Aeroponics System Drainage
by Mack
(Florida)
I was looking at your aeroponics system and I want to know how did you handle your drainage back to the reservoir.
Answer: Mack- that depends on which aeroponics system you were checking out. For the aeroponics system pictured on this page, the plants are suspended above the nutrient reservoir, with the roots actually hanging down inside the reservoir. In this system, spray heads spray the nutrient solution into the air space all around the roots, and then it simply drips right back into the nutrient reservoir.
My aeroponics cloner works in a similar fashion. The cuttings are placed in neoprene collars, rubber dirt plugs, or pre-soaked rockwool plugs, and than suspended in the lid of the container above the nutrient reservoir (although I do not add any nutrients to root the clones, only a little B1).
Air stones in the reservoir create many tiny bubbles, which pop at the surface and fill the airspace just above the surface with a micro-mist. It is important to suspend the clones about one inch above the surface of the water in order to receive the right balance of moisture and air. Getting the cloning medium too wet will actually prevent root growth in the cuttings, which is why normal spray heads are not used in this particular system. As with the areoponics system above, any accumulation of water inside the chamber simply drips back into the reservoir.
Another system using a similar idea is my 5 gallon bucket system, which uses a low pressure pump and a section of hose with many holes to create a chamber for the roots. Simply cut a hole in the lid of the bucket to fit your netted pot and you're all set! Switching the plant between two different 5 gallon buckets will make nutrient solution changes a bit easier.
Finally, on this page here I have a homemade system where I actually used a high pressure pump (something I usually try to avoid). Although the picture on the page does not show it, holes should be cut in the lid of the nutrient reservoir. Each 4 inch PVC pipe has one end open, and each pipe is elevated at the other end to allow the water to drain back into the reservoir through the hole in the lid. If you want the system to run more neatly, you could probably add 90* elbows to the end of each pipe (pointing down) the help direct the water back into the reservoir.
Before building any homemade hydroponic system, I highly recommend reading about the common problems with many hydroponic systems. At times it is funny, and it will help you avoid many problems before you even begin!
Finally, with another visitor to my site I discussed design ideas for my next hydroponic gardening system, including a couple of improvements. One system I am considering is a re-designed hydroponic system. The other system is a brand new low pressure aeroponic design that incorporates my favorite easy-to-use features. As of this post, neither system has been written about on my site. If you like, you can read more about them here.
And as always, I hope this helps.
Comments for Aeroponics System Drainage
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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!
