OK,

So some of you may have seen my other posts. I have an Aerogarden with 6 plants in it right now, and it's been going since July 26th. I don't have any pictures from the last few days, but growth has been phenomenal this last week! I have had to raise the light hood 2 notches, and suspect it will need to go up another notch when I get home this afternoon!

I originally got the Aerogarden to learn if I could grow, and now I've decided that I want to send it back before my 36-day free-trial ends.

Basically I am really really really broke, like depressingly poor, so I need to build a system that will take the place of my AG using the parts I already have. I have a few ideas, but I want some advice from you guys since stoners are the most creative people in the world, and I am so poor my bud supply has been gone for weeks now. I think doing this sober is 10X harder than if I could just smoke a bowl!

So, here is my challenge:

I will list off the parts that I have, and maybe someone will give me some help constructing a hydro setup to transplant my babies into. I have to send the AG back this week, or they will charge me and overdraw my bank account! I've got lights (CFLs & a flouro tube) so I just need the hydro setup.

Parts:

1 - 30 Gallon Rubbermade tub (dark blue) with lid

2 - 10" tube-style air bubble-wands (These are the plastic kind that I've seen a lot of people reccomend.

1 - 6" airstone

20 feet - 1/4" poly tubing. The size will fit both my airstones/pump, and my water pump.

1 - Weak as hell little water pump. This thing came from one of those tabletop fountains. It will push water though the 1/4" hose (tested) but at an extremely low pressure. The only way I think it would drip-feed 6 plants would be to connect on end to the pump, and seal the other end with silicone, then poke pin-holes along the tube where the net pots, bu I'm not sure if this would provide adequate water to the plants.

1 - Weak as hell aquarium air pump. This one can barely push bubbles out of the first 3" of my 6" airstone, but it is all I have at the moment. There is no way this will oxygenate 20-30 gallons adequately, but maybe in combo with the drip system it will be enough?

I also have access to just about all the tools I could ever need, plus miscellaneous things like silicone sealant/glue, maybe some buckets, random PVC pipes, and fittings, and anything else I can scrounge around the house/workshop, endless supplies of plastic cups, bottles, etc

My main concern is how weak my air pump and water pump are. I can probably replace them both eventually, but not this week, so I have to make do with what I have.

I am thinking I will just hook the air pump to the bubble wands that I have already silicone glued to the bottom of my 30-gal tub. It won't make a lot of bubbles though, so I was hoping that I could either make an ebb/flow or a top drip setup using the little dinky water pump. I was thinking maybe I could come up with a gravity feed system or something to compensate for the weakness of my water pump. Any ideas?

I am transferring the plants to the new setup without removing them from the Aerogarden pots, they are already well established in them, and I can't easily cut them out or remove them, so the little 2" AG pots will be where they live.

I may be able to afford $5 more on hose fittings or what not, but that is my max, at least for the next couple of weeks. I am calling out the the rollitup community to help me get creative and give me some advice. This is my project when I get home from work tonight, so maybe someone will offer me some help?

This will be an evolving system too, so as long as I can make something to keep my babies alive, I can work on upgrading it as I get more money. I'll almost definately be getting a new air pump and water pump in the next few weeks, but I need something to keep them on life support until then!

What did the aero garden run you?

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you dont need a water pump but you do need a good air pump get one that says 30/60 at walmart their 20 bucks and you need 6 6inch netpots. Look in my gallery for the layout i got the same thing as you a 30 gal tubber ware, all i have inside of it is 2 air stone and a 30/60 whisper something air pump.

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Waffles.

The Aerogarden is $150, but it came with a 36-day money back trial period, so I am going to send it back. I like it a lot, but I am tight on cash right now and it really is too small to grow more than one or two plants to harvest.

I actually considered this, and I have a single seed that I planted in soil at the same time as I planted my AG seeds. It is under the same lights and in the same grow room as the AG plants. The difference in growth is like night and day. The soil seedling is still so small it only has on set of single blade leaves and is maybe an inch tall. My AG plants are all on their 5th or 6th growth nodes at least, and have been topped, but are still between 6 and 10 inches tall! Also, I have read that you cannot transplant from hydro to soil because the plant will grow different types of roots in hydro that will not do well in soil.

I think you missed the part about me not having more than $5 to spend right now. The setup I have currently will be fully-functional once I have some money to upgrade my air-pump, but I need a quick-fix that will not cost me anything, not even $20. I have zero dollars to spend (I may be able to scrounge $5 but that's it!!

As far as the 6" netpots, those are actually in my budget, since they're like 31 cents each or something, but I already have an established crop growing in my teeny tiny Aerogarden pots. Getting them out without destroying them is damn near impossible, and they are healthy now, so I figure I will try to stress them as little as possible when I transfer out of the Aerogarden and into my new setup. I figure that I can upgrade easily for the next crop, but right now I just want to keep my babies alive when I send back my Aerogarden.

I am about a week into flowering already, though no signs of sex as of yesterday.

I've got a total of 6 plants in the AG. 2 of them are severely stunted, and now are really blocked from the light by the others because the AG is so small. The other 4 are growing like crazy (1+ inch per day!)

Moving them will not only save me the money on the AG, but will give them more room to develop and thus a larger yield. Assuming I end up with at least one girl (hopefully more!)

The AG is just too small, which is one reason I have decided to send it back.

OK, so I basically just need to create a life-support system to keep the girls going for a week or so. I figure between the mini water pump and the mini air pump I can almost do it. I may also be able to add a wick system which is totally passive (no pumps) and totally free ( I have rope and other wicking materials already). This will basically give me a hydro system that uses 3 methods of nutrient/H2O delivery (Wicking, top-drip, and bubbleponics) Right now in the AG (which is top-drip) I have an airstone, so I am already using two of these, but there is just a 1 gallon reservoir in the AG, and the roots are already occupying so much volume in it that it is probably more like a 1/2 gallon reservoir right now.

This is my project for tonight. I will add pics when I finish, and probably come back on here for advice if I need it.

ok heres the thing, your using a 30 gal tub and you have a weak air pump thats not going to work for 6 plants. It will work for 4 plants but the other 2 sites will have to be delayed.

Its either you get your system right or you'll have problems later. You say you have a weak pump if its blowing bubbles then you should be fine just do a 4 site or whatever the bubbles can produce under a plant site. Or you can clone those plants now using some sort of method to give you a 10-14 day window to get some money to get a air pump.

Whatever you do just make sure everything is working.

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Waffles.

dude you say that you dont have any money, but your making things very complicating on yourself i told u already you dont need a water pump. If y ou use a water pump that puts out more supplies to make a drip which you DO NOT NEED. Like i said a air pump that pump bubbles, air stone, netpot, air tubing, little bit of hydroton(a cup cost 1 buck) is going to work, and if u can only use a 30 gal tubberware only make enough site that the airstone can make enough bubble for simple as that. Everything can be upgraded later like air pump that will give you more plant sites. Just plan it out first because once you cut those holes into the lid thats it.

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Waffles.