High Pressure Aeroponic Grow with LEDs

Bako said:
Hi buds! Sorry there hasn't been much interested shown in this thread OP, but I have been scavenging the internet for HPA growing information for months and would love to collaborate with you.

I have a couple very important questions, first what on/off time intervals are you using? How have you been changing the intervals as they age? Have you cloned with the HPA system? And finally why do you use air stones?

My understanding is HPA is exceptional because of the smaller droplet size and constant air around the roots where/when there isn't water. This allows short on times and long off times for the roots to absorb the small droplets and aerate, creating root fuzz. And with a high pressure pump (guessing you are around 100psi), I'm not sure the airstone in the nutrient reservoir would help, it might even hurt the pump imho.

I have been flirting with 3 seconds on/3 minutes off but think I need more on time during early development. I am currently only using the HPA system for cloning and veg but plan on integrating it into an undercurrent like system as a "top feed" option for roots above water.

I am also still looking for the perfect placement and angle for the misting nozzles (ruined at least 2 totes but now I have a guinea pig for future tests). My 1GPH nozzles seem to have a pretty tight conical spray and it doesn't seem perfectly spread throughout. Currently running 3 or 4 misters per tote with 2 or 4 of them on the corners pointing toward the middle of the tote.

I hear great things about the "cheap" aerocloner which seems to just constantly spray low pressure water so I have been thinking about greatly increased "on" times for cloning and veg.

/scattered thoughts rant over

Love the community here and most places I visit, keep it mello 420 gang!
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Yeah I haven't posted here in a while I have a more active log of this grow on a different site.

Timer intervals, my current interval 2 seconds on, two minutes and 45 seconds off. There is no set standard for the timer intervals it varies from Plants sizes always down to plant genetics. If I start from seedlings I normally go three seconds on and 2 minutes off. As they grow bigger eventually switch it from 3 seconds on to two seconds on and then the off time moves from 2 minutes off to 2:15 to 2:30 to 2:45 to 3 and so on and so forth. You'll need the timer that you can set multiple intervals at different times of the day. For instance sometimes I'll have my timers run at 2 on and 230 off during the day for 14 hours and at night I'll have it for 2 on and 3:30 off for 10 hours. They even have timers that automatically flip from day to night intervals via a built in light sensor. Pretty dope.

My pump has a bypass that caps out at 125 psi, but my nozzles have a restricted flow rate that keeps it as 50 microns. The microns are what's key when growing aero. You might have a high pressure pump but you could have inadequate nozzles that are too high or in some cases too low in micron size. The more nozzles you have per tote
The better. With more nozzles you can decrease your on time and increase your off time. I'm currently running four nozzles per tote two on each side. You can built your own aerocloner for very cheap and they do work very well if kept maintained. If you run the pumps 24/7 it's basically just a "glorified" hydroponic setup.

I'll try to get some pics up later today of the girls. They've ran into two huge problem in their lives. The first one, happened about a month ago. I let the reservoir run out of water on accident and they completely wilted , right in the beginning of the budding stage. They recovered somehow and kePT on budding, then with all these major storm weve been getting hit with, I was out of power for over 72 hours. I had to manually feed my plants with water to keep them alive, it was brutal. But we've survived and they're still trying their best to bud out
 
Ogiesel said:
It only makes maintenance less of a hassle, for instance say I have to work on my pump or take off one of the inline filters and work on that, I can use the ball valve from the reservoir to shut off all the incoming flow so I can work on it without worrying about the reservoir dumping everywhere. As for the pump in my drainage tote underneath the plants, I just have it so instead of me having to physically lift up my root Chambers, I can just turn the pump on and pump all the water out. Sometimes if I'm recycling my drainage, I'll put a inline Filter on it so it'll prevent any sediments or plant matter from entering my reservoir.

& Yes it would grow great untill you run out of space, which would happen very quickly.
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Thanks for the response dude. Nice to know you are considerate enough to help even though you aren't really here now haha. I will relook at hps if I ever decide to go bigger setup.

Aero & DWC Fridge Grow - Sativa Clone - Will Need Help With Keeping Her Small
 
Hey is there a post min for DM's? Id really like to check out your other journal. I will post some pics in a sec I'm just now getting setup, still lots of hydro stuff in the mail and havent got my good beans yet but got some clones from local reputable places to see what they look like when vegged. Built this thing a week ago and already fing love it. So fun to add more shit to. I could easily run 10 buckets or anything with 4+ sprayers off the same 1 pump with an accumulator and timers on different solenoids. I'm currently running an aquatec 8800 that is rated for 160 psi and ive tested to 155. Have it dialed back to 95-100 psi because the accumulator tank is only rated for 100. I have a 130 psi in the mail from pro water parts on amazon. I would highly recommend an accumulator. Much less wear and tear on your pump than starting it up every 3 mins or less.
The nozzles im using are rated for 50-140 microns and while I looked for the perfect 50's I think these are definitely the best for the performance and price point.

