Aeroponic PC case scrog

[Aerohead]

fantastic build, the fog looks like it is perfect. Will you be running the fog 24/7 or like Ebb & flow?

Thanks Expert, The fog will run 24/7 because it's dry fog and takes time to build up moisture.

lol very cool fog, looks a bit spooky and sinister almost! One thing i dont understand is the purpose of the fan. Does it blow the fog around to keep it moving? and how comes it doesnt blow to fog out of the res? thanks

The fan is used to lift the fog up from the sump to the net pots. It's a very weak fan, just enough air flow to gently lift the fog to the roots. I had to seal the res with high density rubber foam so the fog is forced to exit via the net pots.

 

[tariq]

Wow aero *bow* this truly is a marvel to watch and follow along. I'm still new to this community and I read up here and there trying to get my mental ducks in a row before I make the leap myself.

Hopefully one day I'll have a box that'll put out even half of what your first run yielded..

 

[Asil]

Aero, Just want to stop by and say that is a incredible design. Very top notch and professional. I would think about a patent and start marketing them. Looks alot better then the stealth pc boxes you can buy. I love DIY but you by far have surpassed even that.

 

[Mk3Jetta]

Holy shit man that is SWEEEEET!

nice lil plants you got there. I love clones!

 

[S-V-K]

Wow wow wow-how did you make that fog ??? detailed plan ??? Well if it's not secret
Which exhaust fan u are using ???

 

[Deaner]

Aero,

How is the new setup and babies doing? We're eager for an update!

 

[Aerohead]

Aero, Just want to stop by and say that is a incredible design. Very top notch and professional. I would think about a patent and start marketing them. Looks alot better then the stealth pc boxes you can buy. I love DIY but you by far have surpassed even that.

Thanks Asil, really appreciate you stopping by, I wouldn't mind marketing these and selling them to med users as a low profile medicine box but I'm sure there's lots of legal research to be done and I doubt I would have the start up funds to go there. For now, I will just try new and different designs as a hobby and it's great fun!!

Thanks Mk3Jetta!

Wow wow wow-how did you make that fog ??? detailed plan ??? Well if it's not secret
Which exhaust fan u are using ???

The fog is made by a single head pond fogger, 36 watts. It makes a very fine fog and needs to be lifted to the net pots via some kind of air pressure. I created a venturi box with a small fan to lift the fog, (took 3 tries) you might notice there are 2 different fan boxes in the pics. Normally when using fog the chamber the fogger is in is put under slight positive pressure and lifts the fog through a pipe and into the aero chamber. I tried this and it didn't work so well and it leaked fog everywhere. I have 3.5" inches of water in the res and 5.5" of air/fog.

My exhaust is a Delta BFB1012HH centrifugal rated at 1.65amps
I'll post a pic of it in ScrubNinjas fan thread sometime soon.

Deaner, that's for stoppping by, Clones are healthy, lots of white bumps but no root porn yet. Pic to follow when roots happen.

Important note on aero foggers, most use them successfully as cloners but I haven't found much data on a completed grow. They all stop short either dead or abandoned because it was too busy. Kind of a gutsy move but I am going to see if fogging can go all the way through flower in a micro grow and I'm doing in real time. If it fails I'll still post what happened and why. I have a feeling I can get to harvest with this fogger setup but I don't know if it will produce and better than my last setup. This is half the fun.

 

[kidkannabis]

im not into aeroponics or hydro for that matter, but this is GENIUS! kudos Aerohead

 

[Aerohead]

*bump*

what style/brand sprayers did you use in yer old setup sir? I love the new sump but I'm still curious about the old one

Here is those misters I use for many different DIY spray bars. These have to be modified before they are used. The red diffuser gets taken off and the mister jet hole needs to be drilled to 1/16 inch to avoid clogging and increase flow for low pressure aero. These are really made to run at 50 PSI but still work well at 5 PSI. It's always a good idea to use a bigger water pump than you think you will need. I ran 400 GPH in my little 2.5 gal aero sump.

Here is a picture of the modified mister, I also clipped the barb off the back because they were mounted in shallow tubing.

 

[Aerohead]

The way to use these particular misters is to have them hit a flat or slightly curved target. This causes them to atomize the spray better. In my previous aero setup, they simply hit the walls of the manifolds. This spray bar was spraying down on slightly curved acrylic pieces and reflected back up to the net pots. I would normally use 1/2" PVC but I didn't have clearance in the new sump so I used 3/8 flexible line.

