diy aero systym made with sewer tubes question

[Baba Ku]

The translucent 1/4" line is the water line coming from the elevated res. outside of the cab.
It leads to a SmartValve unit. The smart valve is designed to allow the res to refill when the water level gets down so low (plants using it up). The valve will shut off when it gets a couple inches deep in the pipes, and won't refill till it is nearly empty. So basically there is no waste water at all with this system and everything that gets put in the pipes gets consumed. Since the nutrient rich water is allowed in only, and there is no recirculation of the water, it is essential that there be mondo air in the res. and the pipes.

The blue line is coming from the air pump and is connected to the wand..which deadheads in the pipe.

I made sure you can see everything the res has and all the details...so look close and it may become clearer to you.

 

[brutus3]

Some of my ideas.

Some of my ideas.

I'm not giving up yet but still trying and dont wont this to happen again. My 2 geuess were lack of oxygen and the obvious root rot that I'm thinking might be from using pea gravel instead of hydroton. Heres some pics. It's all dismantled now and I'm doing dry runs.







The tube inside inside is not tightend yet. Holes are at 45 degree angle.

 

[Baba Ku]

You know, you could drill and tap atomizing spray nozzles into the water pipe and have it misting in there. Maybe have them pointing slightly above horizontal? (new pipe, can the holes...)
Maybe just one nozzle on each side of each plant?

 

[brutus3]

You know, you could drill and tap atomizing spray nozzles into the water pipe and have it misting in there. Maybe have them pointing slightly above horizontal? (new pipe, can the holes...)
Maybe just one nozzle on each side of each plant?

A buddy and mine are in a dispute on the water level. Maybe this is where it went wrong I think. The net pots were partly submerged. I believe the root rot began there .Knowing enough about dwc, I think having thenet pot in water at all after the roots are out of the bottom of the net is a big no no. Am I right? Sorry guys for all the questions. But I say, keep the water level low and the net completely in air. Again, apologies for the stupidity over here. I'm new to this.

 

[DrRav]

any good suggestions on how to keep these from falling over when they get topheavy? They just went into flower last night.

Might be a bit late with this advice but I use these Plant trainer Yoyo's

Nice and cheap and very effective.

 

[Baba Ku]

If you would put new water pipe in and install these...then just have the return flow at a minimum, you would have more of what is considered an aeroponic system.
Any hardware store will have the 10/24 tap and drill set.
http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=HPMSEZC&eq=&Tp=

 

[tr1ck_]

From what I understand you wouldn't want the netpot sitting in the water, I would also really listen to aeroheads suggestion about using bleach. Check out his current grow if you need to see what he is capable of

 

[brutus3]

Sorry to be a pain in the ass guys. Your all probably getting ready to say, "stick to dirt u idiot" I don't blame u. But thanks for being such good sports about it. Iv'e been up all night messing with this. At this point it's more an expiriment. I'm trying to go more nft now with a fast flow and later get some sprayers/misters to mount on top.? Here's the cluster and mess Iv'e managed to accomplish

I'm ready to just say screw it.

 

[5th]

Stick with it...

Stick with it...

I wish I would have stuck with it. I was running the same set up n' working on getting it dialed. Did alot of fucking about/experimenting...and heres what I found.

4" pvc pipe, 5ft. long, Small Water Culture/NFT

I ran out of nutes so I added Miracle Gro and burned the fuck out of all my plants and was so pissed I scratched the project...but...



Ditch the inside hose...and forget sprayers and the rest of that nonsense. You are correct about not wanting the netpot in the water...hydroton or not.

In this pic it shows my end caps/dams turned 180 degrees so I could test running a full tube. Even while self medicated I realized this was just a bad idea. (not enough DO in that many gallons of water due to a small air pump)

If your gonna try the pipes one last time, my suggestion is to do what I would have done...
Leave your clones in your cloner until the roots are long enough to touch the bottom of the pipe. (the roots will act like a wick and pull water upto the plant) Run your 4ft air wands along the bottom of the pipe. Have your dam(s) holding back no more then 1" of water in your pipes, just enough to cover the air wands. Run your water pump 15min on/off via timer. Leave air wands on 24/7.

It's not an aero setup by any means...just a very simple SWC/NFT hybrid of sorts.

Had some great pics of the system with month old cuttings in it but can be damn if I can find it now...

Good luck with whatever you decide though bro.

 

[brutus3]

I wish I would have stuck with it. I was running the same set up n' working on getting it dialed. Did alot of fucking about/experimenting...and heres what I found.

4" pvc pipe, 5ft. long, Small Water Culture/NFT

I ran out of nutes so I added Miracle Gro and burned the fuck out of all my plants and was so pissed I scratched the project...but...



Ditch the inside hose...and forget sprayers and the rest of that nonsense. You are correct about not wanting the netpot in the water...hydroton or not.

In this pic it shows my end caps/dams turned 180 degrees so I could test running a full tube. Even while self medicated I realized this was just a bad idea. (not enough DO in that many gallons of water due to a small air pump)

If your gonna try the pipes one last time, my suggestion is to do what I would have done...
Leave your clones in your cloner until the roots are long enough to touch the bottom of the pipe. (the roots will act like a wick and pull water upto the plant) Run your 4ft air wands along the bottom of the pipe. Have your dam(s) holding back no more then 1" of water in your pipes, just enough to cover the air wands. Run your water pump 15min on/off via timer. Leave air wands on 24/7.

