AC Inifinity Fabric Pot Base - Recirculating Hydroponic Upgrade

I wanted:

• minimal parts
• minimal fabrication
• a simple hydroponics planter for big plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, mellons etc.
• very little or no drilling cutting etc
• big enough reservoir for up to 10ish days of vacation
• no wasting water
• no wasting nutrients

I have used Costco and Home Depot 27 gallon/102 liter black and yellow totes with great effect. Have also used 3 gallon/11.3 liter and 5 gallon/18.9 liter buckets with special lids.

However I never liked the buckets or the costco / home depot containers because I knew that so much space is wasted. Especially height which in a grow tent is at a premium. So when I saw the Fabric Pot Base from AC Infinity I got a set.

I'll work on getting the micro-dosing reservoir and pumps attached in the next tutorial. The recirculating system is working great. The plants are now a few weeks old and growing strong so I thought I would share.

Note: my design is using two techniques for allowing the plants to clean the water and balance the PH/EC themselves.

To keep clean water is you need to have several different types of plants growing at once. One of the plants you can encourage to grow over the others if you only want one big plant. Often a few green onions, some other herbs and one giant plant works pretty well to keep the nutrients in the water to basically nothing during normal operation.

The other design is micro-dosing. If you micro-dose your plants daily or least a few times a week the plants will grow fine and really fast. By only giving a little bit of nutrients per day you never overwhelm the plants like you do when you do a normal hydroponics systems dump and refresh. Granted that method will work fine as well but I don't mind the daily nutes and love it that I have not used my PH/EC meter in years for anything other than research.

No tools needed for hydroponic system setup.

100% water and nutrient efficient.

Parts list:

1. AC Infinity - Fabric Pot Base: https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-Self-Watering-Auto-Irrigation-Greenhouses/dp/B0B1SL84RG/?th=1

2. Veg, Bud, Fruit, Wifi Hydro Controller: https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Hydro-WiFi-Controller-Power-Monitoring/dp/B0CHP7DNQL

3. Pump: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH9G39S2?ref=myi_title_dp

4. 5 Gallon Grow Bag: https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Home-Thickened-Planters-Vegetables/dp/B0BNMY1JQ3/?th=1

5. Perlite: https://www.amazon.com/Norcal-Perlite-Horticultural-Certified-Screened/dp/B0C8RW639H/

Alternate parts:

You might have an old DC 12v fountain pump, no need to waste just get a new connector. You can get the connector size in the pump description on Amazon and the plugs can be purchased on Amazon.

Grow bags and perlite can often be purchased from your local nurseries and hydroponics stores.

Maxi grow is also often at local hydroponics stores.

1. grasp the pump
2. moisten the tip of your finger and use it to moisten the tube mount on the pump
3. push the tube near the end over the moistened tube mount on the pump

1. make sure all three pieces of the fabric pot base are there
2. place the pump in the base near the center post
3. the pump is placed on its side
4. the grill is to the side
5. the wire is near the bottom
6. the tube is near the top
7. put a few inches/10ish cm of the pump wire through the bottom of lid hole
8. put a few inches/10ish cm of the tube through the bottom of lid hole
9. gently align the lid, the wires tube without moving the pump to much

1. connect the 12v power supply to the controller
2. connect the circulation pump to the controllers 3rd pump jack

1. grasp the end of the paperclip opposite where you want to push through the tube
2. pinch the tube a little to get it started
3. pull about 4 inches of tubing through the paper clip

This step is super simple put the 3.5 to 4 gallons(13.2 to 15.1 liters) of perlite in the 5 gallon grow bag. There should be a few inches/10ish cm of growbag above the perlite. Some perlite can be dusty .. assume it will be so use a mask and do this outside.

1. place the grow bag on the fabric pot base
2. slide the paper clip and tube so the tube will spray water on the perlite

I like to use maxi grow because it is easy, works reliably and excellent growth.

1. the volume of the reservoir is about 2 gallons/7.5 liter when completely full (i need to test)
2. for maxigrow just add one teaspoon/4.9 ml of nutrients if you are starting your system from seed or seedlings

I also like to add in a teaspoon of dried seaweed, 1ml of root inoculant fungi and 1ml of botanicare pure blend tea.

1. add the nutrients and water slowly
2. I normally fill till it is flush with the holes in the lid

Configure wifi

1. the button marked button
2. till LED 1 stays lit
3. check your local wifi for network GM-????
4. enter the password that came with your controller
5. select configure wifi
6. select your network (you might have to refresh)
7. enter your email address
8. enter your local network password
9. save

You can also test pumps and the water sensor from this interface.

If wifi configuration was successful you will get an email at the address you entered that will allow you to configure your controller.

Once you get the email and have logged in.

1. give your system a name and select the correct timezone
2. select the id to configure the circulation schedule
3. enter the amount of time in milliseconds that you want the pump on normally 60000 which is 1 minute.
4. enter the pause time normally 600000 which is 10 minutes
5. when going on vacation set to one hour pause time - this will slow plant growth while you are gone and will conserve water

If you set these up please post your results!

Depending on what you are growing you could be harvesting quite a bit of greens, herbs etc.

Normally hydro speeds up growth by 30 to 50 % and for plants like lettuce you can pick and come again many times if you don't cut off the head of the lettuce.

If you have questions, feedback, tips etc... please share. I'll answer all that I can. :-)