DIY Aero Cloner the EZ-Cloner Replica in 10 Easy Steps!

[KingRalph]

just a sec, this is gonna require a bowl...

ah lovely, all ready to go, are you? whether it be because you're sick of poor results or slowness or humidity domes, or because you wanna start the right way the first time, i understand your need for roots, so here is a simple step-by-step guide to building what is known as an Aero Cloner and been popularized as the expensive EZ-Cloner.

Parts List:

350GPH Danner Supreme Mag-Drive Utility Pump Model 3 (Model 5 500GPH for larger units)

35x 2inch Neoprene Insert Collars (only 50cents a pop in the 35x bag

12x Aeroponic Misters (EZ-Cloner replacement sprayers, Mister 320 etc)

1x Rubbermaid Roughneck 31gal Tub or equivalent

Schedule 40 PVC
1x 1/2" Pipe in length
1x 1/2" Female Connector
4x 1/2" Elbows
3x 1/2" Tees


TOOLS

Drill
2" Holesaw
11/32 Drill Bit (or 10/32 tap)
Glue Gun + Glue (or 2" netpots)
Composite Hacksaw (something to cut PVC)

Have you pulled these things out of your back pocket yet? Vundeba, let's begin constructing...

1. Screw the 1/2" Female PVC onto the pump output...


2. Cut PVC pipe for a length that ends up at least 6" below the top of the tub. Remember, you can always cut more off later, so don't cut too short. Clean all ends of plastic, and stick the pipe in the pump's fitting.


3. Stick 1/2" Tee on the pipe...


4. Cut 2 equal lengths to go the long distance of the tub...


5. Put the 2 last Tees on the ends...


6. Cut 4 equal length short pieces and stick in Tees after cleaned...


7. Attach the 4 elbows...


8. Measure and Cut 2 more equal length pieces to fit your rectangle, clean, and check to see how your barebones fits together...


9. Now take apart the PVC and with an 11/32 drill bit (or 10/32 tap) drill holes for the sprayers in the pipes, and screw in the misters. sealing these isn't really necessary, also your pvc should fit together tightly enough not to need sealing either.



As you can see that 18gal tub was a bit small, so i got the 31gal with plenty of space. Longer PVC, more misters, and a bigger pump and tub will allow you a bigger cloner, simple as that, design remains the same...

10. The Lid... drill the 2" holes you need. Clean the stray plastic off the holes without enlarging them, do no cut the plastic further yknow. Here you can either drop in 2" netpots, or what i had to do on some is to hot glue around the outside of the hole so the neoprene collars stuck in nicely, no netpot to fall in or for roots to get tangled in, or to buy note: experience has shown users to cut the bottom half of netpots off so roots are not damaged on removal...


Voila!



keep an eye on temps, they should be 68-78, 75F optimal. the pump keeps my temps perfect, but i suppose if it gets cold an aquarium heater would just be needed... but this...

means this...

you can see net pot or not makes no difference... and really temps are not a worry like in bubblecloning ugh... just ease here... warmer temps at the start n cooler temps after roots show is optimal, but any in the range will get ya success, and the pump should put the temp in a perfect spot!


i truly hope this saves folks the money that ez-cloners would steal from them, or makes roots possible, or both, just know that you can always do it yourself. peace n green thumbs all.

 

[Guest]

oh thats hot bro ,, teach 'em

 

[captainjack]

thanks

 

[captainjack]

keep an eye on temps, they should be 70-80, 75-78 optimal.

68-75*F. theyll root fast enough at these temps.
anything higher, and you're giving pathogens the upper hand.
but, as always, to every man his own good luck old friend

 

[KingRalph]

yip yip cj that works, n would be a safer assumption, as the dreaded mushy stem comes easily after a while of over80 temps, so 78 is cuttin it close you're right...... but with hydroguard, and lovely aero, high 70's where the roots will come quickest is no worry. below 70 mine definitely stopped trying to make roots. i was going to just say 75 optimal, optimal instead of ideal, the high temps are optimal for roots, but yes, also optimal for pathogens. hehe there have been so many debates over this, and i think your 68-75 is a better range than a vague ol 70-80, i mean temps shouldn't be swaying that much anyways, but if someone's ends up in there they should be happy with it runnin as is.

i would say after 5 days, any temps over 80 are dangerous. likewise any below 68 will basically stop root development unless they have already sprung from root nubs.

thanks for keepin me on my toes cj, just kinda glossed over that important detail of clonin. still not as touchy with temps as bubble cloners!

