True Aero Growing "TAG" - Page 5

mdgcmd · #41 05-09-2008, 11:34 PM

Well My garage still has no power so as you can imagine I am still trouble shooting that situation. On the other hand I didn't let it keep me from my work. I got the fans rigged up to the reflector and I wired up the bulb and ballast. As you can see I got my lights in today, but the CMH bulb is defective so they are sending me new one. Naturally I have to send the defective one back to them, but I think it is a waste of shipping charges. I am nearly 100% done with this box and I will soon need to start picking out some seeds hmm.

So what do you think... did I do OK or crappy? I am still building the ballast box so the ballast looks like a wired mess. I chose to build my own ballast box because I plan to add heatsink and fans to the ballast. I read that if you keep you ballast cool it will reduce the buzz sound.

mdgcmd · #42 05-11-2008, 06:25 AM

Well aside from the light and fixture I have been lazy and not stepped into my garage. It really doesn't help that for what ever reason I have no more power in there. At any rate am trying to recap what I have gone and still need to do. I would like to get in there today and get some shit done.

As of right now I have the water irrigation in place and secured. I managed to allow the rolling floor to work as I intended it to.

I DO need to resecure the grown bin to the res lid. I am thinking about using a poly caulk instead of the silicone caulk I used earlier. I recently read that the silicone, will last forever but is just not a strong bold for heavy handling application.

I DO still need to light proof the grow chamber and the rez. to prevent any light from getting into the root zone or the rez. chamber. I am going to use Al foil for this as I find it really easy to work with, not to mention it save a lot on duct tape. Duct tape is fairly cheap but the foil is much cheaper and is more effective at keeping light out.

I am hoping that the ventilation system is adequate enough for the cabinet size. I know that the exhaust fan is powerful enough to clear the cabinet but I am not sure if can do the job fast enough extract all the heat. One of the reasons I decided to grow with a CMH was because of the heat of the HPS. Granted that I am loosing about 10000 lumens but I also loose about 100F in bulb heat. The light is also a more adequate for the combination of veg/flwr, compared to just an HPS.

My light will be adjustable but for the most part it will not move. I have only about 14 inches of vertical height above the trellis. So as you can imaging once I the plants reach the trellis I will move the light up to the top and it will stay there for most of the grow. I will also finish rigging the light/fixture to the inside of the cabinet this afternoon.

I will soon be completely done with the building but I feel as if I am leaving out some stuff. Can you guys please help me go through a checklist, I just want to make sure that I am not forgetting anything important. Thanks a lot guys for checking in and leaving feedback. it really does mean a lot to me, I know that it sounds gay (not derogatory) but I really do appreciate any and all feedback that you can give.

quazzy10 · #43 05-11-2008, 04:35 PM

I'm definately sitting in on this one

mdgcmd · #44 05-11-2008, 05:52 PM

Pics to come in an hour or so to update you all "visually" of our progress. I wish that the CMH bulb didn't blow/malfunction, so that you could all see what it is like. So as for right now I am using the cheap HPS to make it all look good.

Are there any requests, I mean for pictures... is there anything that you want to see?

mdgcmd · #45 05-11-2008, 10:29 PM

Hello again roll it up, I bring you some updates and eye candy. The first is a close up of inside the growth area of the box. I believe that the height from aero pod lid to the light is roughly 28". The trellis is about 12" away from the aero pod lid, and the trellis is about 14" or so from the bulb. Once I get the CMH in there I think that 14" is just fine. The CMH being a cooler bulb and still having the fans on the reflector will help in this situation.

The second picture you can see the cabinet in operation. Lights, fans, irrigation system, and exhaust are all online. The top self is where my ballast and such is, you will see this close up in a later pic. I really dig the new irrigation lives. The pump is more silent because I took out the PVC. Once it was removed there was nothing stiff to cause vibration.

This next picture is just another one of the floor rolling out. With the new hoses being much more flexible than the other clear braided hose I was using. I am now able to roll the floor out easily and the hoses just follow right along, not to mention they're black. Grabbing the rez will be a sinch when ever I have to change out the nutes.

Here you can see it running from another angle, not much to explain but you get a good view.

StinkBud · #46 05-12-2008, 06:52 AM

Your plants will outgrow your box using any form of aeroponics. Expect 2-3 times the growth rate over soil.

After many years of testing I found that the water droplet size is not a big deal. In fact you allow more O2 to the roots by using a timer. A timer allows the roots to hang in pure air for 5 minutes. It's all about O2 to the roots, not water and nutrients. A timer also helps keep your reservoir water cool.

Right now I'm running 2900PPM with a complete organic nutrient solution. Pump on for 1 minute and off for 5 minutes.

zkt · #47 05-12-2008, 11:39 AM

Looks good to me. Was thinking along the same design lines but would have to round up a high pressure pump and mist heads. Another way might be to use an aerosol head and compressor. An ordinary asthma nebulizer puts out a fine smoke like mist or can take the top off for larger particles. Doubt if the compressor is rated continous duty but a 10-25% duty cycle might work fine. Controling the noise might be the hard part. I`m still thinkin on how to proceed or just let well enought alone. The dirts doing just fiine. let us know how your setup is working out.

akbuds · #48 05-12-2008, 11:53 AM

this is a very intresting grow. I am looking forward to seeing some green growing in there.

Mdgcmd I hope this grow meets all your expections. It looks like you have invested alot of time and money into this set up. It will be really great if it performs like you are predicting.

As far as blacking out your res and grow chamber i hear the krylon fusion paint on the outside works really well. I am getting ready to paint my grow chambers on my little aerohybred system but i can decide what color :P . I has thinking yellow to reflect the light away from my grow chambers and wont heat it up. Or do you guys think i should use a darker color?

zkt · #49 05-12-2008, 12:10 PM

Damn another good one ! I take it your gong with the high pressure pump and aerosol heads and are convinced that it will work better than a magdrive pump and spray heds in a pipe huh ? Keep us posted please.

mdgcmd · #50 05-12-2008, 01:10 PM

ZKT I am using a high pressure smart pump, and 55 micron mister heads. These heads produce a slightly finer that aerosol mist. The pump is a Shurflo Smart Sensor 5.7, it runs about 200.00 USD and I pray it lasts for quite some time. This pump will pressurize up to 65psi then automatically shut off until pressure reaches about 55psi.

AK I would love to paint instead of foil, it would save me a lot of time and work. I think that yellow would be great but I think that a primer would be useful for the first 2 coats. I was worried about the paint fumes affect the respiration of the stomata.

Stinkbud I am waiting on my timer to come it the mail. I ordered a CAP recycle timer. It will be on a 30 seconds on/ 3 minutes off cycle. I am sure that I will need to adjust it a few times to get it just right for the plants. Hopefully it will not be to much trouble to get it all worked out.

Keep coming back guys, when I have a bit more time I will put up the rest of my picutres. I have a nice "in the dark" picture with a nice view of light leaks... well actually the lack of light leaks lol.