DIY Vertical Tube Challenges The Aeroflo 96 - The Goal Is In The Yeild

Mr Smith

Mr Smith

Well-Known Member
2 Nug of the Month
February 2010 Nug of the Year
2010 2 Plant of the Month
March 2012 Plant of the Year
2012
This journal is a double journal of 2 different grow machines. First I will describe the aeroflo 96. The aeroflo 96 is a aeroflo36 and a aeroflo60 that is connected together at the reservoir with a 1 and 1/4inch pvc pipe with a 500gph pump in the middle of that pipe that feeds into a 1/10th horsepower waterchiller that is fed back into the 2 reservoirs with 2 half inch hoses. I have already tested the configuration with the reservoirs seperate and had very good results. I am pretty sure the upgrade with the chiller is going to make it even better. The growroom has 2 600w hps lights in 2 large reflectors that is moved with a lightmover with the add a lamp package. The ac unit is a 11000btu unit. The intake is passive and the exhaust is a vortec 8inch with carbon filter connected to the ac unit's exhaust. Temps are a lil hard to control but the chiller makes things good.

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The DIY vertical tube is a machine I made and has given me alot of trouble in the pass. I have slowly been doing upgrades and improvements to try to make things easier to use. I have had 1 grow with this machine that has given me 1 gram per watt. A new water delivery manifold has been added to give me more even water pressure to the drip tubes. The growroom has a 1000w hps with no reflector that is moved up and down with a light mover, pulley and cable. The ac unit is a 12000btu window unit. The intake is passive and the exhaust is a vortec 6in carbonfiltered into another room. The room can hold good temps.

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The machines will be run about 30 days apart. The aeroflo96 holds up to 96 plants and the vert holds 85. The yeilds should be awesome and fun to compare between both machines. There's a good chance that this is my last journal so I will try to do a good job. Wish me luck and good fortune. I am hoping for some of my best work but time will tell.
 
Killer setup man! +reps for sure. I've always been interested in aerogrows but have never tried. Killer results though
 
Hey bro! Sorry I disappeared for a bit, but I'm all in for another one of your journals. I'm sure I've learned more from your journals than any others here. Can't wait to follow another! +rep for :goodluck:
 
Good day Mr Smith I am here with you if you do not mind another straggler. Really looking foward to the comparisons.

:peace:
 
Vary nice setup. I was just looking at one of those vert growers, 3000$ and 5000$ to buy this setup, so reps on the DIY and to saving money:thumb: Its looking like the start of a great journal to fallow
 
Its great to see new members interested and its always great to see old members and friends.
The aeroflo96 setup is definately the more expensive setup by far but the vert tube cost me a good amount also. I have spent over 500 bucks in just pvc. The aeroflos are pretty much plug and play while the vert created alls sorts of challenges for me. DIY systems are rarely ever perfect but they sure do teach ya alot.

I have been growing for 9 years. I have run a number of different hydro systems and built even more diy systems. I have been a member here for 8 years under different user names and I am friends with 420. We have never met but I do consider him a friend and even worked with him on the site as a moderator, growmod and newshawk. So its safe to say I've been around.
The goals are simple. Yeild. I want to get the vert to do as well or better than the A96. I am hoping for a average of 2 pnds every 30 to 45 days and to increase that number when the temps get cold and I can add more light. How much light I use depends on how well I can control my room temps. I would like to run up to 1800watts of light on the A96 and 1600watts on the vert. But for now its 1200watts for the A96 and 1000 for the vert. If I could get the yeild up to 3 pnds a month I will be impressing myself and might even get a big head lol. If you think my numbers are unrealistic, well I'm sorry but we are just on different levels lol. But remember, this is growing at a fast pace scale and a mistake can decimate yeild. This is perpetual multiroom growing using lots of small plants. Growing one plant is easy, growing many is hard.

The growing has started and the updates start this weekend. Lets see how well I am at growroom design and actual growing. You have my goals, lets hope I do a good job.
 
Your numbers seem right on. I've known some grows to produce more than that with a similar set up. It's all about that nutes and strains :thumb:
 
Wow, killer setup(s) Mr. Smith, I've got too many journals, but had to add this one :) +Reps for a badass setup and hefty yet achievable goals (for you)
 
Weekend's here, choirs are done. Its raining so I don't have to mow the lawn or go anywhere. My only bitch is to have to do these updates sober and not high. This is day 5 no smoking the blessed herb and I got to say its pretty fucking hard, have 4 strains to choose from and 2 I have never tried before, the other 2 are pretty damn good. I hope the new job I go after is worth it lol.

The aeroflo 96.
A pic of day 0 in flower. The clones were put into the machine just before the pic was taken. There is no veg time, its straight to 12/12 flowermode. I didn't have enough clones to fill the machine, 12 sites are left empty on the ends. The strains are purplewreck, northernlightsxbigbud, bluehash, heavydutyfruity and cinderella99. The hdf and c99 are not from feminized stock but the hdf showed female preflowers, the c99 is still a unknown so only 2 were used.

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Nutes were set @ 1100ppm using transition phase of the manufacture's nute chart. I use the chart as a reference and add water or nutes until desired ppm is reach.
 
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Two pics of day 10 in flower. The stretch is starting. Preflowers are just showing up and the c99 shows itself to be male and is pulled.

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Besides the 2 male clones, everything looks healthy. Waterchange is done only on the a36. There are shutoff valves to seperate the combined machines just for this purpose. 40 gallons is alot of water and 80 is too much to be throwing away everyweek so only half the nute water is changed weekly. Nutes are now set @1200ppm and up. I will allow it to go up to 1300ppm before water is added to dilute mixture.
 
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Day 22 in flower. My partner has been removing a few large fan leaves here and there but on day 22 I spend a few hours and really give them a good trimming. I remove all the large fanleaves and quite a few smaller leaf. It was a itchy sticky experience but necessary when you do this type of grouping.

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Snip, snip, snip. Now the buds can develop all the way down the plants, the plants can breathe so no worries about mold but mainly its for light penetration.

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Remember, if you can't see the bottom that means the light isn't getting there.
I am at 1300ppm plus/minus 50. I don't let the mixture get stronger than 1375ppm.
 
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