Life-size Aerogarden
- Thread starter Latavius Janikowski
- Start date
SnidleyBluntash
Well-Known Member
I see you are Running a lot of individual air pumps rather than 1-3 with multiple outlets, any reason? I’m in the market for an air pump
Latavius Janikowski
Active Member
Yeah, I was able to get the pumps for $6 each from Chewy, and each bucket is 5 gal so I can strictly monitor the nutrients for each plant. It was just easy for me to do it this way and seems like it will do a really nice job. Tetra Whisper 10i for aquarium.
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
@rkymtnman beat me to it. We've both seen the orange buckets make a mess of people grows. They glow on the inside once they're under lights and itll cause algae growth and more fun.
The blue lowes ones arent much better.
The blue lowes ones arent much better.
Latavius Janikowski
Active Member
Thanks for the heads up, will do!
JSB99
Well-Known Member
I predict you will get seriously tired of managing 8 individual buckets, both nutrient levels, and pH. And here's the thing, small amounts of water swing a lot! Meaning that pH and PPMs have the potential to go up and down multiple times a day, and when you add small amounts of nutrients. You'll also have to keep each one filled, and during flower, they can go through gallons. One more thing, heat. You need to keep the water around 69 degrees, otherwise you get all sorts of problems with the roots, that have drastic effects on the plants. I keep thinking of points LoL! Something else you'll have to deal with is lifting the lid on each one, each day. When the plants get big, with heavy colas, it's no bueno to be shifting them around. And another thing, you're going to be squating on your knees, for extended times, managing each individual bucket. It's going to take you so much more time to manage. It's especially hard to manage buckets in the back.
I point all these things out, because I want you to start off on the right foot. You don't want to be spending all your time managing your buckets, leaving lots less time to learn how to grow these plants, which takes lots of practice.
There is no need to manage nutrient levels individually. Start your plants at the same time, and use similar strains, so you don't have any outgrowing the others. Their nutrient needs will be the same for all of the plants.
With that, you should seriously consider going RDWC, where everything is connected, and you manage the levels of the whole system, in a single "controller" bucket or tote, making it much easier to check levels. You only need to fill the whole system from one point, and it's much easier to manage water temps, with large volumes of water.
Finally, you might want to rethink using buckets, and use HDX 27-gallon totes instead. You can hold much more water in the same space two buckets occupy.
You can still have individual air pumps. Many people do that. But you'll need a small water pump to circulate the water through all the connected containers. Nothing big, because big pumps create heat that you have to fight.
Check out my thread. It has a ton of information and pictures. I explain things in great detail, and have a lot of input and feedback from experienced growers. My original design used buckets, but I switch to the totes around page 10.
It's really important you think about this now, because once you're in the middle of a grow, it gets much tougher to work on things. Good luck.
I point all these things out, because I want you to start off on the right foot. You don't want to be spending all your time managing your buckets, leaving lots less time to learn how to grow these plants, which takes lots of practice.
There is no need to manage nutrient levels individually. Start your plants at the same time, and use similar strains, so you don't have any outgrowing the others. Their nutrient needs will be the same for all of the plants.
With that, you should seriously consider going RDWC, where everything is connected, and you manage the levels of the whole system, in a single "controller" bucket or tote, making it much easier to check levels. You only need to fill the whole system from one point, and it's much easier to manage water temps, with large volumes of water.
Finally, you might want to rethink using buckets, and use HDX 27-gallon totes instead. You can hold much more water in the same space two buckets occupy.
You can still have individual air pumps. Many people do that. But you'll need a small water pump to circulate the water through all the connected containers. Nothing big, because big pumps create heat that you have to fight.
Check out my thread. It has a ton of information and pictures. I explain things in great detail, and have a lot of input and feedback from experienced growers. My original design used buckets, but I switch to the totes around page 10.
It's really important you think about this now, because once you're in the middle of a grow, it gets much tougher to work on things. Good luck.
Which would produce more DO in a DWC?
I've got an Active Aqua 60W, 70 L/min pump coming for my 4x5 gallon bucket UnderCurrent build. An 8 output manifold comes with it. What I'm wondering is, would 2 air stones per bucket produce more dissolved oxygen than 1 air stone per bucket at twice the pressure (because 4 of the outputs...
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Latavius Janikowski
Active Member
Thanks so much for all this great info. This time I'm committed to the system I have, but I've painted the buckets to keep the lights out.
Also the individual pumps are only 4w so they generate no heat.
The nutrients I use keep the pH in the desired range and have never had a problem with that. Every two weeks, I flush the buckets completely and add new nutrients. It's an easy process, as I have a two-way pump that drains and fills the buckets.
All 8 seeds have germinated, so I will create a little journal to see how it goes.
Thanks again for your info, I will definitely check it out. I appreciate the advice.
Also the individual pumps are only 4w so they generate no heat.
The nutrients I use keep the pH in the desired range and have never had a problem with that. Every two weeks, I flush the buckets completely and add new nutrients. It's an easy process, as I have a two-way pump that drains and fills the buckets.
All 8 seeds have germinated, so I will create a little journal to see how it goes.
Thanks again for your info, I will definitely check it out. I appreciate the advice.
JSB99
Well-Known Member
You bet, man. Hope you have a good grow
Latavius Janikowski
Active Member
I do because the mylar retains such heat, so I need it to keep the temps down. If I'm not running a little A/C, it gets to about 93 in there.
Latavius Janikowski
Active Member
Also, what do you recommend for relative humidity during veg?
JSB99
Well-Known Member
Previously instated that the ac would help keep humidity down during "veg". I meant "flower", and have corrected it.
During veg you want to try and get your humidity above 50%. During flower, you want to be below 50%, and 30% is even better. Humidity during flower can wreak havoc on your buds.
If you're not able to get your RH above 50% during veg, don't fret, your plants will just consume more water, and perspire through their leaves to make up for it.