It's not an aero setup by any means...just a very simple SWC/NFT hybrid of sorts.

Had some great pics of the system with month old cuttings in it but can be damn if I can find it now...

Good luck with whatever you decide though bro.

Thanks bro! Not sure what to do. Was thinking sprayers on top. Now I'm stumped!

 

[5th]

Sprayers have there place bro don't get me wrong...just not in a 4" pipe is all. (you saw the size of your own roots) Could always just use a small setup like you've got to top feed them lil' bushes though...just a thought.

I'm moving in a few months and the wife says I get to have a grow room so i'll definitely be setting my 4" pipes back up...lol...then we can stumble through this blindly together if we don't get it figured out by then.

 

[brutus3]

Blindly is right! I'm pulling my hair out! I have some ready in dirt and water. Cant decide what to do.

 

[brutus3]

One more shot and if it dont work I'm hangin up the dro! Bought some 6" tubes and gonna install two sprayer pipes in each. Get a bigger pump if I need to. I got the materials today just need to make it. Pretty much the same setup I just tried but bigger and hopefully without the root rot this time! Thanks for the help. I'll be back! Been up way too long messing with all this. Gonna fire up a well deserved bowl to calm the nerves and hopefully sleep good tonight. Thanks and peace to u all! Feel free to wish me luck!LOL. My back can't take hauling countless bags of dirt in/out, up and downstairs.

 

[bad gas]

check out medicine man's thread. his system has more room for root mass. he also doesn't need sprayers. also cheap to set up. awesome thread. most impressive. he's been doing this for years.

 

[brutus3]

check out medicine man's thread. his system has more room for root mass. he also doesn't need sprayers. also cheap to set up. awesome thread. most impressive. he's been doing this for years.

Definately will! I just filled the vacant space with potted plants for now. Iv'e done soo much research on every water systym. I just want bigger yields, less plants! I'll figure it out and hopefully have some success one of these days. Soo many ideas are toosing around in my head right now.

 

[brutus3]

Damn! I just got through 2 pages of mm's thread. I'm gonna have to come back later and read more. My operation is small and simple. Was almost thinking about a ez cloner concept with 2 plants in each for bud under my 600hps. 3 totes,6 plants. kinda aero/dwc mix. Sprayers on a timer when roots drop, or turn em off and then be just dwc with massive air in each tub. I just went and bought 6" tubes though last night and was thinking what I could do with those. Idk? That nft seems to be good too. I'm gonna stay tuned and watch. Guess I'll haul in more bags of heavy ass dirt until I can figure out something good. Next soiless run will not fail!! (I hope!) lol. Thanks for all the help and everything guys! I'll be back in the hydro forum with some good news and pics soon!

 

[BUNDY & COKE]

G'Day Mate

G'Day Mate

Hey mate i can tell you what i know so far if you like, thanks for the message. I am using a 250mm stormwater pipe with 7 pots and 8 sprayers which are on the top of the pipe between each pot, this is so they dont get blocked up from roots.
I use a 1800 litre a hour pond pump watering for 15 minutes every hour. The pipe is set up level, not at an angle or anything just level, and its set as a recirculating system. 2 x 600 watt hps threw cooltubes for lighting. I lost this lot due to being burgled but have cranked again. Not much to tell ya realy but it ran itself, PH was an issue has to be checked every day and water at the end stages was around 20 litres a day. Heres some pics mate anyway, hope you dont mind, i hope you enjoy them. My thread is in the Australia/New Zealand section if your interested in having a proper look.

BUNDY...

 

[brutus3]

Hey mate i can tell you what i know so far if you like, thanks for the message. I am using a 250mm stormwater pipe with 7 pots and 8 sprayers which are on the top of the pipe between each pot, this is so they dont get blocked up from roots.
I use a 1800 litre a hour pond pump watering for 15 minutes every hour. The pipe is set up level, not at an angle or anything just level, and its set as a recirculating system. 2 x 600 watt hps threw cooltubes for lighting. I lost this lot due to being burgled but have cranked again. Not much to tell ya realy but it ran itself, PH was an issue has to be checked every day and water at the end stages was around 20 litres a day. Heres some pics mate anyway, hope you dont mind, i hope you enjoy them. My thread is in the Australia/New Zealand section if your interested in having a proper look.

BUNDY...

Lost it during burglerd?? Someone stole your shit? If so,that sucks! I know the feeling. I'm kinda in the same boat. I had someone(thought was a friend) snag a big bag of nugs back in late January. Set me back. Anyways, I bought some 6" tubes. Was gonna do another run/try. Clones in cloner looked a tad brown though and didn't wanna chance it.Threw them in the garbage. Cleaned the cloner real good. Ran bleach water for a day. Drained it, rinsed, cut more clones today. Gonna lay the pipe again soon! Lol. Pretty much similar to what you have there Bundy. Think what my buddy and I built was more nft/dwc with not enough air in tubes, set up to fail due to root rot. Back to the drawing board and more reading! Thanks for all the good ideas guys. I'll be back!