v2 'dream system' DIY and diary

farmhouse cat said:

I hear ya man..just dont blow your brains out yet!! lol I know how ya feel...i wanted to blow my brains out a few times putting my setup together.

How many sprayers you runnin again?

here is a link to the pump im using. Been running strong for a year no problems.

http://images.harborfreight.com/manuals/47000-47999/47906.pdf

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i am running 48 sprayers as well...

damn that is a big ass pump... arent u running seperate rez for each 'wall' in your room... so you have one of those for each ?? or just one rez for all

here i am thinking i would have to go half hp max

thanks for the link

Mister_D said:

Gmax another thing you might consider is just buying a pressure tank and a selinoid valvle to supply the sprayers. Then just use the pump you have to recharge the pressure tank in between feedings. This is what the HP aero guys are using. Pressure tanks are adjustable psi wise, so you can set it to whatever you want from 15-80 psi.

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yeah i have a tank from an old RO system around here somewhere... it is only 1.5g and i dont know the psi but i aint going for anything crazy ... i just need to search the hardware stores for the right fitting..need compression fitting on one end and garden hose adapter on the other.. or a bunch of peices to accomplish the same thing.. so i can attach my pump and manifold

thanks

Nope just one pump and one res. You might be able to figure out something with one of these reducers, but i dont know how it would seal on a round pipe.

https://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/5976Sweetness-thumb.jpg

heres is the thread https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=15115&page=4

Also i noticed you have the water cooled co2 generator. If i were you i would run it drain to waster straight from the city tap. Those things are notorious for having problems when setting them up for recirc. If your room is sealed well, then the water waste is minimal. Ive been on the same propane tank for 3 weeks and its still over half full.

farmhouse cat said:

Nope just one pump and one res. You might be able to figure out something with one of these reducers, but i dont know how it would seal on a round pipe.

https://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/5976Sweetness-thumb.jpg

heres is the thread https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=15115&page=4

Also i noticed you have the water cooled co2 generator. If i were you i would run it drain to waster straight from the city tap. Those things are notorious for having problems when setting them up for recirc. If your room is sealed well, then the water waste is minimal. Ive been on the same propane tank for 3 weeks and its still over half full.

Click to expand...

that reducer may work with lots of thread tape and some aquarium silicone but it wouldnt be at an angle, but does that really matter?? they got that one prebuilt system, i forget the name but it is white and shaped like a drum with the opening door.. they show it on Weeds alot.. it takes rockwool slabs that arent angled in any way.. maybe i can angle them once they grow with the screen that i build.

also with the co2 generator .. i tried running that thing recirculating and it almost not possible.. the water coming out the hot end is hotter than i shower..and i was trying to share it with the same 50g rez as my radiators.. it would prob take a ridiculous chiller

i am going to get a soleniod for it soon and run it dtw.. looks like i prob need a few soleniods anyways ...

and let me make sure i got this right.. for using a pressurized tank in my setup it would go...

rez>>pump>>pressurized tank with Tee>> soleniod valve connected to timer>>manifold

also i am seeing different types of tanks.. some that stand up and have one small fitting at the top and ones that are one their sides and have a garden size fitting on the side and a small fitting on top which ones do i want ??

before i do anything i need to redisgn the manifold.. water tries to escape through the quickest point.. since the water enters from on point it is gonna naturally go straight across to the middle spray bar first.. once it hits the bottom it pressurizes and goes back up the pipe.. causing the misters to mist while moving on to the next row looking for a new exit.. it keeps doing this till it finds the last row and the water realizes there is nowhere to go but out the misters.. if the middle spray bar was not capped off it would rush out that hole and none of the other rows would even spray

there are 8 rows so i think i am gonna add a tee peice between every two rows and then a threaded barbed adapter so i can attach tubing and then the water will enter from 4 different spots and hopefully cut the time of the process down


if i can cut the 'warm-up' time down to 5 sec and then 5 full sec of spraying i would be happy.. if not then i will be looking into other options

I would just get the pump from harbor freight, it has a built in tank..its like $150 i think.
But yea you got it right. rez....pump...solenoid..timer..to manifold. make sure you put a foot valve on the intake of the pump inside the rez.

I had an idea that might work...can you angle the vertical pipes outwards a little? If they are angled outward slightly and you use those reducers with silicone i think it might solve the leak problem.

Also with that pump i dont think the manifold really matters, as it has enough head to pressurize and get all sprayers firing...as long as its top fed.

