Aeroponics Sprayers

[Restorium2]

After running an automated 12 plant geothermal aeroponic SCROG grow for 8 years now I'm wondering about what is the best way to spray; Continuously or timed.

 

Example of timed; 1 minute on, 4 off. 

 

Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

I've been running continuous with a lot of success. Always looking for improvement. 

[Scarlet_Begonias]

HP or LP? Ran LP continuous and timed with negligible differences in veg and flower. The timed spray did noticeably well during the cloning process.

[Restorium2]

I use vortex sprayers. Less likely to plug up. I use a different aero set up for clones. That one has the LP sprayers. I run that continuous too. 

[semicaregiver]

I ran aero for several years with the LP nozzles, ie the ones from a turbo cloner.    Built pvc manifolds and had about 20% more nozzles than I needed.  Never had a cloging problem, or at least not one that caused any issues.

 

I ran continuous veg and bloom.  Finally gave up do to issues with reservoir temp.   I had tried a number of steps to cool including going oversized, i.e 70 gallon.  And removing the floor and recessing the reservoirs in the floor so that they would be in contact with earth.   

 

One of my concerns regarding heat input was the continuous spraying.  The pumps add heat and spraying the solution into the air, even in a covered tank, has the potential to bring the reservoir up to the ambient temp. of the room.

 

When the lights were off I would run the sprayers only 15 minutes every hour.

[Restorium2]

I ran aero for several years with the LP nozzles, ie the ones from a turbo cloner.    Built pvc manifolds and had about 20% more nozzles than I needed.  Never had a cloging problem, or at least not one that caused any issues.

 

I ran continuous veg and bloom.  Finally gave up do to issues with reservoir temp.   I had tried a number of steps to cool including going oversized, i.e 70 gallon.  And removing the floor and recessing the reservoirs in the floor so that they would be in contact with earth.   

 

One of my concerns regarding heat input was the continuous spraying.  The pumps add heat and spraying the solution into the air, even in a covered tank, has the potential to bring the reservoir up to the ambient temp. of the room.

 

When the lights were off I would run the sprayers only 15 minutes every hour.

The vortex sprayers don't add heat and they spray a lot better than those nozzels. 

 

When you ran the lp sprayers 15 minutes an hour, did you notice any changes?

[semicaregiver]

Sorry for the confusion about the added heat.  It is not the nozzles, but rather the pump.  No piece of mechanical equipment is 100% efficient.   The loss in efficiency ends up in the reservoir as heat.

 

I did not see any difference in the plants as a result of reduced spraying in the dark.   My assumption was that the plants could not use the water in the dark and running the pumps continuously would add extra heat with no benefit to plant growth.

 

Do you have a link to the vortex sprayers?  I have bought my spray nozzles from dripworks.com  I have tried a few of their different nozzles, but found that the basic spray nozzles worked just fine for me.

 

As an aside, I gave up on aero and now use 6" grodan cubes.   Much happier and minimal worries about reservoir temps.  

 

 

The vortex sprayers don't add heat and they spray a lot better than those nozzels. 

 

When you ran the lp sprayers 15 minutes an hour, did you notice any changes?

[Restorium2]

Sorry for the confusion about the added heat.  It is not the nozzles, but rather the pump.  No piece of mechanical equipment is 100% efficient.   The loss in efficiency ends up in the reservoir as heat.

 

I did not see any difference in the plants as a result of reduced spraying in the dark.   My assumption was that the plants could not use the water in the dark and running the pumps continuously would add extra heat with no benefit to plant growth.

 

Do you have a link to the vortex sprayers?  I have bought my spray nozzles from dripworks.com  I have tried a few of their different nozzles, but found that the basic spray nozzles worked just fine for me.

 

As an aside, I gave up on aero and now use 6" grodan cubes.   Much happier and minimal worries about reservoir temps.  

Look into vortex sprayers: https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/GH2721 .They aren't like what you are thinking. They just have a tiny 12v motor that sits above the res. Doesn't add much heat if any at all. No pump at all. 

[semicaregiver]

Rest,

 

you are right that was not at all what I was thinking.  Interesting find.   From the comments I could find in a google search it seems like a great setup.  Kind of curious why it never seems to have caught on.

 

The aeroponic set up I used was more like this one that I found on google.  

https://www.google.com/search?q=vortex+sprayer+aeroponics&tbm=isch&imgil=DSCTtj1iiYkrfM%253A%253Bv5jjFwHOTDMQcM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.icmag.com%25252Fic%25252Fshowthread.php%25253Ft%2525253D113425&source=iu&pf=m&fir=DSCTtj1iiYkrfM%253A%252Cv5jjFwHOTDMQcM%252C_&usg=__gLibRa6pGBkL6Isjz5a9TUbL9F0%3D&biw=1094&bih=586&dpr=1.25&ved=0ahUKEwj4nduclobTAhUC5CYKHctfCB8QyjcIhAE&ei=QyThWLjwHYLImwHLv6H4AQ#imgdii=gpYwzZpr5lvPaM:&imgrc=DSCTtj1iiYkrfM:

I used a 34"x 34" x 8" reservoir, had fewer sites, i.e. 9, put in a pvc manifold like an aero cloner with 21 spray nozzles and set two of these set ups on top of a 70 gallon reservoir.  With the reservoir separate from the root area it does not seem like the vortex sprayer could have been use.    I dropped this set up as reservoir temp. became an increasing problem and I did not want to add another level of technology with a chiller.  

[MyFloridaGreen]

I think hydroponic is better then aeroponics, because:

In a hydroponic system, plants grow without soil. Instead, they are grown with added nutrients in sand, gravel, or liquid. Aeroponics, a form of hydroponics, uses no growing medium at all. This is because plants do not require soil to grow, and soil can actually hinder the specific plant's growth.

[Restorium2]

6 hours ago, MyFloridaGreen said:

I think hydroponic is better then aeroponics, because:

In a hydroponic system, plants grow without soil. Instead, they are grown with added nutrients in sand, gravel, or liquid. Aeroponics, a form of hydroponics, uses no growing medium at all. This is because plants do not require soil to grow, and soil can actually hinder the specific plant's growth.

WTH? Bot much?

[kevinjoseph]

Hydroponics and aeroponics accelerate this process by providing nutrients directly to the roots. Hydroponics has the downside that oxygen levels have to be managed over time. Standing water, depleted oxygen, pH levels, and nutrients can trigger algae growth and fungal problems in hydroponics.