help! aerponic clogged misters

[peace]

I purchased this ebook "how to build a aeroponic system" one ebay, and am putting it together as we speak. zandor pointed out that the misters will become clogged by the roots. does anyone know how I might prevent this?

[turtle420]

Can't you install them on the 'ceiling' of the rail? So the roots don't grow on top of it?

[peace]

that's an idea turtle, so basically just turn them upside down with the misters facing down instead of up.

[peace]

also the misters are evenly spaced between the net pots. the pots are 9inches apart from each other with a mister directly in the middle of the spacing. My first grow so I don't know how much area the roots will cover.

[growinit]

Turtle: I can't tell from your photo if that PVC feed line is sitting in the bottom of the channell/whatever or if the photo is upside down [maybe just my brain is]. If it is, then the long mat the roots will form will definitely cover it, pretty damn fast! If you already built what's in the photo then you can fix it by using Rigid Risers. They look like 10" pieces of 1/4" black dripline, but the walls are real thick so it's rigid -- stands up like a piece of PVC pipe would.
Cut a section of it a few inches long (however high you want your sprayers to be), then use 10/32 threaded connectors. Screw one end of the threaded connector into the threaded hole that your sprayhead's screwed into now [in the photo]. Then screw a section of Rigid Riser onto the other end of the threaded connector (the Risers aren't threaded, you just cut your own threads into them by screwing it onto the threaded connector).
Finally, screw your spray/mist-head onto the top of the Riser, and now the sprayer sits too high up for the rootmat to grow over. BTW [very important point], the sprayers have to sit BETWEEN the plant sites, not directly under them, or obviously the roots will descend on top of them.
Have fun playing. Personally I won't deal with anything that clogs in the future.
Here are links to those items, hope they work, and here's a photo of what I'm talking about that I got off the Internet. ;)

http://www.dripworksusa.com/store/stakes.html

http://www.dripworksusa.com/store/mfit14.html

[harmonicminor]

hey if that tube gets full of roots you may as well make it a bubbler system. no worries and they still get aerated water. I think theres only so much aero can do when its trying to push through craploads of roots.

[growinit]

Oh, I forgot -- the ups and downs of that design:

The good points:
1) Having the feed line inside the rootzone; the feed water is cooled by the sprayers (instead of heated by lights/room temps).
2) The plant roots will quickly anchor themselves to the PVC feed pipe, so no need for stakes, even if they get 4 feet tall! You won't even be able to remove the netcups with out standing on it and using both hands and all your strength.

Bad points:
1) You won't even be able to remove the netcups with out standing on it and using both hands and all your strength. So forget about checking to see if the sprayers are working.
If they do clog, you can always violently rip out just a few plants, remove thier misters (causing a gushing leak) and run it as NFT. That's what my friend ended up doing, but he's such a dumbass. :)

[peace]

thanks grownit,,,,, I think I got your drift, place risers into the pvc pipe and then place sprinkler heads on top of the risers. the pic is correct the pvc pipe sits at the bottom of the channel (grow chamber)

[Zandor]

Check the other thread I answered there before I saw this.