my gravity fed air atomizing aeroponic system

http://www.delavan.co.uk/pdfs/SN.pdf
Most AA nozzles are capable if you can get everything dialled in. TF has excellent growing skills and a keen eye for detail which makes all the difference. There were guys who couldnt replicate g-loves results using the exact same piece of kit. Having the right hardware is no guarantee

using the pdf to estimate your nozzle air consumption, at 2.8-bar the average is 2.8cfm. Assuming your 42L tank runs from 100psi-70psi. A single nozzle on a 1sec/60sec cycle would take roughly 66 minutes to drain the tank. If you used the same cycle timing with 1-bar air pressure (average 1.342cfm) you`d get roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes from the tank.

i feel like an idiot, i just re-read thru g-loves second journal, after he got the macro lense. his roots were spot on, couldnt tell from the first journal

Atomizer said:

Most AA nozzles are capable if you can get everything dialled in. TF has excellent growing skills and a keen eye for detail which makes all the difference. There were guys who couldnt replicate g-loves results using the exact same piece of kit. Having the right hardware is no guarantee

Click to expand...

this was my suspicion. guess i should stop with the measurebating, and focus more on observation. im going to start some huskey red tomatoes as soon as i log off. they are a compact variety.

Atomizer said:

http://www.delavan.co.uk/pdfs/SN.pdf

using the pdf to estimate your nozzle air consumption, at 2.8-bar the average is 2.8cfm. Assuming your 42L tank runs from 100psi-70psi. A single nozzle on a 1sec/60sec cycle would take roughly 66 minutes to drain the tank. If you used the same cycle timing with 1-bar air pressure (average 1.342cfm) you`d get roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes from the tank.

Click to expand...

im actually at 80-100 at the moment, in the next day or so ill drop it to 70-100 though, so many projects so little time.

good job finding the specs really clears a lot up for me, forgot i could get these nozzles in stainless. probably be a ton more cash though. i can get a #5 with the adapter for $37 to my door.

theoretical question. what if i were to store my nutrient solution in a accumulator, and feed it to my nozzles at a regulated pressure of 1 psi or so. what would the effect of this be, could i emulate different gravity heads by doing this? it definitely would be easier than trying to hang a reservoir up in the air.

Atomizer said:

http://www.delavan.co.uk/pdfs/SN.pdf

Click to expand...

i wonder why delavan doesnt include specs for my 30609-1 nozzle, they dont have it on the american site either.

We're getting good results just using 100PSI HPA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGNo95f4dI4

oxanaca said:

im actually at 80-100 at the moment, in the next day or so ill drop it to 70-100 though, so many projects so little time.

good job finding the specs really clears a lot up for me, forgot i could get these nozzles in stainless. probably be a ton more cash though. i can get a #5 with the adapter for $37 usd to my door.

theoretical question. what if i were to store my nutrient solution in a accumulator, and feed it to my nozzles at a regulated pressure of 1 psi or so. what would the effect of this be, could i emulate different gravity heads by doing this? it definitely would be easier than trying to hang a reservoir up in the air.

Click to expand...

It better to use the lowest cut in pressure you can get away with, say 50psi. It helps if you have a wide range differential switch then you can run the tank 50-100 or 50-120.
You could use an accumulator but you `d need a very accurate regulator and gauge, 1psi is equal to 27".

Indrhrvest,
Nothing wrong with HPA, i use it. There was/is nothing wrong with LP either but the boundaries had to be pushed to get HPA and we`re just pushing them again for AA

oxanaca said:

i feel like an idiot, i just re-read thru g-loves second journal, after he got the macro lense. his roots were spot on, couldnt tell from the first journal

Click to expand...

Its all in the small detail G-loves 1st journal used a smaller chamber than the others, it was 1200mm x 600mm x 400mm deep.

I am running an Atomix Pro set-up using an old chamber that is 1200 mm long by 600 mm high and 400 mm tall. The chamber would hold 8 plants although I have only got 4 females which are nicely spread out over the system. I am using a 600W air cooled reflector on this system.

Click to expand...

There`s no reference to how many nozzles it had but perhaps 2. So its likely it was always a little on the wet side which could account for the root differences.

Atomizer said:

Its all in the small detail G-loves 1st journal used a smaller chamber than the others, it was 1200mm x 600mm x 400mm deep.