Here is a shot of the supplies:



Here is a shot of the layout:



To hold the spray bar and add strength to the lid, I cut some small acrylic pieces and made a spine that can accept zip ties:



Mounting spines glued down and tubing in place:



Side view:



Sprayers inserted into tubing. If using PVC drill them so they press in, use aquarium sealant if you drill too large by accident. For flexible tubing a soldering iron is the best way to insert them. If you put them in while the tubing is still hot it melts around the threads and gives a perfect seal. If you use the soldering iron method, please go outside and use a small table fan to keep the smoke away from you so you don't breathe it, it's toxic..

 

[grow1620]

WHOOO HOOO! ty fer the update..luckily those are the ones I bought at HD the other day



-thanks again fer the reply....I'll just sit back in awe now like everyone else is :O

 

[resin_lung]

very clean set up aerohead!

 

[Aerohead]

Thanks resin_lung, Congrats for being post #420!!!


Here is the sprayer target I was talking about. You can either buy acrylic tubes and cut them in half, or you can use a heat gun and a wooden dowel to bend the acrylic into a half moon. You then cut the curved piece into sections and place one for each jet to impact..:

 

[Aerohead]

Waiting for clones is annoying, by far the most boring part of the grow. I would have cloned some cuts weeks ago but the goo wasn't ready to give me any until days ago.

While waiting for the clones to root, I thought I would talk about working with acrylic.

Here is some supplies you will need:



Cutting acrylic is very easy and fun, Use the straight edge of a ruler or a fresh piece of acrylic as a guide to get the cut started. The idea is to score a line in the acrylic 1/4 of the way through the plastic and break it on the line. The deeper you score the better chance it will braek on the line you scored. After you make a few passes with the cutter, you will no longer need the guide to rest the tool on.



When building a sump, you should use 1/4" minimum for the bottom of the sump, this keeps the sump rigid if you need to lift it full of water and also reduces the chances of cracking the bottom if it gets set on a small hard object by accident.

Here is the bottom of my new sump :



Don't for get to take the thickness of the acrylic into account when measuring your pieces, It's a good idea to work it out on paper first and decide which pieces will overlap so you can figure the thickness into your measurements.

Once your cuts are made, it's time to glue them. Use clear box tape to temporarily hold the glass together and a square to keep the box the proper shape. The glue, is thin as water and willingly follows the ends of acrylic butted together. This pic is crappy but it was difficult to hold a camera, glue, and get a pic at the same time.



If the glue is done properly, there will be no need for sealer because the plastic welds, (melts) together forming a perfect seal. There is only one kind of glue for acrylic Weld_On #3. Don't try super glue or silicone sealer because it will wind up leaking before the grow is over.

Here is the pieces from the new sump all glued together:




This is how I decided to keep the roots away from any foggers or water pumps that will be added to the sump. There is one of these at each end of the sump, one for a fogger, and one for the water pump that is circulating water through a radiator to keep the water temp ambient.



Here is a waterfall I created to delay the roots entry to the sump and keep the roots exposed to the aero mist longer. This should create aero, nft, and dwc grow system.



Apologies for the lack of detail but it's a starting point for questions I would be happy to answer. I'm not much of a teacher nor very good at tutorials (wish I had ScrubNinjas skills there) but I thought I would attempt to share how I made the new aero system. Next, I'll tear apart the old aero system and share pics of it..

 

[ScrubNinja]

Really neat work and thanks This is bringing back memories of shop class.

 

[fatigues]

Love this thread. All of it. Educational and hugely entertaining too. Thanks for this.

 

[Mk3Jetta]

Very nice setup you created and thanks for the pics along the way! I might make something like this in the future and do some aero type growing if not cloning. It would not be possible if ICmag was not here.

 

[cork144]

im holding on.

 

[Melkor420]

Do you have roots yet?. Inquiring minds need to know man.until then we'll be beating our head against this here wall.










P.S. When working with epoxy, one key thing to remember. Glass cuts (even if it's plastic). The edges of epoxy cut me like 10 times building my sump.

 

[Strangely]

Aero would you recommend going 1/4 inch all round? I can't find a suitable sized res so I'm increasingly thinking your (very smart) DIY approach will have to be mine too. I'd go thin for the lid, with maybe your tip of Vaseline and sealant making a tight fit for the lid.

Can I just check the name of that glue too?..
'Weld_On #3' (Weld On Number 3) is that right?

If emptying your rez weekly (with the basic bubbly DWC I'm planning) can you see a problem with roots/plants getting in the way or? Cheers!