Hello there boys and girls 
,
I have 2 aquafarms, which i bought just over a year ago, and until recently, I had mixed feelings about them....
My main problem with them was that basically, as a stand alone unit they are bloody hard work, in terms of keeping the nutrient at the correct EC and PH, because you have to lift the top container with 25 litres of clay pebbles and the plant and think of an ingenious place to set it down without fucking up the roots growing outta the bottom, lol.. I have also read many many times about a problem with them if used with the controller, being that because it doesnt recirculate, the PH and EC in each of the units and the controller can differ greatly...
So, I decided the easiest way would be to use a Res and pump the nutes to the Aquafarm.... This required a drain which means you have to cut a hole...
This is one of the standard Modifications you see people doing to their aquafarms, the other one being the drilling(enlargement) of the holes in the bottom of the inner container to make it easier for the roots to grow down and through...Often doing it/them after buying and struggling with the 8 pot system, so obviously this will work for that setup too.
Now, People have gone about it in different ways, some using the existing hole at the bottom which the level indicator((when used stand alone)) or supply line((when used with the controller)) fits into, and others have made a new hole usually just below where the bottom of the inner container will be so there will be a drop and lots of splashing with the inward flow.
I decided to use the existing 16mm hole and the fitting which the blue indicator tube was attached to, so i just pulled the blue tube off.
I decided to fit my drain above the inlet from the pump, at roughly the 15 litre level, which leaves a nice gap of at least a good couple of inches or so between the water level and the bottom of the inner container. Now it is very important that you use the right size drain for the inlet...if you used the existing 16mm inlet, then you need your drain to be 32mm, the drain should ALWAYS be double the size of the inlet, this is the difference between a recircuating system and a flood . I found this out when i fitted a 20mm drain 1st off and it overwhelmed it before it could drain fast enough...lesson learned.
Anyway I used the holesaw of the correct size to cut the hole(again lol) and I fitted a 32mm elbow fitting which I got from B&Q, It is a 32mm Trap system elbow with the O ring and screw on end to seal it to the pipe its meant for... It was sealed in with hot glue
The hose I chose for the drain is 32mm sump hose from the pond section of the garden centre..., I glued the sump hose with hot glue again to a 32-40mm Flexible waste system adaptor from B&Q, another plumbing fitting. this thing was 50cm long, but i only wanted the 32-40mm adaptor end part to stick the sump hose into and then fit the 32mm adaptor part into the drain fitting in the correct way by unscrewing it, sliding the screw top over the adptor, then the small red plastic ring, and then the rubber O-ring over the adaptor, push it into the fitting and screw the threaded top up as tight as possible, while keeping some pressure to push the thing into it as it tightens...
That is the drain done. now for the inlet, I simply pulled the blue level indicator pipe off, leaving the 16mm elbow in place, and fitted some black 16mm flexible pipe, vinyl i think, I shoved it over the elbow and put a rip tie around it to be sure of a good tight fit. Heres a shot of the in and out lines.
and heres a shot of what the drain looks like inside
I positioned it like that because I think it is less likely to get clogged with roots if its facing that way as opposed to straight to the middle. I am going to see what I can do about a screen filter for it, like you would have on a flood and drain fitting.... I dont think the growshop will have one that size though so ill have to fashion one from something else...
The tank I used is a 90 litre Hydrogarden Tank from my dual flow system.
So, now that the inlet and drain are in, its time to fill the tank and test the system....
The pump I have used for this is a Sicce Micra, adjustable flow from 50-400L/Hr which is enough for now althogh I will want the water moving more when I put both farms on together.
The top of the tank is covered as you can see, with reflectix..., I cut a small hole for the line from the pump to the aquafarm, and a larger hole at the opposite end for the return line from the drain in the Aquafarm, The covering is secured with clothes pegs. At one end I moulded it to the shape of the corner and taped it together and then folded it back to make a flap/hinge of sorts, so it is a corner opening which can be opened but fits snugly over the corner the same as the other end which is held down with pegs.... I thought it would be easier to fashion an access port for EC/PH/Top up/changeouts than to mess around with the pegs all the time and end up losing them lol.
so heres a pic of the layout, running, re-circulating and ready to recieve the plant
works like a charm.....
