Constructing a Homebrew Atomix Air-Atomized Aeroponic System

31" is a lot of depth, it would save on bending/backache I`d be tempted to cut it down a bit unless you plan to grow trees. I`m in the process of putting together a 4` x 4` x 18" deep, syphon fed AA chamber to test a few new ideas and its plenty deep enough for what i want.

Scrog trees is sort of what I had in mind. Just thought that there should be plenty of root space for that and since ceiling height is limited I wanted to lay them down, so to speak, and spread them out. Just because the box is 4' x 4' doesn't mean the plants in it have to be as long as they're getting plenty of light. I figured air would help throw the mist further and help it spread and fill the box better and faster. I can't help wondering if the solution being dispersed by air may help to further oxygenate the solution beyond what air stones do. I also wonder if a combination of AA nozzles and HP misters might better fill the box. Sort of fill the holes in coverage.

I'm thinking the next box will be average of 24" deep (sloping to drain), 32" wide, and 96" long. This depends on what I learn from the box I presently have.

AA`s will fill any box, depending on the nozzle and pressure they can throw mist 12ft or more. The air compressor is the tricky part unless you live in the middle of nowhere you`ll need a silent runner

Air compressor noise isn't a problem, nor is air volume. I wonder how much rounding the corners of a box would help with mist dispersion. Maybe even deflectors on the sides to help spread the mist vertically and towards the center.

Its better if you can get the dispersion without having to bounce the mist off surfaces. The smaller droplets will be swept around by the airstream, the larger ones have more mass (double the droplet size = 8x the weight) so some wont make the turn

Interesting. I'll have to somehow "get into the box" to see how it disperses. Possibly using air jets from the sides to speed dispersion to fill the holes.

The air jets will create more holes than they fill and the extra pressure will likely push mist out of the chamber. Better to spend the cash on a few more nozzles instead

Made a start on the custom hardware for the new AA chamber. The $500 cost stings a bit but i`m confident it`ll outperform the atomix in every department when its done.

just flicking through this thread and your all really knowledgeable about this shit man im not joining in as i am thick lol but im just wondering if there's anywhere i can see your setups in full bloom if possible thanks

pics or a link ?

Sure would be nice to hear from Oxanaca again to learn what he figured out with Delavan nozzle size. Has anyone had success with pressurizing the solution on the Delavan siphon nozzles? I can say that two of the number 2 nozzles aren't enough for my box size. They put a fine mist into it but not enough. They will shoot a long way. The next box will be (inside) 29" wide by 72" long by 24" deep. 4' isn't long enough as the Delavans just splatter on the wall opposite the nozzle in my existing box. Still have to figure out the air and solution pressures. Haven't killed anything yet but I've wilted the poor plants a bit. Had to add Tefens till I figure it out.

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Dropping the air pressure should reduce the throw distance, you`ll prolly need to increase the syphon height to bring the droplet range back down. Its not usually an issue as the mist pattern is only stable to 15-18" from the nozzle, beyond that it becomes turbulent (aka a cloud of mist).
The nozzle i`m using for the 4 x 4 x 18" deep chamber can throw mist 10ft but its not a problem
The plants need a reasonable amount of roots before the mist can fully support them. Handwatering in the early stages will prevent wilting but a lot depends on where the nozzles are mounted.
When you say the nozzles dont put enough mist into the chamber, what kind of timing are you using? AA needs a lot more cycles than HPA, typical timing is a couple of seconds mist every 60 seconds or less.

When I built the box I was only going to go with HP of around 110 psi. The more I read about it the more intrigued I became with air atomized. The red Tefen adv nozzles were installed before I added two of the Delavan 30609-2 siphon type nozzles. But there is a twist to that. I didn't want to mess with siphon or gravity feed so I got a pressure regulator for the solution feed to the Delavans. I almost killed the plants trying to use just the Delavans but managed to save them with a spray bottle and turning the Tefens back on. With both the Delavan and the Tefens running 2 seconds every 2 minutes it can go through some solution quickly.

Right now I've got 6 plants with two Tefen nozzles each with the regulator set at 110 psi. The two Delavan # 2 nozzles are at 8 psi on the solution and 28 psi air pressure. The timer is set at one second every four minutes. They still have beads of water on the roots when the timer comes on again.

Low pressure would have been simpler but not near as interesting and challenging. I will build a new chamber to experiment with the Delavan nozzles as this box is probably too big to keep filled the proper amount of time with mist of the right size, which I wouldn't know by looking at if it bit me. Those Delavans can put out some very fine fog with higher pressures though. I suspect they would be excellent for cloning.

