Building a Aeroponic Prototype -- Need Help!

[Daddynobucks]

have you filled the bucket res. with water and seen how much goes by the check valve?

are your grow buckets higher than the res.?your pump needs to pump to the top of them.

Daddynobucks Reviewed by Daddynobucks on 03-13-2009. Building a Aeroponic Prototype -- Need Help! Hello fellow Growers! I'm begining a prototype Aeroponics setup to grow a large Tomatoe (And soon Marijuana) plant from seedling to flower. I will be using a 5+ Gallon bucket for the initial Resevoir, and a smaller bucket which will sit on top to house the misters/sprayers/grow chamber for the plant (Or Visa Versa - 5 Gallon on top, Bigger bucket on the bottom) The resevoir will hold the pump, an airstone, and said outfits for wiring as well as tubing. The nutrient will be pumped up Rating: 5

[WeedTree's]

have you filled the bucket res. with water and seen how much goes by the check valve?

are your grow buckets higher than the res.?your pump needs to pump to the top of them.

Yes I filled it almost full with water, ran the pump close to the high setting and a good amount goes by the check valve out the top, but not very much pressure. I still have yet to connect the full ring of plumbing and hook up my nutrient lines, so i'm not sure yet on the pressure coming out of the mister heads.

No, the grow buckets are pretty much the same level as the resevoir. That's what makes it tricky. I could make stands, but then I would have to encoperate another semi-holding res. to then pump THAT back into the main res. but I don't have enough floorspace to do so.

[WeedTree's]

I think I'm going to have to upgrade the pump I have now. On the highest setting, I don't get much pressure coming past the check valve. Water flows alright, but not at a fast enough pace. And with only 1/2" plumbing, this isn't a good sign.

I'm looking at something over 1000GPU, and a max head of about 13-15'

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They also have sump pumps for a reasonable price, 1/2HP that pump much over 1000GPU, but i'm sure use much more power.

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[Daddynobucks]

no, if the bottom of the grow buckets are higher than the top of the res. it will gravity return.
if the buckets are the same height then you need a REPUMP bucket with float switch controling its own pump in the system,it returns the nuits back to res.

[WeedTree's]

UPDATE!

Daddynobucks,

Unfortunately, i'm dealing with a limited space in my grow tent (31.5" x 31.5" x about 6ft). I don't think I will be able to raise the buckets that much to have gravity return to the res. They would have to be raised atleast a foot, and I don't have the verticle height to do that. ALSO, I don't have enough room in the tent to incoperate another re-curculating bucket to pump those drained nutes back into the res (Unless I place it outside of the tent somehow)

This is seeming to be my biggest challenge right now..

I really want to go the Aeroponic route seeing how far i've come, but I may have to re-do my plans and turn this into a DWC Bucket system. I can keep most of my purchased equipment, but just now need to find a good Bubble Bucket system. That way I can still have 3 buckets to grow plants, then 1 for the res.

I've ordered a 1/2 HP Pump off eBay that pushes 2000GPH with a max height of I believe 16'

A 16oz Bottle of Superthrive is also on its way.

Let me know your thoughts everyone!

[socalsinner]

What size of pipe would hold a 10" Net Pot? I am looking to have aprox 160 sites. Want to grow plants large. Would appreciate all the help you can give