DIY Aero Basement Grow - Multiple Strains

[Dick Jerky]

So, this is my first post here on this particular forum.

Howdy.

A couple months ago I lost my job, my car, my license and my freedom all in one fell swoop. I had grown in the past, but that was 10 years ago. Lots has changed in the growing world since then, and suddenly my situation changing too. It was now one that allowed, even encouraged a nice, legal grow to help supplement the income in these rough times. After all, I didn't have shit else to do, and I was pretty much stuck at home anyway...

I've checked out all my grower friends' setups. I liked my buddy's AeroFlo copy the best. I decided to follow his footsteps, but switch a few things to suit my space & my ideas & my lower budget. Here's the AeroFlo:

I have looked around a bunch on here. I really dig just about everything Earl says & does, but i can't help but hear the character from the TV narrating every post. My setup is loosely based on his "Space Shuttle". Pictured here:

Maybe mine should be called "Spaceball One". It's kind of a turd in comparison to Earl's Shuttle, but in my defense, I was pressed for time & money & I was doing all of it alone with no car in the winter in Colorado. BWAA! Seriously, though. Some of the work was redone & reused from earlier designs, so please try to ignore my shoddy craftsmanship.

 

[Dick Jerky]

I got a super deal thru a buddy in the industry on some 6" pvc pipe (under $2/ft), had it delivered to the house & got busy drilling holes & cutting lengths. The pipes came in 14' lengths & my room was only 12'. I decided on 10' sections.

Also like Earl's shuttle, 3.5" holes were cut with a new hole saw kit I got at Harbor Freight. $5.95 new. My buddy that copied the AeroFlow, built an exact replica, using square pipes ($$$) & running the irrigation line along the inside of that pipe. His spray jets sit directly under the net pot spraying up onto the roots. That is, until the root ball covers the sprayer. Then I guess it's more effectively an NFT setup. So with my cheap round pipe, I decided to run the line on the outside with the jets coming in from the top, in between the 3.5" holes, spraying down on the net pot at an angle. Hoping to get a few more weeks of actual spraying before the jets get overrun with crazy roots.

The first mockup leaked where the tee stabs into the irrigation line, so i got some cement. Problem solved.

The black irrigation line is 3/4" thin PVC as used for sprinkler systems. The tees are from there, too. As is the 1/4" drip line that connects to the spray jets.

I used an external pump that I found on Craigslist for way too cheap. 1190 GPH. Actually got 2 of em for $50. One was new. They retailed for $329. Also, sound is no issue as I own the house. I purposely went for overkill on the pump. I figured I can always tone down the pressure if it's too much, rather than wishing I had more pressure or not knowing how it good it could be by using a weak pump.

 

[Dick Jerky]

My space in the basement is a partially finished room with one window, a door & a 6'2" ceiling. There's a heating duct running thru the room which hangs down another 8" from the ceiling in one spot. I had a big stack of false ceiling panels. I lined the walls & ceiling with these panels, as several places had weird cracks & drafts, some of the walls weren't drywalled & one wall was concrete. Then, I used a roll of 5 mil thick clear plastic to use as a moisture/smell barrier. Well, it does help but it's not airtight down there. Next it was down to the Dollar Tree to get $1 rolls of mylar Christmas wrap. That's what I covered the entire room with.

Again to Craigslist for 2 600 watt HPS lights with hoods & digital ballasts and extra bulbs for $500 for all. Also found some locally built LED grow lights & got a decent locals/buddy deal on those, too. They are 100W & really nice units. Supposedly similar to 400-600 watts but, meh. Maybe. These retail for over $600 each. I got both for $450.

 

[Dick Jerky]

I slapped me some nicely rooted clones into my machine and continued to tweak a couple details as I went along. I had been having issues getting the 2 reservoirs to equalize @ the same rate as the pump was spraying. The rez feeding the pump would empty quickly & the one at the other end would keep rising & rising. I ended up with 3 equalizer lines after I was done. It was pretty close, but it was still happening. My cheap solution was a float level switch. As the rez level got to a certain point, the pump would shut off till it returned to an acceptable level.

Well, float level switches aren't commonplace. And they aren't nearly as cheap as they should be. So I made one out of a cheap push button interrupt switch ($1.99) and a float valve from an evaporative cooler.

It was way too easy. It worked! I was rather proud of myself.

Now fast forward to day 5 of the grow. I was amazed my the water usage that was already taking place. The whole system only holds 15 gallons but I was already going thru a little over a gallon a day. I told my buddy about it. He said "wait till they're close to harvest. I'm going thru twice that a day!" For whatever reason, before the lights went out that night, I added some water like I had been before, only this time I added more than usual. Maybe I wouldn't have to do it as often. See, I currently have to carry the water into the space by hand. Water tap coming soon in the basement.... but...

What do you think happened?

 

[Dick Jerky]

If you answered "the pump never came back on", you win a brownie!

