Indefinately
Well-Known Member
I had it on 1 on 5 off with no ill effects.......
Surprised everyone keeps pushing the 24 hour on feeding. There must be an advantage to cycle timing your feeding .
Indefinately's - AERO GROW
- Thread starter Indefinately
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Surprised everyone keeps pushing the 24 hour on feeding. There must be an advantage to cycle timing your feeding .
Dumme
Well-Known Member
I use 24/7 solely for the sake of my fish, as the plant are my nitrate filter for them, in my aero system
Keesje
Well-Known Member
There are people who run their pump 24/7.
There are people who do 1 minute on, 4 or 5 minutes off.
Then there are people who do 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off.
And also people who run the pump 15 minutes on, and 30, 45, 60 and even 75 minutes off.
Almost all claim that there system is best.
But some also say that they tried different methods and see no difference.
So it is hard to tell which one is the best system.
There are people who do 1 minute on, 4 or 5 minutes off.
Then there are people who do 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off.
And also people who run the pump 15 minutes on, and 30, 45, 60 and even 75 minutes off.
Almost all claim that there system is best.
But some also say that they tried different methods and see no difference.
So it is hard to tell which one is the best system.
Dumme
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but mine is most definitely the best.
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
With low pressure sprayer's I dont think it makes a huge difference re timing as long as things stay wet. 
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Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
But not to wet lol. And cool definatly cool. Actually I will probably be run out of the village but I don't particularly like spray set ups lol.
Indefinately
Well-Known Member
I gave up on Aero half way thru one of first few runs.
I took all the plants out and potted them.
They made full recovery in pots and gave me a decent harvest considering they looked terrible toward the end in the aero system.
There's many opinions on the cycle times/timer.
I think you will get some obvious advantages with a cycle timer which allows you to do 1 min on 5 min off.
Compared to 24/7 on, I think the main problem with that is the pump heats the water to much and that is what causes the problems. Not the fact that they are being watered continuously.
But I had limited experience with Aero before dumping it for Flood and Drain which is built for reliability.
I took all the plants out and potted them.
They made full recovery in pots and gave me a decent harvest considering they looked terrible toward the end in the aero system.
There's many opinions on the cycle times/timer.
I think you will get some obvious advantages with a cycle timer which allows you to do 1 min on 5 min off.
Compared to 24/7 on, I think the main problem with that is the pump heats the water to much and that is what causes the problems. Not the fact that they are being watered continuously.
But I had limited experience with Aero before dumping it for Flood and Drain which is built for reliability.
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
Temps are a huge issue I think. Once I chilled the water and insulated the root chamber things went well but I just found to many things that could go wrong, converted everything back to flood and drain which has always been good for me. My root chamber was getting really hot from radiant heat and it caused the roots to basically rot before my eyes lol.
Keesje
Well-Known Member
Temps can indeed be a huge issue.
There are several ways to keep it down. Run the pump less frequent. Place your reservoir outside your growing room. Use LED-light (less radiant heat). Insulate the top of your growing-tray. Install a chiller. Use frozen bottles of water to cool the water in your reservoir down.
There are several ways to keep it down. Run the pump less frequent. Place your reservoir outside your growing room. Use LED-light (less radiant heat). Insulate the top of your growing-tray. Install a chiller. Use frozen bottles of water to cool the water in your reservoir down.
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
Yes there are several ways but IMO the only way to guarantee success if doing anything close to a serious hydro grow is to chill the water by mechanical means, water bottles are a real pain in the ass, I guess u do what needs doin though.
Keesje
Well-Known Member
Chillers are great, but not cheap for hobbygrowers (purchase and electricity)
Water bottles can help if there are only a few peak days a year.
IMO placing your reservoir outside your growing room is the most important step.
Then the reservoir will not get heated up by the lights (radiation heat)
That is a huge plus: No need to cool anything that isn't heated up.
And a reservoir outside the growing room is easier to handle.
Either the room temperature is already lower, or you can cool the room temp with an AC.
Water bottles can help if there are only a few peak days a year.
IMO placing your reservoir outside your growing room is the most important step.
Then the reservoir will not get heated up by the lights (radiation heat)
That is a huge plus: No need to cool anything that isn't heated up.
And a reservoir outside the growing room is easier to handle.
Either the room temperature is already lower, or you can cool the room temp with an AC.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
I had that pH pen and it was so fat off calibration within a few weeks, I went back to my old yeller. (Yellow ATC).
Budley Doright
Well-Known Member
If it works great, what ever you need to do to keep that water below 70 is what you need to do IMO or grow differently. The success of these systems depend on cool res water I think