How to:DIY Aeroponics

[PURPLE_TREES]

Well after seeing and hearing all of the great success with aeroponics. I decided to try and make my own because the 600$ price tag on the GH system was not cutting it.

I will try and make this as detailed as possible, but throughout some parts of the process i did not have my camera.

It was much easier than i thought to make this..I encourage anyone to try it Here we go

MATERIALS:
*POWER DRILL
*HACK SAW
*3" HOLE SAW
*4" PVC PIPE-as much as you need
*4" PVC CAPS-2 per section of piping
*.75" I.D.- 1" O.D.(outter diameter)
*1" PVC caps 1 per section of piping
*PVC GLUE
*EZ CLONE SPRAYERS(optional)you can just put small holes in the 1" PVC. I put one on each side of a plant site. to prevent the roots growing over the sprayers and blocking them
*1"- CAP ELBLOWS-one per tube(for fill)
*A BARBED ONE END, THREADED OTHER FITTING TO CAP ELBOW
*.75" I.D. hosing for fill
*A few T's for fill from pump
*.75" or 1" ebb and flow tray fittings-or you can make your own with parts from hardware store(for drain)
*.75" or 1" I.D. hosing for drain
*PUMP- i used a 633 gph for a 20 site and it sprays like crazy

Sorry if the parts list was confusing but i have already built this and its off the top of my head.. Ask if your are confused, but it is relatively easy to figure out how to build.

get your PVC pipe and space out your hole centers about 8 inches away from each other. Be sure to space them out from the ends too..




Use your 3" hole saw to cut your holes out for your net pots to sit in.



On the opposite side of the 4" PVC drill a hole to fit your drain fitting. Drain sizes vary.



Install the drain. Do not over tighten the drain as it will make the O-ring slip and cause a leak.



You may now cap the opposite side of the drain with the 4" cap, be sure to always use a good pvc glue and primer or a good sealant.




Now drill a hole in the other side of the 4" PVC in the cap to thread the 1" pvc through. Drill it towards the bottom so the 1"pvc with the sprayers in it will run down the bottom side. Opposite the 3" holes. I should have used rubber grommets inside the holes to ensure there would be no leaks but i just used glue..




For the next part i dont have many pics. but it is very simple.

-Cut your 1" PVC to a length slightly longer than your 4" is so it will run inside of the 4" and hang out a tad at the end.

If using EZ clone sprayers-Drill the appropriate sized holes to fit the sparyers and and space them out 8 inches from each other, putting one on each side of a plant site.

You may now cap one side of your 1" pvc and be sure to use pvc glue or a substitute.

Now slide the other end of the 1" pvc through the hole in the 4 inch cap. Try and use a grommet but if you cant, it is possible to use glue and be free of leaks(what i did)



Insert your ez clone sprayers into the 1" pvc and slide the 1" PVC inside the 4 inch to get it right where you want it; so the sprayers are on each side of the plants and wont be blocked by roots.

Glue the last 4" cap onto the PVC and be sure sprayers are running on the opposite side of the 3 inch holes.

Put on the Elbow and threaded fitting onto the open 1" pvc when the glue dries.



Run your .75" hosing to your pump from the barbed fitting connected to the 1" pvc. This is how they will spray.



Run hosing from your drains back into your resi



You will have to support the PVC tubes. i just constructed a small frame with 2x4's. Be sure the drain side sites a couple inches lower than the other side so it drains proper.

Also clean all plastic shaving from the PVC as they will clog your sprayers

Also-i used 3.75" net pots with hydroton. They seemed to fit the best with the 3" hole. I had some leaks with the 3" net pots.

Sorry if the DIY was vague and missed some descritions but i got kinda lazy and lacked pics. I will try and edit this and improve when i get some time, but it should get you started! feel free to ask questions!

YOUR FINISHED PRODUCT!!

[screwdababylon!]

wassup!!!
this is really cool man!
+ rep

few question tho:

1. the 1" tube with sprayers has 2 ends right?
one is connected to a pump and whats up with another?

2. i also see a lot of albows (black pipe above the res)
what are thay?

3. what is the res copacity?

4. how powerful is the pump?

5. one pump - one 1" pipe right?

6. more details + more pics please

thanks a lot in advance

[tr4p4rtist]

NICE! This is baller, definitely sticky worthy dude!

Alot of people are hesitant to do homemade aeroponics but this DIY makes things easier. Perhaps you'd care to share your favorite nutrient recipe recommendations?

[PURPLE_TREES]

few question tho:

1. the 1" tube with sprayers has 2 ends right?
one is connected to a pump and whats up with another?
-Yes it has two ends one is capped to create pressure in the 1" to force the water out of the EZ clone sprayers or out of the holes if you dont use the sprayers

2. i also see a lot of albows (black pipe above the res)
what are thay?
-Yea since there is only one pump running 4 tubes i had to "T" it 3 times to get 4 outlets from the pump. You could just use 4 smaller pumps without elbows but i just decided to use one bigger pump

3. what is the res copacity?
-Im just using a 18 gal rubbermaid.

