Well said and you are right! In true Aeroponics, your water droplets should be .05 microns in size. In order to acieve this a pump like this should be used (unless you want to get a preasure tank) Ecoplus 250 Pump by Horizen Hydroponics
Sprinkler heads do offer higher performance than say flood and drain, but fall short of true aeroponics.
Well, I've grown both ways and I always seem to do much better hydroponically. That doesn't mean that *it* is better.........maybe I'm just better with hydro. I do it for a few different reasons.As much as I like the idea of aeroponics or hydroponics, i find my self much more drawn to soil... Can you look at me and tell me hydro or aero are inherently better- 2 seeds- same conditions... one soil, one hydro- i dont fully believe their will be a noticable difference replicatable over time...
The 36 hours of darkness however, has been tried by many so far- and all that i have talked to have reported good things, nothing bad thats for sure...
Thats good science....
My mist nozzles never really clog. But each week when I change my nutes, I snap off the caps and replace them with the caps from last week (that I had sitting in H2O2 all week. Takes about ten minutes. Since I usually let my water sit for about 5 minutes between adding each stage or PH up/down, I have enough time.Damn, that pump costs more than one of my 600w hoods, lamps and ballasts together! I'm no cheapskate (Lumatek ballasts, Hydrofarm Hoods, Hortilux Eye bulbs, R.O. water and Advanced Nutes) but my 50 dollar, 550gph pump does fine for me. I'm very meticulous about mixing my nutes but I gotta believe that a spray head that reduces the droplet size to.05 micron is prone to incessant clogging regardless of the delivery pressure. That's all I need is some undissolved Bud Blood clogging up the works. And for what? Possible 10% faster growth, or so I can truly say I'm growing Aeroponically?
You must have a serious RO machine. Prior to my GE Merlin purchase (which claims as much as 700gal/day) I tried about everything including that Mr. Clean carwash gadget. It actually works well (reduced the PPM to about 20) but took FOREVER. I think about 2 hrs to get 15 gallons. I also tried the 200 dollar Home Depot/Lowes models too and was disappointed at their performance so I splurged on the Merlin.My mist nozzles never really clog. But each week when I change my nutes, I snap off the caps and replace them with the caps from last week (that I had sitting in H2O2 all week. Takes about ten minutes. Since I usually let my water sit for about 5 minutes between adding each stage or PH up/down, I have enough time.
I get 70% more O2 to the roots compared to flood and drain. It takes about 2 1/2 weeks off my veg time. (2000w X 18hours a day = 36 kilowatt hours per day or a savings of 648 kwh. 648 x.22= a savings of $142.56 per cycle)
Ahh but the true added perk is a 10-20% increase in yeild and a little more potent too.
Another big advantage of that pump is, I hook it up to my garden hose and drain my res right through my sprinker. My lawn looks great.
And I have a plastic 55 gallon drum I keep full with RO water to was my car with. No spots
My mist nozzles never really clog. But each week when I change my nutes, I snap off the caps and replace them with the caps from last week (that I had sitting in H2O2 all week. Takes about ten minutes. Since I usually let my water sit for about 5 minutes between adding each stage or PH up/down, I have enough time.
I get 70% more O2 to the roots compared to flood and drain. It takes about 2 1/2 weeks off my veg time. (2000w X 18hours a day = 36 kilowatt hours per day or a savings of 648 kwh. 648 x.22= a savings of $142.56 per cycle)
Ahh but the true added perk is a 10-20% increase in yeild and a little more potent too.
Another big advantage of that pump is, I hook it up to my garden hose and drain my res right through my sprinkler. My lawn looks great.
And I have a plastic 55 gallon drum I keep full with RO water to was my car with. No spots
Remember once the roots are wet, they are not taking in as much O2. Thats why my cycle timer is spray fro 30 sec every 4 min. Mist-drip dry--mist. My big dis advantage is if the pump goes, I am FUCKED in 6 hours.Oh, keep in mind that my system is sort of a cross between a Aero and NFT system too. Besides spraying the roots that hang from the netpots the bottom of the roots are sitting in about 8" of solution too. Considering that I have overkill on airstones ( (2) 12" stones in each tub, which was done more for redundancy) AND the O2 generated from spraying, I think I have plenty of oxygen feeding the root ball. Dual outlet air pumps with 1 outlet feeding each tub. That way if 1 air pump fails I still am getting O2 to both tubs. In retrosepct I really like the system as primitive as it may seem. I once had a spray pump fail on a Friday night and couldn't replace it until Monday morning. The fact that I had an aerated reservoir (in addition to the sprayers) kept everything well until such time that I could replace the pump.
Wow Cloud.....very cool. What kind of content are you looking for?Remember once the roots are wet, they are not taking in as much O2. Thats why my cycle timer is spray fro 30 sec every 4 min. Mist-drip dry--mist. My big dis advantage is if the pump goes, I am FUCKED in 6 hours.
My RO is actually slow 200GPD w/SI but I have it on 24/7 going into two 55 gallon drums with float valves.
I have talked about it a little but I'll let the cat out out the bag.
I am filming an Aeroponics DVD right now. Thats why I have not posed new pics in a while. The DVD set will cover 3 grows.
Grow #1
Homemade Aeroponics. Sprinkler heads 300 gph pumps. 400w mh/hps. Walmart 45 gallon bins.
Grow#2
High pressure misters, co2, 2 400w/MH 2 600wHPS, the works
Grow #3
Breeding with system from grow 2
It will cover EVERYTHING from conception to harvest. I am even having a NORML director as a guest speaker. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing but production will take a long time. People should see it in their fav magazine in about 9 months. I am sure I will trow around a few promotional copies to people (especially if they provide pics and content hint hint)
Thanks Kludge but the whole thing is trial and error....at least for me. I have made my fair share of mistakes for sure.This is a great thread, thanks guys. What it proves is that two really intelligent people can disagree and have lots and lots of evidence on both of their sides. When you listen to one you agree and think, "Wow, that sounds right, he must be right." Then you listen to the other guy and you're like, "Oh, well that's a better explanation, HE must be right."
Most valuably of all it shows that even if someone is very knowledgeable about something there is always someone who is equally knowledgeable and will disagree. So, take everything you read with a grain of salt until you have some actual experience yourself. Millions of people voted for Bush and they were so clearly wrong it's painful so just because a lot of people say something is true doesn't make it so. Hell a few billion people actually believe in magical winged fairies that live in the sky... go figure.
Sorry for the tangent.
Hey Koa.... maybe we ought to start a thread of what NOT to do."Thanks Kludge but the whole thing is trial and error....at least for me. I have made my fair share of mistakes for sure. "
we al have and i think that it is the best teacher
Thats funny I was born in DC and raised in Northern VA (fairfax county)I can practically see his Wash DC residence from my front door
No shit! I live in MD. You still "out east"?Thats funny I was born in DC and raised in Northern VA (fairfax county)
No I'm in CA, I worked in Chevy Chase for a bitNo shit! I live in MD. You still "out east"?
Never even heard of soil and wick, but scroll back- and you will see the before and after of my plants going from veg to flower- it was an explosion with 4 showing sex after 36 hrs of darkness...has anyone tried the soil and wick system for a medium and i also read that hitting plants with 36 hrs of dark helps introduce flowering then go to 12/12. also 12/12 helps yield rather them matuity