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

 

[Island_Dan]

Okay sorry I have 750 gph in my 6 site and definitely a 450gph in my bucket. The 450gph in the bucket is just what I had available on hand. I got it at a steal and bought it and when building the bucket, had it as a spare so just used it. No specification on the size but definitely produces a good mist. If the pump is larger than it needs to be, it wouldn't be able to push more water out of the nozzles than the nozzles will allow. You need a pump large enough to build the required pressure to atomize through the spray nozzles properly. Once your pump is not undersized, then over sizing doesn't affect it too much. I really hope you notice a difference and hopefully res temps will be better also!

 

[Jason12692]

That makes sense, and hey if you got a good deal on the larger one I would have taken it too. I just thought that the larger one might put to much preassure on the nozzles causing them to possibly leak.

What kind of lights do you plan on using for the 5 gallon bucket setup?

I'm just worried about res temps getting hot again because there would be less water to heat up.

 

[Island_Dan]

I use fluorowing 125watt cfl's. What are your res temps now that you are running pumps on a timer?

 

[Jason12692]

The res temps are at 66 with frozen 2 liter bottles in the tote. I've been getting it colder during the morning before I leave for work, then when I get home it's about 70 then I add more frozen bottles. The timer is still working great.
I uped the nutes a bit and I shouldnt have. I am getting a little bit of nute burn starting so I'm adding plain water to balance it back out. I went from 450ppm to 550ppm.

 

[Island_Dan]

You should be able to run higher nutes with aeroponics on a timer. What nutes did you say you were running again because I find your ppm's to be so very low! My 2 dwc's with botanicare pure blend pro grow are running 2220 ppm and 5.9 ph. My dwc with the supernatural brand grow aqua is at 2120ppm and ph of 6.0 and my aero bucket with the prik kee noo suan since it is only a seedling has 757 ppm botanicare pure blend pro grow and 5.5ph.

 

[Jason12692]

Hmm really? I'm using 3 part jungle juice. Well I plan on changing the water out in a few days so ill make a new batch of nutes up. How do you know when to give them more/less??

Also Dan are you using tap or ro water? My ro water starts out at 12ppm. I also read a post in here that says cradle to grave at 500ppm...

 

[Island_Dan]

I am using Tap water since I havent invested in a RO system yet. My tap water starts out at 330ppm which is HORRIBLE and the PH is 8.9

NEBRASKA has the worst water in the US i swear. I am visiting Colorado Springs this week. Their tap water is ph 7.0 and ppm of 40... a hydro store here tested it for me to prove it to me. Anyway I just use the recommended dosage on the back of the bottle and get the ppm's that I have. I would have to minus the starting ppm from it plus minus the ppm from the ph down I use to get actual nute ppm but that is too much for me. So far I have had no nute burn though...

 

[Jason12692]

Wow that is bad. I might have you beat if my Tds meter is acurate. My tap read 440ppm!

Well all nutes are used differently and each grow is different from each other but I'm going to be on the safe side and keep mine a bit lower for now. I'm going to start using this method I read in another forum.
"what he was saying there is the number you start with doesnt mater but if you start at three and the next day it is at 3.5 nutes too strong add water back to 3. the next day if its at 2.5 nutes too low add little more nutes to 3. the next day if it is at three you are on about the correct feeding schedule. it will flucuate but the closer to the base reading you stay, the closer to optimal water to nute intake ratio."

Also there are tap water nutes you can use if you don't use ro water.

 

[Island_Dan]

Have you calibrated your tds meter at all?

And I do understand that all nutes are different and produce different levels of tds. Good luck on the grow man and I will keep checking up on it. You should stop adding the ice and wait to see where the res temps stabilize at now..

 

[Jason12692]

Yea I've calibrated it before.
I did run it with out the ice and the temps still increased to about 75 so I added the ice to get it back to 66.

Thanks for all your help Dan.

 

[a.d.proctor21]

Nice thank you for the pictures. What timer are you using and what pump cycles are you running? Not many other people on here run aeroponics. I never use an air stone in my setups just because I believe the spray aerats the solution enough but it definitely doesn't hurt.

Pop over to my page and have a look at my diy aero setup I've made for super hots

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[a.d.proctor21]

Cool set up. Very high tech. Are there a lot of advantages with aeroponics compared to hydroponics?

Check out my high tech aero [emoji14] haha this is only low pressure. Mine runs at 80psi

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