Yep, the float level switch did it's job. I had it on the high side rez. As the level got too high, it would kill the pump, then restart as the level fell. I added my fresh water but didn't wait around to hear the pump work thru a cycle or 2. It filled the high-side rez till it cut off. Then it stayed off. Luckily, 12 of the 14 hours it was off was in the dark. But it was the last 2 hours that did the damage. I woke up when the lights came on, but didn't go check on them for 2 hours. My heart sank when I saw this:

 

[kushmasta88]

Sorry about your babies bro' ! At least you can prevent this from ever happening again in the future

 

[captain insaneo]

Ok what you should do is run a tube along the floor to connect your reservoirs so that water seeks its own level. get a 5 gal bucket place it above the tubes run a hose from it to one of the reservoirs with a float valve. That way it keeps the ideal level on both ends.

 

[MoN3yb4Gs]

DISASTER STRIKES THE HEART OF YOUR VALOR! Do NOT be discouraged friend!

https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/289840-look-gutter-symphony-my-diy.html

 

[Dick Jerky]

Not to worry, folks. This story gets better:

Capt. Insaneo - I initially had one tube running between the 2 reservoirs to equalize the levels. Upon my first shakedown outside on the back deck, I quickly realized this wouldn't be enough. Rather than do the smarter thing, which would've been to make the equalizer pipe larger in diameter, I added 2 more. At the time, I was just thinking about what I had on hand for supplies & time & money, so it made sense then. In hindsight, I should've dropped the extra $15-20 on some 2 or 3" pvc & been done with it. As it sits, the 3 pipes (3/4") almost keep up with the pump. It takes several minutes of the pump running to make the levels detrimentally unequal. Other thoughts at the time were to restrict the flow of the pump or something. But I thought that might shorten my pump's life. I also think the spray jets work better when they're on full steam.

So, back to the grow...

I snapped those pics (in the above post) right after I turned the pump back on & pulled a couple gallons of water back out of the rez. All I could do is keep checking on them every hour or so. I misted the leaves every now & then & made sure the pump stayed on & the water levels were good.

By the end of the day, just before the lights went out, it was apparent that 8 of the 20 babies had met their end. The clones I had picked up were from a few different sources. Many were rooted in rockwool cubes, but several were fresh out of the EZ Cloner with no medium. I had just transplanted them into hydroton in net pots. They were insane root balls to begin with, but without some medium to hold the moisture, they didn't take too long to turn into dried up pasta. Pretty sad really, the OG Kush was really pretty. Only one of those made it. Everybody that was in rockwool lived but one. Only 3 that didn't have rockwool survived, but it seems their growth has been severely stunted.

So, the good news. I had a surplus of clones. 23 to be exact. I grabbed 9 more babies (I decided one of the 'maybes' was a 'maybe not') & dropped them into the SpaceBall One.

Here's the setup as of the 6th of January:

In the 1st pic the older (survivor) plants are in the foreground. It's hard to see the scale, butthe bigger ones are between 9 & 15" tall. The younger ones are fresh babies, just 4-7" high.

Here ^^^ you can see the down the length of the 6" PVC pipe. The skinny brown hoses are the 1/4" drip lines that tap into the PVC in between each net pot hole.

This one ^^^ is Super Lemon Haze. Crazy stretchy. Looks like I might be doing some training soon...

 

[Dick Jerky]

Sorry about your babies bro' ! At least you can prevent this from ever happening again in the future

You know that's right!

I just realized I wrote Multiple Strains in the title up there & never listed my strains.

1 OG Kush
2 Super Lemon Haze
1 Super Purple Haze (whatever that is)
4 Hindu Kush
4 Afghan x Haze
2 '$$$'
1 Monkfish
1 Giant INDIGO!
...and something else i can't remember right now...

 

[Dick Jerky]

The girls are looking great, but a couple days ago, I noticed the first signs of spider mites. Not surprising, as my buddy's place is riddled with them. He was keeping a few of my clones alive for a little while. Either that or the dog brought em in.

Went down to Rocky Mountain Hydro & bought me some ladybugs. The'yre pretty cool. Tonight is their 3rd night here. They must like it, cuz they're screwing like rabbits! The mite evidence hasn't gotten worse, so they must be doing their thing... I only used a few hundred of the 1500 that came in the package. I see about 50 carcasses, but the ones that are alive or pretty active.

Pics tomorrow when the lights come on.

 

[ToWeRdog and FloWeRGirl]

Dick jerky: Your system is bad ass and I would like to know where you found the 1/4" drip lines with the misters on the end. The hydro shops around me dont have anything like that. Thank you and +REP 4 U.

Do you have 2 misters per site? 1 on each side of the net cup?

 

[MoN3yb4Gs]

Dick jerky: Your system is bad ass and I would like to know where you found the 1/4" drip lines with the misters on the end. The hydro shops around me dont have anything like that. Thank you and +REP 4 U.

