Aero Cloning with or without a timer?

taproot

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I've built me a ezcloner. It's a 790/gal pump with twenty four misters in a commercial rubbermaid tote. For those having issues with leaking totes I recommend the commercial rubbermaid ones as they are tough and don't flex much and they don't leak. There about $25 at lowes but worth it. I also got me a digital thermometer so I could monitor the rez temp. So far, after running for twenty four hours it's about 76F but the weather here is starting to heat up a bit. So, for those who run this sort of setup what temp do you find best? And, do you guys run timers or run the pump 24/7; this question seems to be very opinionated and not really scientific from all my searching. I don't want to spend $100 dollars on a recycle timer as I think it's just too much. I found a few people saying a cheap mechanical timer that allows 30 min on / 30 off works well and they are at walmart for $5. What have you guys found about timed misting vs always on? Also, I figured if heat was a issues running the pump less would help.
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I've built me a ezcloner. It's a 790/gal pump with twenty four misters in a commercial rubbermaid tote. For those having issues with leaking totes I recommend the commercial rubbermaid ones as they are tough and don't flex much and they don't leak. There about $25 at lowes but worth it. I also got me a digital thermometer so I could monitor the rez temp. So far, after running for twenty four hours it's about 76F but the weather here is starting to heat up a bit. So, for those who run this sort of setup what temp do you find best? And, do you guys run timers or run the pump 24/7; this question seems to be very opinionated and not really scientific from all my searching. I don't want to spend $100 dollars on a recycle timer as I think it's just too much. I found a few people saying a cheap mechanical timer that allows 30 min on / 30 off works well and they are at walmart for $5. What have you guys found about timed misting vs always on? Also, I figured if heat was a issues running the pump less would help.
I had an expensive cycle timer that started fucking up after about 1 1/2 years and lost some clones when it didn't come back on and I was away. Since then I've been running it 24/7 instead with the same results. Figured I'll just eave it at that, one less piece of equipment to worry about breaking. I always have a spare pump around so if the pump goes it can be replaced within minutes, although I've been running the same pump for 2 1/2 years and other than the timer issue it's still going strong. Only reason I'd go back to a timer and why I ran it was heat concerns but I change the water out every 2 weeks and it's been fine running 24/7. Mine sits on basement concrete which helps keep the temps down.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Do you know what the rez temp hangs around for you? I see on the ezcloner web site they sat 70-85F. I've read on numerous sites that warmer water helps root faster and then the inverse of this being that cool water roots faster. And, I to bought the timer as I was worried about heat. I can set the tote on the ceramic floor and see if that helps but having it on a small furniture dolly is the bees knees...water is fucking heavy. lol. I read the reviews on those cycle timers and people said the same shit that they start to skew the timing and or failed. I figured the cheap old mechanical timers would be better..you know the kind that have the push pins. But you bring up a good point with timer failure. Also, what ph do you run at and do you use anything other than water?

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Thermometer-Hydroponics-Aquaculture-Terrariums/dp/B00MVBLEUQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455830454&sr=8-2&keywords=water+temp+thermometer
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Do you know what the rez temp hangs around for you? I see on the ezcloner web site they sat 70-85F. I've read on numerous sites that warmer water helps root faster and then the inverse of this being that cool water roots faster. And, I to bought the timer as I was worried about heat. I can set the tote on the ceramic floor and see if that helps but having it on a small furniture dolly is the bees knees...water is fucking heavy. lol. I read the reviews on those cycle timers and people said the same shit that they start to skew the timing and or failed. I figured the cheap old mechanical timers would be better..you know the kind that have the push pins. But you bring up a good point with timer failure. Also, what ph do you run at and do you use anything other than water?

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Thermometer-Hydroponics-Aquaculture-Terrariums/dp/B00MVBLEUQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455830454&sr=8-2&keywords=water+temp+thermometer
Yeah I've checked it from time to time, I have some RF based temp/humidity sensors with a wet probe that I can stick right in the water to get an exact reading. It typically runs 68-75F and works fine at those temps, 7-15 days to root depending on strain/pheno. I don't worry about ph, it's irrelevant when there are no roots. Straight tap water (very high in chlorine, I filter it for watering the plants but the chlorine is beneficial for rooting imo, keeps potential of getting slime away) at whatever temp it comes out of the tap, change it every 2 weeks. No rooting gels or anything, not needed for aero. I just scrape the last 1/2 inch or so, cut a small slice in the bottom and put them in, forget about them for a week, then check them every other day until they have good size roots and transplant into party cups. As easy as it gets, nearly 100% cloning rates, I typically choose which one's I'll plant into cups it's so reliable.
 

