The Wonderwall w/ bonus aero tree DIY

[GMax]

hey everybody its been a while.. I have been distracted for the last few months but I am getting back in gear now... there have been a few changes in my life so I am briefly living back with the trees while I get resituated

anyways on with the show...


I am pretty much starting from scratch.. I have filled my other room with my old systems completely with spare clones that I had... I filled five systems at once and then the remaining ones a few weeks later... the oldest ones will be ready for harvest in about 11 days.. I will get some bud shots up soon...

but my WW room is completely empty.. and due for a cleaning because it is a disaster right now.. I have gotten a few more crops with it under my belt during my break.. decent numbers but nothing crazy, in fact I didn't keep track of the numbers because I knew that weren't gonna break any of my bests...but I got a great batch of clones and I will be ready to fill the room in under a week


here they are after a week in the cloner before they were transferred to the veg system...



i have had my old mom for over a year and a half now and i am having trouble keeping it standing upright lol... so i have decided its time to start a new mom... i have been growing my moms in my old Waterfarms connected to a controller reservoir... but i wanted to build an aero system that would grow fast and produce healthy clones..

i built this with 99% recycled parts that i had lying around... all i had to buy was the bottom 10g Rubbermaid container..

i don't know if this has already been done or a variation of it.. but it is pretty simple... i apologize if so, i don't get much time to ready too many threads...

the bottom container is the the rez...it is 10gal tote and i try to keep it mostly full, so it holds roughly 8gal of nutes.. i used my old cloner lid for the rez which has a bunch of 2'' holes in it that was for the neoprene pucks.. i drilled a hole in the side at the bottom and put a 3/4'' grommet and straight barb and attached the tubing to the pump...which is a 396 and external.... then i have 1/2'' tubing coming out the top attached to a tee piece in the top container




i then drilled holes in the top container which i put a sink strainer in to keep the roots contained to the top tote....





i then put a piece of "swiss cheese" pvc with a bunch of holes drilled in it to act as a overflow drain if the roots clog it... and the 1/2'' tubing with sprayers wrap around the edge of the container.. i just used waterproof duct tape for it.. you can see in the pic where it attaches to the tee



that's pretty much it... you can detach the tubing from the top tote and put it somewhere else to harvest etc.. and u can have multiple ones daisy chained together and attached to a controller rez.. i was gonna attach mine to the controller that the rest of my moms are on but instead just gave it it's own float valve.... the top container gives the plant 18gal of aero root space, so it should grow some monster plants..!!


after my mom gets big enough i am gonna remove my old mother.. here she is after being transplanted..




alright that's it for now... i will post some bud shots in the next few days... i debated on whether to start this thread or reboot my old one... but i am closer to my plants this days so i will regularly take pics along the way to follow this next WW crop from start to finish...and future crops.. stay tuned.. i hope everyone enjoys the show..!!!

 

[5th]

Watchin' n' waitin'

 

[DHF]

Been wonderin boutchas Bro.......

I`ll be over here on my bucket.......

Good luck....DHF.........

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

im here, good to see you in action!

 