Your correct. The hydro shops may only carry the aeroflow replacement spray lines. But You'll have to construct you own custom lines.
The grow shop should carry 1/4" tubing, and 360 degree sprayers that attach to the end of the 1/4" tubing. A "tee" is used to split feeder spray lines off of the main feeder manifold. They may or may not have a "tee" this can easily be picked up at your local hardware store.
Tip: Avoid constructing to many feeder spray lines at one time, as the ridgid plastic of the spray heads can cause irritation to finger tips.

Feeder tubes, and spray lines are custom fit to length of your personal needs.

 

[IAm5toned]

I have looked around a bunch on here. I really dig just about everything Earl says & does, but i can't help but hear the character from the TV narrating every post.

lol i thought i was the only one that did that
he knows he shit, theres is no doubt about it, i also learned alot from reading his posts, but, lol, i do it too

 

[ToWeRdog and FloWeRGirl]

Thank you for the reply Mon3y. I am familiar with ez clone misters and whatnot. I guess I should have phrased my question better. I have never seen misters that look like that before. Are they the TRUE AERO high presure misters? I am sorry for hi jacking your thread Dick. I dont mean to be one of those people being lazy and not want ing to search for things. Thank you for your patients Mon3y.

 

[MoN3yb4Gs]

Thank you for the reply Mon3y. I am familiar with ez clone misters and whatnot. I guess I should have phrased my question better. I have never seen misters that look like that before. Are they the TRUE AERO high presure misters? I am sorry for hi jacking your thread Dick. I dont mean to be one of those people being lazy and not want ing to search for things. Thank you for your patients Mon3y.

I don't know about his, as I haven't seen them in action. Got any money shots DJ? This is what I'm using for the Gutter symphony, and they seem to work great.

These are sprayers are technically not TAG. However the
stance that they work on a timer to spray H2o, and then leave roots to live in the mostly rich o2 environment does in my mind qualify this type of system as areoponics.

 

[shenanigans13]

what is ur sprayer timer set to, if u don't mind me asknig?

 

[Dick Jerky]

Dick jerky: Your system is bad ass and I would like to know where you found the 1/4" drip lines with the misters on the end. The hydro shops around me dont have anything like that. Thank you and +REP 4 U.

Do you have 2 misters per site? 1 on each side of the net cup?

Thanks T-Dog.

1/4" drip line is commonplace in any hardware store that sells sprinkler stuff for lawn irrigation. I regrettably got mine @ the HomoDepot. I found it cheaper @ the local mom& pop shop a few days later.

I got a roll of the line, cut it to taste & the sprayers just twist into the end of the lines. The jets I have are these:

Here's the link
It says $3.07 but that's for a pack of 25.
Conveniently enough, these have a sharp tip to them & can be stabbed directly into 1/2" or larger flexible poly irrigation tubing. I used them for the cloner I built, too. These are the best because they don't clog as easily. Once you get them you'll see why. The hole that shoots the water isn't super tiny. It shoots a beam into the atomizer top, giving it the pattern it has.

The 360 degree versions right next to them on the shelf @ Home Depot SUCK, fyi.

As for placement, look here:

The small holes are where the drip line goes in. There is one on each side in between every net pot, so 2 per pot. The ones on the ends get a little more as there are 2 extra on each end of the green pipe. I leave enough slack in the drip line to be able to adjust the depth at which the sprayer tip goes into the pipe. Since they are 180 degree pattern, I generally face one toward the net pot on the left & one to the one on the right.

 

[Dick Jerky]

I don't know about his, as I haven't seen them in action. Got any money shots DJ? This is what I'm using for the Gutter symphony, and they seem to work great.


These are sprayers are technically not TAG. However the
stance that they work on a timer to spray H2o, and then leave roots to live in the mostly rich o2 environment does in my mind qualify this type of system as areoponics.

Of course, I'm reading this just after my lights went out, so the money shots will have to wait till tomorrow. As for the spray pattern/TAG, mine look pretty similar to yours. The water hits the top of the sprayer & fans out in a 180 pattern. It pretty much atomizes around 1/8" out from the tip. When you look down the tube, it's a misty, misty place. I'm not gonna go too far in search of "True Aero" if it means having some sort of high maintenance spray head that turns the water into a mist so fine it looks like a cloud. As long as I'm oxygenated, irrigated & nuted, I'm cool. The roots seem to be pretty happy...

I think my pump is pretty high pressure, but I'm not sure what constitutes high. My pump is 1190 gph, that's almost 20 gallons a minute, which is a lot, I think.

 

[Dick Jerky]

what is ur sprayer timer set to, if u don't mind me asknig?

Still toying around with that one. At first, I was around 3 min on, 3/off. Now that all the plants have root balls that rest on the bottom of the pipe, I can back off a bit as they hold a lot of moisture & it takes some time for the water to work its way out of the tubes into the res. My current timing is 1 min on, 3/off. They're pretty happy in there. It's rather arid here in Denver, that's why I don't wanna leave the pump off for too long, especially with the lights on. I run a humidifier in the room, too.