Diagram, Aeroponics help me understand

This is my take on how I think an aeroponic system works, please take a look at my quick diagram I made and tell me whats missing or if I hit the nail on the head. I heard this term for the first time last week and was fascinated by the concept. I am going to be building a system but I need to make sure I understand how the system works. Please look at my diagram and tell what is missing.

I apologize for my awful diagram I'm not an engineer lol

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I was able to get some help, it sounds like the only thing I'm really missing is a downward bend at the end of my drain reservoir to allow gravity to take the water back down. I pictured it just hitting the roots then slowly trickling back down, but it sounds like it needs to be at the end of the pipe in order to let gravity do the work.

The only concern I'd have with the system is nozzle placement. Placed under the baskets like that the roots will eventually grow over the nozzles. Personally I'd put the nozzles higher and in between the baskets. Best of luck.

it would work and to help you could add a bubbler to the water for added air into the drain res but i think you'd be ok, just make sure the roots have room and that they won't clog your sprayers

Keep it simple and you'll do fine. Your plans look spot on. Keep an eye on your water temp and ph. And alternating your pump on and off can reduce the water temp greatly. You won't need the air pump unless you rez is fairly large.

I just had great success building an aeroponic cloner for less that 20$. Would love to see what it ends up looking like. Keep us posted.

FreddyFish said:

The only concern I'd have with the system is nozzle placement. Placed under the baskets like that the roots will eventually grow over the nozzles. Personally I'd put the nozzles higher and in between the baskets. Best of luck.

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Yeah someone mentioned that to me as well thank you sir , I need to turn the them to the side and not have them shooting up. This may also keep from shooting water out of the tops of the net pots.

TerpCylia said:

Keep it simple and you'll do fine. Your plans look spot on. Keep an eye on your water temp and ph. And alternating your pump on and off can reduce the water temp greatly. You won't need the air pump unless you rez is fairly large.

I just had great success building an aeroponic cloner for less that 20$. Would love to see what it ends up looking like. Keep us posted.

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I will for sure now that I have a basic understanding I can try to see if I can make it just a fraction better.

spenc2k15 said:

it would work and to help you could add a bubbler to the water for added air into the drain res but i think you'd be ok, just make sure the roots have room and that they won't clog your sprayers

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Yeah I think having side placement would help with that that's one area I didn't really get right.

Maybe something more like this with a double rail, sprayers pointing inside and a smaller drain hole to regulate nozzle pressure?

TerpCylia said:

Keep it simple and you'll do fine. Your plans look spot on. Keep an eye on your water temp and ph. And alternating your pump on and off can reduce the water temp greatly. You won't need the air pump unless you rez is fairly large.

I just had great success building an aeroponic cloner for less that 20$. Would love to see what it ends up looking like. Keep us posted.

Click to expand...

That system looks great by the way very cut and dry.

TerpCylia said:

Keep it simple and you'll do fine. Your plans look spot on. Keep an eye on your water temp and ph. And alternating your pump on and off can reduce the water temp greatly. You won't need the air pump unless you rez is fairly large.

I just had great success building an aeroponic cloner for less that 20$. Would love to see what it ends up looking like. Keep us posted.

Click to expand...

Most of the time simple is best what kind of nozzles do I need? Part of what I'm trying to figure out is how to get just the right amount of rail pressure for my nozzles. My unit is going to be fit in a 4/4 so I pan to make it a bit larger so I think the pressure regulation may be a little more complex.

These are the sprayers I used :

http://www.ehydroponics.com/botanicare-360-degree-sprayer.html

For my design i looked at the ez cloner and gauged how many nozles they used for the size of container. If you want to get more technical you can add up how many sprayers you will need(one per plant i'd say with a straight line tube set up like in your diagram with an extra one on each end) and I found a 30 GPH rating for most of these sprayers.

Then the math: ( # plants X 31.4 gph = {GPH rating on your pump})

This is still dependent on how long your tubing is and other variables (so over shoot a bit). To further dial in your pressure in you could use one of these adjustable subs:

http://www.ehydroponics.com/ecoplus-adjustable-water-pump-291-gph.html


PS: If you over shoot you pump's GPH and then dial it down to match what you need your pump will last longer and you will be able to fine tune the pressure better than if you did perfectly match it in the first place.

JellyJaguar said:

View attachment 3442760 Maybe something more like this with a double rail, sprayers pointing inside and a smaller drain hole to regulate nozzle pressure?

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As for the double rail... this really wont be necessary unless you use larger net pots/have larger root masses.