My Aeroponics System

Just finished the last of my Aeroponics system so I thought I share it with you guys/girls. Have a look. . .







Some notes: The Pump is a 12volt Solid-State Fuel pump, and I only glued some of the PVC stuff so the mist rack can be flipped, Also the whole unit comes apart to fit in my tent case.

Here is the Nutes I'll be using:

let me ask, those sprayers, in your design supposed to be upside down? i just built a similar system for my veg box, but i used the conventional way of having the sprayers facing upward and i didnt go so tall on the whole manifold as to give those roots some space, i do absolutly love the intake u made with the pvc at the bottom,,

"let me ask, those sprayers, in your design supposed to be upside down?" They can be both right side up or upside down, I made it so I could flip the sprayer rack this way I can root and grow without medium. Post some pictures of your rig and let me have a look.

i have 2 rigs, one is a spin off of the aero-flo, using 6inch PVC tubes, my other is a rubber made with the manifold being very similar, just the sprayers on top, your system looks more suitable for longer term growth, my rubermade is being used to clone then veg since the larger the root system grows, it will wind up blocking out the sprayers, it looks like with your method you will be inserting your pots on the inner side of the pvc as for mine i can go all around the rim of the tub, ill post a pic tomorrow

Hey! Let get this thread fired back up! I've been tring to get people to listen to me on this one. Fuel pumps have MUCH higher presure than those damn pond pumps everyone has been brainwashed into thinking are so great. Heck, with the right pre-pump screen and post-pump filter, I can even use old fuel injectors with "organic" nutes, making for one hell of a great, fine, nutrient rich mist. Lets do this!!!

Oh yeah! Walbro inline fuel pumps can be had off e-bay for about 70-80 bucks and most flow the notorious 255 gal/hr.at like 90psi. !!!

The downside is they draw a lot of current and most fuel pumps make a fairly loud whine when running.
Other than that they`d generate better mist than any pond pump. You might get 0.5gpm at 90psi.

I actually don't use that pump anymore though, and don't recommend this design to someone who would be using a solid-state pump. I don't think the pump was water proof and when it got wet it stopped working. I thought that because it was a solid-state pump it would make less noise, but I was wrong, it knocked pretty loud until liquid got to it and then it would quiet down. I think those Walbro inlines or even a more expensive Aeromotive or Summit one would be better suited, just stay away from the solid-states because they make more noise. I like the fact that it ran on 12 volts, in fact the pump I'm using now is still a 12 volt pump, but it's not as small and pulls a few more amps then a fuel pump which isn't a problem because I use a speed control to adjust the flow rate. Here I'll show you what I'm up too now with my new design.
This is my new pump; It's battery powered and attached to a charger so when the voltage drops in the battery, the charger kicks on and charges it up. I also connected it to my hacked Green Genius timer so I can adjust the on/off time, but that will soon be replaced with a basic stamp and the HB-25 speed control you see in the picture.




Here is my ballast, powersupply and speed controls for my 12 volt intake and exhaust fans.



This is my 400 watt HID light with the 12 volt fan that I use as an exhaust and the two aeroponic bins.



I use fountain foggers on 24/7 in the bins with untreated water and then the 5 gallon bucket has the nutrient water in it and comes on 4 times a day to feed the plants. It's much more energy efficient this way, and I save a lot of nutrients.

Nice work JB,
Good to see you haven`t resorted to using a pond pump. Your old fuel pump is a different shape to mine which is more cylindrical, regardless it was pretty useless and is gathering dust somewhere in the shed.

Your new system looks pretty good, i can see you like your gadgets.
i`m on a similar route with an aero system destined for the greenhouse, it also uses a low voltage diaphragm pump.
I decided to go for an external pressure switch, accumulators and solenoids to ensure silent running with neighbours both sides. It also allows the pump to run for just a few minutes every hour instead of 20+ on/off cycles.

Hey, thanks. Yeah I love to tinker with stuff. . .
I found that it's mandatory to have a check valve and filter on the lowest part of the pump intake. It keeps water in the system so the pump doesn't have to prime and it also keeps the start up noise down.
Give that cylindrical fuel pump of yours a shot, I'm sure it will work just fine. I wouldn't try submerging it in the reservoir though, keep it outside the tank and away from water.
I actually have a diaphragm pump sitting on my shelf I plan to use with a reverse osmosis water system. I'm also doing away with the rubber maid containers to open enough space in my tent for my mini fridge. I want to use my mini fridge as a water cooler, reservoir, and nutrient storage, but have it all housed inside my tent. I figured I'd get some of that square, poly fence post and do 5 rows of 4 plants each so I can grow the same number of plants just a little more confined.

I have a basic 4 stage ro system which is ok for the money, tap pressure here is around 5 bar so i don`t need a pump. If the res is above the pump you shouldn`t have any problems with keeping the pump primed, a check valve would be good insurance though.
I`m not a fan of inline filters, with a well sealed res (light and dustproof) you can use a 5 micron bag filter (cheap and washable) to filter the return and any nute additions. The pump pulls directly from the filtered res. I`m housing all the main hardware in a shed next to the greenhouse, if needs be i`ll bury the res and accumulators in the ground to keep them cool

hey, are any of you guys using a digital 400 watt HID ballast? If you are, do they get so hot you can't hold it in your hand?

Well my ballast died today, and this is the 2nd time this has happened with this brand. I'm worried b/c if I wasn't here it could have started a fire. . . here is a picture of what went bad in it, see the little microchip burned out? Same exact part went bad in the other one I owned too. Not recommending this ballast to anyone, and as soon as I get my refund I'm buying one of those Nextgen, 400/600 watt, switchable, digital ballasts.