Check out Midnitetoak's dual aero-tubeZ

Filling out nicely now...cola tips forming; another design flaw noted- the lid of my bin seemed rigid enough before putting a bunch of holes in it & weakening the structure..it sags a bit under the added weight of the now fully flowering plants it supports which is no big deal but now I cannot top off the bin without puddling which reduces my res capacity by 2 gallons.. I was doing weekly res changes but now I have to do them even more often because of the lower amount of water in the system...the plants are up taking nutes and water faster than the res can keep up...next design I will follow straight from Stinkbud and use a much larger res than 15 gal

Wow midnight, those really exploded in the last couple of weeks. Good thing you flipped when you did, you'd have bigger support issues! Good point on the support structure but can you clarify where your sagging is happening? I thought the plant weight support would be performed by the tubes and any support structure you may have added to hold the tubes, I'm obviously missing something. Are your tubes sitting on the res lid somehow?

Seeing this is your first run (with obviously a lot of homework) I may speed up my build

Actually they are autos -they flipped to flower on their own so I had to change to bloom formula- there are other supports but some of the weight is from the drains I put underneath the tubes that's are a little too long -do not have a good pic to show you but that's where it is sagging- I probably could just shorten them a bit to reduce the sag but then they will be more loose against the tubes abd either way I still will need more than 15 total gallons in the system...Stinkbud recommends 27 gal bin for a res (5 gal per plant) - do yourself a favor & download his ebook and avoid my mistakes altogether- stinkbuddies.com

midnitetoak said:

Actually they are autos -they flipped to flower on their own so I had to change to bloom formula- there are other supports but some of the weight is from the drains I put underneath the tubes that's are a little too long -do not have a good pic to show you but that's where it is sagging- I probably could just shorten them a bit to reduce the sag but then they will be more loose against the tubes abd either way I still will need more than 15 total gallons in the system...Stinkbud recommends 27 gal bin for a res (5 gal per plant) - do yourself a favor & download his ebook and avoid my mistakes altogether- stinkbuddies.com

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Right forgot they were autos, either way they did well. I see, didn't realize you had some drains there, no biggie I'll definitely do a refresher before I start building, I have to know exactly where I'm going before I start walking with projects like this. I find I can leave some minor details out, knowing that I'll have to figure them out during the build, but the overall design and what I want has to be 100% reconciled before I start cutting, cheaper that way - lol I think I may have download his book but will definitely do a read through. It's the little things that count later and sometimes are difficult/timely to deal with between grows

I'm the opposite- did not even write down a parts list just visualized what I wanted to build & went to the store - turns out I forgot a few things; go figure

Stinkbuds design has no drains just drips right back into the res but I thought that the light leaks would grow algae- turns out not to be the case

midnitetoak said:

Stinkbuds design has no drains just drips right back into the res but I thought that the light leaks would grow algae- turns out not to be the case

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Oh I see, you modified the design to drain at the drains you inserted along the bottom of the pipe. I was thinking of following his method, just enough of a tilt that the water drains easy enough. In the original design he cuts out a slot for the pipes so I can see why you'd think light leaks. I was thinking of modifying that by drilling the end cap with a hole for the manifolds to go into/through and a smaller slot at the bottom, just enough for the water to flow. Less light leak, no restrictions on draining water.

Yes but maybe because I used round instead of square pipe & possibly my pitch angle is slightly higher the flow comes out pretty fast and sloppy..added the flow drains to direct the runoff back into the reservior without loss..clogging & light leaks do not seem to be a problem in this system- instead of a big slot I cut 2 holes to fit pvc end caps that were drilled out for max flow and attached a scrap piece of piping with a rubber junction piece I modified to custom fit the drain assembly and be leakproof but Stinkbuds design is simpler & better- seen pics where roots are just oozing out of the drain slits like spaghetti in late flower so must not be an issue

midnitetoak said:

Yes but maybe because I used round instead of square pipe & possibly my pitch angle is slightly higher the flow comes out pretty fast and sloppy..added the flow drains to direct the runoff back into the reservior without loss..clogging & light leaks do not seem to be a problem in this system- instead of a big slot I cut 2 holes to fit pvc end caps that were drilled out for max flow and attached a scrap piece of piping with a rubber junction piece I modified to custom fit the drain assembly and be leakproof but Stinkbuds design is simpler & better- seen pics where roots are just oozing out of the drain slits like spaghetti in late flower so must not be an issue

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Good point the flow would be different with round pipes. Wondering your thoughts on adjusting the angle. Seems to me that it would be better and easier to make the stand/fixture for the posts to sit in the same, then simply make a 1/2"/5/8" thick platform for the opposite end of the res to raise it that way, can be adjusted if flow isn't how you want it much easier too. I got the square 4x4 posts, they'll be bout 42" long to fit the false floor panel I'm putting in so the res will sit on cold concrete, planning to run 3 plants per post so about 12" spacing between plants, running small to mid-sized plants. Will be running soil grows in the new room as well but I've allowed for another fixture if I end up liking this NFT thing.

Stinkbuds design incorporates the stand and LST bars to take all the weight of the rails lengthwise which is an improvement- but I used some 1" PVC I had already on hand to make a simple support for the long end- when it seemed like it would drain too slow I raised it up with 1/8" shims- just until bubble level floated off to the right a bit

Sounds like you've got the spacing correct and I bet you are gonna love growing this way once you get it all built

midnitetoak said:

Stinkbuds design incorporates the stand and LST bars to take all the weight of the rails lengthwise which is an improvement- but I used some 1" PVC I had already on hand to make a simple support for the long end- when it seemed like it would drain too slow I raised it up with 1/8" shims- just until bubble level floated off to the right a bit

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Yeah, my plan on that is to stick to the basic design but modify it slightly. The outside bars higher, the center bars lower, and an allowance for a scrog insert using T's on the fixture. Make it the same height on both ends and then make a shim for the end that needs to be tilted up, think that would work well and provide some flexibility for scrogging them. Will definitely start slow though, have never run this type of setup, likely 4 plants to start, 2 on each rail.

Here's some early buds forming nicely

midnitetoak said:

Here's some early buds forming nicely

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Always nice when you can start seeing the fruits of your labour

Roots getting crazy now trimmed them back & they didn't even seem to care

Wholly crap, they look healthy, are they growing out the end of the pipe or did you have them out?

Yeah they were coming outta the pipe - just cut them back - plant did not seem phased by it. Heard a gurgling noise at first I thought there was a mouse or something drowning in the res but it was just the roots reaching down into the water...no big

Buds all lined up...cannot find a single node that doesn't have buds growing on it- this will be the best yield I've ever seen

midnitetoak said:

Buds all lined up...cannot find a single node that doesn't have buds growing on it- this will be the best yield I've ever seen

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Very nice, particularly for your rookie run too, great when a plan comes together

That's funny abut the roots, they'll follow the water, no matter what!!

Here's some new pics at week 4 of flowering- I realize now also my res is way too small for these huge plants..I'm changing the res every 3-4 days to keep up...the plants are starting to push up out of the tubes from too much root plus I had to up the watering interval to 2 min on 3 off to keep them from drying out...but the buds are getting big now