my homemade bubbler

hello all well i have heard alot about bubbler cloning machines so i have built one
this is what i have done i got a little tub with lid ,i then cut 9 holes in the lid for my clones and , then i got the bottom part of the tub and drilled 2 holes thru the side for the air pipes , i attached 2 airstones to these pipes and the aquarium pump i got for £11 and hey presto
the only thing i need to do is cover the bottom half of the tub,
im not too sure if ya have the end of the clones beneath the water or just above it can some one plz fill me in on this
let me know what ya think and any advice would be grately apreciated
cheers all :)

more pictures
cheers all :)

Ends should be just above water. Bubbles will burst and splash tiny droplets on the cut stems.

Get the bottom sides of that covered with some black plastic or something. You do not want light getting to your roots bro.



b0nger

stems can be above or below water, it makes no difference in rooting. YOU MUST NOT ALLOW LIGHT TO ENTER THE RESEVIOR! paint the whole thing black. i made a very similar cloner and painted it black. light causes algae to grow and is hamful to roots. you will have problems over time with a clear plastic resevoir, a 99 cent can of spaypaint will solve this. good luck

Yeah nice buster hope it works well for you.

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Originally Posted by justaseed

stems can be above or below water, it makes no difference in rooting.

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Not quite correct. Stems sitting in water can and will rot to some point and that will slow if not stop rooting. It's best to have them above the water line and the bubbles will feed them by capillary action. There is a big difference.

You are correct about the light entering the rez not only will the roots die from light but alga will also grow and that will eat up the oxygen the roots need to grow.

well thanks everyone for your feedback on this i will make the relavant changes tomoz hopefully and do an update
thanks for the advice i apreciate it loads
cheers all :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zandor

Not quite correct. Stems sitting in water can and will rot to some point and that will slow if not stop rooting. It's best to have them above the water line and the bubbles will feed them by capillary action. There is a big difference.

You are correct about the light entering the rez not only will the roots die from light but alga will also grow and that will eat up the oxygen the roots need to grow.

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i ran a diy bubbler for a while and always paid attention if the stems above or below the water rooted faster and there was no difference ever. sometimes the ones above rooted first and sometimes the ones below did. what i did notice was that the stems below the water tend to bend up out of the water anyway because of the upwards pressure of the bubbles. i had 100% rooting with the bubbler, not one cut ever rotted. i made the statement about it not making a difference from personal experiences. others may have had different results but as far as i'm concerned it doesn't matter, above or below the waterline is all the same. i have the utmost respect for you and your opinions zandor, i am sure what you are saying is correct, as i said, i am going by personal experience which is not the same for every grower. however i do know that if you have the water level too low and not enough bubbles then your cuts will wilt and die, so if you do keep all stems out of the water make sure that you have enough airstones in the resevoir. good luck

Justaseed, did you use some type of fungicide in your solution?

When I was running my DIY cloner I didn't have that great a success rate- maybe 60%- and switched to a sand-based mix.

Zandor, what is the highest concentration of bleach that you think could be used without inhibiting growth?

i just used r/o water ph'd at around 5.6-5.8 and they always rooted, some in as little as 3 days, which only happened a few times, to as long as 2 weeks depending on the strain. as i said i never had any problems with rot or fungus so i would just recommend using pure r/o water and nothing else, but that is just my opinion based on the results i got.

Hm, I'll betcha it was pH that was killing me then. I was going for 6.5, with Olivia's clonig solution.

stinky - 5% bleach is safe.

If you use RO water then you must add CalMag Plus to the water. It replaces minerals the plant needs that is removed by the RO process.

Justaseed - That is why I said "Not quite correct".

Your success in uncommon. Not everyone has 100% success rate with clones 100% of the time. By your stems growing up to get out of the water is evidence that they should hang just above the water line.

All I can say is when you cut your clones you must take them at the proper time in the plants life cycle that does make a difference. props to you :thumbsup:

But you success rate is impressive 100% rooting 100% of the time is impressive for sure. :dance:

I gotta dissagree with justaseed. The whole idea of the bubbler is to make a cheap aerocloner. The stems and eventual roots should be above the water, getting hit by little droplets from the bubbles breaking. It doesn't matter how far above (I go about 2 inches), as long as they are getting sprayed. If you leave your roots in the water, why make a bubbler? Just do what many do and stick the stem in a glass of water. They'll root either way if they don't rot, but the bubbler will produce bigger better root systems. Many people, myself included, belive the roots do much better if they have to do a little searching for moisture. Therefore, also you should have an off time to your bubbles too, if you can afford a timer. The cheapest I've found is Intermac (I think) about 20$, let's you do about 30 min. on and 45 off or something, which works great. If I was rich I would do 2 on and 15 off or something.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Opie Yutts

. Therefore, also you should have an off time to your bubbles too, if you can afford a timer. The cheapest I've found is Intermac (I think) about 20$, let's you do about 30 min. on and 45 off or something, which works great. If I was rich I would do 2 on and 15 off or something.

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Since a bubbler is low-voltage, you can go with those really cheap 'vacation timers' that you are supposed to plug a lamp into to make it look like you're home when you're really on vaca.

I got one for $6.

Problem is, the interval is 30 minutes.

By your stems growing up to get out of the water is evidence that they should hang just above the water line.

Stems just curl often during rooting. That's just the way it is. I don't think it's because they were trying to get out of the water. Many people just put their cuttings in a glass of water to root.

hey Opie Yutts
i like your signature that is funny as fuck nice one
cheers all :)

Thanks buster, thought it up all by myself.