funny you mentioned that.
are you callin me queer?
jk
health's contraption got me thinking something serious.
one pump. less moving parts.
well i just toured a friends facility in south florida and wow....nothing but nft. and 6-7 pound crops on a 10x10 grid of 100 plants. but i did the math on his last run and he got 24-26 grams per plant. good sure but less than my trays and far more prone to failure when my power goes out. i like that i could use a ups for 1 pump.
i think the reason he achieved such high ppms of DO (dissolved oxygen) is because the flow of his water (from my understanding the backbone/cornerstone/brains of nft) was so damn high/rapid moving. Think basic hydro without airpumps. The movement of the water is creating aeration. 'waterfall'
well brother, you and i are on opposing sides of the air stone issue but it's not important enough t fuss about so i leave it alone. but what i'm thinking is just an airhog ceramic in the tub...maybe a couple and my 1056 gph pump pushing flow to 4 runs that are ....blablabla 60 plants total,75 gallon res, 15 per run 8'' apart. super oxygenated river with the waterfall. i just moved my room around to change to the bigger set up. i was poorly using my floor space. i was gonna stay with the aero nft but fuck it.....this is sooooo much easier.
im thinking using gravity and one pump and having the roots sitting in a 'creek', a high flowing nutrient soup with res temps maintained at 64-67F and you are game on. for real.