Switch from DWC to Aeroponics - Air stone?

I am looking at switching from DWC to aeroponics (yep just the low pressure variety) due to the noise that the that the air pump in my DWC creates. I've had some great results with DWC (well not really as the plants turned out to be male) but the high volume air pump that I was using creates too much noise.

I figured that switching to an aero setup may be quieter but I can't figure out if an air pump will still be required? I understand that the water and roots will be aerated by the air in the root chamber but wouldn't this area need to be ventilated to refresh it? Or would the nutrient the res require an air pump anyway? I've been looking around a lot and the figures I've found don't seem to show any aeration other than the sprinkler heads?

Cheers

I didn't use anything to ventilate my areoponic system, except what natural air flow that was created by the water spraying and draining out. It seemed to be enough. I use net cups with hydroton in them, so it was pretty porous. I did use an air stone in the reservoir, but it was just to keep the mix stirred. You should have a tube draining your chamber(s) that has the end submerged in your reservoir or the water falling will be kind of noisy Drill a couple holes in it or you get some kind of vapor lock and water will back up.

Hmm yeah I hadn't thought about the mixing of the res. Do the nutrients flocculate if not constantly mixed? And yeah I hadn't thought of the drainage noise either; though that should be easy enough to fix!

I don't know if the air stone was really necessary, to tell the truth. I had the stones and a bunch of aquarium pumps I got for free, and the power used was negligible. A little extra aeration couldn't hurt. When I first set it up, the water falling was quite loud. I installed 1" vinyl tubing to carry the water from the chambers to the reservoir. This made disgusting slurping noises and the water would back up in the aeroponic tubes. I then used PVC electrical elbows with a few diagonal .saw cuts to prevent vapor lock and this was nearly silent. The fans are the noisiest part.

Thanks for the help mate!!! I can get away with the noise level of the fans, it's just the hum of the air pumps that's doing my head in!

If you're in a situation where you can keep your res temps cool, I say no air stone. If things start to heat up, I'd add it. My res gets pretty warm currently, and I get no slime. At least not yet.

At the moment (DWC) I have my res inside my tent which is heated to a pretty stable 20C. I could move the res outside the tent if I was doing Aero, but then it would be exposed to the near zero temps...

Uzzi said:

At the moment (DWC) I have my res inside my tent which is heated to a pretty stable 20C. I could move the res outside the tent if I was doing Aero, but then it would be exposed to the near zero temps...

Click to expand...

I think 10-15C is ideal. Freezing it too cold, and 20 is workable, but I'd use an air stone. You could probably back off from using such a heavy-duty pump, & go with something quieter. Or you could insulate the shit out of your res & stick it outside. I'd personally try to work the cold advantage you got goin for ya, & insulate.

I've had trouble shaking root rot since switching to a quieter pump though. Maybe just a coincidence though? I've also added some Hygrozyme lately so interested to see how that pans out:/

I'd skip the hydrozyme if I were you. Yeah, it might work, but you're putting a bandage on a wound that can be prevented. You don't even have to put your res outside, make a chiller that takes advantage of your outside temps. Put a trashcan of water outside with a coil of tubing in it, and attach it to another coil in your res & circulate with a small pump. Bing, bang boom!

Holy crap balls Mr Young! That is a sweet idea!!

Any tips on wy I'd be getting root rot now..... My first grow in DWC was in a shed where temps got to over 40C during the day. I'm now in the cool part of the year where I have to heat the tent to 20C and I've got rot:/ The only thing I changed was going from the large industrial pump to another fairly large pump made (Tetra Whisper maybe). Maybe just a cleanliness thing? But I did clean with bleach before I started (though now I think of it I didn't clean the air stones..). I'm just trying to eak out this grow and come up with a solution for the next...

You didn't provide 411 that might help solve your problem, like rez volume

I used ~ 19 lpm pump with 4 head manifold + 4 large oxystones. I wanted more air and bought a much bigger pump, but it made a ton of noise and got hot as hell. I bought a second 19 lpm pump to double the air, but have since switched to a top feed system using Hydro Halo drip rings on a deep cycle timer. I recirc the rez 24/7 using a ~ 250 gph pump

Hi Mike. Long time no see. I finally moved on from hpa. I got it to work well in the few winter months but, I lacked the controlled environment to run it year round. However, what I learned about roots helped me develop a system that I have been improving over the last 2 years. Got great results last grow. See finished thread

At first I thought 411 was a typo but Urban Dictionary sorted me out haha

I have 3 plants (K2, Purple Haze and an Afghan Kush Ryder; stupid combination I know!) in a 75 litre res. They are in net pots containing a mix of perlite and ceramic rock. There are x2 300watt LED lights, a small exhaust fan, an oscillating fan and a heater keeping the tent pretty constant at 20C. This keeps the res at ~18C with the Tetra APS 400 400L/H air pump supplying air through two 10cm diameter circular air stones (the loud one I had before that was a industrial style 65L/minute pump). I keep my PH between 5.8 and ~6.2 and run my Dutch Master nutrients at 1EC (earlier in the grow I thought it would be a great idea to add a little more nutrients each day until I saw some leaf burn - bad idea - I got to over 2 EC before the plants reacted, at which point they really reacted and turned for the worse).

I guess what I am really trying to achieve is a quiet grow system that I can leave alone for a few days at a time due to work commitments. DWC seems like a good option due to that but is just too loud...

Pet - the drip system in your link looks really interesting! Is it quiet and reliable enough to leave alone for a few days at a time? I'm not 100% locked into aero...

Oh and the Hygrozyme which I added in last Friday to try sort the root issues out. I haven't seen the plants since then but will dump the Hygrozyme as suggested by Mike once I switch systems or fix the cause of the root issues.

PetFlora said:

Hi Mike. Long time no see. I finally moved on from hpa. I got it to work well in the few winter months but, I lacked the controlled environment to run it year round. However, what I learned about roots helped me develop a system that I have been improving over the last 2 years. Got great results last grow. See finished thread

Click to expand...

Looks like you got a little more space to work with there. I also dig the trellis thing. Those two big plants are so tall, but not bushy at all. Do you not like training em to spread out a bit? Maybe I just like my squat bushes, and am a little partial. Did you check my new shit out? #threadjack.

Crazy i know, but why not just buy a quiet air pump?

My first airpump turned out to be a beast, and the only way i could use it was to store it in the attick with air lines coming through the ceiling, so i simply went on google and bought a bunch of smaller airpumps compared to one large one reviewed as being very quiet, and they couldn't be heard despite my pillow being 2 foot from the grow.

edit: seen a post mid-thread: The quieter certainly puts out less air than a large multi outlet unit, so i just used a pair of them. Never had any root rot or issues. eventually i just dropped down to one airpump and a barely bubbling crusty old airstone per 30/40L bucket.

Pet - I have timed the grow so that toward the end I will be around more frequently. I am also fortunate to have very independent and flexible work so can get back to the plants as frequently as needed, it would just require a lot of driving:/

Tip top - I had looked into just putting another pump in there and that is def an option if it is lack of air causing my issues. I guess I am just looking at other options as DWC was fun for my first couple of grows, but I'd like to progress and find the best method for my situation. I've learned a bunch over the past 12 months but from my posts you can tell I have a way to go haha.

The Amnesia Haze on its own (boy). And then the K2, Afghan Kush & Purple haze from left to right about a month ago in the early stages of my stupid nutrient level experiment..

Figured I'd log this here, as much a record and reminder for myself as anything else.

So I've switched from DWC to low pressure aero. Ran the system with fairly high H2O2 for 24hrs and trimmed the worst of the roots away. The plants are looking horrible but it will be interesting to see if they recover over the next few weeks:/