AKGrowAreo

Well-Known Member
Keep your res temp below 68 degrees or you'll get probably root rot bro. I always run my timers at 80 seconds on and 8 minuted off which allows the roots to nearly dry out before they get sprayed again. This causes the roots to "look for water" and will increase your rooting speed. Yes it is true that you can have slightly faster rooting times if you run slightly higher res temps, but you are running the risk of root rot, and thats never a risk I am willing to take. I have 100% rooting from over 400 clones using these times and temps. At 80 secs on and 8 min off your temps will go way down at least into the 60s. One could use a fish tank heater to take the temp to about 70 and you may be in the sweet spot there with warm enough temps to increase your rooting speed but not have to worry about the funk or root rot as much as you would be at around 72 or above. I personally like just play it safe and keep my water in the 60s. Hope this helps...
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Thanks fellas....I think I'm going to try the timer I got at walmart, it's the $5 dollar cheap mechanical one. It will allow me to do 30/30 of on off and it]s easy to setup as you just push every other pin in. I'm going to target 68-75, i't hot where I live normally so 75F is a lofty goal but we it's still winter so I've got some time to think. I see one of those ice probes every now and again in diy totes. I'm only running about 5-7 gallons of water. Right now I have it on a cheap furniture dolly which makes moving it around nice but I guess if I have to I shall set it on my porcine tiled floor. Thanks again fellas!

https://www.rollitup.org/t/should-i-run-my-ez-cloner-on-a-timer.801369/
 

AKGrowAreo

Well-Known Member
Thanks fellas....I think I'm going to try the timer I got at walmart, it's the $5 dollar cheap mechanical one. It will allow me to do 30/30 of on off and it]s easy to setup as you just push every other pin in. I'm going to target 68-75, i't hot where I live normally so 75F is a lofty goal but we it's still winter so I've got some time to think. I see one of those ice probes every now and again in diy totes. I'm only running about 5-7 gallons of water. Right now I have it on a cheap furniture dolly which makes moving it around nice but I guess if I have to I shall set it on my porcine tiled floor. Thanks again fellas!

https://www.rollitup.org/t/should-i-run-my-ez-cloner-on-a-timer.801369/
Anytime bro. I can show you how to build a DIY chiller that will kick any off the shell chillers ass. It costs less than 300 to build and the concept is simple. If you live in a hot area, you are gonna need a chiller for sure.

Instructions are in my thread - https://www.rollitup.org/t/aero-nft-grow-in-tent-w-co2-ac-dehumidifier-and-diy-chiller.899872/
 

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I've built me a ezcloner. It's a 790/gal pump with twenty four misters in a commercial rubbermaid tote. For those having issues with leaking totes I recommend the commercial rubbermaid ones as they are tough and don't flex much and they don't leak. There about $25 at lowes but worth it. I also got me a digital thermometer so I could monitor the rez temp. So far, after running for twenty four hours it's about 76F but the weather here is starting to heat up a bit. So, for those who run this sort of setup what temp do you find best? And, do you guys run timers or run the pump 24/7; this question seems to be very opinionated and not really scientific from all my searching. I don't want to spend $100 dollars on a recycle timer as I think it's just too much. I found a few people saying a cheap mechanical timer that allows 30 min on / 30 off works well and they are at walmart for $5. What have you guys found about timed misting vs always on? Also, I figured if heat was a issues running the pump less would help.

you can go 5min on 5 min off or up to 15min on 15min off

That can lower the temps cos the motor in the pump gets a chance to cool down, plus you can always put some cool packs in your res during the summer
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Anytime bro. I can show you how to build a DIY chiller that will kick any off the shell chillers ass. It costs less than 300 to build and the concept is simple. If you live in a hot area, you are gonna need a chiller for sure.

Instructions are in my thread - https://www.rollitup.org/t/aero-nft-grow-in-tent-w-co2-ac-dehumidifier-and-diy-chiller.899872/
This run was started in dwc due to it being winter and I wanted to try it. So far, dynagro plus water and air is impressing me. However, last summer I ran hempy buckets and those kicked ass as well. I may have to do a summer vs winter version of hydro. lol. I'm always up to learning so go ahead and post how to make a good chiller so everybody can learn from you. :) Thanks AK.
 

