haole420
Active Member
a lengthy post, as my posts usually are, but want to put this info out there to save others the trouble of learning the same lessons the hard way...
my aero setup consists of orbit nozzles and a 1HP shallow well pump with 6gal pressure tank (~$100 at harbor freight). out of the box, it pushes about 50psi, but i have it dialed up to maintain a pressure between 55psi and 75psi. crank it up to as high as you can go. higher pressure = smaller droplet size. my nozzles are rated up to 1500psi but my pump can't seem to generate more that 75psi, so if you want more pressure , get a bigger pump, but realize that 1HP pulls about 7amps (i think). you don't want that on the same 15amp household circuit as an HID lamp! granted, the pump only kicks on for about 30sec every once in a while, but for those 30sec, it's probably pulling 7amps. also keep an eye on the working pressure of you fittings. i have a quick coupling that is the weakest link, rated at 80psi, so 75psi is fine for me.
i went through about 7 different pumps: fountain pumps, sump pumps, you name it. avoid submersible pumps: they generate lots of heat. most sump pumps and such are equipped with a back pressure valve. when there's too much head or back pressure, the valve opens and water just squirts out the bottom. they're designed to drain basements, pools, ponds, etc. the only pressure they're designed to handle is a little head (weight of the water itself increased by height to which you're pumping). use a irrigation system pump if you want to go heavy duty or a shallow well pump if you want something that's reasonable suitable for a home system. pressure tank is absolutely necessary.
output goes through a spin down filter. using 150micron filter to allow larger fungus through. filter also has a purge valve that is handy for depressurizing the system within a few seconds. output then piped to a sprinkler solenoid valve powered by 24v adapter that's connected to day/night timer set to mist 5sec every minute during the day and every 2 minutes at night. cheaper cycle timer would do the trick too.
make sure you use a BRAIDED vinyl tube between the valve and your manifold/nozzles. standard clear vinyl tubing ballooned to diameter of about 6 inches and almost blew apart. i didn't have any pressure release mechanism at the time either. use a filter with purge valve or, at a minimum, install a simple pressure release valve. use metal clamps to connect tubing to barbs/bulkheads, as zip ties don't quite give you a solid seal and tend to allow for a slow drip. also, don't let the tubing crease, as it tends to stay that way. i used a clamp gently opposing the crease for several days to straighten it out. also, try to keep the distance between the valve and the manifold/nozzles to a minimum. the more tubing or pipe you have between them, the more water there is to act as a pressure reservoir and the nozzles will pee and dribble for a while (with bigger droplets at low pressure). ideally, each nozzle would have it's own valve right behind it, but whatever. i'm not going to go that far.
my manifold has orbit 10 nozzles spread around perimeter of 20"x30" rooting chamber. get 2X more nozzles than you plan on using. the require at cleaning at least weekly. overnight soak in vinegar will ruin the gasket. CLR works well too. i soak in CLR, agitate (while soaking) with vibrating massager for a minute, then blow air through the front of the nozzle using an air compressor. carefully plan your nozzle placement based on the pattern of the cut outs on your lid to allow for even spray distribution. also, get a tub with a lid that's not yellow (like mine). i had to cover it in foil HVAC tape.
rooting chamber is about 14" deep. i keep about 3" of solution in the bottom which functions as a shallow kind of DWC (SWC?). a triple fogger floats in the bottom and is on for 50sec, off for 150sec. running it all the time or even half the time heats up the res too much. the misting nozzles stir the fog in the chamber when they kick on every minute. when i have guests and have to switch to stealth mode, i turn off the pump/nozzles and leave the fogger on (still cycling it on/off). i use a 4" computer fan hooked up to 2 D-cell batteries to blow air through the lid to stir the fog, which would otherwise just sit at the bottom of the chamber when the pump is off. works beautifully and is virtually silent!
the rooting chamber spills over through a bulkhead (again, allowing for about 3" to remain in the bottom) and drains to my lower control res which is where the pump sucks up more solution when the pressure drops to 55psi. my particular pump requires a separate backflow valve ($10) on the input. one thing that will save you $$ and trips to the hardware store is to put threaded adapters on special/expensive slip PVC fittings like the backflow valve and spindown filter ($$$). when you first setup your system, you may want to rearrange stuff. you can only move stuff around so much when it's glued into PVC pipe. you can always cut the pipe and use a coupling, but you can only do that so many times. it also makes it nice when you want to replace those parts or yank them for assembly of a new system. this is my one major regret as far as design shortsightedness. i got the idea from the solenoid valve, which comes with threaded female connections and i did, in fact, end up moving around a few times.
upper root chamber solution temperature is still around 85F/30C. lower res a little lower. had a puny desktop water cooler with peltier plate in it and ran water through it using a submersible fountain pump, but that just didn't cut it. lowered temps about 0.5C. picked up a used water cooler with old school compressor in it just last night. going to gut it and hook it up to my system. hopefully i can get res temp down to ideal temp of 65-70F.