So that is how I Have done it with 1 single unit to the res, just to finish off the large SBbx3 plant i have been doing with a farm as a stand alone unit....my mate was having to top up 2 and even 3 times a day so i decided i had to get it on a res to keep the PH and EC from jumping around and generally make it easier. I am going to prepare the other farm now that the big girl is in this re-circulating setup, so that as soon as the current plant is finished, I can get both units hooked up to the farm and et it going...who knows, I might even ,make a couple more...or do a system of smaller ones like the waterfarm instead of aquafarm....I definately wont buy any more as i think they are OK, but not worth the money when you have to modify it to make it easy enough to use, but i do like the design in principle and the air powered drip enough to make some.....
Anyway Heres a couple of pictures of the big SBbx3 girl in the aquafarm now connected to the res, recirculating, the pics taken on wednesday night, 31 days into bloom
Well there you have it.... My Little thread showing how I made my aquafarm recirculate and will be doing with the other soon.... there are 2 clones of the same ready to go so I can do another run, but with both farms and recirculating from the beginning.
I hope this helps someone maybe...
I would also like to thank the following people,
Heath Robinson and Natural born grower, whos chats and posts respectively helped me get the basic idea of what i neeed to do,even if i did take 9 months to implement it hehehe.
Big Toke, whos bio-bucket threads have been a source of inspiration to me in many ways, both by encouraging me by looking at those wonderful plants, and with technical details, which seriously helped out when i remembered Id read that the drain had to be double the inlet size. this might not be a bio-bucket, you you played your part mate without knowing it, and i have something else planned that will be partly inspired by ur threads too......
Last but by No means least Bushy Old Grower, for providing the wonderful sour bubble which i did all this for lol, because if she wasnt worth it, theres no way i would have gone the trouble halfway throu a grow for her....shes my best girl.
Of course all my wonderful friends here too, for the encouragement through my learning to grow...
If you like the plant...then check out the thread from the beginning in the BOG forum...
Well im away now...gotta get off the computer before my head explodes lol...
Be lucky every1,
Harry
, I have 2 aquafarms, which i bought just over a year ago, and until recently, I had mixed feelings about them....
My main problem with them was that basically, as a stand alone unit they are bloody hard work, in terms of keeping the nutrient at the correct EC and PH, because you have to lift the top container with 25 litres of clay pebbles and the plant and think of an ingenious place to set it down without fucking up the roots growing outta the bottom, lol.. I have also read many many times about a problem with them if used with the controller, being that because it doesnt recirculate, the PH and EC in each of the units and the controller can differ greatly...
So, I decided the easiest way would be to use a Res and pump the nutes to the Aquafarm.... This required a drain which means you have to cut a hole...
This is one of the standard Modifications you see people doing to their aquafarms, the other one being the drilling(enlargement) of the holes in the bottom of the inner container to make it easier for the roots to grow down and through...Often doing it/them after buying and struggling with the 8 pot system, so obviously this will work for that setup too.
Now, People have gone about it in different ways, some using the existing hole at the bottom which the level indicator((when used stand alone)) or supply line((when used with the controller)) fits into, and others have made a new hole usually just below where the bottom of the inner container will be so there will be a drop and lots of splashing with the inward flow.
I decided to use the existing 16mm hole and the fitting which the blue indicator tube was attached to, so i just pulled the blue tube off.
I decided to fit my drain above the inlet from the pump, at roughly the 15 litre level, which leaves a nice gap of at least a good couple of inches or so between the water level and the bottom of the inner container. Now it is very important that you use the right size drain for the inlet...if you used the existing 16mm inlet, then you need your drain to be 32mm, the drain should ALWAYS be double the size of the inlet, this is the difference between a recircuating system and a flood . I found this out when i fitted a 20mm drain 1st off and it overwhelmed it before it could drain fast enough...lesson learned.
Anyway I used the holesaw of the correct size to cut the hole(again lol) and I fitted a 32mm elbow fitting which I got from B&Q, It is a 32mm Trap system elbow with the O ring and screw on end to seal it to the pipe its meant for... It was sealed in with hot glue
The hose I chose for the drain is 32mm sump hose from the pond section of the garden centre..., I glued the sump hose with hot glue again to a 32-40mm Flexible waste system adaptor from B&Q, another plumbing fitting. this thing was 50cm long, but i only wanted the 32-40mm adaptor end part to stick the sump hose into and then fit the 32mm adaptor part into the drain fitting in the correct way by unscrewing it, sliding the screw top over the adptor, then the small red plastic ring, and then the rubber O-ring over the adaptor, push it into the fitting and screw the threaded top up as tight as possible, while keeping some pressure to push the thing into it as it tightens...