4. how powerful is the pump?
-It is a 633 Gallon per hour by eco plus. I think i might have went overboard with the pressure

5. one pump - one 1" pipe right?
-yea.. one pump, one-1" pipe in each tube

6. more details + more pics please
-I will try and get a few more pics, i know it is kinda confusing but i just set it up in a way that its hard to get pics. But i will try! hope this helps!
thanks a lot in advance

[PURPLE_TREES]

Originally Posted by tr4p4rtist

NICE! This is baller, definitely sticky worthy dude!

Alot of people are hesitant to do homemade aeroponics but this DIY makes things easier. Perhaps you'd care to share your favorite nutrient recipe recommendations?

Ever since seeing Rumps and other great success with the lucas formula i have decided to use that and it seems to work great! very simple and productive

[auntiesocial]

What is the purpose of the 1" pipe? Why can't you just drill small holes in the large pipe, mount the sprayers to the bottom, each sprayer gets its' own hose, and connect the hoses to the pump with T joints or a DIY diffuser?

[Bobs16]

is 4" big enough to hold the roots of a full grown plant? I just see all the roots cloging everything up. How long will you have the water on for and off?

[Norcalmatt]

the member Earl had a waaaay better setup exactly like this one, but better! i think you cna search the name or ask him. Its bigger and looks more efficient. Check it out, im gonna build this exact setup, but the tubes arnt big enough me thinks. I dont know anything though, heh.

[PURPLE_TREES]

Originally Posted by auntiesocial

What is the purpose of the 1" pipe? Why can't you just drill small holes in the large pipe, mount the sprayers to the bottom, each sprayer gets its' own hose, and connect the hoses to the pump with T joints or a DIY diffuser?

Yes that actually would have been a much better design.. This was my first time building this so i just used quick ideas. This method could be perfected much much more. it is just a baseline

Originally Posted by Bobs16

is 4" big enough to hold the roots of a full grown plant? I just see all the roots cloging everything up. How long will you have the water on for and off?

Im not sure yet if it is.. The roots are already growing wild. I would have used a much bigger PVC tube if i could have redone it.

Originally Posted by Norcalmatt

the member Earl had a waaaay better setup exactly like this one, but better! i think you cna search the name or ask him. Its bigger and looks more efficient. Check it out, im gonna build this exact setup, but the tubes arnt big enough me thinks. I dont know anything though, heh.

Cool norcalmatt! thats great buddy sorry i had to waste my time to share that with you guys. As i said this was my first time trying this out and there were many many imperfections. But fuck it dude.. i tried and this is how it ended up. Im sure earls is wayyyyyyyy better than my set up as you stated but put this out there so people could get ideas from it and create their own from it... peace

[Bobs16]

I have seen this same set up done on other forums with what looked to be 4" PVC and he did great with it. Unfortunately I did not see anymore about his "system" as after the initial grow post he started to show more of the plant when all I wanted was more info on the system lol.

Problems I see with this is the roots clogging everything up (good picture to see is that Bubble Bucket tut as the whole 5 gallon bucket is filled). I have done hours of research. 4" PVC is as big as it gets I think the larger ones are ABS I think and dam they get expensive. I thought about doing it in those storage bins but I heard the sprinklers do not penetrate enough to get to the center of the root mass, and with this it kind of soaks the roots when it runs off to the drain. But I hope you keep us updated because I would liek to learn from your mistakes Or Pm with any updates thanks in advance mate.

[PURPLE_TREES]

thanks for the positive comment bobs.. I will for sure keep you updated on this or in my journal for this grow

[Earl]

PURPLE_TREES, I just saw your DIY thread
and it is great.

Thanks for sharing.

[auntiesocial]

<i>put this out there so people could get ideas from it and create their own from it... peace</i>

And you were sucessful!

Sorry if my comment came off like a critisim, that wasn't my intention at all. I just thought you might have had a good reason I hadn't thought of. I guess mounting the sparyers on a removeable pipe would make the constant cleaning and changing eaisier? I dunno...It is why I asked.

For the record any "system" you make by hand, with your own ideas and your own needs in mind is the "best". The world needs more original ideas and less imitations IMNHO. It may take some refining over time, but that is the fun part. Kudos. +rep

[killjoy]

how much did you spend on all of it? including lights and nutes.

[PURPLE_TREES]

Thanks you guys.. i tried, and it was slightly sucessful i just need to make those few adjustments.. But i would really recommend aero to anyone. its a great system and the growth rates are amazing. Just to share my plants grew from 5" clones to 26" monsters in 13 days with Co2. this system is great.

Killjoy-I dunnno man.. my credit card bill is at like 4,000$ but thats including wayyy more shit than this. but if i had to guess i would say 1,500-2,000$