Quik aerogarden question

You are going to need an air stone if there isn't already some kind of circulation going to keep that water from going stagnant....

 

Pain: this is the best reason to have spares. An extra pump, filters and a few lights are pretty much a minimum of what you'll need to have on hand to avoid these problems. Everything on your Aerogarden is proprietary and you can't just run down to the local hydro store. I hope this helps. Hank
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...easy fix... go to walmart/petco/amazon.com and buy a 5dollar air pump and some tubing and a small airstone and have that in the rez. fixed

 

Pain: Mochenmat is correct. Walmart's 5 gallon aquarium air pump works fine. It doesn't replace your reservoir pump though. The reservoir pump circulates your nutes and they count on the little drop of your nutes from your delivery manifold to your net pots to aeriate your nutes, hence the term Aerogarden. It's pretty much of a misnomer. Without the reservoir pump, using just an air stone, you have now converted your superior seven hole A/G to the same thing as an inferior A/G 3 or the space saver six who have only a very little bubbler in the tank.
As I recall: A/G recommends you change the pump annually or after a second crop, which ever comes first. If yours takes a dump in the middle of a crop and you have spares on hand problem solved, and usually in less than an hour.
Thanks to the pump, your A/G is a miniature active hydroponic system. The addition of the the air stone only makes it much more efficient than it was designed to be for what we're growing.
A couple of things to add though, one, be sure to use the one way check valve in your air line that comes with it and try to install your air pump above the level of your reservoir. Second, don't use clear plastic air hose, it lets light in and causes algae problems. Hydro stores sell a blue hose but even better yet they also sell a black drip irrigation line that's not as flexible but it works better and doesn't kink as easily.
You can get the same type air stones you see at Walmart for three bucks at the 99 cents store for, you guessed it, 99 cents, and it's just as good. You'd probably find out these things on your own eventually but I hope it helps. Hank

 

Wait what does this pump do? I have the 6 pod one so I don't know anything other than that one

 

Mochenmat: if you're trying to use the Space Saver A/G-6 to grow our favorite herb you obviously didn't do your homework before you bought it. It's a two lamps, six holes version of the A/G-3 the shorter single lamp unit and it doesn't have a nutes pump in it to circulate your nutrients. It just has a little bubbler. The A/G-3 and A/G-6 are essentially DWC's with even smaller reservoirs than the A/G-7 which only holds 112 ounces. I never measured the volume of the A/G-3 or 6 but they both fit in the reservoir of my 7's with room to spare. The A/G-7 has a nutes pump that makes it legitimately a miniature active hydroponic system.

I've got an A/G-3 sitting on my kitchen counter with basil, oregano and thyme and it works great for that. It's also an excellent reading light for my recliner. My wife likes to use fresh herbs in her cooking so she likes it too. It's a great conversation piece for visitors. If you had researched this beforehand you could have saved yourself some grief.

A couple of my friends tried to grow ganja in their A/G-3 and A/G-6 and they weren't very successful. Neither model gives you enough light, enough volume of nutes or enough circulation for vigorous plant growth. Not for what we're growing. They thought they were going to get away with growing our favorite herb in an even more miniaturized version of my seven holes units at less than third of what I paid. Unfortunately they were wrong. One has already sold his A/G-6 at his garage sale for $5 and the other guy hasn't been able to find a buyer for his A/G-3 at any price.

I tried to get both of them to grow the herbs and spices in them because that's what they were deigned for but they were already disgusted with their experience. Too bad because it you know what you're doing the tall seven holes models with three high intensity CFL's, the more advanced programmable timers and the internal nutes pumps can give you an ounce in about three months and a lot of pleasure watching it grow. I hate to rain on your parade folks but from what I saw with the A/G-3 and A/G-6 you bought the wrong model and there is no upgrade like there is on the A/G-7's. Hank

 

Hank- can you elaborate on this i understand the AG3/6 is a DWC but when you say "The A/G-7 has a nutes pump that makes it legitimately a miniature active hydroponic system." it makes me wonder what a DWC is cuz last time i checked it was a hydroponic system.. did you mean an aeroponic system?

I bought a NIB A/G 6 for 30bucks off CL and so far the herb kit is doing fine (seeing as the seeds are 4-5 years old) but as far as growing cannabis for the full cycle yes your right not a good idea,but for germing and vegging til transplant its fine! but seriously if your spending 200bucks on a AG system you wasting your money!! spend 150 on a good HPS lamp and make your own DWC or AEROponics bucket at homedepot!

