AeroJunkie's High Pressure Air-Assisted Hydro-Atomized Aeroponic System (HPAAHAAS)
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Mike Young
Well-Known Member
DIYer: I can only speak for myself, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree (pun intended.) I don't second guess TF's claims. His plug & play pod thread was and is one of the most informative reads on the subject of HPA around. Having him chime in is something I consider a privlidge, and don't much care for the non-constructive banter. Sorry.
Again, a link to these great reads you all speak of would be nice. Telling me of them and not linking might be the definition of non-constructive banter btw 
..and for the record i never once questions TF, only possibly the logic of anyone setting perfectly good money aflame.
..and for the record i never once questions TF, only possibly the logic of anyone setting perfectly good money aflame.
Trichy Bastard
Well-Known Member
Yes, although he's humble and probably gets uncomfortable at being complimented- I pretty much think of ol tree farmer as the "Godfather of HPA" (at least in the form we're going for) 
aerojunkie
Well-Known Member
I as well have considered these possible scenarios. In my larger chamber (technically my medium chamber) the plants were placed in the center of the chamber with the furthest plant being 4' away from the nozzle and the closest 2'. Your probably spot on with the droplet size but I dont think my pressures are the problem. I think the droplets have a chance to evaporate prior to reaching the roots. The only remedy for this imo is more nozzles and shorter cycle times. I also plan on raising my nozzles to more evenly distribute the droplets.
I also hope that Atomizer shows back up as I would love to have his opinion on the issue as well.
How long did your 50 micron droplets stay suspended in your chamber as opposed to when your drops were undersized? I have a constant fog in my chamber due to the AAA nozzles but I'm hoping Im still getting a good quantity of the appropriate sized drops.
Well done on the weights btw, and thanks for participating in the thread. Feel free to post any details you want as we both know there is nothing you need to prove.
aerojunkie
Well-Known Member
TB, Thanks for promoting civility her as we both know how quickly these threads can take a turn for the worse. That being said, everyone should understand that this thread will not be used as a proving ground. I would much prefer to continue collaborating together in an effort to progress this area of indoor gardening as far as imaginable.
DIYer I respect your decision to utilize inexpensive test strips in your grow and I think its great that it works for you. I personally just prefer a different route. Not that either are right or wrong, our priorities are just different. To open myself up to huge criticism by many out there, my $100.00 hanna ph/ec pen is the cheapest testing device I own. I currently have several water chilling tower controllers to maintain PH, EC and biocontrols @ specific levels in multiple reservoirs. I did not pay retail for them as they range from 1200-3500.00 each, but obviously there a bit more expensive than a Hanna pen. The motives behind my entire system is for the love of design and fabrication as well as the love of growing. Many people on this forum would say I have nothing to show for my efforts, however their opinions are meaningless to me because I believe I do. I hope you know I'm not singling you out, Im just giving all the readers and contributors a window into my madness in hopes that future comments will be used to build this thread rather than hinder it.
Thanks to everyone for their input and lets keep it going as long as we can.
Trichy Bastard
Well-Known Member
I think that's damn cool AJ 
Man I really like how serious you are about all this. This is a great hobby, some people like race cars, and things, some people like aero. In the end if it brings u joy, then more power to ya. The cool thing about this hobby is it has the potential to help feed the world too.
Man I really like how serious you are about all this. This is a great hobby, some people like race cars, and things, some people like aero. In the end if it brings u joy, then more power to ya. The cool thing about this hobby is it has the potential to help feed the world too.aerojunkie
Well-Known Member
I think that's damn cool AJ
Agreed... and Martians too. Funny that you mention cars though, cause thats my current occupation.
so my girls I think are going through transfer shock! i had them misting at 60 psi 2sec/630 off w/d cycle and then moved them to 100 psi 1 sec/3min wd cycle. I also used tap water in my setup cause the kid from supreme hydro said thats all he grows with and using RO will cause the plant to have mineral defficency's. i also lowered my ppm to 850 down from 1000, it seems they have slowed a bit. maybe ill post a video and you can give your opinion.
Mike Young
Well-Known Member
Without seeing your girls it's hard to say, but 850 still seems pretty high. I'm still at 300 or so, mine are a month in. How big are they, and what kind of root mass are we talkin?
What would actually make you believe there going though some sort of shock? You said you think it, and laid out the specs of your system, but whats actually wrong with them? Lots use tap, and lots that don't give there plants what they need so they don't have any deficiencies, not that id believe a word from anyone working in a hydro store, ever. Where can you host/post a video of your grow safely? I'm at 1000ppms in my HPA setup, it all depends on the strain and what they can handle.
PetFlora
Well-Known Member
When you begin with RO, YOU control all the elements. Who knows how much Ca is in tap, and in what form? Even worse, many municipalities recycle their water, so you wind up with all kinds of residues from pharmaceuticals that were flushed. You simply buy a nute that has CaMg in it (DM) or buy a CaMg+ supplement.