hope this helps. thanks to all the other posters for info!
my aero setup consists of orbit nozzles and a 1HP shallow well pump with 6gal pressure tank (~$100 at harbor freight). out of the box, it pushes about 50psi, but i have it dialed up to maintain a pressure between 55psi and 75psi. crank it up to as high as you can go. higher pressure = smaller droplet size. my nozzles are rated up to 1500psi but my pump can't seem to generate more that 75psi, so if you want more pressure , get a bigger pump, but realize that 1HP pulls about 7amps (i think). you don't want that on the same 15amp household circuit as an HID lamp! granted, the pump only kicks on for about 30sec every once in a while, but for those 30sec, it's probably pulling 7amps. also keep an eye on the working pressure of you fittings. i have a quick coupling that is the weakest link, rated at 80psi, so 75psi is fine for me.
i went through about 7 different pumps: fountain pumps, sump pumps, you name it. avoid submersible pumps: they generate lots of heat. most sump pumps and such are equipped with a back pressure valve. when there's too much head or back pressure, the valve opens and water just squirts out the bottom. they're designed to drain basements, pools, ponds, etc. the only pressure they're designed to handle is a little head (weight of the water itself increased by height to which you're pumping). use a irrigation system pump if you want to go heavy duty or a shallow well pump if you want something that's reasonable suitable for a home system. pressure tank is absolutely necessary.
output goes through a spin down filter. using 150micron filter to allow larger fungus through. filter also has a purge valve that is handy for depressurizing the system within a few seconds. output then piped to a sprinkler solenoid valve powered by 24v adapter that's connected to day/night timer set to mist 5sec every minute during the day and every 2 minutes at night. cheaper cycle timer would do the trick too.
make sure you use a BRAIDED vinyl tube between the valve and your manifold/nozzles. standard clear vinyl tubing ballooned to diameter of about 6 inches and almost blew apart. i didn't have any pressure release mechanism at the time either. use a filter with purge valve or, at a minimum, install a simple pressure release valve. use metal clamps to connect tubing to barbs/bulkheads, as zip ties don't quite give you a solid seal and tend to allow for a slow drip. also, don't let the tubing crease, as it tends to stay that way. i used a clamp gently opposing the crease for several days to straighten it out. also, try to keep the distance between the valve and the manifold/nozzles to a minimum. the more tubing or pipe you have between them, the more water there is to act as a pressure reservoir and the nozzles will pee and dribble for a while (with bigger droplets at low pressure). ideally, each nozzle would have it's own valve right behind it, but whatever. i'm not going to go that far.
my manifold has orbit 10 nozzles spread around perimeter of 20"x30" rooting chamber. get 2X more nozzles than you plan on using. the require at cleaning at least weekly. overnight soak in vinegar will ruin the gasket. CLR works well too. i soak in CLR, agitate (while soaking) with vibrating massager for a minute, then blow air through the front of the nozzle using an air compressor. carefully plan your nozzle placement based on the pattern of the cut outs on your lid to allow for even spray distribution. also, get a tub with a lid that's not yellow (like mine). i had to cover it in foil HVAC tape.
rooting chamber is about 14" deep. i keep about 3" of solution in the bottom which functions as a shallow kind of DWC (SWC?). a triple fogger floats in the bottom and is on for 50sec, off for 150sec. running it all the time or even half the time heats up the res too much. the misting nozzles stir the fog in the chamber when they kick on every minute. when i have guests and have to switch to stealth mode, i turn off the pump/nozzles and leave the fogger on (still cycling it on/off). i use a 4" computer fan hooked up to 2 D-cell batteries to blow air through the lid to stir the fog, which would otherwise just sit at the bottom of the chamber when the pump is off. works beautifully and is virtually silent!
the rooting chamber spills over through a bulkhead (again, allowing for about 3" to remain in the bottom) and drains to my lower control res which is where the pump sucks up more solution when the pressure drops to 55psi. my particular pump requires a separate backflow valve ($10) on the input. one thing that will save you $$ and trips to the hardware store is to put threaded adapters on special/expensive slip PVC fittings like the backflow valve and spindown filter ($$$). when you first setup your system, you may want to rearrange stuff. you can only move stuff around so much when it's glued into PVC pipe. you can always cut the pipe and use a coupling, but you can only do that so many times. it also makes it nice when you want to replace those parts or yank them for assembly of a new system. this is my one major regret as far as design shortsightedness. i got the idea from the solenoid valve, which comes with threaded female connections and i did, in fact, end up moving around a few times.
upper root chamber solution temperature is still around 85F/30C. lower res a little lower. had a puny desktop water cooler with peltier plate in it and ran water through it using a submersible fountain pump, but that just didn't cut it. lowered temps about 0.5C. picked up a used water cooler with old school compressor in it just last night. going to gut it and hook it up to my system. hopefully i can get res temp down to ideal temp of 65-70F.
hope this helps. thanks to all the other posters for info!