Click to expand...

oh oh, thats the exact dimentions of my chamber. 1200X600X400mm=4'x2'x15" damn
this is one of the flaws of my chamber design isnt it. i now want to try and build a bigger chamber.

i think im going to try 1200x1200x400mm
on the third page of his third journal. theres some pretty informative pictures. i think im going to make a wooden box and a 4mil black plastic liner to put inside it. it clearly shows two nozzles , set up the same way i have mine set up in my narrower box, i must be doing something right.
for the lid all i will have to do is cut out another 600x1200mm sheet of corrugated polycarbonate and cut another 32 holes in it with a hole saw, or maybe il will just try 8 plants. i will then tape them together with tarp tape. tarp tapes awsome, so durable. i wiill fasten half of the chamber and be able to pick up the other half to look inside, as the tape will act as a hinge.

so i just dumped my huskey red tomato seeds into a flask on my stir plate. my plans are to spin em on low with a teflon stir bar until they have streched a little. i will then transfer it to my pond pump psudo-aero cloner, which i just finished, its pretty sweet sure beats the $400 dollar price tag on the ez-cloner. doesnt leak either.





i am also planing to convert to a high pressure cloner, using a two gallon thermal expansion tank, and the rothenberger rp50 pump you helped me pick out atomizer.
i just dont have any 1/4 inch john guest tees otherwise it would be done already, i have every other piece known to man however


finally i would like to see how a bubbler performs when operated the way its suppose be operated

sorry double post i cant delete

Tom seeds will germinate in 3-4 days with some bottom heat, you dont need to do anything special.
If you`ve got the chamber built i wouldnt worry, G-love seemed to do ok with that size. Looks like you`ve cleared all the local stores shelves of JG fittings
Its a good idea to run some plain water through the pump after you use it to keep the lines clean and fresh.

Atomizer said:

Tom seeds will germinate in 3-4 days with some bottom heat, you dont need to do anything special.
If you`ve got the chamber built i wouldnt worry, G-love seemed to do ok with that size. Looks like you`ve cleared all the local stores shelves of JG fittings
Its a good idea to run some plain water through the pump after you use it to keep the lines clean and fresh.

Click to expand...

i like my flask method as it allows me to stretch my seedlings a bit, and the teflon bar does not damage the seedlings..
my plan is to have netpots with roots sticking out the bottom before i transplant them into the final system. i will use no medium in the netpots, as i had problems when i tryed it with basil.

i haven't started my chamber, but i can built what i have in mind in a couple of hours.


i bought an allotment of jg fitting on ebay for about $80 shipped

whats your opionion on a hybrid system. you know with aerated nutrient solution at the bottom.
im not interested in it personally, it seems it would kill off root hair, and it would complicate chamber construction.

The atomix V2 was a hybrid, the roots werent as nice as the pure aero due to the aeration throwing water everywhere. Incorporating a dripper system to service the rockwool chunks in the early stages seems like a worthwhile investment. I bought some drippers a while ago to run off a spare 25L accumulator, just havent got around to doing anything with them yet. They are pressure compensated, constant LPH output from 7-45psi, self cleaning and non draining. They all start and stop at exactly the same time so theres no need for any pressure/flow balancing malarky.
The accumulator will take 5 minutes to charge with the RP-50 and then it should run 10 drippers for 2 weeks or 20 for a week.

i remember in one of g loves threads he mentioned he used drippers to his rr cubes. i think he had problems with bacteria damping off his plants though, i guess he was keeping them to wet.
youll have to update me on those drippers, i would be interested in trying something like that with my coco pith grow im about to start in a few days.

i actually have a 75liter accumulator just sitting in my storage doing nothing. i think you pointed me to it last september.

A 75L is a nice size. Running it at 7psi-45psi will give you around 12 gallons to work with, 16 gallons if you use 100psi and a pressure reducer.
Its easy to overdo the watering on rockwool chunks, a 10ml syringe works but its a lot of naffing about. The drippers deliver 0.55ml per second so it should be fairly easy to find a timing cycle to keep the rockwool chunks damp but not wet.

is there any particular reason you prefer rockwool cubes to a neoprene collar, support maybe?

i have a 150psi tank. if i were to precharge to 7psi and also draw down to that i would have a draw down of 19.06 gallons right?

Neoprene wont provide any moisture
75L tank running 7-150psi will give you 65L or 17.2gal.

i see i forgot to adjust my equation to absolute pressure.

i used rockwool cubes to grow some basil, in the system a few months ago. i allowed the roots to stick out the sides of the cube before i transfered them into netpots in my system. i ran the system mist heavily, and then kept my rockwool cubes moist until the roots were 5 inches long or so.
i then stopped watereing the cubes. the cubes quickly dryed out, as the mist wasnt able to keep them hydrated. the plants were able to support themselves using only there roots without any moisture being provided by the rockwool. that is unill i unplugged my timer without plugging it back in, before going to work. then they were toast.

what im trying to ask is do you drip the cubes the entire grow, or only to get them started? it just seems to me it would be easier to use neoprene and grow the roots 8 inches long or so in a cloner, before transferring to the fruiting system. this would also shave off a few days time i will have each crop in my fruiting system.

but im sure youll have something very insightful to share that i havent got to yet