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Thanks bro for your valuable input!
oh the cheap mechanical timers work

its easy to find ones that do 15min 15min, they do sell them in 5min and I think even 1min but you have to shop around for them

with mechanical timers its best to run them for a day or 2 to see if they get stuck or not and check them every once in awhile because they do brake over time

The heavy duty ones with a cover over the timer wheel seem to last longer but you can probably find a digital one

Also if you sprayers produce mist under 50microns then you`ll want them to turn on and off as water particles under that size are the same as standing water to roots

Really been wanting to set up an aero 2.0 set up, but not had the space or time, you know what its like when you can`t be around it all the time it just go`s to shit and other people that are supposed to be working with you seem to just want to do fuck all and fuck it all up

So I have learned that I have to be hands on with it every day or just keep it simple dirt/coco with huge pots for the lazy cunts who always seem to "water it tomorrow"
 

AKGrowAreo

Well-Known Member
This run was started in dwc due to it being winter and I wanted to try it. So far, dynagro plus water and air is impressing me. However, last summer I ran hempy buckets and those kicked ass as well. I may have to do a summer vs winter version of hydro. lol. I'm always up to learning so go ahead and post how to make a good chiller so everybody can learn from you. :) Thanks AK.
Any time man! I have to run ac and chillers cause I have a sealed grow. Once I got them up and running it didn't matter if its 120 degrees out, not that it actually ever gets that hot here though. Now that I have gone the co2 route, I don't think I could ever go back cause my first harvest with co2 was 39 oz from 6 plants. :bigjoint:
 

AKGrowAreo

Well-Known Member
oh the cheap mechanical timers work

its easy to find ones that do 15min 15min, they do sell them in 5min and I think even 1min but you have to shop around for them

with mechanical timers its best to run them for a day or 2 to see if they get stuck or not and check them every once in awhile because they do brake over time

The heavy duty ones with a cover over the timer wheel seem to last longer but you can probably find a digital one

Also if you sprayers produce mist under 50microns then you`ll want them to turn on and off as water particles under that size are the same as standing water to roots

Really been wanting to set up an aero 2.0 set up, but not had the space or time, you know what its like when you can`t be around it all the time it just go`s to shit and other people that are supposed to be working with you seem to just want to do fuck all and fuck it all up

So I have learned that I have to be hands on with it every day or just keep it simple dirt/coco with huge pots for the lazy cunts who always seem to "water it tomorrow"
Right on man! When you say aero 2.0 do you mean "TAG" or high pressure?
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
oh the cheap mechanical timers work

its easy to find ones that do 15min 15min, they do sell them in 5min and I think even 1min but you have to shop around for themroker

with mechanical timers its best to run them for a day or 2 to see if they get stuck or not and check them every once in awhile because they do brake over time

The heavy duty ones with a cover over the timer wheel seem to last longer but you can probably find a digital one

Also if you sprayers produce mist under 50microns then you`ll want them to turn on and off as water particles under that size are the same as standing water to roots

Really been wanting to set up an aero 2.0 set up, but not had the space or time, you know what its like when you can`t be around it all the time it just go`s to shit and other people that are supposed to be working with you seem to just want to do fuck all and fuck it all up

So I have learned that I have to be hands on with it every day or just keep it simple dirt/coco with huge pots for the lazy cunts who always seem to "water it tomorrow"
LOL brother, I want to do so much but life doesn't wait on my time unfortunately. I basically have a aka "kingRalph" version going on, the red misters came free with the netpots so I have no idea what micron it is. Also, for a easy peezy hydro grow try a hempy in a 5 gal bucket. It's so easy and I never worried about heat, air or ph. I feed according to the dynagro veg/bloom instructions and never did shit and got a great harvest. It's truly the lazy mans hydro. It will probably be my summertime go to, having said this the dwc does seem to grow a little faster but requires a lot of extra work. Anyways just playing around is kinda fun.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Any time man! I have to run ac and chillers cause I have a sealed grow. Once I got them up and running it didn't matter if its 120 degrees out, not that it actually ever gets that hot here though. Now that I have gone the co2 route, I don't think I could ever go back cause my first harvest with co2 was 39 oz from 6 plants. :bigjoint:
Do tell us your diy chiller friend, we could all benefit from your experience.
 

AKGrowAreo

Well-Known Member
LOL brother, I want to do so much but life doesn't wait on my time unfortunately. I basically have a aka "kingRalph" version going on, the red misters came free with the netpots so I have no idea what micron it is. Also, for a easy peezy hydro grow try a hempy in a 5 gal bucket. It's so easy and I never worried about heat, air or ph. I feed according to the dynagro veg/bloom instructions and never did shit and got a great harvest. It's truly the lazy mans hydro. It will probably be my summertime go to, having said this the dwc does seem to grow a little faster but requires a lot of extra work. Anyways just playing around is kinda fun.
Aero/NTF is very easy too. Check out my forum https://www.rollitup.org/t/aero-nft-grow-in-tent-w-co2-ac-dehumidifier-and-diy-chiller.899872/ . Growth rates are pretty insane with it.

