier and better.... just a lot more expensive LOL.