I know you mentioned it before but you will need that netting or something to hold the plants upright... or they will start falling and bending the neoprene collars.

I think this system is gonna rock once you get it all going. The roots hanging down inside the pipes without water pooling is gonna be great!

Yes by all means drain to waste with the co2...it will run itself without problems..thats if you can live with the water waste. I fill up a 55 gallon drum and water the yaard with mine. Makes ya sleep better at night..but in reality its very minimal.

farmhouse cat said:

I would just get the pump from harbor freight, it has a built in tank..its like $150 i think.
But yea you got it right. rez....pump...solenoid..timer..to manifold. make sure you put a foot valve on the intake of the pump inside the rez.

I had an idea that might work...can you angle the vertical pipes outwards a little? If they are angled outward slightly and you use those reducers with silicone i think it might solve the leak problem.

Also with that pump i dont think the manifold really matters, as it has enough head to pressurize and get all sprayers firing...as long as its top fed.

I know you mentioned it before but you will need that netting or something to hold the plants upright... or they will start falling and bending the neoprene collars.

I think this system is gonna rock once you get it all going. The roots hanging down inside the pipes without water pooling is gonna be great!

Yes by all means drain to waste with the co2...it will run itself without problems..thats if you can live with the water waste. I fill up a 55 gallon drum and water the yaard with mine. Makes ya sleep better at night..but in reality its very minimal.

Click to expand...

built in tank ?! SOLD.. I prob wll go with this pump tomorrow i may have a few more questions when i get it

as far as leaning the system back it is a good idea, the water would tend to 'run' down the backside of the pipes where there are no holes and may solve the leaking issue altogether because the water running down the pipe is what is causing my problems and it seems to favor the front of the pipes at the moment

but that may cause me some problems with the structure if it is tilted..it probably took an architectual genius to build the leaning tower of Pisa and i would be trying to do the hydroponic version of that and on wheels..easier said than done...

the wyes are looking more and more appealing... they sell 4x4x2 wyes so i could use those without having to redesign my veg which i may have to do anyways.. i tried to skimp out and cut corners on the coolers when i first built them and then i ended up growing out of them for years... i am 100% confident that i will probably do the same with this so i might as well do it right the first time and in the long run it will pay for itself.. my last system already proved that to me...once it was built i never bought anything for it again

the screen for this is gonna be sick !! it is gonna be..parabolic.. is that the word i am looking for.. it also gonna be attached and detachable to the system and move with it when it rolls stay tuned

thanks again bro

i know i promised an update but the bud i harvested wont be dry enough til the morning so i will be back to pick it up tomorrow i will snap some shots and update then

before i go..

before i go..

checked on everything one more time before i left and almost forgot to take this picture...

it seems the sm90 and roots excelurator didnt have any troubles together in the cloner

these clones were taken on tuesday.. here they are after just after just 5 days in the cloner



hard to get a focused pic need new camera there are explosive little root nubs u cant really see

12/14 rooted so far

GMax said:

checked on everything one more time before i left and almost forgot to take this picture...

it seems the sm90 and roots excelurator didnt have any troubles together in the cloner

these clones were taken on tuesday.. here they are after just after just 5 days in the cloner

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=39030&pictureid=926669"]View Image[/URL]

hard to get a focused pic need new camera there are explosive little root nubs u cant really see

12/14 rooted so far

Click to expand...

Proof`s in the proverbial puddin.....

Peace....Freds.........

update

update

i stopped by the grow today because i had some chores... last night before i left i noticed that my humidity was at 45% and my dehumidifier which is set to 60% was still running.. so i unplugged it and reset my thermometer... let it go overnight without it and it said it got up to 62% sometime during the night but was at 55% when i was there... also w/o the dehuey the room temps were 7 degrees cooler than usual.. now sitting at 74F...

i am gonna watch closely and see how long i can get away w/o the deheuy

first thing i had to do was transplant the clones to flowering system.. here they are before transplant...


inconsistent in size but its whatever

then i had to take more clones... i have a 4 spare clones from the other batch^^ and i am gonna veg those for a few days then flower them out so i can get caught up a little

here is my mom before her taking clones...was able to get 16 clones from her..same recipe as last time 5 gal..5ml RA..5ml sm90



after that i had to change a rez in the flowering room so i decided to snap some shots

this one has 15 plants in it



and this one only has 5 that have just finished stretching...



everytime i dont fill up all the sites the plants just grow twice as big..


HARVEST...

my harvest is up from last week at 148.4g

i know you are probably saying to yourself," if he has 8 systems that all harvest around 5oz, that totals out to about 2.5lbs.. that really not that much'

well in a way you are right but imo TIME is often underrated when it comes to harvest.. you see i harvest my Sour Bubble at day 50 ( i have let it go longer it doesnt change that much)

so me harvesting 40oz in 50 days > someone harvesting 50oz in 9weeks

50 days allows me to have more crops per year.. a total of 7.3.. we round down and i have 7 crops a year at 40 oz totals out to 17.5lbs with 15days downtime(bout right)

i know i still not breaking any records but we are talking bout the low end of the spectrum of my yeilds.. i was consistently getting closer to 6oz consistenly before summer started and i will be back there and beyond before too long....that would bring me to a way larger grand total (48 oz in 50 days > 60 oz in 63 days) totaling 21lbs/year

all this with a notoriously low yeilding strain seems not bad to me but maybe i am trying to justify myself too hard lol

even though i may not be breaking any yeild records yet but i could be breaking speed records... i have done crops that took less than 60days from branch on mother to harvested bud

an update with the system... i stopped by harbor freight to find the pump that FHC linked me to... they said they wouldnt have it in stock til Thurs.. it was only $99 though...

i havent made any more progress with the leaks but the system has just been sitting untouched for the last few days.. i think my minds already decided on using the wye elbows though.. so i will be spending the next week collecting them from all the stores in my area...


i appreciate all the help and tips and you will see the system come to fruition soon enough

thanks everybody

well i have spent the last few days running around trying to grab up as many wyes as possible..

i have hit 3 home depots, 3 lowes, and a menards and now i have a total of 38 wyes... i decided to go with 4x4x3'' wyes because in the long run having a 3'' hole compared to 2'' would be preferred... i use 3'' wyes for my other system and it has come in handy... if a misters happens to pop out my hands are small enough to fit through the holes and insert them back in.. also i use a toilet brush which i have found to be perfect for cleaning these and it wouldnt fit through the 2'' hole...

so i am ditching the 2'' neoprene and cups and trading them out for 3''... i am gonna have a new veg system and it is now gonna be two containers...6 cups x 4 cups totaling 24 plants each...also i am not sure yet but i may be able to go 6 wyes high per row making my system have 48 sites instead of 40

also may have to do some adjustments to the manifold as well to account for the wyes... you want the misters to be placed perfectly so they will spray out the wye instead of just hitting the walls inside the vertical part and draining down... if i take a cup out i dont just wanna see water raining inside the pipe, i want to be getting sprayed in the face

havent been to the grow since last update..i am breaking my own rules right now holding grow equipment at my new house(all these wyes) so i am gonna stop by the grow today and drop them off.. i also have to harvest another crop.. i will snap some pics then

i start school on Monday so i am trying to have this pretty much complete by then but i have a pretty convienient schedule this semester so it shouldnt interfere that much

thanks everybody

well i finally finished the system...



even with the wyes it is still sturdy and rolls smoothly

smoked a little hash to get motivated and then i cut all 56 peices needed with a $6 hacksaw...yay... i borrowed a miter saw from a friend but the gaurd on it made it not possible to cut something so large... so i did it the old fashioned way.. took a couple hours and was a real pain but it possible


i was able to get 6 wyes per row so now i have 48 sites instead of 40...

i also had to re-drill holes for the misters in the manifold.. which was a pita.. here is the perfect placement of the misters when using the wyes....



you can also see the lip on the inside of the wye.. this is where the 3'' netcup will catch for convienience and leak-free


then i made another adjustment to the manifold... I havent bought the built-in tank pump yet... before it was leaking too bad to run any type of tests on.. now that the leaks are fixed i gonna test this pump well before making a decision...



unfortunately my big 100gal rez is leaking from where you screw in the garden hose adapter... nothing bad or wrong with it , i just not strong enough to screw it in all the way by hand and i dont have a wrench that big.. so i sealed it with some aquarium silicone and i gonna let it dry overnight before i fill again...

once it is dry i am gonna fill my rez all the way up and run the system for a week just to monitor the water levels and check for any leaks etc... i dont want any suprises once i put plants in

i have already tested the base of the system... it drains well and doesnt leak but i am not taking any chances so i sealed those as well with aquarium silicone

as far as plants go... i put these 4 into flowering today...



the water got low but i was really lucky and i caught it in time but that is why there are the crinkled edges... need to install those float valves asap since i be gone so much

three good ones and a runt but i just playing catchup

then i drained that container and refilled with nutes and transplanted the clones i had waiting over into the veg..

my other batch of clones i took a few days ago have already rooted too...cant really complain about the Roots Excelurator

I still havent got around to harvesting the plants that i have ready so that batch is getting a few extra days

gonna give my momma a couple days then take some more clones...she still putting out large branches when i need her to be putting out multiple small ones... but here soon i should be able to take 50+ clones from her then fill up the system ..just a little bit more 'training'...my next good batch of clones i will probably start a second mother anyway

i popped a few more Bubble seeds last week and they germinated in 24hrs but then never popped through the soil...damn..i used those flat expand in water pucks from walmart and they were over a year old so that may have been the issue.. bought some new rapid rooters and started 3 more... it sucks though cause every one of those Sour Bubble seeds are like precious gems

thats about all thats going on here... my next move is to finish up the big veg and cloner.. i already got two manifold built i just need to drill the holes and attach the misters... i need to build one more manifold and buy two new containers and drill them with 3'' holes...

stay tuned... questions and critque welcome

You are one bad mofo gmax... I like your style. Keep showing us how it's done.

Coming along nicely bro
Can't wait to see this new system crank out the dank

bobblehead said:

You are one bad mofo gmax... I like your style. Keep showing us how it's done.

Click to expand...

thanks bro... will do

b00m said:

Coming along nicely bro
Can't wait to see this new system crank out the dank

Click to expand...

thanks i cant wait either


stopped back by today to finish up some things...didnt have anything to do with the plants so i finally harvested that crop... i got my 100g rez all sealed up and ready to go so i gave my pump a test and it not gonna cut it....

so i took a trip to harbor freight and got the pump that FarmhouseCat recommended.... it was only $95.99 but i got a 2year replacement warranty on it for 19 bucks...why not.. for a grand total of $125.10 with tax...not bad

i ordered a few soleniod valves off of ebay and they should be here Thursday so i cant test anything till then but after that this system should finally be complete.......until i start construction on the second one...the second time around it should be way easier though because i know what i need and i not waste any money on ideas that didnt work or things i didnt use

i got that pump in my trunk so i might stop back by the grow and drop it off and i will snap some pics..

later

quick update...

i stopped by after class by to take some more clones and then i had a rez to change in the flowering room

unfortunately last time i was here i raised the lights over the mother to promote more stretch from her... i didnt secure the lights well enough and one of the sets of lights fell on top of my mom....shit... luckily i checked on them before i left so the damage was minimal but it burned up some shoots and leaves.. i removed them but it cost me a few clones and this week i was only able to take 13

luckily i have been getting full 100% success here lately but i want to have no empty sites...better yet have choices of clones.... oh well, in couple weeks it will be better to harvest crops with empty sites than none at all...

losing my mom was the most devastating setback EVER... never neglecting my mom again...

anyways..still havent been able to have a real test run of the new system but i got the pump all ready to go...



thanks again FHC....all i am waiting on is the soleniod valve... i ordered two from ebay.. should be here by friday..thanks for the link bobble

then i also installed a float valve on my veg due to last weeks close call...cant get enough of these things lol cuts down on my work and gives me peice of mind .... i am gonna take out the best clone from this batch and start a second mother and run one less through flower




i do not miss filling up gallon jugs and manually topping things off...fuck that... all 8 of my coolers have a valve... my mom has a valve.... and now my veg has a valve and so wont the others when they are ready... i think i am gonna skip valves on my cloners though because they are rooted and ready for transplant before i ever need to add water

thats it for now i wont have to come back until my soleniod arrives and then i will test the system and post results

Lookin good man!

I like your pump...

What bobblehead said.
Does a pump like that make a lot of noise?

farmhouse cat said:

Lookin good man!

Click to expand...

thanks buddy and thanks for all your help ...

bobblehead said:

I like your pump...

Click to expand...

i like it too if it does the job.. it is a whole house pump so it shoudl be good

ILoveit said:

What bobblehead said.
Does a pump like that make a lot of noise?

Click to expand...

I dunno i have to give credit where credit is due...FHC recommended the pump and he has stated that it is loud... i do not know personally because i have not plugged it in yet... i am waiting on a soleniod from ebay...the pump only runs when the pressure drops which i am told is only 5-10 seconds after spraying


once i have the soleniod then i am gonna give the system a plantless run for a week.. you can see the water line in the pic... going by the gallon notches on the side of my main rez that is about 75g when rez is full.. i am gonna see how much the water drops in a week running dtw

i am not as worried about noise as i used to be because this is a remote grow and there should never be anyone in here but me... not like it used to be when i lived here and i had to worry about company hearing funny sounds from my basement ...unless you can distinctively hear it from outside my house then we should have no problem



i ordered an extra soleniod valve also... deciding whether i should use it for my Co2 generator or to ditch my chillers and run the radiators dtw (keep in mind i pay water and sewer...and i have a horror story on this subject also, i tell another time)...co2 has not really been an issue...right now i am using NO form of co2 whatsoever for the last month and my ppm are somehow stay between 750-800..its a mystery to me but i not complaining... and i have checked and rechecked my ppm meter ... and in the winter the houses gas heater puts off enough to keep it around 1000-1200ppm

Bobble i am interested in your opinion on the radiators... i know you use a soleniod and i know you have a well but do you think it would still be practical if you paid water and sewer??? also does it have to be plugged into a controller(dont own one yet) or could it be plugged into a simple dial-a-temp ???


thanks everybody

my soleniod valves have not arrived yet...since monday is Labor day it probably wont be here til Tuesday

i was planning on having it by now and was gonna stop by the grow to install it...even though i didnt have it i havent been to the grow since last update, so i decided to stop by anyways...

first thing i do when i go there is just have a quick check on everything..obviously a lot can go wrong with aeroponics, or any grow, in a few days when your not there.. but everything was fine

in fact i am really comfortable with this grow now..the float valves keep them topped, and gravity is not going to fail...most of my Eco pumps are many years old and havent even slowed... the timer i use is an ART Dne but it IS my second one...the first one ran strong for almost 5 years then we had that bad storm and the power was out for 7 hours, i bought a generator and had the timer plugged in to it and it was running on a low idle and it fucked it up i think..it had lived through other storms and power outages etc..

but it came with a 5 year warranty and was replaced for FREE.. i was so happy and confident in the timer that i bought a second one for my new flowering room..the one running now is only couple months old so it definately has few more years left on it

when my soleniod valve comes i will test the new system and i will probably sit in there for a couple hours and watch it..then i will stay close by(every 1-2 days) for the first week and watch the water level ( which will also get topped off by float valve when too low) and check for leaks...if everything works out that first week that should be all i need to be confident with that as well.. the only thing different from the new setup and the old one is the pump but it will come on every few minutes which isnt really abnormal for it, kinda like the equivalent of being hooked up to a house with leaky toilets or faucets

I am ultimately trying to stop by 1-2 times a week and maintain all this in under 8 hrs a week which i should be able to acheive..

when i stopped by today i washed out a old cooler, open drain valve to dump old water..pull out old plant and roots..wash inside pipes with a toilet brush..spray inside down with a garden hose (i use a valve at the end of the hose and open it halfway so it is a wide stream and give it a 'power wash' to wash away any debris) then i open the lid and brace the pipes against the wall and wipe down the inside of the cooler..sounds like a lot but it only takes 20 min..every few crops i will run bleach overnight

then i make nutes and fill her back up (less than 10 min)... then transplant the clones (5 min) here my new batch on day 1...(left)



while i am transplanting from veg i unplug it and open the valve to let the water drain from it and let gravity do all the hard work again.. when i am done transplanting it is empty and i lift out the airstone and pump, fill her back up with water and make nutes right in the container.. then put the pump back in..fill her up with netcups and and move the clones from the cloner to the veg (less than 20 min)



here they are tranplanted, day 1 veg..



i took the best clone from the batch i put into flowering and started a new mom...same Bubble genetics.. spent a good 30 min washing hydroton



the two moms are linked together and attached to a controller res..i forgot how slow SB vegs so hope this speeds up the clone factory process so i can get my new room filled also i added a humidifier but it runs out of water before i return so i need to figure something out with that

then that was all i had to do, i was in and out in under hour and half .. i was supposed to harvest today but my next batch is two weeks behind it so i let it go til next time .. here is a pic.. the one on the left is the ones taken from plants in stretch kinda funky looking and didnt stretch well .. the middle is only 5 plants looking awesome .. and the right one is next to harvest overcrowded and flushed too agressively



next time i come i will take more clones and change the rez ( 10 min per cooler ) and harvest... all that including harvest should only take couple hours

thats definately enough for today..thanks everybody

Thanks GMax.