Since a recent plugging issue caused my plants to drown I’ve been thinking of safeguards.
I’ve decided to put an overflow on each grow bucket. This will prevent the water level from exceeding two inches below the net pots
Now the question …Would you consider the roots that are in the ‘foam zone’ as being in water or in air?
Or, can I just install my overflow at three inches below the net pot?
Thanks
Is this a DWC set up? Confused on the need for an overflow Growmie 
RDWC system.
I’m adding the overflow to prevent water level increasing too high
This just happened to me when an outlet line from a grow bucket got obstructed. The nute inflow was higher than what was draining back to the res. Eventually my plants drown. I was away for the weekend.
Gotcha
What’s an RWDC system?
It sounds like a hydroponic set up.
Have you thought about going for a hydroponic/ aeroponic hybrid system?
You have less water in the system and most of the roots are exposed to air. There is a reservoir at the bottom of the container and a water pump sprays the fertilizer water over the roots.
You use less water and fertilizer, and the roots get more oxygen, and there’s virtually no chance of them drowning. The plants also grow faster, which is saying something because they grow pretty quick in a hydroponic set up.
I have not but I’ll look into it. It sounds to good to be true.
Thanks
It is hydroponic. The nutes recirc from the res to the grow buckets then everything gravity drains back to the res
The hybrid aeroponic/ hydroponic systems are pretty good. I had one going and compared growth rates to coconut coir and a straight hydroponic system and the plants grew about 10% bigger (and faster) than the hydroponic, and 20% bigger (and faster) than the coconut coir. All three of those systems grew much faster than potting mix.
Your liquid should not produce foam. Not sure what the reason is either. Assuming PH is in the 5.3 to 5.8 range (if slightly acidic should reduce/eliminate foaming).
Plant bags around the net pot will keep roots out of return lines. An overflow alarm might be a good idea too.
Well, I wondered about that so I did some searching and apparently it’s normal for AN to foam a bit once you get to adding some of the supplements in flower. However, I had something else going on because my EC was raising.
Now, plant bags around the net pot. Is this something I attach to the top of the net pot and let hang down like a sock the the roots to grow into? So… The roots still get plenty of oxygen?
Yes, I’m going to run my overflow lines to a common container with a water alarm in it.
Thanks Growmies!
Someone here used paint strainer bags (drawstring) to enclose the net pots. I’ve used the same bags to enclose the submersible pump which worked well too.
Do tell, what are these hybrid systems. I grow using Aeroponics on occasion
Found it! Thanks
True aeroponic systems have fine sprayers watering the roots every 5-10 seconds and the fertilizer water runs off into a reservoir where it is pumped back up and re-used in a recirculating system. There’s no water collecting in the bottom of the container that has the plant growing in. If there’s a power failure, the plant roots don’t get any water and the plant can die.
The hybrid system is like the aeroponic cloners and has about 4 inches of fertilizer water in the bottom of the container that the plant is growing in. The water doesn’t go into a reservoir it just stays in the container with the plant. A small water pump runs continuously spraying fertilizer water over the roots and it drips back into the container to be re-used. If there’s a power failure the end of the roots are usually in the water and the plant can keep hydrated.
In the more advanced systems, they use a small computer fan to pump air from the room into the container for the roots. It’s basically fan forced air flow through the container to maximize the oxygen getting to the roots.
The combination of continuous fertilizer water and oxygen on the roots creates massive root systems and big fast growing plants. Under good conditions when the plants got going, they grew about 2 inches per day.
The systems get cleaned and filled with new water and fertilizer every week or two. To clean it you lift the lid containing the plant off the container and put it on a new container with a pump and new fertilizer water. Then wash the old container of water and pump out and let it dry until next time when it is used under another plant. You don’t have to have a spare container I just found it easier than resting the plant on a bucket while I cleaned the liquid out and washed everything and setting it back up. If you have two containers you simply lift the lid and plant off one and put it on another, then clean the old container. I did it every 2 weeks and it worked just as well as once a week. However, you need to watch the plants because they can suck out all the nutrients in a week when they get going. You monitor for discolored leaves or spots and if you see that, you add fertilizer.
I’m very familiar with the Aeroponic and different hydroSystems, I was curious if there were some new hybrid set ups out there. I Disagree with the spray frequency of 5-10 second intervals as each growth stage has a different frequency need
My DIY Aeroponic system and about as simple as it gets.
To my knowledge there isn’t a hybrid system out there being sold on the market to grow full size plants but there are systems called aeroponic cloners that are technically a hybrid system. These are small units used to get cuttings to develop root systems before they get planted up. Mine was a home made version that I found on the internet and modified to suit me. It was done on the cheap as a test system (proof of concept) and omg, the plants went nuts.
Your system should do pretty well and the picture showing the roots is pretty typical of aeroponic or hybrid systems.
Yep, I built this system after seeing smaller cloning set ups. This version was model 2.0 after several mods. Pump and piping size pays off to get a finer spay pattern