 

[Harry Gypsna]

very nice, ill be building one like this when i can find those misters in uk....

 

[Sinfuldreams]

Thanks KR!

Thanks KR!

Just the thing I was needing.
My temps run way to high with the EzClone 60 I have and was thinking of using a smller pump and buying a 120 EzCloner as well... But this suits even me.. "the UNHANDY"

I can do the small pump in the 60 and make a unit like that for a whole hell of a lot less cash!!!! Kill two birds with one stone.

I love it when the answer to your question is so simple, yet takes someone else to show you how easy it is. I got everything I need except the PVC.

Thanks again

Sin

 

[kokua]

Hey King...that is fantastic!!

One thing I did when making mine was I cut the bottom out of each net cup so that I could put longer stems in if I like. I also used the 2" cups and the neoprene collars together. The top of the net cup acts as a lid for the neoprene collars, that way you don't have to worry about the hot glue, and your neoprene collars are easily removed when the cuts are rooted...

 

[Sauce]

Awesome job! I might build one of these if I get some extra $

 

[benrock]

what kind of misters are those king?

 

[Bonzo]

Very nice KR!! Love it bro! By the way i use the red EZ clone misters, ill get ya a link where to get em harry.

peace

bonz

this thing works like a charm but i gotta get a regular flat lid, this dome thingy is prone to leaking, i have to use weather stripping to keep it water tight and it also limits the amount of cuts. Same deal though, pvc,some misters, a pump and wooo hoooo man roots in 5 to 10 days, temps about 71 to 75.

 

[ocanabis]

Hi KingRalf

Good job on the 2 torial.I made a similar set up but on a smaller scale.I'm using a 200gph pump with 2 sprayers.I only need 6 cuttings for my B & B system.My cloner will hold 12 cuttings.Instead of using the basckets I just use the neoprean pucks.This thing works great.Here's some pics.
The way I start mine is I add 2 litters (1/2 gal)straight un ph'd water from the tap.The Ph is at 7.4.I take my cuttings and put them in the pucks and insert the pucks into the system.Once the roots start showing which takes about a week I then add nutes around 2 oo ppm's and build up from their.
These cuttings are 3 weeks old now and @ 300 ppm's.Just out of curiousity I stuck an aquarium thermomiter in the other day and to my surprise the water temp was 90 df.,but yet the cuttings look great.Judje for yourself.
Later
Ocanabis

 

[Bonzo]

I like your pvc better than what i did KR, and where did you get your misters? I like em!

bonz

 

[Guest]

Wow, that's a big improvment on the old DIY cheapo aero cloner of the O.G . days. I've been using my Cheapo built Aero cloner for two years runnin' now and I'll never go back to rooting powders.good work king.

 

[Guest]

The misters seem a little harder than a bubbler to construct. Is there an advantage over a bubbler?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

why dont you just cut 1.75" holes instead of messing with hot glue? this is basically the same thing i made but i used a 10 gallon aquarium and made my own lid

 

[mrwags]

I just bought some more stock in Rubbermaid. Thanks KR your the best.



