Which Spinners/Sprayers To Use? Pics...

Greetings!

Setting up an Aeroponics type system. Wondering which of the following would be best?

Using 3-50 gallon roughnecks lined up side by side (4'x6' area in total) under a 1k watt light. Went with these instead of fence posts, figuring they would give my roots more room to grow down AND it's a cheaper/easier set up. But still going to run sprayers/misters and keep them at an angle to drain into a reservoir.

OK.. So I picked up 4 different types of sprayers/misters at the hardware store today, since I could not decide which would be best. Hoping to get a little help from all of you before I proceed (I will just return whichever ones I do not use).

Here they are:

Option #1: "Tornado Fogger/Mister 7GPH"
This thing is about 1/2" wide and 1/2" tall. Pretty small and WITHOUT the posts obviously.
They claim that it "Features a vortex water passageway that helps prevent cloggage."
So it's claim to be good against cloggage AND the fact that it shoot out a fine mist/fog, seem to be positives for this.


Option #2: Same brand. "Full Circle Rotary Adj. Sprayer 4-20 GPH". Not so sure of the positives of this one, maybe I wouldnt have to use as many? Not that I am trying to be too cheap.


Option #3: "Full Circle Mister 10GPH Small Circle 8 outlet Spinner. 5-7' Pattern"

Option #4: "Shrub Sprinkler. 2.5 GPM at 25 PSI Space 10' - 15' apart"... This one is much larger than the rest. Not sure if it would be good for this, but I would definitely not need to use as many. Maybe the force of the water might be a bit too much for the plants?? It has a 1/2" opening. I would screw it right onto the end of the PVC. Maybe 3 or 4 per 50 gallon tub? hmmm..Not sure of this one, but grabbed it just in case, based on the feedback I get here. Always good to have options.


PS - My water pump is 560GPH. Is that too big or too small? Hoping to feed the lines in 3 of the 50 gallon rough neck bins. And I will have a common reservoir for all 3. Think a 20 gallon reservoir would be enough?

In any case, please share your thoughts and let me know which of the 4 would be the best option. OR any other critique or criticism as well.

Also, regardless of which I go with, would I leave them on 24/7 OR would it be best to cycle them on and off?

Hey... thanks inadvance!

bump (to the 1st page)

I am not usually impatient, but I need to get this done over the weekend. So I was hoping for some advice by Saturday morning so I know which ones to proceed with without it being just a guessing game and something I will later regret. Sorry and thanks.

have you been on epixbud aero thread, he uses a couple different sprinklers/misters. He uses the 360 misters for cloning and says about 1 clogs a day. He is using 350 spinning sprinklers in his veg and flower and say they work like a charm, no clogging yet and good coverage. Im about to build mine with the 360 spinners.

smppro said:

have you been on epixbud aero thread, he uses a couple different sprinklers/misters. He uses the 360 misters for cloning and says about 1 clogs a day. He is using 350 spinning sprinklers in his veg and flower and say they work like a charm, no clogging yet and good coverage. Im about to build mine with the 360 spinners.

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Yes, I have read the whole thing. It/he was very helpful.

These aren't the misters that I have read about people having problems with though. And the 1st one I listed is advertised as being "clog resistant". And I would think a "mist" would be better than a "spray", but then again I am a newbie... Just seems as though it would be best based on what little knowledge I have obtained.

I am definitely going to be using the 1st option for my cloner. It seems to have a very fine mist and hopefully their claims of being clog proof are true. I'll figure this one out one way or the other on my own (UNLESS someone comes along and reports having problems with that particular mister).

Anyhow.. it's not that I don't value his opinion on this, but I am asking what everyone thinks would be the best of the 4 I have at my disposal. based on his thread though, option 2 of mine would be best.


thank you for your reply. i appreciate it!

I noticed those were a little different with the non clog and all so maybe you should try those so i will know But yeah i think the finer mist would be beneficial for clones but once they have developed roots you can pretty much just poor water over them, so i dont think the mist is that big o deal especially when compared to the possibility of clogging. I was actually looking at that spinner you are thinking about getting yesterday, then after looking some more you can buy them much cheaper if you get the ones without the adjuster for gph, i would imagine you would want it full blast the entire time.

smppro said:

I noticed those were a little different with the non clog and all so maybe you should try those so i will know But yeah i think the finer mist would be beneficial for clones but once they have developed roots you can pretty much just poor water over them, so i dont think the mist is that big o deal especially when compared to the possibility of clogging. I was actually looking at that spinner you are thinking about getting yesterday, then after looking some more you can buy them much cheaper if you get the ones without the adjuster for gph, i would imagine you would want it full blast the entire time.

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lol yeah.. I don't mind being the guinea pig, BUT if there is another guinea pig out there that came before me, I would like to find him!

I already purchased ALL 4 of these things though. I want to get this done during my time off this weekend. Whatever I don't use I will just return. I got them fairly cheap from the hardware store.

