How to build an aero setup

Ok now you basically will have to just plug it all together.Its easiest to take your 2 stands you have and space them about to where each one is 10 inches form the ends of the chambers. Make sure the taller one is on the end that does not have the drains. The drain ends which will be by your res needs to be slightly lower so the water drains downhill to the drains creating the NFT advantage of this syetm and if its not tilted the chanbers can fill and overflow so make sure its about 2 inch drop from one end to the low end.Move the stands as needed to achieve this.

Set the 4 pvc posts on the stands about 16 inches aprts for now. Now depending on what you choose to do you have to deal with the mister lines.If you already sealed the pvc chambers end caps closed with silicon caulk ( all silicon and not water washable) then you will need to insert the lines into each chamber through the high end of the setup which is the end opposite the drains.Your gonna go in through the last net pot hole inserting the mister line 90 degree elbow in first.Slightly twist the line so the misters are sideways to give you more room to feed it in. Its tight but it will go with little persuasion.If you hadnt sealed the ends yet then just slide the lines in the chambers so the 90 degree elbow is at the same end as the drain.We now have the chambers on the stands with the mister lines inside ready for the manifold

Take your manifold you made and hold it above the 4 chambers.You have 1 hole drilled in each chamber top that the 7 inch length from the manifolds 4 spots will fit into line all 4 up can do one at a time if easier.Slide the pvc length in the hole then reach in the first netpot hole and turn the mister line up so the manifold slides into the 90 degree elbows on the ends of the mister lines and get them together nice and tight. Do this for each of the 4 chmabers and each of the 4 manifold outlets.Again its gonna look like this except the lines are inside the chambers now

Sorry pictures are blurry but you can see what has been described.Now we can go over a quick res.I will show you what I did but this part is easy to adjust to what you want. I used a 50 gallon rubbermaid tub for my res. I wont fill it all the way up but it gives me lots of room for pumps,water, nutes and my return drain lines so they are above the water.I took my res tub laid it on its side and then I took a hole saw ( you can use a spade bit or whatever size bit to make the desired size holes for your liking remember yoiur hose is 1/2 icnh so has to be at least that big) and since I used 4 plastic hose retainers which are availiable at homedepot by the kitchen sink parts section as they are for the little hose on your sink that has the pistol sprayer just holds the hose inplace, I drilled 4 holes as high as possible without breaking the lip of the res.I made the holes just big enough for the threaed retainer to slode through.I put the retainers from the outside in and they have a plastic nut you screw on the thread from the inside of the res until its nice and tight. These happen to be exactly big enough for 1/2 inch hose which you will cut to length depedning on how far your res is away.! hose 1/2 inch diameter will go from each drain on the chambers through these 4 holes then hang over in the res for the return water which falls back into the res via gravity. Make sure the res return lines to the res are lower then the height of your drain as water goes down hill not up so it has to go from the drain down a lower hose to the res.Now since the pump is submersible I made a hole just large enough for the head of my pump plug to fit through with extra room for an air line or 2 for air stones.I pull the plug and air lines from the inside of the res to the out and then its ready to plug in.All you have to do at this point is connect the 1/2 inch hose from the drains through the holes in the res and hang them in. I like to have about 8 inches of extra hose hanging in the res.The retainers prevent pinching at the tub entrance just make sure the hoses are above the water line at full so they flow unrestricted. I fill my res about 3/4 full as more water means easier to keep ph and ppm stable.You now have the setup ready to go.Take a look inside the chambers if need move the mister line to the center of the chamber from one end to the other for even mist.Get your 3 inch netpots add 1 layer of hydroton then your rooted clones then pack in hydroton around the rockwool cubes and insert into each hole.1 thing I find that helps keep them from tilting when heavy with bud is to eaither use 2 zip tied that go around the chamber and over each side of the net pots pulled tight or get some cheap velcrow and do the same 2 straps per net cup pulled tight so the netpots cant lean at all works great. I also suggest a support system either a pvc grid or maybe rope grid or some simple netting so the plants support each other during flower..There you have it the basics for a large aero setup..As always post questions and Ill do what I can to answer them..

Thats alot of smileys

rrreeeeepsss!!!

Sorry it took so long but wasnt it worth the wait lol

FilthyFletch said:

Sorry it took so long but wasnt it worth the wait lol

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for sure


how do you get the emitter lines through the 1" hole that you drilled... sorry im kinda on that. maybe i overlooked that part...

No reread.If you already sealed the end caps then you take the mister line and g to the opposite end of the grow chambers away from the drain end then in the last 3 inch grow pot hole put the end with the 90 degree elbow in and push it into the chamber til its all the way inside. Its tight but will slide if you measured right.Tilt it so the misters are to the side not up and down that way they dont catch the post

well worth the wait + rep ff

yes well worth the wait... Finely got one 6' tube found it at Lowes going to start small like my budget lol..Much thanks FF will be thinking of you in that cold weather when I go to the beach later

lol I hate the beach.I avoided it last moneth while in south beach miami it was too hot already there 85 the whole time lol Ill be making a snowman for ya here

where you been ? clean out your inbox im trying to get that thing shipped to me !