These are the misting nozzles I'm using - Plastic Fog Nozzle W/Poly Filter Misting Poultry White 1/8" NPT 1 GPH (5N0780FWH)

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And the tank - PWP Accumulator Tank With Wall Mount Bracket 1/2" Female NPT 2 Gallon

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My current setup. Still needs to be moved and have lots of finalizing done. The only essential thing missing now is a 3/8" solenoid on the intake line that will be triggered to go off when the pump turns on for no possibility of back flow. And an inline filter thats taking a month to get here
 
Currently using GH flora series and dabbling in some fox farm. Wondering the best way to put clones in the aero system with rockwool or a roto rooter. I pulled most the rockwool i could off these clones but still don't want it to hold the water there in fear of water logging the roots instead of constantly aerate. This didnt seem efficient and could have damage roots. Still cant get my head around the perfect way to go from seed or clone to aero. I have some beans incoming soon and need to get this figured out. Also I have a small 100 gph pump in the bottom of my reservoir that is on the same timer as the misters, so it turns on every 2-3 minutes to constantly stir the nutrient solution. Because the tank is holding pressurized water the pump only needs to run for a 2 minute cycle every 2 hours. Current nute soup at 400 ppm would like to be closer to 300. Still using tap water (base 120 ppm) 2 more days until RO system arrives.

Let me know what you think and what differences you have. Also that air stone, I want to use one for any benefit it may provide just cant think of one for my purpose. I'm wondering if it could add more air pressure in the pump system and promote a spray of closer to 50 micron droplets? So would you connect it to your pump timer so it turns on with the pump or have it always running?

Im up to 5 seconds on 3 minutes off for now while the roots are small and will probably fluxuate that over time. The timers im using are cheap, but very easy to set in 1s intervals.

These timers - Timer Switch Outlet, FEELLE Digital Programmable Plug-in Timer Socket With Alarm, Countdown, Timing Cycle for Plants, Gardening, Lights, Water Pump(2 PACK)

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I love them and highly support them. there are many brands and it is a cheap chinese item that takes 2 minutes to figure out looking at the 4th picture on the listing. I cycle them continuously for pumps and fans and set time on/off for lights, goes down to 1s intervals, and up to 3 on/off set times per day.

Trying not to put too much ramble info at a time will update when I get stuff moved, built, and finished

Cheers
 
filter strainer 1/4 inch tubing - Valves, Fittings and Tubing

Im not 100% it was this site but i got 2 or 3 of them at least 2 weeks ago.
Im an amazon whore and might buy these if I did it again

Omnipure K2533JJ Inline Water Filter with Quick-Connect - Replacement Undersink Water Filtration Filters

but i dont want too much filtered I think 150 microns is good for misters
 
If your dabbling in this HPA will def want to check out these and the whole malida line works great

50 1/4" PTF tees for 13-14$
Malida 1/4" Tee 3 Way Tube Quick Connect Push Fit RO Water Reverse Osmosis System (50)
 
Bako said:
My current setup. Still needs to be moved and have lots of finalizing done. The only essential thing missing now is a 3/8" solenoid on the intake line that will be triggered to go off when the pump turns on for no possibility of back flow. And an inline filter thats taking a month to get here
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Ahhh I see you when with the accumulator setup! It's lookin pretty good so far:thumb: what's your tent setup looking like? Have you started a journal for it yet? the only reason I opted to go without an accumulator is because I've heard stories about them blowing up haha, & knowing my luck , it would happen to me ! Besides, I'm perfectly fine just paying for a new pump every couple of years anyway lol. I always have another backup pump ready incase one fails, & I haven't had any problems with my pump yet.

I've never used GH products besides their cal-mag. Never used fox farms either. I started with a full line of AN, but now I use Supernatural with AN additives. I also use my own blend of Mycos, inoculants, & root stimulators. I caled it GieselJuice :goof: I haven't used it in this current grow now that I think about it. Probably would have helped tremendously. If you check out my first grow, I had some insanely nice plants that took off like rockets. I used it during that grow and I think it helped alot. Your best bet is the rockwool and trim it back as much as you can before you introduced them into your aero setup. The more roots your clone or seedling has when you introduce them, the faster they will take off.

RO water is a must, & for my setup, I have to know the temp of my nutes in the reservoir and then i base my ppms off of that, every nutrient line is different though so my exact ppm schedule won't be like yours but I keep my Reservoir at 68° +-3°. I'm at peak budding and my ppms are at ~700.

What size are your rooting chambers?
 
Bako said:
Just found out I bought those filters on multiponics.biz and not the eden site. I would buy them from the eden site and wish I looked more before I bought them at a markup from the multiponics site.
| Multiponics
High Pressure Aeroponic Filter – Multiponics
10 bucks for shipping too, was a ripoff

*edit* just cancelled my order with multiponics and ordered them from eden. multiponics did not offer good customer support.
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I see many people use that filter, but it's only rated at 150
I would highly recommend these
Omnipure K5505JJ 1/4-Inch Quick-Connect Sediment Filter
They're rated at 5 microns nothing is ever going to get through that. Now that I think about it, I don't think this filter would work with your setup because the filter has a max of .75 GPH & i believe you said your nozzles run a 1gph right? idk how much that would affect your mist.
 
Tunkers said:
Thanks for the response dude. Nice to know you are considerate enough to help even though you aren't really here now haha. I will relook at hps if I ever decide to go bigger setup.

Aero & DWC Fridge Grow - Sativa Clone - Will Need Help With Keeping Her Small
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These pics were taken almost a week ago when I was out of power so they're not "up-to-date" photos, the buds have grown somewhat since then. You can see the scars left from the reservoir running out of water. I'm still surprised they even survived.
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I can't wair for this grow to be over, I want to start a new grow already and try out some new techniques. This kona strain did pretty well. I have a few more seeds that I'll have to throw in the vault for safe keepings. I'm hoping for a nice indica strain next.
 
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