Max veg ~ 600 flwr ~800
hammer21
Well-Known Member
You really need to test the TDS of your water if you have city water you need to use a RO unit if you have a well anything over 300 TDS is crap and you should use a RO unit. If your water pressure is lower than 60 psi you should use a booster pump another thing if you warm the water to room temp you will get close to what your RO unit is rated for on the output
I did start in RO water n have been using sensi cal mag. but sense I used tap I cut it in half. And when I went to charge my acc it took 5 gall to charge it then I put another 5 in the res. my RO system only has a 2gallin storage tank so as pet flora said in tb thread I think I'm going to add a booster pump to get a Constant supply of RO water. That's the only reason I used tap cause the RO ran out
tree farmer
Well-Known Member
Aj
what i have found with AA is that if the mist is hanging thick in the chamber from one cycle to the next the droplet size was to small. even with all the hydraulic HPA nozzzle systems ive built i cant ever remember having visible mist from one cycle to the next. although ive had hydraulic nozzle rigs that could keep a constant mist hanging in the chamber it was never the setting that produced the nicest roots and plants. now with the AA test rig i ran for a few months it was very easy to keep mist at any density in the chamber i wanted because i had complete control over both the air and solution feed using digital gauges but again the best results i got was when i increased the droplet size so there wasnt always a constant mist hanging in the chamber. i really need to do more work on the AA test rig to draw solid conclusions but its a long term project before i settle on a final AA tree pod design. ill thow a pic of the test rig up so people can see i really do have one.
well i didnt think the 2.5-3l per 1k would become a topic i only mentioned it because i was explaining why im not currently running any aero. i needed something to do while i worked on another project so i switched to a system to just get me thru till i could build a full scale AA tree system. thing is after i started messing with the temp system and saw the results i could get i now am not in a hurry to switch because who doesnt like wieghts like that. for the guys who question the numbers remember my username Treee.......... put 5, 36inch trained vegged ladies around a 1k vert bulb and have 20yrs experience and see what happens. its not all that hard to get those numbers. but this thread isnt about other systems its about AA so im not going to get into the system. i might do a thread on it and if i do ill throw the link up.
TB
im not much of a fan of fogponoics. that being said ive never tried it just going by what ive read. ive seen oldmacs fogponics at icmag but im not impressed since he has to run a hp (without accumulator) system in conjunction it seems pointless. but hey if you have it already and want to give it a try it might work for a transition to the HP rig. i like cavadages clone rig which im sure youve seen on his old thread.
what i have found with AA is that if the mist is hanging thick in the chamber from one cycle to the next the droplet size was to small. even with all the hydraulic HPA nozzzle systems ive built i cant ever remember having visible mist from one cycle to the next. although ive had hydraulic nozzle rigs that could keep a constant mist hanging in the chamber it was never the setting that produced the nicest roots and plants. now with the AA test rig i ran for a few months it was very easy to keep mist at any density in the chamber i wanted because i had complete control over both the air and solution feed using digital gauges but again the best results i got was when i increased the droplet size so there wasnt always a constant mist hanging in the chamber. i really need to do more work on the AA test rig to draw solid conclusions but its a long term project before i settle on a final AA tree pod design. ill thow a pic of the test rig up so people can see i really do have one.
well i didnt think the 2.5-3l per 1k would become a topic i only mentioned it because i was explaining why im not currently running any aero. i needed something to do while i worked on another project so i switched to a system to just get me thru till i could build a full scale AA tree system. thing is after i started messing with the temp system and saw the results i could get i now am not in a hurry to switch because who doesnt like wieghts like that. for the guys who question the numbers remember my username Treee.......... put 5, 36inch trained vegged ladies around a 1k vert bulb and have 20yrs experience and see what happens. its not all that hard to get those numbers. but this thread isnt about other systems its about AA so im not going to get into the system. i might do a thread on it and if i do ill throw the link up.
TB
im not much of a fan of fogponoics. that being said ive never tried it just going by what ive read. ive seen oldmacs fogponics at icmag but im not impressed since he has to run a hp (without accumulator) system in conjunction it seems pointless. but hey if you have it already and want to give it a try it might work for a transition to the HP rig. i like cavadages clone rig which im sure youve seen on his old thread.
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aerojunkie
Well-Known Member
Your design looks very thought out for just a preliminary test chamber. You have 4 solenoids placed up top, how many nozzles are you using and are they hago, delevan, or bete/spraying systems nozzles? Did you position the spray facing horizontally or vertically?
I have come to the conclusion that i will need to add more nozzles in order to get the coverage needed in such a large chamber. What are the dimensions of your actual chamber space in this unit? I understand your need for a deep chamber, and it appears you have accomplished that. But for multiple plants are you planning to have individual chambers for each or would you consider a single chamber for say 2-4+ plants?
I have come to the conclusion that i will need to add more nozzles in order to get the coverage needed in such a large chamber. What are the dimensions of your actual chamber space in this unit? I understand your need for a deep chamber, and it appears you have accomplished that. But for multiple plants are you planning to have individual chambers for each or would you consider a single chamber for say 2-4+ plants?
Trichy Bastard
Well-Known Member
Well, there is nuttin in tap water you can't get out of a bottle of nutes, the problem is everyone's tapwater is different, not to mention always fluctuating too, so I prefer to use r.o. water, and add nutes. that way I have total control and always know whats in my water... You learn early on that hydro store people are not all that competent, and you can easily know more than them after a little research.