True Aero Growing "TAG"

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
Ok I just came in from the garage and I am as frustrated as when I went out there. t seems that I cannot work the pump mounted like that. I had to mount the pump upside down, which now makes the inlet, outlet lines cross each other. This really isn't that big of a deal but just not what I had planned. I also had to remove the filter to get it to prime and pump water through the misters.

So now as it sets the system is working without the filter, and with crossed lines. There is nothing I can do about the lines being crossed but I a hoping that I can fix the filter problem. :wall::wall::wall:
 

HATCH

Well-Known Member
Say Bro, I took another look at Your Pic's, When your last Post came in.

Is that Your Pump, Way up Above the Pod???

Can You not move it down, to the res. level?? It will work alot better. & I wouldn't make that pump, pump above the pod. You would have better volume if it ran a shorter distance to the Mister's.

Ya, You can pull your hair out getting it to work to Your Satisfaction.

Good Luck!!!~~~~~:joint::joint:
 

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
That was a thought that had crossed my mind, and have yet to rule out. The manual says that I am good for up to 6' between the pump and the tank (rez). I am about half that so I have to assume at least at the moment that, that is not the reason. I suspect that the pump falling from about 3' high may have an influence on this issue. As of right now it is working again but the pump is upside down from the way I had it before, I am not sure why that makes a difference considering all the time I had it running in the upright position for the longest time. Also as I was reading through the manual I noticed it said universal mount. At any rate here soon I will go back and play with it, I will take a packed bowl in case I get irritated again lol.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion too by the way. I almost forgot to mention that. Please stay tuned for more to come, I could use more of that advice in the near future.
 

HATCH

Well-Known Member
Are You sure it doesn't say, (It will Pump, up-to 6'). & are You sure You have the in & out of the flo of the pump?

With the pump that high from the res., It can't get a good Prime. Just use some Hose, & lower Your Pump to res. height or even underneath. Just for a experiment, to make sure the pump is strong enough to handle what You are after??
 

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
Hatch you have great points but I am afraid you are too late. What I mean is that I got it worked out. As of right now the pump is pumping away and running like a charm. I think that the reason I was having problems that I damaged something inside the pump with the fall. Now as long as I have it mounted upside down it works great. I reinstalled the filter and everything, and it seems to be running as intended. You are right about the pump in regards to its placement. I would get better results if I place the pump lower towards the rez. The biggest issue with that is that there are no studs to screw the pump to. The mylar is taped to cardboard, and the cardboard is about 1/2" from the wall. Basically I have three horizontal studs behind the mylar. One at the top, the bottom, and right below the shelf were the pump is mounted. I will however look into it, so don't be surprised if you see it lowered like you say later on down the road.

I was looking at the light setup and the scrog screen and I see that there is about 14" of space till the plants hit the light. I am working on making the light somewhat air cool using 120mm PC fans. I am expecting the buds to be about 8' or so, ao I am thinking as long as I am careful I should not have heat stress issues with the plants. The bulb resemble an HPS so it's not a big fat MH like you would think a CMH would look like.

All and all things are back on track and my lights should get here Thursday. I am still not sure about my timer, but it should be here about the same time. I can deal with out a timer for a little while as I still need seeds, hell I need to figure out what seeds I should get.
 

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
Well my friend I am glad that you like your soil. Me personally I like getting high, and have been smoking hydro nugs for so long I have grown attached to its characteristics and tastes. I smoke pot for the pleasure of getting high, not because I need it medically, and not because it taste good. Where I live I cannot just go bailing old used up dirt out in my backyard. I can however send lightly fertilized water down my drain lol. Also I do not feel like waiting around for 4 months while my root bound plants are awaiting harvest.