The "misters' you are talking about are actually called sprayers because they dont produce a mist that is measurable on the micron scale. It creates a "spray" so what that system would be classified as a low pressure aero (LPA, FAG whatewver you want to call it)I have run true aeroponics "HPA or TAG" along side my aero/nft set up as comparison a number of times, but it really isn't worth it all the extra work. The main issue is that there are just so many more variables that will fuck up eventually so you have to pretty much stand over your HPA set up to keep it running proper. The quality is the same with barely 5% increased yields. Not to mention 10 times the work with HPA. After running most types of hydro I always go back to Aero/NFT (also considered low pressure).

Don't get me wrong, HPA is cool as fuck, but I don't see why having a "cool" set up is worth it when you can have a slightly "less cool" low pressure aero unit that would produce the same results.

Just my 10 cents
 

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Right on man! When you say aero 2.0 do you mean "TAG" or high pressure?

To mean aero 2.0 means that your water particles are between 200 microns and 50 microns, I think it`s either 100 or 50 where the size is perfect smaller than that and the roots can`t absorb them

at that size water particle at 1st you get that super fluffy white roots then you get these balls develop, I`ve seen them before but was unable to sustain them with the set up I had

And from what I`ve read the ball type roots are useless in anything but aero 2.0 they just turn to rot fast as they only work with the perfect size water particles

I think you can use high pressure or TAG don`t matter but to be aero 2.0 you have to be making the correct size water particles to get the ball type roots as they are more efficient then normal roots and that`s how aero 2.0 becomes more effective then aero or hydro

Nasa like to use aero 2.0 in space they say that the extra efficiency of the plant means they save on water, food and light.

I guess if it is only 5% more yield in space that would really matter but I`ve heard if you can nail it then you can get a lot more yield than normal aero or dwc would ever give you ?
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Aero/NTF is very easy too. Check out my forum https://www.rollitup.org/t/aero-nft-grow-in-tent-w-co2-ac-dehumidifier-and-diy-chiller.899872/ . Growth rates are pretty insane with it.

The "misters' you are talking about are actually called sprayers because they dont produce a mist that is measurable on the micron scale. It creates a "spray" so what that system would be classified as a low pressure aero (LPA, FAG whatewver you want to call it)I have run true aeroponics "HPA or TAG" along side my aero/nft set up as comparison a number of times, but it really isn't worth it all the extra work. The main issue is that there are just so many more variables that will fuck up eventually so you have to pretty much stand over your HPA set up to keep it running proper. The quality is the same with barely 5% increased yields. Not to mention 10 times the work with HPA. After running most types of hydro I always go back to Aero/NFT (also considered low pressure).

Don't get me wrong, HPA is cool as fuck, but I don't see why having a "cool" set up is worth it when you can have a slightly "less cool" low pressure aero unit that would produce the same results.

Just my 10 cents
Thanks baller!
 

AKGrowAreo

Well-Known Member
To mean aero 2.0 means that your water particles are between 200 microns and 50 microns, I think it`s either 100 or 50 where the size is perfect smaller than that and the roots can`t absorb them

at that size water particle at 1st you get that super fluffy white roots then you get these balls develop, I`ve seen them before but was unable to sustain them with the set up I had

And from what I`ve read the ball type roots are useless in anything but aero 2.0 they just turn to rot fast as they only work with the perfect size water particles

I think you can use high pressure or TAG don`t matter but to be aero 2.0 you have to be making the correct size water particles to get the ball type roots as they are more efficient then normal roots and that`s how aero 2.0 becomes more effective then aero or hydro
Very interesting bro! Read my comment from above. I have run TAG/HPA along side of FAG/LPA a few times and I have never seen the added benefit personally other than it is super cool.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Very interesting bro! Read my comment from above. I have run TAG/HPA along side of FAG/LPA a few times and I have never seen the added benefit personally other than it is super cool.
That's why I'm trying dwc...thought it would be cool to tinker but even though the growth lags slightly behind hempy buckets I really miss the water and then....oh wait that's it. lol I did get tired of the perlite and vercumlite mess just like I did of soil. It going to be nice to just flush my medium down the drain this time. Next hempy play cycle I'll try 100% pumice. So far I like this hybrid aero stuff.
 
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