ThaMagnificent
Well-Known Member
Do you have a hose attachment valve piece on the veg unit like the flower to empty the res?
Aero/NFT Grow in Tent w/ CO2, AC, Dehumidifier, and DIY Chiller
- Thread starter AKGrowAreo
- Start date
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
I actually put about 25 gal in at at time. The res handles it no problem.
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
I've definitely been blown away by how fast they can drink water. Having my dehumidifier drain into my res' helps keep them topped off though. Before I was draining the dehum that way they'd during 5 gal a day easily.
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
I am definitely playing around with the idea of automating my PH, water top offs, and nutrient feeding. Man would life be easier. Lol.
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
Yep. And it makes it way easier to change the res'
questiondj42
Well-Known Member
Bluelab sells a doser, and so do a few other companies. They're pircey though. $350-450. But not having to dick with pH would be nice.
ThaMagnificent
Well-Known Member
so then your veg feeder connection is on one end instead of in the middle like the clone setup? Could you please post a pic of the setup?
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
Yeah they are pricey! Especially when I would need it for a few different res'. I have yet to speak to anyone who has used them so I am hesitant until I hear success stories.
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
construction pics of the veg unit below
I didn't have a finished pic of the veg unit top, but its the same as the cloner as pictured below.
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
My only true mod I had to make to run 3 rails with even pressure is that I run from the pump into a 1/2" T that then goes into a loop as pictured below. I don't have dimensions for you because I just "freestyled" it as @StinkBud would say.
After running the system for quite a while, there are a few more mods that I would like to make that would def make my life easier...I just have not found the time to do it.
The main mod that I am gonna make happen is running the @letdown shifty or similar version of the res which keeps your res outside the growing area and could eliminate the need for a chiller (dang, but my chiller design is so cool. JK, LOL). In reality I would probably still keep the chiller involved in some way still. Maybe cool boxes for the lights?
Another mod is to somehow put ball valves between each rail so I could more easily change the res'.
One more idea I am playing with is to set up my system so that I can change where each rail is pumped from and drains to. That would make it so that you could have complete control over each rails' nutes individually and reduce your overall number of res'. For example you could have one big ass res outside the grow for your transitional nutes, one for your week 3 through week 7 nutes, and one res for your flush. Somehow having interchangeable drain connections and pump connections would allow this to happen. Anyone have ideas or have success doing something similar?
ThaMagnificent
Well-Known Member
Reflective stuff on top sold at home depot?
sky rocket
Well-Known Member
Yeah what's the reflective stuff for?
letdown shifty
Well-Known Member
@sky rocket it's to reflect the light off the reservoir so heat isn't absorbed & so light doesn't grow bacteria in your reservoir.
letdown shifty
Well-Known Member
Now your thinking is right on track with mine, and I'll be working out the details when I setup the new grow. I was thinking along the lines of 55 gallon food grade barrels for my res, with 3 installed. 1 for week 1-4, 1 for 5-7 ( maybe 8 ), then a flush res. Working out details in my head.
-Shifty
questiondj42
Well-Known Member
Water changes and cleaning is definitely a pain in the ass.
ThaMagnificent
Well-Known Member
So apparently lowes doesnt stock the pvc water hose adaptor?
AK, what is the product info on your hose adaptor?
Lastly, it looks like you installed the quick disconnect on the flower and veg units under the spray system versus on top with the hose adaptor for the clone unit. Any reasoning? I'm thinking about the easier way to drain and re-fill.
AK, what is the product info on your hose adaptor?
Lastly, it looks like you installed the quick disconnect on the flower and veg units under the spray system versus on top with the hose adaptor for the clone unit. Any reasoning? I'm thinking about the easier way to drain and re-fill.
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ThaMagnificent
Well-Known Member
Sorry for all the questions, but what is that unit you have connected to your surge protector?
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
http://www.lowes.com/pd_645840-72906-HU22-12-12X+P___ is the piece your talking about.
I lowered the quick disconnect so that it would be able to fill the 2" hole in the lid and it made it easier to take the lid off.
I am in the process of plumbing my new room so all of my res will be connected to a drain at all times so all I have to do is switch the valve and hit the pumps. Can't wait.
AKGrowAreo
Well-Known Member
No worries on all the qs.
That would be the my pump relay. Its a rather ghetto version of an HID hub that allows you to activate as many as 7 pumps at a time with out putting all that amp load on your expensive cycle timer. The cycle timers are rated to somewhere between 9 amps and 18 amps, so when you start up more than one pump at a time you are pulling 7 to 9 amps per pump and if you are running more than 2 pumps on a cycle time that will be enough amps to quickly FRY your cycle time and potentially flip the breaker. Mine is built from an HVAC 50 amp double pole contactor ($9 bucks on Amazon) that acts as a relay and some other parts I had laying around. There are very primitive instructions posted by @andyman somewhere in the first 200 pages of @StinkBud 's "harvest a pound every three weeks."