Aeroponics Timer and Nutrient Questions

I am building a aeroponic system which I believe will be misting my water solution onto the media and roots. How long do I mist the roots for each hours? I heard 15/45 was too much, so should I mist the roots 10 minutes every hour?

My other question is about the solution I mist onto the roots. I don't have a lot of knowledge here so I am looking for simplicity. Tonight I learned that the easiest way to handle the nutrient solution was to stick with a "base?" nutrient solution and mix it 50/50 with chlorine free water. This way the only thing I would need to do is test the water/nutrient solution for ph and then change the water solution ever 2 weeks. Does that sound about right? What kind of solution do I get?

One other question: Most of the plans I see for aeroponic totes only have one line of misters inside. Would I be better served having 2 or 3 rows of 1" pvc and 10 heads or more? I could certainly cover the entire inside of the tote with misters if that is better then 1 or 2 rows of them. I guess what I am wondering here is what kind of saturation am I looking for from the mister heads?

c.a.p makes great stuff.they make a timer thats timed for one min on and 4 min off its like $75.generally regular tap water is fine.if going hydro especially one as sensitive as aero u must must must have a tds meter.find a nutrient solution that works with your budget and follow the instructions whal testing ph,tds.i test both every day.as for nutes your going to want to find a solution that doesnt have a whole lotts salts and that the solution isnt really thick "it will clog the misters" canna is nice,gh 3 part is cool but has mucho salt" ask around and see what people are using for nutes and how well they work with systems that have misters involved. alsooo im sure when u see one row of misters in a row its because the heads have a 360 deg spray radious.im sure one row with 360 spinners in a simple tote will suffice.

Let me see if I understand the care and upkeep part of your post. Your saying I need to test for 2 things in the water with my setup - ph for chlorine and tds for solids (not sure what solids yet). The instructions on my nutrient solution will tell me how much water to add, correct? Then I just measure for the tds and ph every day and change the water when the tds reads too high? Is that about right?

umm sorta. , if u now that u have a high chlorine content then leave your water out over night and it should evap as far as testing ph ' my whole job auctually revolves around perfect waste waster ph' but anyways.ph in my words is a scale of base. it is a general number for or caustics and acids.not cholrine.if u want to test for co then u need a hard water test kit"u can find them for fish tanks and hut tubs.. ph is not about clorine,taking a tds sample gives u a idea of how much crap is in your water.yor tds meter is helpfull in this event. your nutrient bottle ses "at this stage u need 400 ppm so add 2 tbs for this stage of growth and u will achieve this .but if your tap water is allready at 250ppm and u add what the bottle ses u would have a ppm of 650 and over fert your plants.sorry im really tired and trying to explain this the best i can. your nutrient solution will give u the exact ratio u need for water and nutrient solution. if your tds reads to high u need to add water to your solution.it will dilute your nutrient and give u a lower ppm number.but your on the right track

all great info thanks. Yea I'm getting closer with every passing minute...lol

finally someone else is stepping into the light.:thumbsup:I have been growing with aero for two yrs now and will never change back to soil. I have got 12oz off one plant. check out my grow pics

I have never found the CL2 in the city water to be a problem,if your worried just fill buckets and let set open for 24 hr.

CAP timers are the way to go, get the ART DNe model.for small root systems on for 1 min. and off for 45- 60 min, large plants get 2 min on and 100-120 min off. watch for wilting to determine best off time

VERY IMPORTANT keep your EC around 1.0,this will be around 720ppm on a Milwaulkee meter or 540ppm on a primo. aeroponics do not like high ppm
also keep the Ph at 5.8
Read Latewoods legacy it works! just use 3.5ml/gal instead of 8ml/gal

hope this helps, glad to answer any ques.

Daddynobucks

I would IM U to ask more specific questions, but I either cant find the button or they don't allow it here. At any rate, I was just on another forum and a registered member told me that I would not be able to take my plants to flower with fog alone. I have heard this said before but I was unable to confirm it for sure. Is this true that I wont be able to use fog alone?

My final built setup is a single chamber 45 gallon tote. I have 10 netpots in the top lid. There are 2 x 18" bubblers and a 3 head Aeromist which sits in an included float with teflon disks. The timer is set for 4 minutes on and 10 off and my nuts are a 4 part product with 600ppm and 5.8ph, temps are 67f water - 76f plants but currently the lamp is off plus a few more when lamp is on. The entire chamber is panda film and there is a 600 MH light about 2 feet off top of plants. Great ventilation as well.

I was told that the roots will grow very hairy and long which might inhibit the fog machine. My solution was going to be to put a tray of sorts to catch the roots, but maybe I should let them grow to the water to get a DWC effect. If I do that, then I should probably wait till the roots hit the water prior to starting flowering. Thoughts? I will take some pics of my final setup tonight in case it's needed.

I see no reason why you can't finish in a fog enviorment,as I understand things the smaller the droplets,fog, the easer they take in nuits,I would call Pelosie on that story, It works for me, click on my name and check Daddys ladies pics

my system uses 4 spray heads in each 5 gal bucket,grow chamber,located near the top of the bucket.I have a 40 gal panda for nuits. with two 1056gph
pumps feeding 12 buckets on a loop with 6" net pot lids.so I get a pretty good spray. never have to use a air pump which causes alge problems and iron to fall out of solution

really you want to feed as little on and as much off time as you can,this and maintaining correct ph are the hardest things to get a handle on,but after a time you begin to learn what is going on and what they like

Do keep a daily journal time,Ph, EC.,temp. change out nuits weekly, it helps with the salt buildup on growton clay pellets

also having the roots down in the water will give you a fighting chance if your pump ever dies in the night, :mad: