DIY Aero Cloner the EZ-Cloner Replica in 10 Easy Steps!

[smoke1sun]

Built my own 70 unit cloner out of a 18 gallon rubbermaid, but I'm starting to get a little worried. Temps start at 74 degrees and haven't gone higher than 80, but my nice clear tap water (1ppm chlorine from the faucet and adjusted to 6.5ph) turns cloudy and has a mild odor in 24 hours. So far I haven't used a drop of fertilizer and clean the unit with bleach. I've done this 5 times. How are you guys going days or weeks with clean water? I can't imagine how bad it would get if I added fertilizer.

It looks like I'll have a 0% success rate if I let the water get swampy. Any suggestions that don't involve dropping water temp to 68 degrees with a water chiller?

Forget to mention I use an air pump to aerate the water. It's not exactly boiling, but it looks like both air stones are moving more than enough air for 10 gallons of water.

If if water temp is slightly high as mine was, i was told to buy a water chiller. To much for me. So after searching i tried hydrgaurd(now aquashield?) and it dramatically decrease my rate of failure due to soft musshy stems.

I Can use my water for over 2 weeks if i wanted without changing it, I dont use a airstone because i run my pump 24/7(to cheap for a cycle timer)

But lately i've been hearing about earth worm casting teas, as a good thing for areocloners also. So i wanna try this, hydrogaurd is not to expensive, but one less thing to buy is one less thing to buy. But in my area earth Worm Casting are impossible to find. So we will see.

 

[oddsman]

If if water temp is slightly high as mine was, i was told to buy a water chiller. To much for me. So after searching i tried hydrgaurd(now aquashield?) and it dramatically decrease my rate of failure due to soft musshy stems.

But lately i've been hearing about earth worm casting teas, as a good thing for areocloners also..

Okay, thanks. So the idea behind hydroguard and Aquashield is to add beneficials, correct? And the worm castings tea is supposed to do the same thing? That's interesting with the tea. Worm compost is available in my area, and it would save me a trip to the hydro store. I did a search on worm compost tea but didn't see anything relating to aeroponics. Did ya read about it on ICMag?

 

[smoke1sun]

Okay, thanks. So the idea behind hydroguard and Aquashield is to add beneficials, correct? And the worm castings tea is supposed to do the same thing? That's interesting with the tea. Worm compost is available in my area, and it would save me a trip to the hydro store. I did a search on worm compost tea but didn't see anything relating to aeroponics. Did ya read about it on ICMag?

Yeah in this thread, its a long thread buts it in there and a good read. haha

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55259

 

[WeedIsGod]

Crazy helpful thread. Thank you everyone, especially KR and Pipedream. You guys got me thinking about making my own hydro setup and I ended up saving quite a bit of money. You guys are great.

I've got a couple quick questions to anyone out there, though. Would you expect these cloners to work using hydroton instead of air as the growing medium? As in a 3" diameter, 4" length cylinder of hydroton per plant. I've yet to set up my grow room fully, but it's underway and I'm now having second thoughts about my entire grow process. I'd like to root clones in either a small Tupperware fogger or even my aero cloner and then transplant to the hydroton cylinders for veg. And for flowering I'll just plop them in a DWC/NFT setup. Does this sound like a good idea to anyone other than me?

Keep up the good work guys.

 

[Pipedream]

Yes, it works fine as long as you have developed a root-mass prior to placing them in the hydroton. Otherwise not enough moisture is retained in the basket to promote root development. Plus, once they are introduced to the hydroton with roots, you'll need to start feeding with real nutes.

 

[WeedIsGod]

This is gonna be siiiick. Thanks man. And my bad for derailing if I did.

 

[gardenlover]

Looks great! this is going to save me tons!

 

[Budz4Freedom]

Hey does anyone have an idea on going from aero cloner to rockwoll 2" cube without hurting the roots???

I thought bout rooting em then transfering to a cup with cut rw pieces

 

[moses224]

yes just split rockwool place bottom of stem and roots then insert in 4" block itll take of from there...also transfer to soil easy...i routinely transfer to wool or soil after 4 weeks in cloones 1 week to root 3 week veg

 

[Budz4Freedom]

Thanks man I gotta put em in a 2" cube only Im selling the clones so it's not like i cud jus put em in a 4"

Althought that is a good idea

 

[growfosho1]

Sweet-Leaf
oh also mine is clear so i can see the roots any isues i should know about ?????

If the light reaches your root systems they will turn green and you DO NOT want that. Use a BLACK container.. All BLACK everything. You only want white, light reflective material "above ground"

 

[airphat36]

GDW, I clone maintaining 80f temp. By doing this, it reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water which is key to cloning IMHO. The water temp controls the dissolved oxygen so it is critical to put the used dissolved oxygen back at 80f. If not you will have bad results.

What water temp do you use?

But honestly, I have learned there are many ways to do things. I am just sharing what works well for me. And what works well for me may not work well for others as everyones situation is different.

The consensus seems to be that 78*F is the perfect temp to keep your water in an aero cloning machine, but I don’t think it’s at all true that reducing oxygen is the key. In fact I believe it probably just the opposite.

