Aqua bubble cloning machine
- Thread starter Soupsaa
- Start date
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
If you wanna give it a try, by all means. Cloning is a very straightforward process and there's no right way to do it. So whether you Bubble clone submerged in the water, or use an aero misting spray, both will root.
Thinking about doing a 5 gal bucket diy bubble to test it out. Online sell 20 site for $80 which is alot for a small tote
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
It's too simple to not just build yourself.
What air pump you recommend on buying.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
I reccomend you instead do an Aero cloner and build a little manifold from either 1/2" PVC or black vinyl hydro tubing and some 360° sprayers. Throw it on a pump, 100-200 gph inside a 5 gal bucket. Fill it up with RO Water to where it's just below the manifold sprayers. Use a filter mesh bag tied around the pump. Clogging those heads means dead cuttings. Search for "Mesh Tea Bag" if buying online.
In the lid, cut holes for premade 2" neoprene collars, OR I suggest for Many MANY MORE SITES, make your own out of a "kneeling Pad" and use a 1-1.25" hole saw to make little circles cut out from it. Then cut from the side to the middle with a blade, like Pac-Man, and drill out the center, where the cut ends in the middle, with a small, stem thick, drill bit to give the stem a channel to sit in.
Go to a dollar store and buy a Cake Carrier and use the Top Clear part as a humidity dome. It will fit literally perfect on a 5gal buckets lid.
Good luck!
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
why did I have to see a cloner thread as I was laying down...
Ive used both, both work. I prefer the aero cloner.
If you do a bubble cloner, use a long and short box, something less than a foot tall imo. Biggest annoyance with the bubble bucket cloning was how full I had to keep it.
Made this for a local friend today. Cheap 300gph pump, $8 in lowes, and a handful of amazon sprayers. All he has to do is drop it in a 17 gallon tote and drill some holes.
Ive used both, both work. I prefer the aero cloner.
If you do a bubble cloner, use a long and short box, something less than a foot tall imo. Biggest annoyance with the bubble bucket cloning was how full I had to keep it.
Made this for a local friend today. Cheap 300gph pump, $8 in lowes, and a handful of amazon sprayers. All he has to do is drop it in a 17 gallon tote and drill some holes.
70's natureboy
Well-Known Member
That looks pretty nice and not too difficult. I am more inclined to plunk down the $80 for a Clone King but this is an excellent alternative. I think the rigid lid of the Clone King makes it easier to work with. I'm trying to picture how it would work out with a flimsy tote lid. Maybe glue a chunk of plexiglass tot he top of it.
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Ignore the starving clones lol...
But idk that I'd call a tote lid flimsy unless you buy a really shitty one. If you can find a ready made one go for it, but you can make more for less.
But idk that I'd call a tote lid flimsy unless you buy a really shitty one. If you can find a ready made one go for it, but you can make more for less.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
Where's the root Pr0n?!
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Because I fill that tote when I take clones. I'd have to run 3 or 4 buckets. Plus I like to grow the roots longer and wouldn't have room to do that in a small bucket.
It literally took me 5 minutes to build that manifold. 1/2" pvc is easily cut by a good set of pruning shears.
The roots as requested by @Airwalker16
Skoal
Well-Known Member
Make your own. So easy.
get a small tote. Get an aquarium air pump from pet store with air stones. Boom done
you drill holes in the lid of the tote. Get the neoprene collars from the hydro store so you can put your cuttings in. And boom done. Easiest way to clone. I always have full blown roots in under 2 weeks.
get a small tote. Get an aquarium air pump from pet store with air stones. Boom done
you drill holes in the lid of the tote. Get the neoprene collars from the hydro store so you can put your cuttings in. And boom done. Easiest way to clone. I always have full blown roots in under 2 weeks.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
Actually, I was shown an even smarter way to do th collars. just 1/2" PVC in about 2" lengths stuck into holes drilled in the tote. It might be a snug enough friction fit, but epoxy or hot glue would keep them there. The cuttings just slide into the PVC tubes and the branching and leaves at the top keep the clone suspended. No collars to clean. Ever.
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
I thought about this but i leave them in too long for that. Some of my roots wouldnt fit through the pipe at transplant time and it didnt look like anything bigger than that would work because of light.
I switched from mini rockwool cube cuttings to an aero cloner last year (Xclone) and it's just amazing.
- You don't have to worry about drying out or saturating your medium
- You don't have to spray your cuttings
- You really dont' have to do anything!
- You can see when the roots are forming - no waiting ages to see them come out of the growing medium. So you know how things are going. Current batch have all shown roots after 1 week. Interestingly, after decades of using cloning gels/powders, I now see that bugger all roots come from the carefull sliced-at-45-degree base cut, but they all come out of the sides of the stems!
I grow NFT in rockwool and find transferring the currints very easy. I slice down the side of a mini rockwool and slide the stem into the slice - into the middle. I then get a large rockwool cube, poke my thumb through the bottom, put the mini cube in, and tease the roots through the hole in the base of the big cube so they dangle out below. Place cubes on NFT tray and go full speed.
- You don't have to worry about drying out or saturating your medium
- You don't have to spray your cuttings
- You really dont' have to do anything!
- You can see when the roots are forming - no waiting ages to see them come out of the growing medium. So you know how things are going. Current batch have all shown roots after 1 week. Interestingly, after decades of using cloning gels/powders, I now see that bugger all roots come from the carefull sliced-at-45-degree base cut, but they all come out of the sides of the stems!
I grow NFT in rockwool and find transferring the currints very easy. I slice down the side of a mini rockwool and slide the stem into the slice - into the middle. I then get a large rockwool cube, poke my thumb through the bottom, put the mini cube in, and tease the roots through the hole in the base of the big cube so they dangle out below. Place cubes on NFT tray and go full speed.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
ROFL, so use 3/4" or even 1" and just crunch a piece of tin foil or some Shit around the stem to keep out light. By the way, the roots in your pics would fit through 1/2" pvc easy. They twist together to pretty thin
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
You see how big some of those are! couldnt twist some them up quite that small. Sometimes they start forming root balls in the water.
Im happy with my current setup though. I wash the whole thing with peroxide between batches. I just run it for a while and then throw all the inserts and collars in it to soak for a few hours.