Am looking at trying an aeroponics setup and wanted to get some advice. I saw a simple setup that was a 5gal bucket with a submersible pump with a riser and a 360 degree sprinkler head. I thought this might be a good intro with out much investment as I have much of the supplies. What does everyone think. Would you recommend going with 2 nozzles, on opposite side? My thought was to graduate it a 20 gal tub with a multiple sprayer setup if I am satisfied with the results. Also, what size pump do y'all think would work best with 6 sprayers (GPH)?
Low pressure aeroponics is what you mean. But to answer you question a 175 gph will take cair of 6 misters if it doesn't have a long run. I did this 8 mister in a 5 gallon bucket with 175gph but it was under powered. What I would do if I was you is something like this spray head If you have any more questions message me. I have played around a bit in low pressure aeroponics and currently I'm running a high pressure system
That looks pretty awesome, but looks like it takes up a lot of space. I would guess you would need a reservoir and a system to circulate the water from the grow bucket back. I have a 3x3 space to grow in and limited fund, so my thought was to try to be as self contained as possible, with a submersible pump, and use as much stuff I have here and only buy what I really needed. I saw a setup for an 18 or 20 gal tub that used 1/2 in PVC that set on the bottom and had 6 or 8 "fingers" coming up with a small nozzle (kind you show on your system) on each one. Pump sits in the tub with a tube that connects to the manifold. My thought is, while growing my main plants in coir, trying it out with a 5 gal bucket with one plant. I would just use an upright sprinkler shaft with a sprayer (whether an actual 360 degree sprinkler head or one from the hydro shop). either way, kind of proof of concept. I just don't want to get a pump, and have to get another one if/when I go to the tub.
What I think is better is a $20 12 volt diaphragm pump that is 115 psi. Here is some pictures of my current setup. It is a run to waste
So you pump in the fluid from another tank, spray the roots and then drain off into the pan? That seems great, if you have the room. I doubt I could even fit your cooler in my shower. From the picture, I see two pumps, plus a filter, plus what I can only assume is a really expensive controller. I hope, some time in the future, to build out an area in the garage, but for now a 3x3 is all I have and has to be on the economical side. It has got to be self contained as the more room taken up with equipment is less room to actually grow. That is why when I saw the system, I thought it would work. It recirculates the water/nutrients and you replace once a week. Low power, economical use of supplies and small footprint.
The timer I built myself it cost about $40. There is only one pump $15. The other thing is a Accumulator tank ( expansion tank) $35. And the solenoids were $10 a peace. Last run I did a smaller cooler. That would fit in a tub. I could have only dun 2 misters in it 6 was overkill. I also could have put 3 plants in the small cooler too. If you in the shower than run to waste would be awesome.
In the picture with the timer, I can see two things that could be pumps. Which one is the pump, the larger one (right of timer) or the smaller one (below timer)? Also, do you have manufacturer and/or part numbers for the pump and the solenoids or where you bought them? How long did you run the spray for and at what rate (GPH)? It would seem that there would be quite a bit of waste of both water and nutrients. This is why I was looking at a self contained system. I would change the water/nutrients once a week. Eventually I hope to build up a grow room in the garage and this looks like it would work in there, at a later time.
With 6 1gph nozzles size .025 spraying one second on and 200 off my system used around 5 gallons a week. This was overkill. The pump is on the bottom of the timer. I got it from wish. But you can get it on Amazon. The pump has to be whatever voltage you want to use, 100-125 psi with a built in pressure switch. The solenoids I got off of e bay 1/8" in size.also size can vary for what you want to use. I also got the misters from Amazon
I like the idea of it being external as it would make it easier to replace during a grow. Could you use this type of setup to recirculate rather than DTW? My thinking is attach the pump to the side and have it draw through the drain hole from the cooler or a hole/valve in side. Then pump that through to the nozzles. Being that the both the pump and solenoids are 12vdc, how are you converting from 120vac? Lastly, how much power do they use? I may have a chance to get a small solar setup and was thinking that I could run the 12v stuff direct.