Mr.Wags

 

[KingRalph]

thanks folks, glad it's helpin.

cheers Sinful, yeah people complain of the heat of the large pumps in the ez cloner 60... just buy the 350gph model 3 pump (petsmart.com $35) and it'll run the 60 perfect temp... and just build your own 120 site with the pump you have from the old 60! it's the same one in the 60 and 120 do just build your own pvc in a huge tub, get the misters and neoprenes and save $300. best o luck buddy, lemme know if i can help anymore anytime man

hehe wags you know it, the rubbermaids toughnecks have a nice tall lip, so the lids close over and there's no leaking at all

so bonzo snag a rubbermaid or somethin! hehe oh an benrock, these are the Mister 320 sprayers, 320 degree misters once suggested by lothar for aero tubes, got them at betterthannature.com. any 300 degree or more mister is gonna be what you want.

high ocanabis, nice one ya got there, yeah be careful with the aquarium heaters they can heat up quite a bit too much too quick... i like your sprayers, those are the rotating head ones, definitely good for small spaces and just a few clones... i'm tryina replicate a biggun here, but thanks for showin up a small system!

psuedo since you're wondering, i only had 10 netpots, so instead of waiting i used the hot glue technique... and i had used a 2 1/8" holesaw on a lid, too big, so 2" holesaw, still too big unless netpot or hot glue... so that's why i didn't get another holesaw to do 1.75" holes!

.canine. a bit more work than a bubbler faux-aero but so worth it. bubblers are too wet stems, stem submerged or not? picky temps, bad coverage, etc... very hard for pathogens to start in aero. i did get lucky once of 5 times with bubbling and got roots in 5 days... it is a bit more than just bubbler system, the most savings come from doing it large scale as the big ezcloners cost so much! i have 2 bubblers if ya want them though! ;p

hey kokua thanks for the idea, you're not the first to suggest it, so it must be a nice trick, i'll definitely cut the bottom half off of the 2" netpots i have, the roots are already all through them though... i may go to all that method if i get to the store, BGGDW did the same and so did others, ya guys are way ahead of me, so thanks for sharin the tip i'll add it in

peace n green thumbs as always folks

 

[betterboy]

Nice thread , I always enjoy watchin the handy men at work. did ya have to use a tap on the holes for your sprayers or just screw them in? I spent the big buck for the EZ clonner 120 set it up last week , got roots on but 1/3 of them now, I like the unit but it is expensive. Since i also like to experiment I've thought bout building a areo clonner to but what i was thinking is to cut the 2" holes in the lid for the neopreen inserts and add a piece of plexiglass to the bottom of the lid with 1 1/2"holes directly below the 2" holes and use plastic anchors to hold the glass 1/2" down below the lid.
So you have the spray bar 6" below the lid? Since I have had so much trouble with rubber maids leaking I thought I'd ues a cement mixing box, using 2 of them 1 for the bottom and cut the top lid so It fits on a ledge inside the bottom res, just a thought, gonna build one to see how it works out. keep up the good work KR.

 

[KingRalph]

hey bb, yeah the spray bar is about 6inches below. could be a bit more no prob i tihnk. and i didn't tap the holes, just caus i didn't have the right size drilltap around, just a regular drillbit and with some fingerpain, they were screwed in fine. glad the ez works for ya... at 1wk i had bout half rooted, the other half had started then stopped because temps dropped below 70, i got temps up mid-hi70's again an they're all rooted now. i'm sure a lil tweakin n you'll have it consistent in no time. lots of roots in 7 days will be easy... water contents n temp is gonna be the main factor there.

i like your ideas man, yeah my rubbermaid doesn't leak a drop... till i open the lid (pump off, yeah a couple sprays in the face when i was too stoned) then a few drops sometimes come out, there's a towel there... but i don't worry about leaks. your plexiglass under-holder is an awesome idea man. having the thing to rest the neoprenes on as in the real ezcloner like that would be sweet, as then they stay loose... sounds like a great way to do it, but i think the 2" netpots are a lot easier with a similar result. i'd still like to see that though, more easily gotten than 120 netpots careful drillin the plexiglass though, prone ta crackin i'm sure ya know. take care man.

oh and i forgot, as in Bonzo's pic, there are what, pool noodles there instead of neoprene collars? a popular alternative if ya can find the right foam pieces. anything can work here, pipe insulation foam, those pool noodles... things like that, i just already had neoprenes, or i prob woulda tried to save more money like that too

happy to see everyone sharin info n systems. remember i don't mean to demean other methods or designs at all, many things work, just after doing every other method (except sand and now doing this, i'll never go back to the stone age. peace n green thumbs folkaroos.