The whole point of cloning with aeroponics is to increase the oxygen available to the roots. Instead of being stuck in some soaking wet Rockwool the cuttings are suspended in air and mist. Most of the commercial aero cloners and DIY models even include an air pump and diffusers to increase the dissolved oxygen content of the water.

I’m not sure exactly why 78*F is ideal for cloning but it happens to be the same temperature suggested for cloning in Rockwool or even soil so I don’t think it’s connected to the oxygen content of the water. Another thing is that people who clone in DWC/Bubble cloners must keep their water temps around 68*F because without the benefits of misting roots suspended in air they need more dissolved oxygen.

I’m actually in the process of building an aero cloner myself and the most difficult part is trying to figure out who to believe. If I check five different threads on one subject I always find a few people with different opinions than everyone else. So far I’ve even found directions for three different size bits to drill holes for the same freaking misters.

 

[airphat36]

You need to keep in mind the main objective of these systems, mainly they are cloning devices not grow systems for mature plants. As such, all of the rooted cuts will eventually be relocated into other types of growing mediums or systems. If you use a high-pressure pump and achieve extremely small droplets, the root mass will grow like a cotton-ball. It will be comprised of almost all root-hair and no developed lateral structure. As such, it will have developed totally unsuitable for transfering into its final mature growth and flowering medium.

Don't get hung-up on the use of the term "aero" in conjunction with these cloners. They are what they are and do what they are designed to do very well...... Produce clones by rooting cuts.

I've actually seen this type of system used to take plants through all growth cycles and even keep mothers around for years with amazing results. There always seems to be someone who wants to point out how it doesn’t fit the NASA definition of Aeroponics. I just divide them into separate categories of low or high pressure aero systems. I've even seen people call these systems "NFT on steroids" but I don’t think that really fits either. It seems like people with true aero machines just want to remind everyone how special they are but unless anyone has a better idea I'm sticking to low pressure aero.

 

[betterboy]

King Ralph
hows it going? good to see this thread up and going yet. just goes to show ya a good thread will last
BB

 

[CaNNaBisALChemY]

very colorful nice touch

 

[CaNNaBisALChemY]

I've actually seen this type of system used to take plants through all growth cycles and even keep mothers around for years with amazing results. There always seems to be someone who wants to point out how it doesn’t fit the NASA definition of Aeroponics. I just divide them into separate categories of low or high pressure aero systems. I've even seen people call these systems "NFT on steroids" but I don’t think that really fits either. It seems like people with true aero machines just want to remind everyone how special they are but unless anyone has a better idea I'm sticking to low pressure aero.

adding a ceramic aeration stone increases your success & growth rate

 

[oddsman]

If if water temp is slightly high as mine was, i was told to buy a water chiller. To much for me. So after searching i tried hydrgaurd(now aquashield?) and it dramatically decrease my rate of failure due to soft musshy stems.

I Can use my water for over 2 weeks if i wanted without changing it, I dont use a airstone because i run my pump 24/7(to cheap for a cycle timer)

But lately i've been hearing about earth worm casting teas, as a good thing for areocloners also. So i wanna try this, hydrogaurd is not to expensive, but one less thing to buy is one less thing to buy. But in my area earth Worm Casting are impossible to find. So we will see.

Just an update for anyone looking at EWC tea. My water was cloudy after 24 hours, had a bad odor after 36 hours and I didn't want to know what would happen after 48 hours. So I began using a cup of EWC tea and my water is now a week old with a nice earthy smell and perfectly clear with a very slight brown tent. Overall, I'm very happy with the results and plan to continue adding 1 cup of EWC tea every other day until the water turns on me. Two weeks between changes would be great but I have a feeling I could go a month.

 

[phyberoptic]

Here is the 9 hole bucket cloner built from the ideas in this thread:

Uses Petco 270gph pump, 1/2" nipple and some 1/2" PVC. 360 mister heads (red ones) from ezclone a 5 gal bucket with plain bucket lid which makes a leakless seal. Neoprene kneepad drilled with 1/8" larger holesaw than the 2" used for the holes for a tight fit and no leaks. four heads cover the bottom of the lid nicely (tried the Lowes spinner misting heads but they were not good). Tried to inject air using an external airstone plummed to the power head pump, but the flow seem to be reduced too much so run without that now.

yeah, use a black bucket, and run the pump 15 min on 15 off to keep the water cool. I think there is enough oxygenation of the water fromm the fall back into the res, but it is easy enough to throw an airstone in there and a small external pump.

-=PO

 

[phyberoptic]

Sup with the pix? Do they block neubs from posting pix?
-=PO

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=11805

Just user error. fixed now.

 

[Pipedream]

phyberoptic - Nicely done. Looks like an efficent, clean, well thought-out, system. My only coment would be to encourage you to add one more small hole and cheap airpump to run that airstone in the bottom of the water. Your bucket is so well leak-proofed that there is really no place for fresh air (O2) to enter the system.

Do you have a shot with the misters installed and running? I'd be curious to see the coverage you're getting.