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

[C21H30O2]

R/O v. Tap

R/O v. Tap

Are people using R/O water in their res or tap?

 

[Saint Cannabis]

Are people using R/O water in their res or tap?

My water is run through a .01 micron filter in a water ionizer... i find the ionization doesn't make much difference in this, but the filter does as good a job as the R/O filter i used before it.

 

[moses224]

Lowes has 55 gallon flat storage 24" x 60" with lid $15

just a thought

 

[Scenario420]

Well I just finished building my 30 site ez-clone, only filled it with 18 at the time. I want to see how these go for now, wish me luck...

 

[cashmunny]

I run 500GPH thru 12 misters, but I'm sure I could with less of both!

500 gph, I don't think so.That's 31.5 Liters/min. Those aren't misters, that's a garden hose. You aren't running near maximum flow capacity of the pump. That pump is trying to put out close to maximum pressure because you've blocked it's outlet with a bunch of tiny little holes. Compare the total cross sectional area of the 12 mister outlets to the cross sectional area of the pump outlet. Ratio your maximum pump flow down by that for starts.

The question that needs to be asked when designing an aeroponic system is what is the flow versus pressure relationship for the sprayer design/number of sprayers chosen. Also how much pressure can the pump supply before shutoff. The Danner pump can supply 10 ft of pressure head at shutoff which is 4.3 psi.

Larger sprayer orifices or more total sprayers will deliver more fluid with less pressure but the droplet size will be larger. Smaller orifces will require more pressure to drive and less flow but a finer droplet.

So ideally you need a lot of sprayers with small outlets and a high pressure pump with high flow delivery at pressure to supply your sprayers with lots of high pressure fluid and produce a very fine spray.

The droplet size delivered by a 4.3 psi pump is too large to really be considered aeroponic. This is really a NFT system that utilizes the same pump to deliver nutrients and aerate the solution.

And that aquarium pump is fighting for it's life. It's trying to push water through very small holes, so it's running at close to stall at the absolute minimum flow rate. Also by comparison city water runs over 50 psi so you can get a finer mist from a pinhole in a garden hose.

Its really a nice and creative way to reduce the number of parts in a hydro system though and improve reliability. Because in NFT systems either delivery pump or aeration pump failure can be disastrous. With this at least you only have to worry about one pump failing. In fact if you wanted additional insurance against pump failure you could run two in parallel.

I think a useful addition would be an intermittent controller on the sprayer pump so that you can spray for a minute, drip for a minute. The roots aren't going to dry out instantly after all, and the more you let the solution drip off, the more oxygen to the roots. It would also take load off the pump and keep your reservoir cooler.

C'mon you're a MacGyver motherfucker. Only an evil genius invents shit like that aero cloner diy. You could probably make an intermittent sprayer controller with a $2.99 wristwatch from MacDonalds (with a Happy mea)l and a paperclip.LOL

 

[Warfarefarmer]

That is a nice set up kind of like mine but instead I added a seperate tote below for my resevoir so I can do full grow.

 

[GusStraw]

Thanks for really good instructions!

 

[Pipedream]

I run 500GPH thru 12 misters, but I'm sure I could with less of both!

OK, forgive an old stoned stoner for mis-typing. It should have read....

"I run a 500GPH pump and 12 misters"

I think even the casual observer or total noobie would realize I didn't mean that 500 GPH was making its way thru the misters.

High pressure/high volume being froced thru tiny holes = tiny droplets and/or fine mist, exactly what you want.

 

[cashmunny]

Well the point is though that the pump used by the OP only produces 4.3 psi maximum before it shuts off. And at that maximum pressure it's probably flowing 1 gph or something. That kind of pressure can't produce 5-50 micrometer droplets to qualify as aeroponic.