Anyhow, always good to hear from experienced growers. So trying to gather as much info as I possibly can.

Which btw is the most confusing part of trying to learn. You have 10 people with 10 different opinions and it's hard to get someone to back any of it up with any sound reason or logic. lol At least when it comes to SOME things. So yeah, some of it we just have to learn the hard way.. So it seems.

One thing I would REALLY like to know.. A simple question that I would think someone would have a simple answer for... Do I run the pump 24/7 or not???? lol Seems half the things I have read say to do so and the other half suggests an on/off cycle of some sort.

Yeah everybody has there opinion and its basically because there are so many ways to grow. 24/7 will work just fine, people run them on timers also, since the roots are sealed and wet you can shut the pump off allowing the roots to get more air but not long enough so they dry out. I havent seen any side by side, i would leave mine on 24/7 so you dont need a timer and the water never stops getting circulated.

smppro said:

Yeah everybody has there opinion and its basically because there are so many ways to grow. 24/7 will work just fine, people run them on timers also, since the roots are sealed and wet you can shut the pump off allowing the roots to get more air but not long enough so they dry out. I havent seen any side by side, i would leave mine on 24/7 so you dont need a timer and the water never stops getting circulated.

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Well, timers are pretty cheap. So that is not an issue. IF it is better to cycle them. But if 24/7 is cool, then 24/7 it is. However, if someone was being cheap and not wanting to buy a timer, the damn thing would pay for itself fairly quickly with the down time of the water pump.

btw.. I got an air pump and stones for the reservoir. I am not quite sure what good it will do in there, but someone said it would help to keep the water and nutes mixed up. So I figured what the heck.

ForbiddenFruit said:

Well, timers are pretty cheap. So that is not an issue. IF it is better to cycle them. But if 24/7 is cool, then 24/7 it is. However, if someone was being cheap and not wanting to buy a timer, the damn thing would pay for itself fairly quickly with the down time of the water pump.

btw.. I got an air pump and stones for the reservoir. I am not quite sure what good it will do in there, but someone said it would help to keep the water and nutes mixed up. So I figured what the heck.

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it cant hurt at all, if you got it and arent using it for anything else then why not, i have 3 dual outlet pumps doing nothing, planned on throwing one in myself.

None of these are rigt really for aero but if you had to use any #4 would be the one to go with. The rest are not good for this and you never want to use any kind of spinner or the 360 degree barrel kind that are usually red on top and blue on bottom. they clog stop spinning and fail... You want this kind available at many place like here http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart....t_detail&p=534

FilthyFletch said:

None of these are rigt really for aero but if you had to use any #4 would be the one to go with. The rest are not good for this and you never want to use any kind of spinner or the 360 degree barrel kind that are usually red on top and blue on bottom. they clog stop spinning and fail... You want this kind available at many place like here http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart....t_detail&p=534

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So the spinners actually clog worse than the mister? I was reading epix thread and he said he had a mister clog almost everyday while the spinners are still clear. Thanks for the input, now i dont know which one to get

The barrel mister will clog these red one do not clog ever. They have a lkarger opening that breaks the water into fin droplets and they are made so the water twist as it comes out. The red barrel kind have tiny holes along the edge and clog. The ones I show are the ones used by all the large manufactures of aeroponic setups and the ones I have used for about 6 or so years now. Never clogged one of these and had tried few dozen kind in the early days testing and these work perfect.The spinners are just the worst they are garbage and only used by those who dont know better or to lazy to look anywhere but home depot.

cool those are the sprayers i was going to try, thanks for the help

FilthyFletch said:

None of these are rigt really for aero but if you had to use any #4 would be the one to go with. The rest are not good for this and you never want to use any kind of spinner or the 360 degree barrel kind that are usually red on top and blue on bottom. they clog stop spinning and fail... You want this kind available at many place like here http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart....t_detail&p=534

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OK lol I got a few of these as samples as well. Guess I will take the other stuff back and get me some more of the EZ Cloner replacements. Guess I can use these in my cloner and flowering set up then, right?

And man... it sucks that some people here SWEAR by one thing and others SWEAR against it. Both claiming to know for certain that they are right.

Either way, I prefer using the misters and if you say that you have never had a clog with these, then that is good enough for me. I was hoping to avoid the sprayers anyway and only considered them due to the fact that I was hearing that most, if not all misters clogged.

thanks again!

I have tried many over the years and settled on the red ez cloner types. I run those in all my aero setups and I think Ive used maybe 800 or so of those red ones and had 2 get blocked not clogged but blocked by roots. Now you can if you want spend money on the more exspensive kind like that are used at grocery stores for misting the veggies. I was checking on some of those again last week to see if prices changed and they run about $5-$6 each and need about 35-45 psi to run.They use a special tubing but coulkd be modded to be used with pvc and 1/2 inch female recptical threads but the red ez cloners are great for me