Aeroponic indoor grow log

Well I figured I'd start a grow log. I have a 4.5'X4.5'X6.5' grow tent with a 1000w MH bulb for vegging and a HPS for flowering. A Big Kahuna air cooled hood with a 474 CMF fan sucking the hot air out as well as another 300CFM. I am using 2 35 gallon totes with 8 sites per tote. This is an aeroponics setup. In one tote I have 7 naga jalokias and 1 jalapeno growing. In the other tote I have 5 nagas and 1 redfire chili. I'm using 3 part jungle juice with RO water and Calmag. I've been have pretty decent results so far. I just transplanted the rest of the pepper plants from my Aerogarden into the second tote today The jalapeno was started about 3 weeks before everything else.

The plants in the second tote are about 12 days old and the first tote are about 25 days give or take.

Here are some pix!!

Here is the tent

This is the aerogarden

Tote #2

Tote #2

Jalapeno budding!

Redfire Chili

Naga Jalokia doin it's thing

Tote #1

Both Totes

 

[TXCG]

Dude you are a genius! Thank you so much, I owe you big time. I will PM you my address. You should really sell these things though. I had no idea how expensive recycle timers were, and that is damn cheap.

That is so awesome. I ran into the same problem when I was originally planning to build an aero system, the damn timer was going to cost more than the rest of the system.

 

[scratchzilla]

I want to do a flood and drain setup, so I may have you build me one of those bad boys too.

 

[Island_Dan]

Just let me know.

 

[Jason12692]

Hey Dan, I was wondering when I get the timer how do I go about programming it the way you said?

Thanks

 

[Island_Dan]

I would try it the way I have it set in the picture first. One down and five up and repeat that the whole way around. See how the plants do and then you can adjust to a loner pump in cycle or longer off cycles to maximize plant growth.

 

[Jason12692]

Ok, sounds good. When you run your system do you turn the water pump off at night? Someone told me it doesn't need to be running at night. I've been doing it that way for about a week now and I've been seeing nice growth every morning I look.

 

[Jason12692]

Well things are looking good still. Earlier in the week I was battling temps in the reservoir and made a decision to use H2O2. I thought I was having signs of root rot so I made up a gallon solution of it and dunked each plant from the right tub into it. The Jalapeno showed signs of stress from being dunked and started to get droopy. I researched and found out that is normal for the plant to droop afterwards because it's basically burning off the rotten roots. Shortly after the drooping it bounced right back to normal

As for my reservoir temps being out of control, I PHed and put calmag into about 10 gallons of RO water and added 5 gallons to each tote. I figured more water would take longer to heat up. My indoor temps are at a pretty steady 79 degrees and my reservoir temps are at 71. Optimal indoor temp is 77 and optimal res temp is 68. So I am pretty damn close!

My PH level is at a perfect 5.5 and ppm is at 450 in the right tote
The left tote the PH is at 5.7 and ppm is at 325.

Optimal PH is 5.5

In the right tub ppm should be about 500, plants are around 4-5 weeks old.

The left tub ppm should be about 300, plants are around 2 weeks old.

Here are some pix!

One of the Naga Jalokias

Another one

The biggest Naga Jalokia

Family Picture

Jalapeno, Buds are coming out everywhere.

Group Shot

 

[Island_Dan]

Ok, sounds good. When you run your system do you turn the water pump off at night? Someone told me it doesn't need to be running at night. I've been doing it that way for about a week now and I've been seeing nice growth every morning I look.

I leave mine running all day as it has off cycles due to the timer.

Your root rot may be due to roots drying out at night when the pump is not on. That will kill root mass very quickly.

 

[Jason12692]

Yea thats a good idea. I'll start to keep then running all the time until I get that timer. Any idea on the arrival date?

 

[Island_Dan]

I was hoping you would get it today but hopefully tomorrow now.

 

[Jason12692]

Alright cool, I can't wait to try it out!

 

[Jason12692]

I guess it did come yesterday. I had it shipped to my parents house because I live in an apartment and dont want packages sitting outside. I'm going to go pick it up in a little while.

Also, I was going to ask you about your aeroponic bucket. Did you make that yourself or did you buy it? How much did you pay?
I was thinking once these peppers out grow these tubs I will switch them into buckets like the one you showed in the picture.

Thanks

 

[Island_Dan]

I made that one myself. I buy the spray nozzles at my local hydro store and used a drill and a tap to thread the pvc manifold tubing. PVC is just half inch and I buy pumps off of ebay. That one is a 450 gph and I buy a screw fitting so the manifold can be screwed on and off of it. In the bucket, I have 8 45 degrees, 1 T, 2 90 degrees and a half inch pipe to 3/4 male thread adaptor and then just lengths of 1/2 inch pvc tubing. I use 6 nozzles also. I put 2 below the manifold to help wiht aerating the water and watering the lower part of the root system when it gets HUGE.

 

[Jason12692]

That looks pretty cool. How much did it cost you to make that? I was thinking of making mine the same way after I saw your design.
Also is that in a 5 gallon or 3 gallon bucket? What size net pot are you using on the top?

 

[Island_Dan]

It's about $12 in pipe from menards, $20 eBay pump. $3 black 5 gallon bucket from menards and it is a 6 inch net pot that I got from hydro store.

 

[Jason12692]

That's not bad!

I went and picked up the timer from my parents house today. I tested it out on a lamp as I saw in your video. This thing works flawlessly. Dude you did a great job!!

What is your paypal address and the price?

Also what size pump are you running?

 

[PIC 1]

Jason I like the look to your plants, nice and dense with some wicked inner growth happening...

 

[Jason12692]

Thanks smokin, I'm guessing they are gonna be shorter but bushy as hell.

 

[Island_Dan]

I run a 450gph on the aero bucket and a 1000 gph on my 6 site aero chamber similar to yours. Please let me know how it does operating your pumps.

 

[Jason12692]

Isn't a 450gph in a 5 gallon bucket a bit overkill? Especially if you're only going to be running it for 40 seconds every 4 minutes. I am using a 400gph in my 35 gallon tote with about 20 gallons of water. But maybe I don't know something you do.

The pumps are running just as you said they would. I can't wait to see if there is any kind of improvement using the timer vs. continuous spraying. Thanks again Dan!