Pro-Tip for Those Using SIP Buckets with GroBucket Inserts

[ExNavyInSTL]

If you have a Blue Lab Truncheon EC Meter, they work perfectly to check the EC on SIP Buckets using the GroBucket inserts.

I use the Milwaukee version of the truncheon. They call theirs a "Nutrient Stick."

The feeding tube is plenty big enough for the stick to fit in there.

With a 3.5 gallon bucket, there are a couple inches of truncheon sticking out. I would think that you would need the lanyard on the 5-gallon buckets.

 

[ExNavyInSTL]

I thought of another Pro-Tip for GroBucket insert users:

I use this pump all the time to move fluids. Most of the time, it is to drain my AutoPot on-board reservoir (small one attached to base).

I do this to clear out the nutrients if I run some Recharge, or other goodies, through the coco.

It's also good for a quick dump of the larger reservoir (12-gallon) if you want to change out the nutrients (i.e. switch to bloom nutrients).

As for the GroBucket use, it is super handy for removing most of the nutrients if you want to make a change before it goes dry.

Now a Pro-Tip for the Pump itself. This thing hold quite a bit of fluid in the shaft area. The moment you turn the unit off, it dumps that fluid.

It only took me months of use to figure out that I should turn it upside down before shutting it off. When you do that, all of the fluid runs out of the translucent tube attached.

I've even used this pump to drain out the footwells on my SeaDoo after a big rain.

There are slightly cheaper versions. I bought this one because I thought the clip on the discharge would be handy. Save your money.

 

[ReservoirDog]

I can get behind both of these pro tips, I've not got the GroBuckets but all my DIY SIPs (my goodness they are starting to stack up) get Truncheoned all the time! I sprung for the pricier version of the pump that has a flexi hose for both and comes with a number of attachments so I can thread it straight onto a 5-gallon carboy and pump the whole thing into a SIP, or one time when I realized I'd added twice as much fertilizer as I was supposed to it was easy to empty the whole thing super fast. Make sure to get rechargeable batteries for your pumps. Every SIP grower needs these pumps, and my BlueLab Truncheon is going out the door with me before baby pictures if there's a housefire. Next to my (glorious) grow lights, that TDS meter is my fave piece of grow kit, with the pump a very close third place because of all the back pain it's saved me and pleasure its brought in its daily use. Two thumbs up!