I GOTTA LOSE THE AIR PUMPS! HOW?! Plus my awesome mini DWC :)

Aqua Man said:
I agree that's definitely a benefit to waterfalls... Cleaning airstones is maintenance bit if you run them properly sized this is much less of an issue and should never be an issue in the period of one grow
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would be interesting to study pores after a grow.
especially when using: only salt nutes, salt nutes with some organics, all organics, bennies v sterile, etc.
 
I have both in my flower system.. to lazy to find pics.. but my feed lines into each site have like a sprayer head that shoots down into the water and agitates it. I also have 1 stone with roughly 18lpm to it in each site iirc. Feed lines for water and air are both equal length. I did well equalizing pressure of both across my sites.
Just been playing with both, have had good results with just the sprayers in veg tent but started having issues when it got close to 80. Flower has so much water volume i almost need the air pumps to keep water temps up.
 
I think dual system is overkill but that's not a bad thing. 18lpm and sprayer you are 100% covered and have not a worry in the world if one fails. I would say that's about as ideal as it gets even if it's not necessary.
 
flower and veg.
Flower has i think 800gph per 6 sites. 5 holes drilled in a line across the caps in a 45 degree angle
Veg has less room, so 5 in a star-ish pattern that spray straight down. I think I settled on the 1400pgh for 12 buckets? they have some force.
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kmog33 said:
I’ve had fairly large coral aquariums, so I understand and agree with you regarding water agitation and movement.

I would just assume if you’re trying to get rid of air pumps because of noise or whatever you probably don’t want water pumps either, which I think would be necessary for the system you’re talking about.
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The difference between air pumps and a single 450gph pump is HUGE in regards to sound
 
Ive personally helped 4 people build a system like mine and all of them have had success without the need for any airstones
 
Air stones in my eyes are a porous breeding ground for bacteria. They sit and dry between runs, just to be dropped right back into EVERY SITE again at the time they're needed. I'm so far from airstones I'll never use them again.
 
Airwalker16 said:
You are so wrong
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Agreed
the grow in my sig I decided to stop and I ignored for over a month after that with just an auto top off barrel to see what would happen.
They were huge, healthy, and busting out of that 5x5 when i chopped them down. No air, just strong waterfalls, hydroguard, and a little temperature management.
my air pumps are loud, I hang them in the backs of my tents so the sound of the water drowns them out. I can hear the one on my mother box right now from where I am sitting. I just dont mind the ambient noise as I hate silence anyway lol.
Also agreed on bacteria, but everything gets a peroxide bath going into next grow anyway. After everythings cleaned from heavy deposits it gets run with a fairly heavy peroxide solution for a few days then rinsed a couple times. Even boiled all my stones in our biggest pot.
 
Airwalker16 said:
Ive personally helped 4 people build a system like mine and all of them have had success without the need for any airstones
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This is the bias I'm talking about.

Airwalker16 said:
Air stones in my eyes are a porous breeding ground for bacteria. They sit and dry between runs, just to be dropped right back into EVERY SITE again at the time they're needed. I'm so far from airstones I'll never use them again.
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Who doesn't clean thier airstones in peroxide or bleach .. would you put your dirty nozzles back in a system.

Honestly noise will be better but growth will be no different than if using a proper airstone and pump. No different than using underated water pump.
 
Airwalker16 said:
Air stones in my eyes are a porous breeding ground for bacteria. They sit and dry between runs, just to be dropped right back into EVERY SITE again at the time they're needed. I'm so far from airstones I'll never use them again.
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This statement is rediculous... The bacteria is in the air no matter what and WILL be in contact with your water and waterfalls.
 
Waterfalls are great and they work but the notion the grow bigger healthier plants and prevent root rot and allow using higher temps is just plain bullshit. They do have some advantages like noise reduction. Maybe easier to clean. Less replacement of lines sure but let's be real here
 
fragileassassin said:
I have both in my flower system.. to lazy to find pics.. but my feed lines into each site have like a sprayer head that shoots down into the water and agitates it. I also have 1 stone with roughly 18lpm to it in each site iirc. Feed lines for water and air are both equal length. I did well equalizing pressure of both across my sites.
Just been playing with both, have had good results with just the sprayers in veg tent but started having issues when it got close to 80. Flower has so much water volume i almost need the air pumps to keep water temps up.
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I have a very similar set up with spray heads & stones. I went with this approach because I travel often for work, so if one method fails while I’m gone, the other should hopefully sustain my crop.
 

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And you guys are right...I do deal with pH drifting upward regularly as a consequence, so I start the week at 5.5 & when it gets to 6.1, I add pH down. I also keep the external reservoir that auto-feeds my RDWC at or below 5.5 to help fight the battle perpetually.
 
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