That is the drain done. now for the inlet, I simply pulled the blue level indicator pipe off, leaving the 16mm elbow in place, and fitted some black 16mm flexible pipe, vinyl i think, I shoved it over the elbow and put a rip tie around it to be sure of a good tight fit. Heres a shot of the in and out lines.
and heres a shot of what the drain looks like inside
I positioned it like that because I think it is less likely to get clogged with roots if its facing that way as opposed to straight to the middle. I am going to see what I can do about a screen filter for it, like you would have on a flood and drain fitting.... I dont think the growshop will have one that size though so ill have to fashion one from something else...
The tank I used is a 90 litre Hydrogarden Tank from my dual flow system.
So, now that the inlet and drain are in, its time to fill the tank and test the system....
The pump I have used for this is a Sicce Micra, adjustable flow from 50-400L/Hr which is enough for now althogh I will want the water moving more when I put both farms on together.
The top of the tank is covered as you can see, with reflectix..., I cut a small hole for the line from the pump to the aquafarm, and a larger hole at the opposite end for the return line from the drain in the Aquafarm, The covering is secured with clothes pegs. At one end I moulded it to the shape of the corner and taped it together and then folded it back to make a flap/hinge of sorts, so it is a corner opening which can be opened but fits snugly over the corner the same as the other end which is held down with pegs.... I thought it would be easier to fashion an access port for EC/PH/Top up/changeouts than to mess around with the pegs all the time and end up losing them lol.
so heres a pic of the layout, running, re-circulating and ready to recieve the plant
works like a charm.....
So that is how I Have done it with 1 single unit to the res, just to finish off the large SBbx3 plant i have been doing with a farm as a stand alone unit....my mate was having to top up 2 and even 3 times a day so i decided i had to get it on a res to keep the PH and EC from jumping around and generally make it easier. I am going to prepare the other farm now that the big girl is in this re-circulating setup, so that as soon as the current plant is finished, I can get both units hooked up to the farm and et it going...who knows, I might even ,make a couple more...or do a system of smaller ones like the waterfarm instead of aquafarm....I definately wont buy any more as i think they are OK, but not worth the money when you have to modify it to make it easy enough to use, but i do like the design in principle and the air powered drip enough to make some.....
Anyway Heres a couple of pictures of the big SBbx3 girl in the aquafarm now connected to the res, recirculating, the pics taken on wednesday night, 31 days into bloom
Well there you have it.... My Little thread showing how I made my aquafarm recirculate and will be doing with the other soon.... there are 2 clones of the same ready to go so I can do another run, but with both farms and recirculating from the beginning.
I hope this helps someone maybe...
I would also like to thank the following people,
Heath Robinson and Natural born grower, whos chats and posts respectively helped me get the basic idea of what i neeed to do,even if i did take 9 months to implement it hehehe.
Big Toke, whos bio-bucket threads have been a source of inspiration to me in many ways, both by encouraging me by looking at those wonderful plants, and with technical details, which seriously helped out when i remembered Id read that the drain had to be double the inlet size. this might not be a bio-bucket, you you played your part mate without knowing it, and i have something else planned that will be partly inspired by ur threads too......
Last but by No means least Bushy Old Grower, for providing the wonderful sour bubble which i did all this for lol, because if she wasnt worth it, theres no way i would have gone the trouble halfway throu a grow for her....shes my best girl.
Of course all my wonderful friends here too, for the encouragement through my learning to grow...
If you like the plant...then check out the thread from the beginning in the BOG forum...
Well im away now...gotta get off the computer before my head explodes lol...
Be lucky every1,
Harry
Last edited:
and kept it recirculating whle iAdded nutes...taking my time to let em mix throughly now its recirculating... I set the PH to 5.8 and the EC is now at 1.45 I think i will change to ripen next week (week 6) for a few days and then start flushing her... Im pleased with the modification and will definately go ahead and do the other farm.
