So I'm thinking of back up equipment for hydro grows in my setup. Any suggestions?

Hello everyone, my greenthumb is-a-itchin'!! I'm planning on doing a grow setup and I believe I am STILL weighing the pros and cons of each medium for my plant. I believe I want to do hydro (1 plant in a 5 gallon dwc bucket) but power outages are bound to happen. They typically don't stay off for too long before they are back up and running. I know I'll need an air pump if my power cuts off. My question is would a USB air pump be able to substitute for short period of time until the power turns back on?

Also, what are some other things I should be prepared for while running a hydroponics system?

PS: Just as an FYI I normally work 12 hr shifts so I wouldn't be able to tell if the power shuts off during mid shift. I'd have to have that back up USB powered air pump already running 24-7 to insure I always have oxygen.

EDIT: forgot the link to the USB pump I was looking at.
Mylivell Portable Ultra Silent Aquarium Air Pump Mini USB Oxygen Air Pump Hydroponic Oxygen Mute Energy Saving Supplies for Fish Tank with Air Stone &Tube https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9WJD9C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_d1yQDb07FQ4FF

You can use a UPS battery backup to keep an air pump going.

Renfro said:

You can use a UPS battery backup to keep an air pump going.

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Thanks. That is exactly what I was planning on having as a setup but I wasn't sure as to if that would be enough to keep the roots oxygenated enough until I got home from work--12 hours roughly. I guess it can't hurt but I just don't know if it's worth the investment.

There are 9v battery air pumps if you need short term not sure how good they work

Stickydog90 said:

Thanks. That is exactly what I was planning on having as a setup but I wasn't sure as to if that would be enough to keep the roots oxygenated enough until I got home from work--12 hours roughly. I guess it can't hurt but I just don't know if it's worth the investment.

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They make UPS units of many sizes. Many watts does the pump draw? Should be able to run it a long time.

We highly recommend this air pump for emergency back-up air in aquarium, small tanks, and small ponds.
The pump is designed to run continuously on 110V power.
When the power shuts off, the pump automatically switches over to battery back-up and continues to run until power is turned back on.
It features two modes of back-up operation: Hi - runs 14 hours continuously on full battery mode; Low - runs 28 hours on intermittent mode where the pump is on for 50 seconds then of for 50 seconds.
Utilizes universal 6V 4.0 Ah battery (included), which is easily accessible.
Two 3/16" outlets provide 0.15 cfm of air at 30" of water depth.

Renfro said:

Non-Stop AC/DC Air Pump with Battery Backup - SB-10000

Non-Stop AC/DC Air Pump with Battery Backup - SB-10000 SOBO Aquarium AC/DC Air Pump SB-10000 2nd Generation Features: 2nd Generation Lithium Battery 4400mA! 12Watt with 2x5Liter/min Air Output 0.016Mpa Pressure Two 3/16

www.aquacave.com

We highly recommend this air pump for emergency back-up air in aquarium, small tanks, and small ponds.
The pump is designed to run continuously on 110V power.
When the power shuts off, the pump automatically switches over to battery back-up and continues to run until power is turned back on.
It features two modes of back-up operation: Hi - runs 14 hours continuously on full battery mode; Low - runs 28 hours on intermittent mode where the pump is on for 50 seconds then of for 50 seconds.
Utilizes universal 6V 4.0 Ah battery (included), which is easily accessible.
Two 3/16" outlets provide 0.15 cfm of air at 30" of water depth.

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Thank you for that very useful information! This will definitely help me decide if hydroponics is the way to go for me. If I'm not asking too much, is there other essential needs my plants have that need immediate attention to in hydroponics in the case that a power outage occurs?

Lighting. You don't want your lights going on and off at random causing pollen chucking bananas.

Renfro said:

Lighting. You don't want your lights going on and off at random causing pollen chucking bananas.

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That's true. I'm planning on having a tent that would be in a closet so I'm not worried about any light leaks. However if the plant happens to suffer for 36 hours without light, just one time, would that cause it to grow some nuts? Let's say I'm in the flowering stage now. I calculate 36 hours because if happens to not cut on during the time it's supposed to and I'm at work(nightshift), that's already 24 hours because 12 darkness + 12 hour shift. Now I know I'd WANT/NEED to turn the lights on immediately once I get home BUT if that's going to cause the plants to now have a schedule that's during the daylight, it's going to be hot.. should I just leave them off for another 12 hours to put them back into their original light schedules.

Typically we have about an outage at least once every winter. Sometimes a couple if the season is really bad. And maybe a few power blinks once in a while (I don't think that really harms them, does it?).

What about the lights going off for an hour during the time they should be on. shit like that is BAD.