[DamnUglyDogE]

~~~ ~

 

[GMax]

thanks for checking in !!! I am glad to be back

looking forward to this thread, and I am planning on dusting off my old 400w bulbs and building another small flower room so I can use these new aero tubs to grow some trees vertically, which I have not done much of in my grow career, on top of as many WW crops as I can pump out

stay tuned everyone...all questions welcomed

 

[GMax]

had some work to do today in my old flowering room.... I have some that are on day 40 and some that are on day 10.. the ones on day 10 needed their first rez changed and some backside sucker branch removal.... the ones on day 40, I did the final defoliation before harvest and then I also drained half of the nute solution in each rez and then filled in back up with plain water to dilute it and then I am gonna let it dwindle until harvest.. so no more work with them until it is time to cut them down..!

here they are before I removed the leaves.. there are a random amount of plants in each system but they still filled the canopy space very well..









in the veg room... my next WW crop is about 2 days away from being transplanted... I dropped the lights a little lower so they can really beef up before flowering...




My new mom is ready to explode and has more than doubled in the last couple days...I also dropped the lights a little lower on this one too because I had the cfls about a foot away... wait til you see her next week..!




I thought there would be a few questions about the new aero tub, but I guess it is pretty self explainatory.. a few things I would like to add is that it is a great little aero starter kit for vert and flat growers alike..and very easy to build..!

also it is very cheap..!! especially for an aero system.. even though I had all the parts to build it already.. I could build it from scratch for only about $50-60..! I know that seems like kind of a lot, but its a one time buy with amazing results

$25 for the pump..$8 for each container.. some tubing.. a few misters.. a couple barb pieces..some grommets.. a cup and lid...and $1 or 2 for the sink strainer...

then you can daisy chain another tote for only $20-25...!

if you were gonna do more than one tote you would probably want to have a controller bucket/tote which would be another ten bucks or so (but I would still have the pump external)... if you kept the tubing fairly short, you can probably run two totes off of one 396 pump.. if you went with more than two totes, you may want to update to the next size pump, which would bump the pump price up to $40 (or run multiple pumps)


its a pretty simple rock solid design.. since the roots stay in the top container, they don't dangle into the bottom rez which would make it a DWC hybrid... with a controller bucket/float it is fully automated, only requiring a rez change once every 7-10 days.. great for moms.. or vert donuts or checkerboard/tic tac toe grows.. or flat tree.. or you can have more plants in each tote for a SOG... I plan on doing a vert donut grow with them here after summer

any other questions or things you would like to know, feel free to ask..!



tomorrow I have to clean my WW room out and get the systems cleaned out for the next round.. then I will tidy up my other rooms because they all need it


that's it for now...thanks everyone...!!

 

[GMax]

I also forgot to mention that you could build this system with buckets also.... have a 5gal bucket on top of a 3gal bucket (or 5gal).. have all the top buckets plumbed to the pump.. and all the bottom buckets plumbed to the controller rez.... simple

it would be a sort of aeroponic version of a Waterfarm set ... and you should still be able to grow some monsters that way too.. considering the plants that can be grown in a Waterfarm..!

unless it already exists and I haven't seen it yet...

 

[lazy gardener]

damn man one week in that cloner! very nice. guess im getting to be a root perv. great job. would like to know where you got that inline pump if you would mind sharing. I can only find a small one local but it runs off battery

 

[GMax]

damn man one week in that cloner! very nice. guess im getting to be a root perv. great job. would like to know where you got that inline pump if you would mind sharing. I can only find a small one local but it runs off battery

Hey thanks for stopping by Lazy...! the inline pump is a simple 396gph EcoPlus submersible pump... sold at most hydro stores and can also sometimes be found at Lowes/Home Depot... The pump can be ran inline by simply removing the cover and filter and attaching an adapter to the intake...
**the larger gph Ecoplus pumps may also require a bushing**

thanks lazy

 

[GMax]

Today was transplant day so it is time for another update...

since i am back living with the plants briefly, I wanna do something different with this thread.... i wanna try to track and time all the work that i do in the growrooms..

So today is one of the busiest days for me other than harvest... I spent a total of 1:35 in the growroom...

the first thing i needed to do was to clean my actual room... it was very messy since i hadnt cleaned up from the last few crops.. but it only took 23min to get back in order...

Next, i had to clean the WW out and prepare it for the next round.. so i grab my toilet brush and a bucket of water and scrub the inside of the wyes and rinse away the debris ..the PVC is real easy to clean and the toilet brush i have is perfect for the job.. then i removed all the tubing to unclog them of roots and debris and then reconnected them .. I wiped out the inside of the return rez and vacuumed out all the leftover water in the main rez and wiped it down as well.. this took me a total of 28min

next i made nutes for the WW... i mixed in 200ml of GH Micro.. 400ml of GH Bloom... 20ml Root excel.. 50ml Silica Blast.. 200ml Sm-90.. and a half scoop of bennies.. i need to get more Drip Clean.. it only took me 8min to make them but i had to wait a few more min for the 50-60gal to fill, so 15min total..

while i was waiting for the rez to finish filling.. i took some extra of the orange screen i had lying aroung and i cut to squares to the shape of the new mother container... my mom has a good root system but i didnt use a cup with her, only a neoprene lid, so the roots have nothing to attach to and were growing straight down like a wet pony tail and had already reached the bottom of the container..

so i put a double layer of the screen down to give the roots something to grab onto and hopefully encourage the roots to spread out throughout the container and not just grow straight down and then encircle the bottom



and then lastly, transplant the clones into the WW.. this took me 29min...

here they are before they were tranplanted into their new home.. this should be a decent crop because this is a great batch of clones with a even canopy



and here they are in the WW.. day 1







after that i made sure everything was functioning properly.. the main pump comes on and the manifold sprays....check...

the return rez pump comes on and brings water back...check..

