Diy bubbleponics

RickWhite

RickWhite

Well-Known Member
Man, this thread is a hoot. And that system is way over engineered - no offense.

All you need to do is hang roots in well oxygenated water. The roots actually wick up the nutrient solution even when only the lower half of them is in the water.

To buld an awsome system you will need:

1) 31 Gal Large Roughneck Rubbermaid tub.
1) Large Bubble disk
1) Tube silicone 1 or aquarium glue
10 feet of fish air hose
1) Good air pump - the whisper 100gal model is great.
1) 3" hole saw
3" net pots

1) Cover tub top with Reflectix or aluminum foil to block radiant heat - spray adhesive helps.
2) Drill 4 to 6 holes in the tub lid with the hole saw. I preffer 4 staggered holes per tub.
3) Glue bubble disk in the middle with silicone and let dry. Don't skimp on the glue.
4) Drill holes in side of tub for air hose.
5) Attach air pump and keep it on top of the lid above water level.

That's all there is too it. Keeping up with astonishing growth is the hard part - it can get away from you fast.

Tips:

Start with water just touching the bottom of your net pots. Solution will splatter around to an extent.
As roots grow longer, you can reduce solution to half the depth of the tub so the entire top of the roots hangs in air.
The net pots suck. I am going to use my hole saw to cut out 3" pieces of pink or blue styrofoam and a 1" hole saw for a starter plug in the middle. This should work better than those crappy clay balls that make a mess all over the place.

Anyway, pumping solution up the roots isn't necessary as they will wick it up from the bottom - that's what they do for a living.

I may post pics of the tub if I get around to it.
 
MostlyCrazy

MostlyCrazy

New Member
I don't know Rick. That makes your choice to either watch the water level or have an active system pump to the site at the right rate. For nubes automatic is usually better until the get the hang of it. Probably good either way depending on who is running the show and their abilities.
 
RickWhite

RickWhite

Well-Known Member
MostlyCrazy said:
I don't know Rick. That makes your choice to either watch the water level or have an active system pump to the site at the right rate. For nubes automatic is usually better until the get the hang of it. Probably good either way depending on who is running the show and their abilities.
Click to expand...
People can do what ever they like but it simply isn't necessary. Plant root systems have a main tap root which is very long and is designed to transport water to the plant. The higher roots are designed to interact with air and other stuff. Anyway, the simple laws of physics will cary the water to the plant. First, that's what the roots do. Second, there is a concept called capilary action and then there is general diffusion.

Roll up a piece of paper towel and put the bottom half in a glass of water. Come back an hour later and the whole towel will be wet. This is simply physics in action and roots love it.
 
Roseman

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
I think the 31 gallon tank would be a big mistake......especially for a newbie grower.

The name of this thread is DIY BUBBLEPONICS. NOT a DIY DWC SYSTEM. The purpose of this thread is for those that want to DIY, instead of buy a Bubbleponics Kit.

A friend of mine, Martin Wiggett owns the copyright to the word and a patent on the process of Bubbleponics. The word Bubbleponics is registered and has a definition of using Feeder tubes and an irrigation hub or irrigation manifold attached to a submersive water pump, that feeds the root base, like a DRIP system, but needs no timer for the Drip. The Bubbleponics System allows a seed to be started in the rockwool cube, and be kept moist and dark to sprout. The feeder tubes TRICKLE a mix of water, air and nutes down the new baby root, leading it to the deeper water. A two inch Air Pocket is between the bottom of the grow cup and the top of water line in this system.

The benefits of the feeder tubes are an award winning, very fast rapid growth, that a plain DWC system can not provide.
 
O

OnlineSimRacer

Active Member
MostlyCrazy said:
No pics but right now I have the veg pot in my 3rd bedroom sitting by the chest of drawers propped up on some old books and have a 105w 6500 cfl hanging from one of the drawer pulls with a piece of panda film connected to a spring loaded curtin rod that is drapped over the whole system white side facing the plants. Low tech solution! My Flower room is a 3 1/2' wide x 6' deep x 7' tall closet with a sloping ceiling. The Flower res is raised about 6" off the floor on a shelf to insure good air movement. I plant 3 plants at a time and that fills the space. I have a 250watt HPS in the flower room and use 105cfl in 2700 and 6500k as side lights in reflectors. I can keep the door slightly open and have 3 fans high pointed out and an oscellating fan on the floor outside the grow room blowing in air conidtioned air. Keeps the room between 70-78 lights on. Have one exhaust fan aimed between the top of the plants and the light and another one on the res and the largest fan just aimed out the door high. Take clones right before I go to flower for the next crop and repeat. Had 4 grows since last August with the fifth is at 4 weeks veg - 10" and about two weeks away from the switch to flower. My current strain (Barney's farm LSD) doubles veg height when put to flower and then works on filling out the buds. Vegged to 16" last grow and they stopped at 34". Had 4-6" of ceiling height left when they finished and I did some supercropping and LST on some of the bigger buds. Used some plastic coated paperclips to move buds around to expose the most sites to the light and tucked a fan leaf or two.
Click to expand...
Just like science class...lol
BTW Rose I second that.. You grow roses also?
 
L

Luap

Member
Roseman, I have to thank you for making this thread!

Since I've moved into my new home. My wife has been dead set against me using my Aeroflo system. I was able to negotiate a smaller stealth grow in the house. I have been searching for a new more discreet method and I think I've found it with your setup. This is my first time I will be growing inside a cab so I have a few questions.

In the past I've only used HID lighting. So what kind of CFLs are you using for a grow like this?
 
JonnyBtreed

JonnyBtreed

Well-Known Member
Hey Rose, Another informative thread. Great idea man. Tough times lately. All the more reason to grow your own bud :)
 
Roseman

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
Luap said:
Roseman, I have to thank you for making this thread!

Since I've moved into my new home. My wife has been dead set against me using my Aeroflo system. I was able to negotiate a smaller stealth grow in the house. I have been searching for a new more discreet method and I think I've found it with your setup. This is my first time I will be growing inside a cab so I have a few questions.

In the past I've only used HID lighting. So what kind of CFLs are you using for a grow like this?
Click to expand...

I consider my FIRST grow a success with two 65 and two 85 watt CFLS, two 2700k, and two 6500k bulbs. Since then, I have added and added bulbs.

ALL you need to know about CFLs is here:
CFL Tutorial -
 
merahoon

merahoon

Well-Known Member
Roseman,
I also want to thank you for creating this thread and showing another cheap alternative way to grow. A good one at that! Luckily I already have a 400w MH, air pumps, air stones, net pots, nutrients, hydroton, tubing, exhaust fan, and ducting. I gathered these items planning a dwc way in the past and never did it. Thanks to you, I found a good way to use them :).

The instructions were great, but the only thing I wasn't able to grasp is how you get the "trickeling" effect from the submersible pump rather than a constant flow of water? Oh yeah and now that I think of it, how do you keep your water temperature low? I read in another hydro thread that when growing hydroponically, you want to keep your water temperature below 72 degrees or else your susceptible to algae growth.. is that correct?

Once again, thanks for taking the time to help out the community! :clap:
 
L

Luap

Member
What do you use to connect the irrigation manifold to the pump with? Also, like the poster above already said how do you create the trickling effect?
 
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