Alright so here is my hydro cloner. I haven't really seen anyone using these aero misters, so I bought them to see how well they work. These are fantastic and I want to get the word out on the Dewey mister! This is a aero mister that doesn't run off a fountain pump. It runs off an air pump so the water doesn't heat up and clean up is a breeze! I really think these are going to revolutionize hydro and I am very much looking forward to buying more and converting my little box to hydro. I dream of a grow room filled with large tubs, a chiller, a bunch of Dewey misters and a few plants.
Here is what they look like. They are about 5" tall and are able to be mounted from the bottom. They run off of powerful air pumps. Your fish tank air pump will not put out the volume needed to run these guys. The smallest pump you can use is the eco air 2 and that will power two misters. Anymore and you'll need a commercial air pump.
The mister comes with suction cups if you want to put them inside the container but I found it a lot better to mount from the bottom. It makes for easier clean up. I can just put a bleach solution and let that run through instead of having to clean the base of the Dewey mister and everything.
I used a step bit that runs to 13/16" the grommet is 13/16" and a 1/2" inside. I run the bit through but check for fit before I hit 13/16". One bucket I made the hole a little too small and had a little leak but when I went to open it up I went too big. Down to one bucket but that's ok, this one worked perfectly. I will build a larger cloner that I can put two deweys into.
Here we have 1 Dewey bottom mounted to a 3gal bucket
Here are two cloner buckets running off one pump. The spread is perfect.
I was able to fit 9 each. Neither of these hole saws are the correct size. I had to order a 1 7/8 in order to properly fit the 2" net cups.
Gotta make it light tight! Use reflective tape, don't cheap out. I went with the cheapest one that was still like 10 bucks. Had to wrap it a few times.
I have a seedling heat mat that I used for my clone dome. I put that under and the clone dome base on top. I put some foam from the neoprene collar under the bucket to keep the mister off the ground. I have my heat mat set to a temp probe but it is not water proof so I cut a little hole and slipped a finger from a rubber glove over the probe and put that in the hole. Set temps to 75℉ and I also needed to cut a hole for pressure relief. I put some air line in so water wouldn't pump out.
I tried using great white in the cloner but that produced a small amount of slime at the bottom so I cleaned out my cloner and filled with superthrive, 4 drops per gal of bleach and ph to 6. I found bleach is a must. I'm not sure why but if I used bleach from the start I'm pretty sure I would have clones a lot faster. Instead of bleach I am now using a product called Z7. I only put it in today, these guys rooted with the bleach. Some also recommend a specific type of pool shock and it's the same as ez cloners water additive at a much cheaper price. But you'll have to look into that. This is the easiest way to clone hands down. I'm done with coco and a clone dome!