This is my first try with an aero set up. Im starting with a 18 gallon tote with six 3" net pots and a 500gph pump and im getting ready to make the manifold. I read that 50gph per 360 sprayer so I figure 10 heads on my manifold. I also was thinking of a couple heads shooting into water would that take to much away if I used 12 sprayer and would it be worth doing? Im starting with some veggies for first grow. My next question is how much water do i use in my tote? Next and final question for now is how often do I set up sprayers to spray. I thought I read or heard somewhere something like every 2 hrs mabye. Oh and what would be a good inexpensive nutrient setup. I was thinking of using this quick grow nute on ebay. The guy said use 5-11-26 for seedlings/veg and 10-5-10 for flower. Any and all info would be very appreciated and thank you for checking out my post
I have a similar setup but not as big as pump as your going to use. Im just running a 132 pump with 10 sprayers and it does just fine. I use 5 gal in the tote with botanicare product's and have it spraying once an hour for 15mins. I added an airstone to the tote because the roots will be in the bottom of the tote and I didnt like the idea of my roots just laying in the water so I added more oxygen to the water quick and simple. Good luck and Im sure the more exp growers will lend a hand, Im just a newbie to aero myself.
Thanks Disk. That is great info. Yeah im using a 500 pump but I should be able to turn it down some and hook up a stone without having 2 pumps. I may use it also for a set up with the same size tote and 3 vinyl 4" X 4" posts I saw that would require alittle more muscle. Thanks again for your time and response.
Yes I mix up the nutes and 5 gallons of water in an extra tote and let sit out for 24hrs with an airstone in the nutes/water I use tap water so im letting the chlorine evap.
I have it sitting about 2" above the nutrient level which is 5" deep for 5 gallons in the 18gallon tote.
12 Sprayers will be fine on a 500GPH pump. I usually run 14 on 396GPH pumps. I've played around alot with pump timing, the best timing ive found is 5 seconds (after all the air purges out) so I had mine set to come on for 8 seconds every 7 minutes.
is your plant site tote also your res? extra sprayers shooting into water completely unnecessary. running at intervals to allow the roots to dry is ideal, something like 1min on 5min off. that's what i used to run when i was using lp aero. (now its more like .1-.5s on 1min-5min off for my hp aero set i use now ) however, these timers tend to be cost prohibitive, esp if its just a little project and your growing veggies. 24/7 on can work though. a cheap and great nute i recommend to noobs is cns17 grow by botanicare. its one part and you really dont need to add anything. i've finished an entire grow from clone to flower using it and had no real issues.