THG please describe your aero & hybrid aero/DWC systems.

[DonJones]

TheHempGodess,

You posted elsewhere that you had grown in aero and hybrid aero/DWC systems. Please describe them.

What kind of difference did you find in yield and quality for the aero and the hybrid systems versus plain DWC?

How much more complicated are they than plain DWC?

Great smoking.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I ran this years ago when first starting out with hydro. Sometime in the mid 90s I ordered this publication called "How to Hydroponic" and used their plan as a guideline to build my first aero system. This You Tube clip pretty much describes the bubble/aero system I built. The aero system alone does not use bubblers. hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z5ISlfsmR0

I used a 10 gal tote and made a rectangular manifold that had more misters. I used a cycle timer that was on for 1 minute and off for 4. I found that no matter what kind of spray heads I used, they became clogged. And the roots grew around the manifold and spray heads (which is why I added the bubblers in the first place). And even though I was using a cycle timer, the submersible water pump increased the res temp. Pumps that were not submersible were too noisy for my liking.

Ultimately, I found the sprayers just too problematic and went with just DWC.

 

[DonJones]

Thanks. So am I understanding correctly that the hybrid was when you added air stones to the aero system? I noticed the girl on You Tube used both on her's too.

The failure of the nutrient moistening system is kind of my thinking by adding air stones to the Waterfarm system, the solution will stay oxygenated even if the drip system plugs up especially if you use separate air pumps so the only way everything shuts down is power failure in which case you're probably out of luck anyway without lights, heat, cooling and so on.

I don't know about you, but I often learn more about peoples "failures" versus their successes, unless they explain the problems they had and how to over come them.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Great smoking.

 

[zem]

THG how do you deal with the high res temps in summers? i've been thinkinof this for some time, how well do these work? placing res on cement? blowng fan on top of water level? iceprobe? my res temps go to 80's levels insummers, thanks

 

[DonJones]

ZEM,

The botanists that I have heard address this issue seem to agree that right around 78F is an ideal temp for the solutions and that the lower 80Fs is not going to hurt anything but definitely try to stay below 85F.

Sitting the reservoir directly on a concrete floor, especially one that is backed up with soil, will help, although I'm not sure how much.

Blowing cool air around and over the reservoir will help, but remember, that will tend to equalize your room temperature and the reservoir temperature which could actually raise the temp if your room is real hot. Also, depending upon how much the blowing air contacted the solution, it could cause the H2O to evaporate more rapidly and cause PPM shifts.

I'm not familiar with what an iceprobe is so you need to enlighten me on that topic -- picture hopefully as well as description/explanation please.

I have heard of people using water chillers but don't know just what they are talking about.

Some one else will hopefully have more and better information to offer.

Great smoking.

 

[monkeybusiness]

THG how do you deal with the high res temps in summers? i've been thinkinof this for some time, how well do these work? placing res on cement? blowng fan on top of water level? iceprobe? my res temps go to 80's levels insummers, thanks

Most common way i believe is to freeze 2 liter plastic bottles with water and put them in the reservoir as needed. I've done this and it works but i had to change em out twice a day on every bucket. I now have my 5 gallon buckets set up to recirculate back to a controller bucket so last summer i put a water chiller inline. Works great, but uses electricity of course..

 

[zem]

hxxp://www.marinedepot.com/chillers_coolworks_iceprobe-ap.html
thats the ice probe it's only 50watts of power for 120$

 

[DonJones]

ZEM,

Thanks for the link. That would add up to a lot of money with a large grow using several buckets and I doubt if it would handle a recirculating system of any appreciable volume. Fortunately I haven't needed anything like that, but I'll keep it in the back of my mind.

Great smoking.