If your power goes out that often then you should consider running at least a LED on a battery backup (timer plugged into UPS lol not other way around and the timer goes off and the UPS kicks in lol) This way if your lights go off the cycle is maintained.

Fans too, you can't have plants sitting in humid stale air. Really if you have such unreliable power you may wanna reconsider growing indoors.

Renfro said:

What about the lights going off for an hour during the time they should be on. shit like that is BAD.

If your power goes out that often then you should consider running at least a LED on a battery backup (timer plugged into UPS lol not other way around and the timer goes off and the UPS kicks in lol) This way if your lights go off the cycle is maintained.

Fans too, you can't have plants sitting in humid stale air. Really if you have such unreliable power you may wanna reconsider growing indoors.

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I wish outdoors were an option as I live in a city where it's frowned upon.
I'm going to do some researching into ups battery backups as this is new technology to me. I'm still debating on a medium to grow in. I believe in this case of my power, dirt would probably be more viable. I am now looking at getting an sf2000 spiderfarmer for a 27"x27" canopy of Luscious, fat, sticky green colas.

Stickydog90 said:

dirt would probably be more viable.

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Soil

Knowing your likely to have power cuts I would just go with a system that's less vulnerable like coco DTW

using a gravity fed drain to waste system with a solenoid valve with batt backup would work for cheap? I think if the power always cuts back on you might be fine as far as aeration goes in this setup.
I agree Coco would be a great medium
also if using an HPS or arc type bulb I'd definately be careful with outtages/brown outs

perhaps led's /drivers aren't as prone to damage from surge/powerouttage/brownout/blackouts?
with that being said perhaps a quality surge protector would be a good idea!

fans is an awesome thought renfro.. If I had to choose it would be roots and fans before lights as far as equipment buying goes

Nizza said:

using a gravity fed drain to waste system with a solenoid valve with batt backup would work for cheap? I think if the power always cuts back on you might be fine as far as aeration goes in this setup.
I agree Coco would be a great medium
also if using an HPS or arc type bulb I'd definately be careful with outtages/brown outs

perhaps led's /drivers aren't as prone to damage from surge/powerouttage/brownout/blackouts?
with that being said perhaps a quality surge protector would be a good idea!

fans is an awesome thought renfro.. If I had to choose it would be roots and fans before lights as far as equipment buying goes

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Ok just did some research on solenoid valves and gravity fed systems, this may possibly be the route I go. Do you happen to have any sources that has a small setup like that that I could follow up on? I am planning on doing one plant in a 2x2

Well it's pretty simple. Get a barrel or something to hold the nutes and raise it up on some cement blocks or whatnot. Put a hole / grommet in the bottom side on the barrel, as low as possible. If using a barrel on cinder blocks you could even space the blocks such that the outlet could be in the center of the bottom so you can get all the nutes out. Put a barbed fitting in the grommet and using some tubing connect this to a solenoid valve, such as those used for automated sprinkler systems. These run on 24 volt AC power so you will want to get a 24 VAC power supply or transformer, connect that to a timer and walla. Now your valve will open when the timer says so and allow water to flow. One thing to know is the fuller the barrel is the more pressure you will have thus when the barrel is low you will get less water in the same amount of time.

You can add a float valve to an RO filter with a shutoff valve. When the barrel is empty you can turn on the float valve feed and it will stop the flow when the barrel is refilled.

Toss a pump in there to circulate your nutrients when you are mixing them.

My girl has a few plants in my grow and I make her do her own nutes. I bought her this nice little 14 gallon barrel on amazon since she doesn't need the larger ones like I have. The larger your barrel the less often you have to fuck with refilling it so I would do the 14 gallon over a 5 gallon bucket.

I wanted to throw this thread in here too https://www.rollitup.org/t/sip-thread-sub-irrigated-planter.904886/

I can’t find and dc gravity fed setups, but like ren said you could just figure it out !

really though how long and often does the power shut off? You may not even need to worry about gravity feeding

Nizza said:

I wanted to throw this thread in here too https://www.rollitup.org/t/sip-thread-sub-irrigated-planter.904886/

I can’t find and dc gravity fed setups, but like ren said you could just figure it out !

really though how long and often does the power shut off? You may not even need to worry about gravity feeding

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It shuts off probably once a winter, during the bad ice storms, then we have occasional power flickers that last no longer than like 2 seconds and that's like once in a blue moon.

Thank you very much for your input, all advise helps!!

One last thing. How do you 'like' someone's post/comment

I wouldn't be that concerned if thats all you have for power outages.

Stickydog90 said:

One last thing. How do you 'like' someone's post/comment

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Bottom right hand corner of the post.