 

Mochenmat: You're right on a lot of your points. A/G's, in my opinion, are very over priced. My first one was a Christmas gift from a friend that turned me on to them. It was a bare bones Classic model; seven holes with the two lamps, a 12" arm/hood support, and for a year I went by the owners manual and grew only culinary herbs for my wife. She's a gourmet cook, but there was always this nagging thought in the back of my mind that if I could grow herbs, why not Mary Jane?

I tried a couple of seeds but the 12" limit on the arm/hood light stand and the two CFL's in the hood told me it wasn't a good choice. Then they came out with an upgrade kit with a 24" arm/light stand, three high intensity CFL's in the hood and a longer base to hood cord. Wa la, I now had the bigger model minus the new bells and whistles.

About a year later Sam's Club was selling the same Classics my friend had paid about $179 for for $69. I bought two more. Now I have three upgraded Aerogardens. The new seven holes models have all kinds of variables in their lighting program but an external light timer did the job for me.

A fellow I've never met in Northern California and I became pen pals and exchanged notes on what we were doing on our A/G's and I learned a lot from him. What I know about the Space Saver 6's I learned from him. Like the A/G-3 it has no pump. only a little bubbler to aiereate the nutes. The A/G-3 and A/G-6 are more DWC's than anything.

By virtue of the internal pump on the A/G-7 you do have an active hydroponic growing system. Personally, I don't think they should call it an 'Aerogarden' because that implies to a lot of people that it's an aeroponic system and it's not.

In an aeroponic system the roots aren't in water, they're in air, sprayed with nutes at frequent intervals. NASA made a neat documentary video about the history of aeroponics and their experiences with aeroponic growing here and in space. Keep an eye out for it on Discovery, Science or the History channels. It's well worth watching and if I run across it again I'll copy it.

With A/G, they get away with using the name Aerogarden by virtue of a top drip system that is fed by the pump in the reservoir, through a manifold distribution outlet on the underside of the planting deck where the holes are to nozzles that allow the nutes to drop, drip down on the grow baskets holding the grow plugs. Supposedly it's aireated on the way down. That's why the A/G-7's reservoir is bigger; it holds 112 ounces and it also has to accommodate a pump, a pump stand, a filter housing and a filter. It's crowded in there and even worse when we add an air stone.

I'm guessing your problem is that you didn't do your homework before you bought your A/G-6. Look at the materials that should have accompanied it, or you could have seen them on A/G' website; they clearly show you there's no pump or filter in the reservoir of the A/G-3 or 6, just a bubbler. Originally, the A/G-6's were $99. Then they were $79 and when word got around they dropped to $69 at places like Bed Bath and Beyond where they were finally trying to get rid of them for $49.

People bought them tried them, were unsuccessful, and sold them on the internet to unsuspecting folks like you. Can you grow with them? Probably, but what you have to do to accomplish that is not usually worth it. You're usually better off with a 5 gallon bucket, an air pump and stone and a CFL in a hood.

The A/G-7 is, in a very minimal sense, is a compact active hydroponic table top growing system and it's a really great opportunity for people to learn about hydroponic growing techniques. If you follow their directions it's rally hard to screw up. I've been taking hydro classes for a couple of years now and frankly when I started they scoffed at my A/G's until they saw what I could do with them. It's a great learning platform and once you know what the hell you're doing you can safely move up to other systems with a better chance of success. I hope this helps. Hank

 

yeah im begging to see your point the A/g 6 is very slow on growth...now to put on craigslist to get a/g 7

 

I have been thinking of adding (in series) 2 more Aerogarden lights(26w). Has any one tried this for a AG 7. I currently have a SnoRyder Auto grow in my Aerogarden 7. She is doing great, in fact I hope she starts to flower soon. Last year I purchased their arm extension. She still has some room for growth, but I think she's going to push the limit. Also, I started 2 clones from her for trying tiersierra mist(femenized seeds), I read in a GC forum that it is not wise to do cloning on autos. Well, I'm trying it 8 find out for myself. Here's a couple of pics of her and the two little ones ( took these clones from the 2nd node).

 

I found that for bloom, it was better to add aux lights in 2700k warm white to get the red wavelengths. I put six 42w CFLs in cheap clamp reflectors around the aerogarden light top.

The aerogarden 7 puts out 4680 lumens (1560x3 26w) and each 42w CFL puts out 2700 lumens of better colored light.

 

UR Fine just make sure U have at least one big air-stone in ur reservoir . Roots need oxygen.

 

I made a maylar shade for my AG-7 thats taped to the hood keep it long so as you raise the arm it still hangs down to the base also add a tiny solar fan to circulate the air.

Old man of the mountian