I'm transferring 120v ac to 12v dc with a Xbox 360 powersuply. You totally can do a recirculating setup on this. Two reasons I do DTW is one the ph doesn't change (set it and forget it for a weak). Second 5 to10 gallons is one weeks worth of water. Why recirculate if your going to change the water after a weak. Recirculating will only contaminate the nutrient solution. You could have a bigger Rez mine is only 10 gallons and it can last two weeks. That's the beauty of this system a lot less water and nutrients never really need to pass 600 ppm's
My problem, for now any way, is space. Even an extra 5 gallon bucket is going to take up grow space. That is why I was looking at recirculating. I did some looking on Amazon and Ebay and saw, what seem to be, some decent pumps like yours and some timers. If I were to do a 3 plant, like your cooler, do I actually need the solenoids or can I just run tubing to sprayers?
You can. This is a very cheep pump and it's loud. I keep my pump and Rez in the shed and pipe it to my garage. There are more quite pumps like RO pumps that are 24v like a shurflow 8800 this needs a separate but plug and play pressure switch. It's also more powerful you can do without the solenoids with it and the cheep one as well. But the pumps will burn out faster turning on and off so much. But no solenoids and accumulator tank are required. It will also drip out these mister without a solenoid. You would also need a different mister that has a cracking pressure to it.
You lost me on most of that, but something I did understand, even with the solenoids, isn't the pump still turning on and off the same amount? With a recirculation system, couldn't you turn on the pump for a longer period, like an hour and then off for a few?
Yes. But by doing so the roots get to wet and it defeats the purpose of the system. Ok you can do this system two ways witch are. 1: Timer, Rez, pump, filter, than misters. 2: timer, Rez, pump, accumulator tank also none as a (expansion tank), filter, solenoid, mister. System 1: pump kicks on every time the timer goes off. You would need different misters that have cracking pressure. This means. The mister won't spray until enough pressure has built up in the lines. If you don't have the cracking pressure all the water will drop out of the misters. System 2: the accumulator tank holds water under pressure allowing the system to run without the pump for a good amount of time. I have a small accumulator tank so I get about 10 misting cycles before the pump kicks on. Witch is every 30 min or so. If you had a 2 gallon tank it would last all day with the pump running once a day. To make this work properly solenoids are required to hold the pressure back that is being held in the tank.
So, let me see if I understand the setup, using the first picture you posted. The pump (under the timer) sends fluid to the accumulator (big black pill looking thing) which holds the fluid, under pressure, until the timer opens the solenoids and sprays, then shuts off. 1. How does the pump "know" to come on and fill the accumulator? 2. You have it set at 1 sec on and approx 3.5 min off. Can you recommend a timer for something like this? I can't find anything other than sprinkler timers or lighting timers, which even if setup for a 24 hr cycle, only have limited number of on/off cycles and will not program for a cycle of less than 1 min. 3. You say that recirculating fluid would contaminate it. I would think that it would use up the nutrients after a week or so of recirculating, but how would it contaminate it? Do you mix your nutrients at an extremely low concentration? In my mind, it seems there would be a huge waste if just dumping after it sprays. 4. How large is your accumulator? The largest, decently priced one is less than a liter (24oz)?
You got the system down. The pump shuts off and on by itself. It has a pressure switch built in. If psi drops below x amount the pump kicks on once it reaches 115 psi it turns off. Recirculating is just fine to do but you would have to adjust the pH every day. Also after a weak you going to change the water on a recirculating system (dump it out and start fresh). 5 gallons will last run to waste a week. a recirculating system will need more than 5 gallons and your going to dump what's left. You waste more water recirculating. I have a small accumulator tank because it was cheaper (24oz). You can use a 2-4 gallon reverse osmosis tank instead.
Sorry, computer problems. Even Linux is not immune from them. I think I get it the pump kicks on and off with the rising and lowering pressure of the accumulator tank. I still don't get how the pH would go too far out of whack, but better minds than mine.... Any suggestions on a pump? All of the ones I have seen all have a one minute minimum, and not nearly enough cycles for a 24 hr period. Have not been able to find any that would just be set to a regular on/off cycle by seconds/minutes. Is this something that I will have to look for at a hydro store? Haven't been looking there much, but assume I will have to start sometime.
Update..... What do you think of this? Nearpow Model #CECOMINOD036912 I tried to put the link in here but it doesn't want to cooperate. It is an Amazon link.
If you want 120 v mane somthing like this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B018...=JZQ9VN74ME0QHZTYYQH5&dpPl=1&dpID=71ZvNUhM3vL The timer was the hardest part for me as well that's why I built my own 12v timer