The pump is rated at 350 gph unimpeded. So you know two points on the pressure flow diagram. Max flow at zero pressure, and max pressure at zero flow. So let's say the pump outlet is 1 cm diameter. And let's say you use 10 sprayers with a 1 mm outlet. The ratio of of pump outlet area to total sprayer outlet areas is 10:1 so figure your flow is really 35 gph. At that flow rate the pressure is 3.9 psi. I piss harder than that. It's not possible be able to generate a mist fine enough for true aeroponic growing using a rotary style pump. You need a positive displacement type pump. This pump will certainly oxygenate and deliver the nutrients. But it's marketing to call it aeroponic. Which isn't a slam at the OP. He gets beaucoup points for style and originality. It's more of a slam at the companies that use marketing terms like "Aerocloner" to deceive the tech unsavvy.

I also wonder how much life you would get from a pump being operated at the extreme edge of its design envelope. These types of pumps are really meant to just move fluid from point A to point B not produce lots of pressure. Maybe it doesn't matter though.

 

[Pipedream]

You need to keep in mind the main objective of these systems, mainly they are cloning devices not grow systems for mature plants. As such, all of the rooted cuts will eventually be relocated into other types of growing mediums or systems. If you use a high-pressure pump and achieve extremely small droplets, the root mass will grow like a cotton-ball. It will be comprised of almost all root-hair and no developed lateral structure. As such, it will have developed totally unsuitable for transfering into its final mature growth and flowering medium.

Don't get hung-up on the use of the term "aero" in conjunction with these cloners. They are what they are and do what they are designed to do very well...... Produce clones by rooting cuts.

 

[cashmunny]

That's a good point.

 

[Technique]

i cant get my f$@#$ system working..

the jets often clog up and need fixing almost every day.. god knows where they are getting the gunk from.. i might try put a stocking around the pump..

otherwise it seems to go ok when its not clogged. but qafter 1-2 weeks no roots at all.. tho seedlings are fine and work in the system.. along with clones that already have roots developed they grow more lush and white...

 

[SmokyMtnToker]

I too had issues initially with clogging...I didn't clean the pvc tiny shreds from drilling enough and had to take a needle and clean all 30 jets...what a drag.

But now its going OK...but I still get no roots..I changed the water and it is at 6 even on ph...right temps..i cannot figure out why they just sit there...in soil they do fine..so the mystery goes on.

 

[Strainhunter]

I live on an tropical island...my average ambient temperature is 82F (no AC) and I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion how to bring the temperature inside the cloner down to the desired ~75F?

I am sure with my ambient temps being in the low 80's the temps inside the cloner would be well over 80F witth he pump adding heat...

Thanks all for your help!

 

[ft100]

Built this to specs and at best got 25% success rate. Went with the walmart cloner and got 50% success first time. Then I gave each cloner another try with some mods in process and still got 25% at best with the aerocloner and went up to around 95% success with the walmart test tube cloner. So I am sticking with the very cheap walmart version. What else can I use this cloner for? Or I could sell it at cost to a buddy. Peace and smoke.

 

[DIRT DIGGLER]

I'm gonna build one of these....I'll post my results when the time comes.
thanks for all the helpful info,great DIY.

 

[Mycro]

I like this thread! I just got done trimming my fan leaves up off of 7 clones who so far, look good but it's only been 3 days. Also moved the lil cool white cfl like 13" away from them so maybe that will help too. I put my DIY cloner in a warmer place also. What is the smallest aero cloner you can make then? I have a very small "Mycro" grow going on lol

 

[simple green]

Loving my Aerocloner so far...

Mine is a cheap rubbermaid and it leaks a little bit constantly....
So I have it sitting in a bigger tub with a lil $10 Harbor Freight pump pushing water back into the cloner...

So consider getting a nice rubbermaid that will seal very tight...

Loving how it works so much it's making me wanna try a full aero gro...

Great tutorial and thread....

 

[Spanishwilly]

Sorry,
going right back to the start, why bother with the net pots? What's the difference?
And how do you decide which frigging misters to use? They all look the same.
Spanishwilly

 

[Pipedream]

The primary reason some folks choose to use netpots is that, once a decent rootmass is developed, they move them directly into their growing system as-is.

And, any spray head that puts out a fine mist will work. The red ones happen to be the ones used in the "manufactured" EZ CLONE system.