Killer cloner!

aye. Just made this 27 gal aero cloner today and am pretty dang psyched about it. It runs great. However, I do realize that the pump is overly strong (I had originally bought it for something else), so the lid gets sprayed even on it lowest setting. This leads to a very small leak that forms around the seams of the tote after five min of running it. I’m not sure how I want to ask this,...if I were to fix the leak problem,..is the extra water pressure an issue when rooting cuts. Im using 360 ez clone misters. I can foresee the rooting gel to come right off, but thaTs all I can see. Or should I just get a smaller pump to avoid all possible issues. Thanks y’all

Put a bead of silicon on the inner side of the tote rim, lay the top on and press ever so slightly then remove the lid and let it dry. Not perfect but it works.

gr865 said:

Put a bead of silicon on the inner side of the tote rim, lay the top on and press ever so slightly then remove the lid and let it dry. Not perfect but it works.

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KISS! Ha. I like it. Much appreciated

gr865 said:

Put a bead of silicon on the inner side of the tote rim, lay the top on and press ever so slightly then remove the lid and let it dry. Not perfect but it works.

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do you foresee any other issues with that much water pressure. I don’t consider the gel coming off, much of an issue. If it comes off, it should still root

Put a dimmer on the pump, lower that pressure. Or change pumps, never hurts to have an extra as backup.

Very nice! Great, uniform holes in the lid!

I gave up on aero cloners, because those spray emitters are really persistent at creating leaks. I went back to bubble cloners, and pretty much get the same results. It's really easy to switch over, if you ever have problems like that.

gr865 said:

Put a dimmer on the pump, lower that pressure. Or change pumps, never hurts to have an extra as backup.

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Yea I think I’m going to get at least one more pump....I have other projects in mind anyway. My mouth is watering, waiting to try it out

JSB99 said:

Very nice! Great, uniform holes in the lid!

I gave up on aero cloners, because those spray emitters are really persistent at creating leaks. I went back to bubble cloners, and pretty much get the same results. It's really easy to switch over, if you ever have problems like that.

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I’ve heard bubble cloners produce great results. It’s actually what I was first building this as. I didn’t want to build an aero, but I once I brought the tote back and got some water in it, I realized it was way to deep for a bubbler, unless I used a shit ton of water and air stones. I might build a separate one, idk, I like diying stuff. And thanks for the compliment!

Hydrowannabe said:

I’ve heard bubble cloners produce great results. It’s actually what I was first building this as. I didn’t want to build an aero, but I once I brought the tote back and got some water in it, I realized it was way to deep for a bubbler, unless I used a shit ton of water and air stones. I might build a separate one, idk, I like diying stuff. And thanks for the compliment!

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You can still use your tote. The advantage you would have is not having to change your res every few days. And since you have a water pump, you could use it to drain the tote. For something that size, you'd want a fairly beefy air pump.

The alternative to all that, and what I'd do, is get a smaller tote for cloning. It'd be kind of tough abandoning the work you put into his one, but they're just cheap plastic containers, so at least it wouldn't be a huge financial loss LOL!

Have you done an extensive testing yet, like running it for a week solid? If it's holding, just keep what you got. But if you start having to add seals, and use silicon, etc...then it's kind of an uphill battle.

That's just my opinion though

This is my little cloner. I use the wood to keep the sides from bowing, which makes it a little difficult to get the lid on and off. I wanted to use the small, 12-gallon HDX tote, but the squares on the lid are too small for 2" pucks. This one is eight gallons, and I usually keep about six gallons in it. Its light enough to carry back and forth, to the bathroom, to drain and fill.

Hydrowannabe said:

aye. Just made this 27 gal aero cloner today and am pretty dang psyched about it. It runs great. However, I do realize that the pump is overly strong (I had originally bought it for something else), so the lid gets sprayed even on it lowest setting. This leads to a very small leak that forms around the seams of the tote after five min of running it. I’m not sure how I want to ask this,...if I were to fix the leak problem,..is the extra water pressure an issue when rooting cuts. Im using 360 ez clone misters. I can foresee the rooting gel to come right off, but thaTs all I can see. Or should I just get a smaller pump to avoid all possible issues. Thanks y’all

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My fix for the leak problem is to just get a Tote that has a flush seal and wont leak. I've spent liters of silicon based sealants trying to get the perfect seal on unperfect totes. Getting the right tote ended up being the only solution for me.

A 5 Gal bucket with a sealed lid works wonders for a 10 site cloner or so.

