DIY Challenge - HELP!!!

OK,

So some of you may have seen my other posts. I have an Aerogarden with 6 plants in it right now, and it's been going since July 26th. I don't have any pictures from the last few days, but growth has been phenomenal this last week! I have had to raise the light hood 2 notches, and suspect it will need to go up another notch when I get home this afternoon!

I originally got the Aerogarden to learn if I could grow, and now I've decided that I want to send it back before my 36-day free-trial ends.

Basically I am really really really broke, like depressingly poor, so I need to build a system that will take the place of my AG using the parts I already have. I have a few ideas, but I want some advice from you guys since stoners are the most creative people in the world, and I am so poor my bud supply has been gone for weeks now. I think doing this sober is 10X harder than if I could just smoke a bowl!

So, here is my challenge:

I will list off the parts that I have, and maybe someone will give me some help constructing a hydro setup to transplant my babies into. I have to send the AG back this week, or they will charge me and overdraw my bank account! I've got lights (CFLs & a flouro tube) so I just need the hydro setup.

Parts:

1 - 30 Gallon Rubbermade tub (dark blue) with lid

2 - 10" tube-style air bubble-wands (These are the plastic kind that I've seen a lot of people reccomend.

1 - 6" airstone

20 feet - 1/4" poly tubing. The size will fit both my airstones/pump, and my water pump.

1 - Weak as hell little water pump. This thing came from one of those tabletop fountains. It will push water though the 1/4" hose (tested) but at an extremely low pressure. The only way I think it would drip-feed 6 plants would be to connect on end to the pump, and seal the other end with silicone, then poke pin-holes along the tube where the net pots, bu I'm not sure if this would provide adequate water to the plants.

1 - Weak as hell aquarium air pump. This one can barely push bubbles out of the first 3" of my 6" airstone, but it is all I have at the moment. There is no way this will oxygenate 20-30 gallons adequately, but maybe in combo with the drip system it will be enough?

I also have access to just about all the tools I could ever need, plus miscellaneous things like silicone sealant/glue, maybe some buckets, random PVC pipes, and fittings, and anything else I can scrounge around the house/workshop, endless supplies of plastic cups, bottles, etc

My main concern is how weak my air pump and water pump are. I can probably replace them both eventually, but not this week, so I have to make do with what I have.

I am thinking I will just hook the air pump to the bubble wands that I have already silicone glued to the bottom of my 30-gal tub. It won't make a lot of bubbles though, so I was hoping that I could either make an ebb/flow or a top drip setup using the little dinky water pump. I was thinking maybe I could come up with a gravity feed system or something to compensate for the weakness of my water pump. Any ideas?

I am transferring the plants to the new setup without removing them from the Aerogarden pots, they are already well established in them, and I can't easily cut them out or remove them, so the little 2" AG pots will be where they live.

I may be able to afford $5 more on hose fittings or what not, but that is my max, at least for the next couple of weeks. I am calling out the the rollitup community to help me get creative and give me some advice. This is my project when I get home from work tonight, so maybe someone will offer me some help?

This will be an evolving system too, so as long as I can make something to keep my babies alive, I can work on upgrading it as I get more money. I'll almost definately be getting a new air pump and water pump in the next few weeks, but I need something to keep them on life support until then!

What did the aero garden run you?

If you are so broke grow in some soil.

you dont need a water pump but you do need a good air pump get one that says 30/60 at walmart their 20 bucks and you need 6 6inch netpots. Look in my gallery for the layout i got the same thing as you a 30 gal tubber ware, all i have inside of it is 2 air stone and a 30/60 whisper something air pump.

The Aerogarden is $150, but it came with a 36-day money back trial period, so I am going to send it back. I like it a lot, but I am tight on cash right now and it really is too small to grow more than one or two plants to harvest.

Serotonin said:

What did the aero garden run you?

Click to expand...

I actually considered this, and I have a single seed that I planted in soil at the same time as I planted my AG seeds. It is under the same lights and in the same grow room as the AG plants. The difference in growth is like night and day. The soil seedling is still so small it only has on set of single blade leaves and is maybe an inch tall. My AG plants are all on their 5th or 6th growth nodes at least, and have been topped, but are still between 6 and 10 inches tall! Also, I have read that you cannot transplant from hydro to soil because the plant will grow different types of roots in hydro that will not do well in soil.

nowstopwhining said:

If you are so broke grow in some soil.