FilthyFletch said:

lol I hate the beach.I avoided it last moneth while in south beach miami it was too hot already there 85 the whole time lol Ill be making a snowman for ya here

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hey f.f., howz about answering a couple of questions that i'm sure i, as well as others would like to know following this thread.

* what size pump are you using? g.p.h & model?

* whats your opinion on submersible vs. open air?

* in a 40 gal. res, how much h20 stays in the res vs. how much is in the tubes? (i/m using 5-100 inch tubes w/ 8 holes each so i'll do the math vs. a 4 tube).

* would you advise putting in-line flow control valves(spigots) on the drains to let h20 build up in the tubes? if yes, when in the bloom cycle would you let h20 build up? also, would the 40 gal. res be able to hold enough h20 to keep the pump underwater w/ build up in the tubes?

* are you running the h20 system continually or a 5 minutes on/10 minutes off type of schedule. do you turn it off at "night"?

sorry for the multiple questions but i dont remember reading much/any info on these questions. thanks from al of us who have followed the thread!!

Ok lets try to get all the answers to these questions for ya..

1. About pumps.It depends on the size unit you built but for this one I run 800 minmum gph pumps up to 1500 gph pumps.I have a few units and depending on whats closest to grab is what I find I use. I think 800-1000 gph pumps work fine on these.The models vary I have some beckets and think those ar wd800 models and I forgot the other 2 makers I use.

2.My thoughts on submersible or outside pumps ..me personally I always use submersible pumps but I know some who use dry inline pump like GH setups use. You ll find some who worry about the res temps getting too hot but I find since Im in 50 or so gallons of water my pump doesnt add any heat really at all. I keep a floating thermometer in my res and like to have my water res temp around 65-68 under 70 for sure which it satys prettty much 65 F with my submersible pump.This way the water by the time it goes through the pump and to the misters its right at 70 which is perefect for the root zone.You can use outside pumps if you want but I find they cost more, use more electric and are more prone to failure from heat.

3.Well on water what I have is a 55 gallon res.i like to fill it with about 35-45 gallons of water with pump off then I know where my mark is and can top back off there every day.If I had to guess the water in 4 tubes at any given full run time is about maybe a gallon if that.The water drains pretty fast from the run off so take 4 gallons from the res at once so your gonna have around 5 gallons in a 5 post setup.Yeah your 40 gallon res should do.Id fill it about as full as you can and give it a trail run for an hour and watch and see if any adjustments need to be made but should be ok.Make sure you check daily incase any evaporation ,plant drinking or clogs cause spills.I have had a time or 2 where something blocked a drain and the tube filled up and overflowed at the end by the drain.Once was arandom hydroton rock got inside and clogged the drain another was I was gone for few days and dint get to lift the plants closets to the drain and roots blocked the drain so it drained slow.I always find its good to have some plastic down in case of spills or overflow or if your real into it build a simple basin under the last foot of the unit to catch overflow should it happen.

4.An inline drain flow valave I wuld have no use for as the drains drain just the right speed as you dont want the water to back up in the tubes or they can flood and push your net pots up and the planst can fall over.I find the rate of the drains allows a nice free flowing river current inside without backing up.This way your using the aero and NFT and not forceing a dwc with a flood.

5.On the pump I always run my pumps 24 hours on never turn them off as these are low psi systems so no real need to shut the down and I find if the poump turns off the misters can cake and clog easier.I also see pumps wear out faster as the hard start from off puts more wear and tear on the pump then a smooth constant run.Now you will see some who wanna say you have to cycle time for best results which isnt true unless your in a high pressure ultra fine atomized mist in the 50 micron or smallet droplet range then youd cycle time the pump but youd have to have 35-75 psi and special misters heads which are about $15 each and require steel tubing to mount them I looked but just for the 4 chamber setup for the misters and lines was over $350 and then your pump will have to be upgraded to high pressure so add another $100 more and then the power usage triples so It wasnt what I was opting to do although some day I might play with a high pressure 50 micron setup if I can find a grocery store used supply store.I never turn the pump off not even night. i had a pump trip a breaker at night one time and came back to droopy falling plants so you gotta have it running.Also make sure to use filter bags or inline israli filters will save you a ton of troubles...Hope this answered the questions if not let me know and Ill see what I can do better

FilthyFletch said:

lol I hate the beach.I avoided it last moneth while in south beach miami it was too hot already there 85 the whole time lol Ill be making a snowman for ya here

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Ohhh thank you so much for the snowman. Funny thing is living on the Big Island I could make a snowman too as we still have snow up on the mtn...

thanks f.f., you answered all of my q's and then some. i misspoke when i said i have a 40 gal. res, it's 50 gal. and from what you said, it sounds like it'll be the right size.
i have a 2 rubbermaid setup(7 plants each)going now w/ a 25 gal. res. and i cannot believe how much bigger, denser, better they are than i have had in any soil setup that i have ever grown. i've gotten rid of all of my soil pots, never going back to soil!!

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ahhh skwirt another converted soil to aero grower.Yup I did a soil grow recntly just to remind me of why I dont do them anymore and It refreshed my memory why I have been hydro only for lat 12 or so years lol soil is so slow and yields less.I started my flood table 3 months after the soil start and the flood table is harvested and the soil plants are partially done but had to thinn them out and give more time to fatten the buds up and yield from a whole soil grow room per plant wasnt but half a 3x3 flood table