no leaks..check.. so looks like i am good to go

there is not much to do during the first week in the WW, so i get to take a break from that room at least for about a week.. thats it for now... thanks everybody..!

 

[solofoe]

I'm kind of new here but wow that set up is awe inspiring

 

[GMax]

I'm kind of new here but wow that set up is awe inspiring

Wow..! thanks for using your first post to compliment my garden.. it is very much appreciated... you can check out some of the links in my sig if you wanna see it with buds in it..otherwise it is gonna be 52 days till harvest, so stay tuned..!

Welcome to ICMag my friend..! It is a great community..!

 

[Big John]

Nice setup dude! I like that aero tub, hell if you can build a nice hydro setup for 50 or 60 bucks you're doing pretty damn good in my book.

 

[Mister_D]

Glad to see ya back at it Gmax

 

[GMax]

Nice setup dude! I like that aero tub, hell if you can build a nice hydro setup for 50 or 60 bucks you're doing pretty damn good in my book.

thanks man it is grows like yours that inspire this system... I am starting to miss growing trees.. it is fun growing giant plants with huge buds..! I love my aeroponics though... I am trying to do a tree grow very soon....!

$50 is pretty cheap but the only reason it is even that much is because of initial pump cost... the first system is the most expensive, the other ones can be daisy chained on for very cheap..

if someone was planning on building this and started with only a couple sites but had plans to add more sites in the future, it may be wise to go with a oversize pump from the start, and then add more sites as you go..

thanks man...good luck with your grow too it is looking nice, I will be tuned in..!

Glad to see ya back at it Gmax

Thanks bro !! I am glad to be back....





got some pics...working on an update now...

 

[GMax]

so today i had some work to do in the veg room.... the veg room is where the real magic happens...! flowering is the smooth ride home but in the veg room is where crops are made or broken..! depending on how my schedule is when everything is hoonin, i may not have time to give crops that aren't that great a few days extra veg time because i have others that are ready to go.... the purpose of my veg room is to try and groom the best plantlets i can in the shortest amount of time.....


so I started the official time clock and got started...

my most important plants are my moms.. and today i did the first rez change on the new aero tub mom... before i started work on the aero mom i opened the drain valve of my waterfarm moms to get the old nutes out of them....

to change the rez of my aero mom, i unhooked the tubing from the tee+mister loop, and lifted the top container and set it to the side... then i plugged the pump in to drain the nutes.. i pumped the nutes into my unused atm veg system and let it drain out from there, next time i will T into my main drain line and add a shutoff valve, i just need to get a 1/2'' to 3/4'' adapter..

i put something underneath the container opposite the drain so the water level tilted towards it, and this drained 95% of the nutes...then i used handhelp shopvac for the rest...not necessary but depends on how you are...

then i mixed new nutes in a 5gal bucket and then added it to the rez..then put the system back together and plugged it back into the timer..

after this was done, my waterfarm moms were mostly finished draining...so i made more nutes for it in a 5gal bucket..by the time i was done making the nutes, they were finished drained... so i turned the shutoff valve back off and dumped the new nutes in the controller rez and then i was finished...

after all this was done, 19min had passed.. to change all my moms..!

the new aero mom system is going to be a great addition..!! once i get rid of my old mom, i will be running exclusively aero from mom-finish.. she is growing fast and should recover quickly from heavy haircuts in the future

all reports/reviews will say Sour Bubble is a SLOW VEGGER but here she is after only a few more days growth.....






then i had to do the biggest chore that i have to do, other than harvesting...... cloning..

I had to throw my pucks in the washer...then i opened the drain to my cloner so it would be drained when the pucks were done in the washer...i stopped the official time clock and took a break...

after the pucks were clean i went to work... apparently it takes me 1hr and 31min to vacuum out the leftover solution...make some new solution... and take 70 clones... but i don't just cut and stick... i take a razor and scrape the stem and also split it down the middle so it looks like a upside down Y.... this gives me the best results..!




like i said, i want to keep track of my work... and even though the work i did today had nothing to do with the current WW crop, i didn't add in the time it took to take the clones in the WW currently.. so i am adding it in too, to see how much time i spend growing a WW crop..


So far.... i have spent 2hr 43min on the WW... and 3hr 25min in my grow TOTAL since the start of this thread

that's it for now...

 

[Mister_D]

I like how you are keeping track of the time spent on the garden . Be interesting to know how much time on average different methods take.

 

[GMax]

Thanks D..! it used to say in my sig that aero was pretty set it and forget it.. even though it is not there anymore, it is still very true..


the times are wrong though.. I did my math wrong.. the WW time is correct.. but the total time is wrong... I forgot to add in the time it took to take the clones of the WW crop that is currently flowering... so I actually have a total time of 4hr 56min

also in about a week I am gonna time how long it take to change the rez and transplant from clone to veg and then go back and factor that in for both crops... then I would have the real numbers and can keep track from then on out... my guess is around 45 min... so roughly 6.5hr total since the start of the thread....

 

[GMax]

Had some harvesting to do today in my old flowering room... today was day 50 for them... so I only cut down 1 of the 5 that I have ready.. I am gonna let it dry and then cut down another and then when the rest reach day 60 I will cut the remaining of them down...

this is the first harvest since starting this thread... I wanna keep harvesting separate from the rest of the work.. it took me 2hr 37min to cut it all down...







I forgot to mention that I have only been running 1200w just in the old room for the last couple months... and getting damn near close to the same numbers as I was getting with 1800w...

I wanna grab an extra 400w MH cause I already have one 400 MH bulb and a ballast lying around.. and then run 1600w with a mixed spectrum during summer.. and then replace the 400s with 1000s in the winter and running 2200w... the mixed spectrum will definitely be worth it...!! I also think it will be beneficial to run those watts whether they are MH or HPS...! the 400 in summer will help with temps, and the extra watts will be good when it is easier to cool in the winter..!!