Aeroponic System Spray Hole and Pipe Length
by Walberto Ralon
(Mt. Prospect, IL, USA)
For the design listed on your site, using the 4"-6" PVC pipes, about how big of a PVC section are we talking about? Typically at the hardware stores around me, PVC pipes are sold in 10' sections. What total length pipe did you spec out the 60 PSI pump for? Is there a formula to use in case I wanted to scale beyond something just for home use? Also, you stated that it's just better to drill holes instead of attaching spray nozzles. Would the coverage of drilled holes apply the nutrients to the root system sufficiently? Your site is awesome and I appreciate the advice! Thanks, Walberto Ralon.
Answer: Walberto, for the convenience of our other visitors, I believe the hydroponic system you are referring to is the innovative aeroponics design here. This aeroponic system was designed around 8 foot lengths of 4" PVC. I don't think there would be any problem with using 10 foot lengths of PVC, but at some point there is not going to be enough pressure in the 1/2 inch line to make the spray hole at the end of the pipe work properly.
This problem is much better described in this section here on when to use a manifold. The problem of maintaining the proper pressure in the lines by limiting the volume in any one section of the aeroponic system not only applies to the construction of a slightly longer (10 foot) system, but ultimately is the key to scaling up the hydroponic system for something more than home use. The use of a manifold solves a fundamental problem of fluid mechanics, and once you understand the basic idea it will be easy for you to use a pump with a much higher volume to distribute pressurized nutrient solution effectively to a much larger system.
Whether you are talking about a manifold in a four pipe system or the manifold in a 200 pipe system is really irrelevant. For my four pipe system, you need a 1 1/2 inch line of pressurized fluid. It is capable of feeding four 1/2 inch lines up to 8 feet (and possibly 10 feet) long. This manifold configuration works well, given the fluid volumes involved. Just as the larger 1 1/2 inch line feeds the smaller 1/2 inch lines, so too must a larger-volume line be feeding each 1 1/2 inch line, should you decide to scale the operation up. Each line has a limit to how many smaller lines it can feed and still be effective.
If you were going to construct 4 of my aeroponic systems, for example, you might require a 3 inch (or possibly even a 4 inch) pressurized line to feed the four 1 1/2 inch lines that go to each of the four systems....which in turn would be feeding four 1/2 inch lines in each system. And, if you decide to power up 6 of the homemade systems instead of just four, you may want a 6 inch pressurized line feeding two 3 inch lines, which in turn would each feed 3 - 1 1/2 inch pressurized lines (one for each system).
As far as the spray holes go, as long as they are made properly (small and clean) and you maintain the proper psi in the aeroponic system, the nutrient solution forced through the tiny holes fans out quite nicely. In addition to this fanning, the water tends to splatter quite a bit as it slams into the insides of the PVC pipe in between the planting sites. The end result is very thorough coverage in the root zone.
One thing you want to make sure of is that your long pipes are properly supported underneath every two feet. Otherwise, long lengths of PVC pipe tend to sag over time. I hope this sheds a little light on this very technical subject Walberto, and Happy Growing!
AffordableGarden Design&Setup
Hi everyone, Jason from Jason's Indoor Guide here. When I got started with hydroponic gardening more than 24 years ago, my first garden used rockwool cubes and B.C. Nutrients....and I remember thinking to myself yeah, sure, there may be a lot of advantages to gardening with hydroponics, for example there are very few pest problems, therefore very little pest control, no weeding, no plowing or tilling the soil, no soil testing or having to add things into the garden soil, no watering the garden....but for someone who just wants to grow their own vegetables and have more control over their food supply and the quality of the food that they eat, the cost of constantly having to buy grow media and hydroponic nutrients makes this an expensive hobby for most people...
Epic Nutrient Change
I suppose when you take into consideration how much money you save NOT
having to buy food at the grocery store, it is surely cheaper to grow
your own food hydroponically even with the cost of high quality
nutrients. Nevertheless, I didn't have a whole lot of money to work with
and I needed to make my efforts as affordable and effective as
possible....and in the last 24 years I HAVE learned a thing or two!
As you browse through Jason's Indoor Guide, you will notice all of the
systems that I use personally are homemade systems. As I got 3 or 4
years of experience under my belt, I quickly adopted a preference to
standing water systems and systems that use expanded clay pellets or
lava rock, because the media is re-usable and it eliminates a huge
operating expense. So once a hydroponic system is built, garden
maintenance is minimal- check and adjust the nutrient solution daily,
and to change it completely every 2 weeks....and the biggest operating
cost is the hydroponic nutrients. (and the electric bill, lol)...
Homemade Cloner
And, regarding the cost of the nutrients....I experimented for about 3 years with making different compost teas and nutrient teas, but there is still a lot of expense $$$ associated with making high quality nutrient teas....like kelp meal, liquid seaweed, rock dust, bat guano, un-Sulfured molasses, worm castings. You can eliminate a lot of this expense by becoming an expert at making high-quality colloidal humus compost, and use your properly made compost as the basis of your hydroponic nutrient solution.
Unfortunately, I have been gardening for over 24 years and I have only
just recently mastered this difficult skill....and even then, only
because I happened to find a very easy to follow, high quality technique
and decided to follow the instructions to the letter. I produced more
high quality compost in just one week than I was able to use in a whole
year! If you can master the technique, I highly recommend it. It is one of the top 3 things you can do to
increase the productivity of your food production efforts, while at the
same time decreasing the amount of effort required to grow all of your
own food, and decreasing the total cost of operating your food
production system.
And when I say decrease operating costs, I mean decrease them to almost
ZERO, especially if you are producing your own nutrients...
High Efficiency
Hydroponics
The ultimate solution to eliminate the cost of your hydroponic nutrients: Imagine a hydroponic system that does not require you to buy any nutrients, does not require you to make your own compost, and does not require you to brew your own nutrient tea. Seriously! No cost and no effort as far as providing nutrients to your plants! Plus, at the end of the gardening cycle you harvest all of your garden vegetables, PLUS YOU HARVEST FISH from the system--->
Aquaponics
This solution is aquaponics. If you are serious about producing all of your own food and being self-sufficient, this is the ultimate solution for reducing expenses (as much as possible), reducing the total amount of work required, and maximizing the productivity of your gardening efforts. I have been gardening for over 24 years, and it is the perfect food production solution in my opinion.
Besides mastering how to make high quality compost, learning aquaponics is one of the top 3 things you can do to increase your garden productivity, reduce your total costs, and reduce your total work. The product that I learned from is called Aquaponics4you. With all of my hydroponic gardening experience, the first time I came across the Aquaponics4you product I knew immediately that it was something very special! Place an aquaponics system outdoors and use the sun instead of grow lights, and you have reduced every garden expense to nearly ZERO!
The Same System/ 10 Weeks Later!