Click to expand...

I think you missed the part about me not having more than $5 to spend right now. The setup I have currently will be fully-functional once I have some money to upgrade my air-pump, but I need a quick-fix that will not cost me anything, not even $20. I have zero dollars to spend (I may be able to scrounge $5 but that's it!!

As far as the 6" netpots, those are actually in my budget, since they're like 31 cents each or something, but I already have an established crop growing in my teeny tiny Aerogarden pots. Getting them out without destroying them is damn near impossible, and they are healthy now, so I figure I will try to stress them as little as possible when I transfer out of the Aerogarden and into my new setup. I figure that I can upgrade easily for the next crop, but right now I just want to keep my babies alive when I send back my Aerogarden.

I am about a week into flowering already, though no signs of sex as of yesterday.

I've got a total of 6 plants in the AG. 2 of them are severely stunted, and now are really blocked from the light by the others because the AG is so small. The other 4 are growing like crazy (1+ inch per day!)

Moving them will not only save me the money on the AG, but will give them more room to develop and thus a larger yield. Assuming I end up with at least one girl (hopefully more!)

The AG is just too small, which is one reason I have decided to send it back.

wafflehouselover said:

you dont need a water pump but you do need a good air pump get one that says 30/60 at walmart their 20 bucks and you need 6 6inch netpots. Look in my gallery for the layout i got the same thing as you a 30 gal tubber ware, all i have inside of it is 2 air stone and a 30/60 whisper something air pump.

Click to expand...

OK, so I basically just need to create a life-support system to keep the girls going for a week or so. I figure between the mini water pump and the mini air pump I can almost do it. I may also be able to add a wick system which is totally passive (no pumps) and totally free ( I have rope and other wicking materials already). This will basically give me a hydro system that uses 3 methods of nutrient/H2O delivery (Wicking, top-drip, and bubbleponics) Right now in the AG (which is top-drip) I have an airstone, so I am already using two of these, but there is just a 1 gallon reservoir in the AG, and the roots are already occupying so much volume in it that it is probably more like a 1/2 gallon reservoir right now.

This is my project for tonight. I will add pics when I finish, and probably come back on here for advice if I need it.

ok heres the thing, your using a 30 gal tub and you have a weak air pump thats not going to work for 6 plants. It will work for 4 plants but the other 2 sites will have to be delayed.

Its either you get your system right or you'll have problems later. You say you have a weak pump if its blowing bubbles then you should be fine just do a 4 site or whatever the bubbles can produce under a plant site. Or you can clone those plants now using some sort of method to give you a 10-14 day window to get some money to get a air pump.

Whatever you do just make sure everything is working.

adp0722 said:

OK, so I basically just need to create a life-support system to keep the girls going for a week or so. I figure between the mini water pump and the mini air pump I can almost do it. I may also be able to add a wick system which is totally passive (no pumps) and totally free ( I have rope and other wicking materials already). This will basically give me a hydro system that uses 3 methods of nutrient/H2O delivery (Wicking, top-drip, and bubbleponics) Right now in the AG (which is top-drip) I have an airstone, so I am already using two of these, but there is just a 1 gallon reservoir in the AG, and the roots are already occupying so much volume in it that it is probably more like a 1/2 gallon reservoir right now.

This is my project for tonight. I will add pics when I finish, and probably come back on here for advice if I need it.

Click to expand...

dude you say that you dont have any money, but your making things very complicating on yourself i told u already you dont need a water pump. If y ou use a water pump that puts out more supplies to make a drip which you DO NOT NEED. Like i said a air pump that pump bubbles, air stone, netpot, air tubing, little bit of hydroton(a cup cost 1 buck) is going to work, and if u can only use a 30 gal tubberware only make enough site that the airstone can make enough bubble for simple as that. Everything can be upgraded later like air pump that will give you more plant sites. Just plan it out first because once you cut those holes into the lid thats it.

