Back in the Hydro Saddle - OneHitDone Aero-Hydroponics!

Back to where my heart truly lies - Hydroponics!
I am the type that enjoys all forms of gardening and growing plants of all types but Hydroponics has always had a particular interest to me.
Combing plant growth with mechanical tinkering just keeps things interesting.
Finally took the plunge and built the system I had been thinking about for quite some time. It all goes back to the early 2000's when I built a DIY version of a General Hydroponics AeroFlo system.
OneHItDone ingenuity circa 2003:

Fast forward to 2025.
After having built and grown with many different forms of Hydroponic systems and even going the Organic Soil route for a decent amount of time, I come back to hydro armed with a lot more knowledge and clear goals for the system I have now built.
It is a hybrid of the General Hydroponics AeroFlo design with some changes that are great improvements to me.
The original AeroFlo had "spray lines" inside of the square channels that made cleaning and monitoring water flow a real pain in the ass.
Combined with the Chanels being essentially sealed at both ends further adding to difficult cleaning.
There was also an Overflow tube that was just a piece of 1 1/2" thin wall pvc if I remember correctly that could be moved up and down in a grommet to vary the water level inside of the channels. Water up to the bottom of the net pots when plants are young, lower the drain as the roots develop increasing oxygen inside of the channels.
My new system does not maintain a high water level expert for in 1 "nursery" channel I build specifically for seedlings. The rest of the channels drain freely into the main drain manifold.
Nutrient is now delivered via external tubing rather than the internal spray lines. There are NO sprayers inside of the channels, Just open drip tube fittings squirting a stream near each net pot.
My system is now double stacked so I wanted to keep things as low as possible and keep the reservoirs outside of the grow chambers.
The lower Flower systems drain into Condensate pumps that send the nutrient solution back to the reservoirs.
The upper Veg system drains back to the reservoir by gravity.
Time for some photo's.

Cloning Situation

Beautiful, clean work! Really well done. Such healthy ladies, which nutes are you running? Sterile or bennies? I have a very similar set up, a hydrid aero/nft perpetual grow in pvc rails. Very little maintenance and great results. I'm subbed...

Nice setup!
Love the stacked layout.
12/12 from sprout?

tyler.durden said:

Beautiful, clean work! Really well done. Such healthy ladies, which nutes are you running? Sterile or bennies? I have a very similar set up, a hydrid aero/nft perpetual grow in pvc rails. Very little maintenance and great results. I'm subbed...

Click to expand...

Been bouncing around on nutrients a bit. Cutting Edge Solutions 3 part and investigating the Aptus $ Pit currently.
I have ran all sorts of things in the past, powder and liquid but I think it is time that I go the make my own formula route.

I haven't had a need for anything water treatment wise. Played a bit with hypochlorous acid but not really into the Free Chlorine in solution approach.
Just ordered some API Pond Ecofix per your experience. What rate are you dosing that at in your systems?
Also grabbed the tap water conditioner although probably don't need it here. Have you seen any issues with micronutrient deficiencies using that product? It specifically mentions tying up copper.

In previous Kratky experiments I was very impressed with Continuµm™ by Impello Bioscience with the exception of pairing it with Ionic Nutrients. Things went south in that combo like the Ionic killed the bacterial product.

driver77 said:

Nice setup!
Love the stacked layout.
12/12 from sprout?

Click to expand...

Most of what I am running is from clone. The left side of flower pic about is 3 different varieties from seed though.
Generally grow them up to the point I can get a nice clone from the top in case I stumble on something that's a keeper and then move them on to flower.

OneHitDone said:

Been bouncing around on nutrients a bit. Cutting Edge Solutions 3 part and investigating the Aptus $ Pit currently.
I have ran all sorts of things in the past, powder and liquid but I think it is time that I go the make my own formula route.

I haven't had a need for anything water treatment wise. Played a bit with hypochlorous acid but not really into the Free Chlorine in solution approach.
Just ordered some API Pond Ecofix per your experience. What rate are you dosing that at in your systems?
Also grabbed the tap water conditioner although probably don't need it here. Have you seen any issues with micronutrient deficiencies using that product? It specifically mentions tying up copper.

In previous Kratky experiments I was very impressed with Continuµm™ by Impello Bioscience with the exception of pairing it with Ionic Nutrients. Things went south in that combo like the Ionic killed the bacterial product.

Click to expand...

I never had deficiencies until I switched from HPS to LED lighting. I have used House & Garden's Aqua Flakes for years since Dutchmaster went belly up, and that provided all my plants needed. I now need to add Cal-Mag to maintain optimal plant health. I like to use the Tap Water Conditioner to neutralize the high chloramines content in my tap water, it really hurts my bennies. But if you don't have chlorine or chloramines in your water, you probably don't need it. I apply the Ecofix at a rate of 10ml for my 27 gallon rezes initially, then only 5ml twice per week between rez changes. It is powerful stuff, but I think it would be hard to overdo it. Whatever you're doing is obviously working great, your ladies look so happy.