Seriously though please do not come into my thread and start a soil vs aero argument. This is a thread that is intended to inform and hopefully encourage ppl. Maybe you will see what I am doing and come over to aeroponics, I know you said you have before but I doubt it was like this. I really want ppl to understand that this is
"TRUE" AERO GROWING. "TRUE" is the key word here friends, this is not a makeshift aeroponics sytem, the Aerogarden is a makeshift system, it is NOT real aeroponics. All those sytem that use those sprayers ARE NOT REAL aeroponic systems. These are what I like to call hybrid NFT/Aeroponics. The root zone is SATURATED by SPARYER causing the roots to drip water. In a TAG environment the roots are not suppose to drip, they are NOT suppose to be saturated. They are "MISTED" not "SPRAYED" therefore the water particles are so fine that they virtually fall into the root lenticels, and have no time to drip off.

It is late and I am getting frustrated with your post. It has no baring on anything constructive. It is almost as if you came in here to shit on my thread, and claim soil is better. Well maybe in terms of taste but that is as far as i go as far as I am concerned.

READ my links guys they are very intresting and may be the very thing that brings you over to the TAG arena. If you think you have what it take to TAG then join the ride, tickets are free.
 

HATCH

Well-Known Member
I made a Aero system grew fast, got me high, tasted flat.
went right back to soil.
Say Bro, Maybe so Maybe No, But it might have been Your Strain??? I've been Aeroponic's For over ten Year's, My Bud's tast Freaking Amazing, I have had some Soil Indoor that tasted like Dirt!!!

But to Each, His On!!!!!Smoke on My Brother!!!!~~~~~~:joint::joint::joint::joint:
 

HATCH

Well-Known Member
Well my friend I am glad that you like your soil. Me personally I like getting high, and have been smoking hydro nugs for so long I have grown attached to its characteristics and tastes. I smoke pot for the pleasure of getting high, not because I need it medically, and not because it taste good. Where I live I cannot just go bailing old used up dirt out in my backyard. I can however send lightly fertilized water down my drain lol. Also I do not feel like waiting around for 4 months while my root bound plants are awaiting harvest.

Seriously though please do not come into my thread and start a soil vs aero argument. This is a thread that is intended to inform and hopefully encourage ppl. Maybe you will see what I am doing and come over to aeroponics, I know you said you have before but I doubt it was like this. I really want ppl to understand that this is
"TRUE" AERO GROWING. "TRUE" is the key word here friends, this is not a makeshift aeroponics sytem, the Aerogarden is a makeshift system, it is NOT real aeroponics. All those sytem that use those sprayers ARE NOT REAL aeroponic systems. These are what I like to call hybrid NFT/Aeroponics. The root zone is SATURATED by SPARYER causing the roots to drip water. In a TAG environment the roots are not suppose to drip, they are NOT suppose to be saturated. They are "MISTED" not "SPRAYED" therefore the water particles are so fine that they virtually fall into the root lenticels, and have no time to drip off.

It is late and I am getting frustrated with your post. It has no baring on anything constructive. It is almost as if you came in here to shit on my thread, and claim soil is better. Well maybe in terms of taste but that is as far as i go as far as I am concerned.

READ my links guys they are very intresting and may be the very thing that brings you over to the TAG arena. If you think you have what it take to TAG then join the ride, tickets are free.
Glad You got it running. Hope it run's OK like that for Ya.

& Hey Bro, Ya I've read all about This System You have Built, I followed the Build & Experimenting with it back in 05 on the other site. Ya it is a good System. But hey You are not in the right place to be knocking all the other DIY system that do a Great Job for other Grower's.

With that said, I wish You the Best of Luck with Your New System, But we are all in this together Right???:joint::joint::joint:
 

JordanTheGreat

Well-Known Member
Another thing to think about mayne... you said that you had trouble priming the pump, lines, and all that noise... mite wanna think about a foot valve of some sort, prevents backflow when the pump shuts off. if its not a self priming pump then you mite wanna grab one and see how it works for you...
 

JordanTheGreat

Well-Known Member
and as far as all this taste shit... im purddy sure that as long as you get that GOOD flush on in the end, and that GOOD cure that aythang should be tasty...ryte?
 

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tip Jordon I will look into that.

Hatch I am sorry if it came out like that but I was not trying to nock any of the other DIY systems. I used and built most of them already, they were all awesome in there own way. I was just pointing out that this in not the same as what most people see or think about when they hear the term aeroponics. Usually when a person, myself included hears, or sees aero they think sprayer and mag pumps. The fact of the matter is that true aero will not work with a mag pump, and those run of the mill sprayer are not made for aeroponics. I wasn't trying to knock any one or anything.
 