This sounds good because even though I have 6 plants, two of them are barely seedlings, so a 4-plant setup is fine. Another week or so and I will be able to get a decent air pump, and even a water pump (I kinda want to mimic the system I have in the Aerogarden right now which uses a top-drip irrigation water pump and I've put an airstone in the reservoir for added aeration.) I think I can probably use the air pump I have to support my 4 biggest plants, and maybe rig the water pump just on the two little ones that are so small that the roots barely protrude from the netpots.

wafflehouselover said:

ok heres the thing, your using a 30 gal tub and you have a weak air pump thats not going to work for 6 plants. It will work for 4 plants but the other 2 sites will have to be delayed.

Its either you get your system right or you'll have problems later. You say you have a weak pump if its blowing bubbles then you should be fine just do a 4 site or whatever the bubbles can produce under a plant site. Or you can clone those plants now using some sort of method to give you a 10-14 day window to get some money to get a air pump.

Whatever you do just make sure everything is working.

Click to expand...

just designed a quick system for you utilizing everything you have

only thing you would need to pick up is some netting(maybe pantyhose) and some schedule 40 pvc


4 pot aero chamber have fun

-pot

Finally someone up to the challenge! I think I may be able to scrounge up the PVC (what's schedule 40 PVC) I can probably steal some old pantyhose from my wife too. This may be just the ticket!!

I'm heading home from work in a half an hour or so, and I have all night to play around with my grow setup. I will post pics and details once I get it up and running.

Thanks!!

potlike said:

just designed a quick system for you utilizing everything you have

only thing you would need to pick up is some netting(maybe pantyhose) and some schedule 40 pvc


4 pot aero chamber have fun

-pot

Click to expand...

schedule refers to the thickness of the pipe and thus the pressure it can hold

you will not be reaching any problems with a weak pump

glad I can help - enjoy


-pot

I just made an aroponic system for 10 bucks... because I had PVC pump tub...
all you need since it sounds like you have this stuff is a few 360 mister heads for 5 bucks and... a few net basket things for your plants... like 75 cents each... and thats about it I think??? cant think that hard tho

he doesn't need that

he needs a makeshift to work for a weekend but he can get the misters a week or two later and just make it more efficient however this will work beautiful without them

-pot

btw your stepping into hydro without any nutrients. Hydro needs nutrients.

he just wanted a system.... food is a tougher subject guess he could dilute a nutrient rich potting soil in the water and have them get him by for a couple weeks


-pot

yes... tell more about nutreints... I need to know... for hydro set up...

OK, Thanks for everyone's advice and help.

I just completed my system and transferred all 6 plants into it. My niggest worry right now is the damage I've done to the roots (I had to cut them a bit to untangle them from each other and get them out of the AG) I think they're going to be OK though (fingers crossed)

I basically tried to keep it super-simple and make it easy to add a stronger pump when I have cash. I also used the left-over Aerogarden nutrients, so I think I will be covered until next payday when I can afford to get real nutes and pumps, and probably a couple CFL lights to replace the ones from the AG ( I have 3 CFLs and one small flourotube now).

Of course I forgot to take pictures as I worked, but basically I just hooked up the air pump to the bubble-wands using a T-connector I had. It is weak, but I have some bubbles coming from both tubes, so I think I am getting OK aeration, at least for a temporary system. I can just swap the pump for a bigger one when I have cash without having to take anything apart.

Next I tackled the drip-feed system. I connected my tiny water pump to a short section of the 1/4" tubing. Then I sealed off the other end of the tube using hot glue. I threaded this tubing through the Aerogarden netpots that I spaced out in the lid of the Rubbermade tub, all on the underside of the lid. Then I used a small nail to poke holes in the tube right where it intersected each pot. the holes had to be small because the water had to be able to reach the farthest hole from the pump, but it seems to be working so far.

The result was not as good as I hoped, but better than I expected. Each pot gets a drop or two of water every second or so, which isn't much, but considering the small size of the AG net-pots, and their absorbant foam cores, I think that the tops of my root balls are getting hydrated enough to at least keep them from drying out (the two smallest plants' roots do not even reach the top of the water level in my reservoir yet) This is also easily upgradable since I can just switch pumps and maybe makes the holes in the tube bigger when I have the cash.

So, now we wait and see I guess.

Thanks for all your help and advice everyone. I will keep you posted!