I appreciate having others share their experience. Thanks for that.

By the way, do you have to reach a set number of posts before you can start a conversation? I don't see the option to "start a conversation" when I click on an Avatar.

Seems you need more posts to start a conversation, dont now how many so just keep typing
The #2`s are the lowest flow, its hard to say what the output is at 8psi but with 30psi air and 1psi liquid pressure the spec reckons 0.9LPH. The fog from the delevans should be finer than the tefen mist but you dont want a dry fog that hangs for hours as that would suggest too small a droplet size. If the nozzles are mounted low, the 1 second pulse may not be long enough to push the larger droplets to the top of the chamber where the roots are, the smaller droplets arent enough on their own. You can test that theory by placing a nozzle near the top so more of the direct mist reaches the roots. You should also be able to see through the fog to the chamber floor, if you can`t its too dense/too small a droplet range.
Heres an idea of what the right mist should look like, this test was done in an old black plastic trashcan that was sitting in full sun so it was like misting a hot oven. In a cool chamber, the initial mist fades back to a transparent fog which hangs for over 5 minutes.

The mist difference between the Tefens and the Delavans is obvious with the latter having more a fog-like quality. The box is definitely too large for only 2 Delavan nozzles to fill with mist. They are about 12 inches below the lid. I think it needs two more of the Delavans above these two and on the adjacent sides of the box. I'm thinking #4 size might be in order to get a little larger size mist. None of the mist lingers very long but the Delavans could put out a very fine mist that could last a couple of minutes or more with higher air and solution pressures. I'll definitely find out more with the next box. I was getting rushed to get the plants out of the cloner and into the box as the roots were turning into DWC with one of them growing into the pump bag. With the next box I'll have time to do lots of testing. Most things take longer than expected. Sometimes much longer. Life gets in the way of plans. Seems like it takes lots of time for everyone to put an HP aero system with PS, PT, solenoids, wiring a room, etc..., together from research, planning, thru execution. Then the real fun starts with dialing it in. And, I had to go and add AA to the mix on top of that. Everybody needs a hobby.

I do think that the Delavans can be made to work with more testing of different pressure settings in the right space. The big box will probably work best with HP.

I would consider one with a bit more flow like a #8. Pretty cheap on ebay at $22 each with free shipping.
Hobbies can turn into obsessions, after trying a lot of different nozzle types and arrangements i came up with the new design that should deliver perfectly even mist coverage with greater control than anything i`ve tested upto now. I`m hoping it works out as planned cos i dont think i can top this one

"I came up with the new design that should deliver perfectly even mist coverage with greater control than anything I've tested up to now."

How about sharing more details about what you've come up with for the new design? You've been doing this for a long time.

# 8 nozzles would flow 4.3 liters per hour at 24" of height in gravity feed. What psi would 24" of water be? I wish now that I'd stayed awake in algebra classes. The internet says the pressure is 0.433 psi per foot of height. So 8 psi would be about 18.5 feet drop? I like that increasing the air pressure decreases the flow rate of the solution. I think I will try the #8s just to see if they can be made to work with this box. Two more nozzles would be one of the smaller expenditures I've made.

Again, it would be great to see what you've come up with nozzle wise.

27" is about 1psi so 8psi is about 18ft. The #8`s would give you a fallback/experimental option of syphon feeding and still have a reasonably workable flowrate for the large chamber. The 4.3LPH of the #5 relates to a meager air pressure of 3psi which isnt very much at all and may generate a pretty wet spray/mist. Using the 30psi flowrate specs would be a better bet, which puts the #5 at 2LPH and the #8 at 4.3LPH. With two #8`s in a 826L (72 x 29 x 24) chamber you may still need a 3 second mist pulse to reach the saturation point, assuming perfectly even coverage. With #5`s, it would be at least 6 seconds which is way longer than anything i`ve ever used, at that point using more nozzles with a shorter misting pulse would be the way to go.
You will have to consider the roots local to the nozzle(s) which receive the brunt of the output as the mist has to go by them to reach the rest. I solved that issue by using a single nozzle located equidistant from every root. The nozzle applies mist perfectly evenly to the entire chamber using a very low flowrate with greater control than even multiple nozzles, which wouldnt come close to matching what the single can do

You must have the plants in a circle with the nozzle in the middle to get equal mist distribution to all of them. If this is the case what about the sides opposite of the nozzle? Is the nozzle spraying from the bottom upwards while spinning at high speed at varying angles while dropping into and out of wormholes to appear in multiple positions at light speed so that time slows down enough to get perfect coverage in the perfect amount of time??

Is it top secret what nozzle you are using to do this?