HATCH

Well-Known Member
All Good My Brother!!~~~~~~Hey I'll look back in Your Thread or Go to the other site. But what are The Mister Tip's that you are using Called, & Can I get a good pic of one? Or are they Fogger's?

I use 1400 GPH Pump's, Through My Mister's, There is A real Fine Mist. Ya Mag.Pump's can't get near the flo that I like. I use In-Line Jet-Pump's, & Submersible Pump's.

What is going to be Your Watering Schedule???
 

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
The misters I am using are called "Superfine Misters' They can be found at the bottom of this page. Get the white one as the other ones are to big of a droplet. To be honest 55 microns is borderline as far as droplet size. 30-80 microns is about the size of the lenticels on the roots, so anything smaller that 30 is more of a fog, anything bigger than 80 saturates the root mass, and becomes more of and NFT type system.

Ok as for my status on my grow... well I am still right where I was. Water system is in place, light will be here Thurs. along with my timer. I have reflective mylar up all the way around, and my hood/reflector is mounted in place. I am currently working on a way to make my batwing reflector somewhat aircooled.

My plan was to mount 2 120mm PC fans on the sides of the mogul socket, then mount a really powerful (130CFM) 120mm PC fan at the other end but centered so that it is in front of the bulb (but at the end of the reflector). At that point I will just need to mount a piece of glass or lexan. Lexan is good up to 300 degrees F but I am unsure if that is enough for an air cooled reflector. To be honest I am thinking that I will not see any plant growth for about another month. I am not buying any seed as of yet, but I have 2 bag seed that I pulled out of a bag of good Dro that I bought a while back. I am still unsure how I will get these seeds to grow in a medium free system. The best I can think of is to use the left over 1" rock wool cubes that I have left. Beside that there really isn't anything new going on.

Oh and about the water schedule... I am not sure if you mean the nute schedule or just how often I water them. I have no nute schedule YET, but for watering I am planning to do a 30seconds on/ 3 minutes off.
 

HATCH

Well-Known Member
Thank's For the Link. Good Stuff. Ya that what I was woundering on the watering.

Sound's Good.:joint::joint::joint:
 

JordanTheGreat

Well-Known Member
Thats easy man... get like a shallow cake pan, some vermiculite, and some water. fill up the pan til bout 3/4" from the top wid vermiculite. nestle the seeds in there pointing down ward, far enough where you can still see the back of the seed.water until surface shows saturation...these will root in the pan and when they are of an appropriate transplant size, you take sum rubber stoppers i think a #10 will work( size ). bore out the middle to about an inch and a half. make a cut so they are like a broken circle. drill holes in chamber lid that will hold stoppers tightly. take rooted cuttings and wrap them up to the cotyledons in polyester fiber until they fit snugly into the stoppers. those should hold watever the lid can...
 

mdgcmd

Well-Known Member
Once again Jordan TY... I will do the Vermiculite and cake pan thing, but I am planning on using neoprene plugs, or maybe pool noodles. The vermiculite should come right off the roots when I add them to the grow chamber.

Hatch- I like these misters a lot, I was using the red aerocloner sprayers but was a bit unhappy with them. It's not that they didn't do a good job, it's just not what I wanted. I was looking for a mist and not a spray like I said before. I do want to inform you though that these mister need like at least 40PSI in order to work properly.

I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT TO EVERYONE THAT A MAG-DRIVE PUMP WILL NOT WORK WITH THESE MISTERS.
THESE MISTERS ARE DESIGN FOR LOW FLOW HIGH PRESSURE USE.

The problem is that mag drive pumps are designed for high flow low pressure. I am not familiar with submersible or jet flow pumps, but for a smaller system like mine RV Diaphragm pumps work great. They are design for just such situations of intermittent on/off use.

Come back tonight and I will have more pictures for us. I am building my air-cooled reflector and will post pics.
 
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