OGieSel High Pressure Aeroponic Build 2020

[Ogiesel]

Just realized i photo A, & B were misleading, i had the wrong configuration in the photos ill post how its really suppose to look like tomorrow

Aslo side note~ i eventually plan on buying more ball valves for the collection tanks , one on each hose, for maintenance issues, if any .

 

[Pennywise]

The more stuff you can put under the floor the better.

 

[Ogiesel]

Heres pictures (A) & (B) from yesterday
(A)

(B)

"Peep the main res on the right, top line with the inline filter is my return line from the collection tanks, bottom line with the ball valve is my intake line to the pump"

After the tote lines T back together, it gets backfed to the pressure gauge, then to the pressure release valve, then to the intake line.
FULL CIRCLE

 

[Ogiesel]

Heres a pic of the inlet for the pump without the pre filter on

With the pre filter on

Heres a pic of the return pump in action!

 

[Pennywise]

It’s coming together nicely.

 

[Ogiesel]

got the one in place, net cups installed, ready to go! Just gotta make the other one then set up the insulation board.

Misters workin overtime

 

[Pennywise]

Nice fog in there.

 

[Ogiesel]

Well after the trial run i i definitely have to make some adjustments. Have a leak on the output connection to my return pump, easy fix. I still need to prime my inline filters but my biggest concern i have is im having some weird anti gravity vacuum shit going on in my collection tanks lol

this is pretty much my setup. The purple line represents the 3/8" drain line from the root chambers, i only drew 1 line because i only have 1 chamber currently installed.
The white lines are the ones tying the two collection tanks and the small bucket together.
The orange line represents the intake line to the return pump. My grow is setup on a level surface so theoretically once the water drains from the root chamber down to the collection tank, the water should rise in both tanks & the bucket at an equal rate. But instead, no matter how much water ive dumped into my system, the collection tank on the left (the one that the current root chamber is draining into) the water level only rises about 2 inches, but the collection tank on the right will keep filling up. Im up to 6 inches on the right. The other weird thing is the little bucked i have for the float switch fills up at the same rate/water level at the tank on the right, so the pump kicks on when it needs to but im only achieving about half capacity in my collection tanks. Im missing out on a good 15 or so gallons. Heres another pic to give you an idea

 

[Ogiesel]

I think the 3/8" drain hose might be too small, letting water sit in the hose possibly creating a seal, but you'd think the pressure of the build up of water in the other tank would be enough to force ghe air inside the tank out through the 3/8" hose & relieve pressure? Idk definitely something to mess around with

 

[Pennywise]

Could be, that’s strange.

 

[Ogiesel]

Could be, that’s strange.

Right? Trippy stuff!

 

[Pennywise]

It has to be a air lock somewhere, mine has always equalized in my RDWC

 

[Ogiesel]

It has to be a air lock somewhere, mine has always equalized in my RDWC

My thoughts exactly

 

[Ogiesel]

Pulled out the 1" cap on the collection tank on the left and it was heavily pressurized, i believe i was correct when assuming that the 3/8" drain line is too small in order for it to breathe properly, ended up drilling a small hole in both caps and stuffed it the with some filter material to keep unwanted guests out .

So that fixed the water level issue but now i noticed the return pump sucks water out of the right tank faster than the water can flow from the left tank . So after a while the pump starts to suck in air , even though theres still a good 3 inches of water left in the opposite tank. To fix this, Im going to rerun the 3/8" jumper line that connects the two tanks together and install a T fitting dead center of the two tanks and connect my pump their instead. Ill move the float switch line to where pump use to connect to, on the tank to the right . Hopefully that'll fix the problem.

 

[Ogiesel]

Installed the T joint with the pump connected in the middle, now both tanks fill & drain evenly.

I ended up returning the two new totes i got for the rooting chambers and ordered a 6 pack of the one i currently have installed. Opted for the 6 pack since ill be adding 2 more (4 total) after this grow. Im going to use another one of those totes to build a cloner too. Ups says its going to be delivered tomorrow so i should have the build 100% finished by tomorrow night.

 

[Ogiesel]

Im renting here so i cant do any major renovations to my "grow room" thats why i have the tent & the false floor & the current duct work lol.

Believe me if i owned this place I'd rip out the carpet & put holes in the floor/walls/ceiling & have this whole room filled haha but since i am renting, and my landlord does come by from time to time , i ended up hopping in the attic and removing the main light in that room and ran my 6" exhaust duct out through there. Left the light up there ready to go just incase he lets me know hes going to come by, i can easily swap it back. No harm no foul
He wont mind me growing my own plants for personal use but he would definitely get pissed if i cut holes into his walls and or ceiling for my grow lol

 

[Ogiesel]

Well only a few dispensaries have clones in stock right now and the genetics are far from ideal. The fire og i wanted is long gone so i ended up ordering a few seeds online, took advantage of the TrueNorth Canuk sale. Anyone have anything good (or bad) to say about Canuk Seeds???

 

[Ogiesel]

Well gang she's complete! fully built, up & running! Ill try to snag some pictures of the root chamber totes & the layer of mylar backed insulation on top. Ive had two of the led lights on for over 24 hours now with my exhaust blower running damn near full blast &when i walked into the room this morning it was actually a tat bit cold. In the past, the grow room always stayed warm no matter what but now with the new duct work, it keeps the heat down tremendously. Im going to hook up all 4 led lights and see how hot its gets then. If it still stays somehwat cool ill feel alot better about running that 1000w hps in there .

 

[Ogiesel]

Technically i am missing a few components but at this very moment they are not vital to the grow. Still need to buy an oscillating fan, i still have to fabricate a waterproof liner for the pump / reservior & i still have to run new electrical lines to my subpanel and add a new breaker. Going to setup a stand alone outlet strickly for the 1000w hps ballast.

 

[Ogiesel]

If you havent noticed i am a firm believer in drain to recycle during vegging. During flower, i drain to waste 100% but during the veg, i definitely recycle. In HP aero, not every single microscopic droplet of nute solution spray hits & gets absorbed by the roots, you'll still have quite a bit of runoff, some of which never even touches the plants roots themselves. So you end up with quite a bit of grade A nutrients left in your drain tanks. In the past, ive let my whole system cycle over a period of 2 to 3 weeks (veg state) without having to change the nute solution without any signs of deficiency. Now since i am draining to recycle in veg, the ph in the collection tanks will bee slightly off compared to the ph in my main res. So what ive noticed is ill get the main res dialed in just fine, but then the collection tank pump kicks on and that ends up raising my ph in the main res by a couple points, after just a couple cycles it could jump up anywhere from .4 to .8 points. Now instead of me having to correct the ph by hand, thats where the blue lab ph controller comes in. Just set it and forget it. That Sounds really nice to me lol does anyone or anyone you know use or have used the blue lab ph controller before? I havent heard much about them