Them

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cavadge

My apologies for the delay in getting updates on this, Have been very, very busy, but in a good way, if you know what I mean... Found a couple of hours to mess with this further this afternoon. Still waiting on some plumbing bits to complete this, but I did get the fan and power supply for it on Monday, so I put the two units together, and plumbed the fogging system, to see if this would actually work.

Very pleased to find that it does indeed work as I had hoped.

First, the setup. I interconnected two containers with 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe and fittings. Ultimately both of these containers will contain a nutrient solution, and be interconnected that way as well, but for now I just added 10 gallons of tap water to one container. This works out to 6 inches height. With solution in both units that will be a 20 gallon capacity. This leaves 8 inches of airspace in each container for fog and roots.

So here is the fog plumbing between the two units:



The next pic illustrates the idea - generate fog in one container, and using a very small fan push that fog into the second container, which empties into the first container, creating a perpetual loop of swirling nutrients.



The fan is a wee 40mm, 7 cfm, 0.08 watt, PC CPU cooling fan. It is powered by a 12v 500ma power supply with a molex connector to connect directly to the fan. I cemented a coupling onto one the adapters and then cut it flush to provide a good surface to attach the fan.



And finally - I plugged the fan and the fogger in. Waited about a minute, and did my best to get good pics of what was happening. This is difficult to do, because the moment you lift the lid much of it dissipates. The next pic shows the fog in the first container, the last pic the fog in the second container.





Lifting the lid just enough to be able to see in there shows me a beautiful swirling and tumbling fog mass in both containers. I do believer this will work well, and the fogger can likely supply three containers like this without a fuss.

What is key is sealing any air leaks. I used O rings to seal the PVC fittings at the container, but I'm seeing fog seeping out here and there from the lid area on the second container. Both lids will need a gasket; a trip to the local home center for some rubber weatherstripping will do the trick. More to come, hopefully be able to put this together and get it into operation soon. I am again now planning to use this system to grow four moms. I pruned my existing moms today to fill the cloner, and in three weeks will do that again, at which point the existing moms will be retired and new rooted cuttings will be added to this fogging unit. So it's looking like the end of the month for this to go into action.

Will post more pics as more of this as it comes together.

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cavadge

Sorry, I didn't answer your question.

The fog head is the most expensive part of the system. And while you could probably get away with a single transducer head for a container like that, and I could buy two single head units for less than one three head unit, I went this route because it allows for creation of a circulating loop. If I were to only use one container, I would add a 5 gallon pail as a fog chamber, again to allow for a circulating loop.

The key in all of this is to keep the fog moving. Left to itself, the fog just sits on the surface of the water in the area of the fog head. With a fan and passageways to move the fog, I can get it in motion and keep it in motion. This allows for maximum nutrient exposure to the roots.

The one thing I've learned in growing hydro indoors is to keep everything moving. Keep the air moving, and keep the water moving. All the time. The only things I have on timers are the lights. Everything else runs 7/24. The nice thing about this system is the low power usage on that basis - 24 W for the fogger, plus 0.08 W for the fan, plus 17W for the nutrient circulating pump = a hair over 41W total. It's also very quiet, the only sound being the barely perceptible whine of the fan.

Found an email this morning that the rest of the plumbing bits I had to order online have shipped and will arrive middle of next week. So I'll be able to finish fabrication and assembly within a couple of weeks.

belladonna

Just tuned in and was wondering what would happen if the roots were to cover up or overlay the fogger? would it stop working or is it in a place that roots wont be able to get to it? I am intrigued by this experiment, as I have been bumbling with aeroponics for a bit now, and have found that the misters that you can buy in most stores saturate the plants. I have been working on the right time schedule for the misters, to be on at different times in the plant cycle and have found this to be a bit frustrating.....
I think that this fogger system would seem to work better for vegging and cloning as a mature plant has an extreme root mass and could "drown" itself in the res. even with air stones (they can be strangled by roots).
just my

cavadge

That's a good point, and I have considered this. In this particular instance, I am only going to grow two moms in each container. The fogging head is going to be tethered in a corner. If it comes to it, I will install a shield of some sort to keep the root mass away. If I was to use this as a grow container, I would add a 5 gallon pail as a fogging chamber to keep the roots away, and plumb the fog to and from the grow container(s) in a circulation loop. From the pictures I've seen of plant growth with a fogging system, root mass may well become a problem as it will balloon to fill all available space.

I am considering these containers for a grow setup as well, likely twelve plants per container. I could fit three containers in a 4X4 tent and use one three head fogger for everything, Taking a leap forward, assuming this produces the results I'm hoping for, I am considering a 25 bucket system for my 8X8 grow room, powered by a 12 head fogger. But first I need to sort this out on a small scale - starting with moms, keeping my old moms until I see this work, and if it doesn't, I'll only lose four clones. And as someone has already suggested, I think this would be a killer cloning setup. My existing so-called aerocloner, while it works ok, gets too crowded when filled. The cuttings need more space. Two of these containers would work exceptionally well for this.

More to come.

whythef*not?

Be ready for that PC fan to fail. They really don't like pushing fog around. I've killed about a dozen of these things this way, in a matter of a few weeks.

vpur

Wow you have huge aspirations for this fogger systm, and I can tell you haven't researched a damn thing about them. They are plagued with problems the least of which is a gauranteed nutrient defeciency across the board.

I would slow it down, just try to make this one work (key word is try), like the hundreds before you. I wish you the best of luck.

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whythef*not?

I mostly agree. I think he's handling it well, only growing one bucket.
But I think that sometimes people have a tendency to ignore all the bad things that are said about foggers. I spent about 2 months glued to my monitor, got a few and played with them, then put some money in to them, and then got I dumped them for a 'fake' aero system. because it just wasn't practical. I got some results when the plants were young, but it just couldn't deliver enough moisture when they really started drinking.

Soil = Guaranteed results
Passive Hydro = Faster almost guaranteed results
Active Hydro (aero) = Really fast, results pending ...
Fog = plants dead, you're still sober.

I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that you document everything well. I'd like to try fog/led someday. Someday. In the future.
But we need people to make it work right now so that it can be made more practical in the future.

You can see all my failings in last journal, then check out what I'm doing now.
Attempted Fogo
Current Aero

vpur

Why do you call it a fake aero system. Let go of it already. Just cause the spray are in the larger micron area doesnt mean its fake.
Its just aero.

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cavadge

I did in fact do some research, but didn't find that much info. I do have high hopes, but not having done this before I'm not holding my breath. I do have concerns about the fan's longevity, and did find IP rated fans, just not in the small size I need here.

Am going slow, haven't invested too much as yet. Still think this may be a good cloner, if nothing else.

If this doesn't work out, I will switch to plan B.