Hydrowannabe said:

aye. Just made this 27 gal aero cloner today and am pretty dang psyched about it. It runs great. However, I do realize that the pump is overly strong (I had originally bought it for something else), so the lid gets sprayed even on it lowest setting. This leads to a very small leak that forms around the seams of the tote after five min of running it. I’m not sure how I want to ask this,...if I were to fix the leak problem,..is the extra water pressure an issue when rooting cuts. Im using 360 ez clone misters. I can foresee the rooting gel to come right off, but thaTs all I can see. Or should I just get a smaller pump to avoid all possible issues. Thanks y’all

Click to expand...

Add a "T" before your sprayers with a valved return line to the tank to regulate pressure.

Hey Bud, I built the same cloner with the same tote except the lid is blue haha

I used a 396 gph eco plus water pump

And about half of the piping lol

You went pretty over kill but hey if it works.

Also for the leaks I put thick weather stripping on the top rim of the container

And if you goto a hardware store you can get those cheap hand squeeze clamps. If you look on your container there are 4 perfect spots for these on the top of the container.

You can kind of see the red hand squeeze clamps on the lid

use this to make my own florakleen

I've been using it for all my non Bennifial bacteria grow shit

After you make the mix, I use 2ml per gaL every 3-4days

And I use just straight. Phd water for like a week .

If you want to keep them in there for weeks or longer you need to add light flower nutes. Like you would for mother plants.

Just my 2c .

I've been doing this with great success

projectinfo said:

And I use just straight. Phd water for like a week .

If you want to keep them in there for weeks or longer you need to add light flower nutes. Like you would for mother plants.

Just my 2c .

I've been doing this with great success

View attachment 4092954

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Is that a bird in the upper left corner? Nice set up.

projectinfo said:

Hey Bud, I built the same cloner with the same tote except the lid is blue haha

I used a 396 gph eco plus water pump

And about half of the piping lol

You went pretty over kill but hey if it works.

Also for the leaks I put thick weather stripping on the top rim of the container

And if you goto a hardware store you can get those cheap hand squeeze clamps. If you look on your container there are 4 perfect spots for these on the top of the container.

You can kind of see the red hand squeeze clamps on the lid

Click to expand...

Is that a MasterCraft tote? I'm going to be switching my Rubbermaid worm bin to a few of those same bins
I place my rubbermaid cloner in the MC 210L or 170L totes lid as a safety feature.
It's has saved me a few floods



The MC 170L bin lid pictured here just fits your bin. I think the 210L would fit better.
Hope this saves at least someone a flood.
I had heat issues at first then I placed my cloner on a cycle timer. I also started using an air pump with the sprayers.

Also with Air pumps keeps those above the water line or have a check valve. I had an aquarium drain as a child because of this.
Cheers
CCG

projectinfo said:

Hey Bud, I built the same cloner with the same tote except the lid is blue haha

I used a 396 gph eco plus water pump

And about half of the piping lol

You went pretty over kill but hey if it works.

Also for the leaks I put thick weather stripping on the top rim of the container

And if you goto a hardware store you can get those cheap hand squeeze clamps. If you look on your container there are 4 perfect spots for these on the top of the container.

You can kind of see the red hand squeeze clamps on the lid

Click to expand...

Weather stripping, and hand clamps will most likely contain leaks, but that's more money, and more work fighting leaks.

I did this, in my final attempts to seal my aerocloners, but finally gave up after looking at all the things I was having to do to stop drips. The clamps make it pretty inconvenient to lift the lid and check on the roots.

With my bubble cloner, I have not had to worry about any leaks, right from the start. Doesn't even come into the equation.

JSB99 said:

Weather stripping, and hand clamps will most likely contain leaks, but that's more money, and more work fighting leaks.

I did this, in my final attempts to seal my aerocloners, but finally gave up after looking at all the things I was having to do to stop drips. The clamps make it pretty inconvenient to lift the lid and check on the roots.

With my bubble cloner, I have not had to worry about any leaks, right from the start. Doesn't even come into the equation.

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LOL you lazy mother fucker.

I do not get leaks. And the hand clamps were 5 dollars each. And their as easy to open as .... Squeezing.

But to each their own. Make a bubbler if you want a bubbler. You can't say mine doesn't work. And it's not difficult.

If your growing hydro, this aero cloner is the least of your worries or workload.

Grandpapy said:

Is that a bird in the upper left corner? Nice set up.

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No? Lol