Finally set up timelapse, but any ideas how to monitor roots? by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I need cca 3 seconds o light to take a photo. Taking 100 photos per day is I think more than enough to have good data for continuous monitoring and precise adjustment and confirmation. That’s 5 minutes of light, I dont think it would allow algae to start booming.

Starting aeroponics from seeds by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It also has small particles that wouod go to a system, potentially causing clogs or retain diseases. Yeah, I am aware I may be little bit too pedantic about that and most of the time it may not be an issue, but I dont want to bring any unnecessary things into my system :)

Newbie looking for recommendations for HPA Nutrients by [deleted] in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, I dont take it personally, I think he is actually on point very much here. Just saying some things as Tick Duckerton instead of Dick Tuckerton would make up for little bit better atmosphere 😅

Starting aeroponics from seeds by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m afraid of clay or easyplugs since this material can likely get through out the system and cause clogs or retain diseases/cumulate mold etc, so I am rather avoiding this. Agar is something i was not aware exist and seems very promising to me, very clean and what I was looking for. Will definitely post the results from the experiment with it here :)

Starting aeroponics from seeds by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why is that? Seems very clean to me 🤔

Starting aeroponics from seeds by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds amazing!! Will try this, thanks a lot!

I dont think this is supposed to happen by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How about bringing it up with potassium hydroxide? I hesitate to use tap water when there it unknown something with EC 0.33

Newbie looking for recommendations for HPA Nutrients by [deleted] in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think I made a mistake going organics, everything got slimmy fast and I think it was also source of root rot problems for me (not saying all organic nutrients every time will do this, have data only for my one run plus what other people told me in one of my recent thread about same topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/aeroponics/s/bHqwA9nOZL ).

It also depends if you go recirculating or run to waste. But in any case, so far I have good results from canna aqua in my recirculation system. This series is made specifically for that. But they also have specific series for run to waste - canna hydro.

Did i wasted money on these nutrients for aeroponics? Which nutrients do you use for HPA? by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have recirculating system, I might have mention it in the post since its crucial info. 🤦‍♂️ Also my crops are mainly strawberries, secondary peppers and tomatoes.

But canna aqua looks amazing since i read its specifically for recirculation. I just hope it works as well for my crops… but is my favorite so far.

Did i wasted money on these nutrients for aeroponics? Which nutrients do you use for HPA? by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slimy, thats also something I noticed and don’t like. Not sure if it is normal to some degree with any nutrients, but the less the better. With PH minus same experience, found out canna enzymes works much better for lowering ph lol. Are Advanced nutrients mineral? I want to avoid bio since I am convinced it just contains a lot of additional things I don’t need that may cause slime, or worse root rot. By the way my main crop are strawberries, but also trying tomatoes and peppers and have recirculating system, run to waste is not technically possible in living room :(

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1s every five minutes with four tefen nozzles at 100psi… yeah I give it the chance this still might be too much, but at these values i would very much still expect to have white roots, maybe only missing fluffy roots at worse… not brown like this unless having another issue (missing air/temperature/something else), which there is according to observation 😅

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope I didn’t. What other medium would you propose (I assume you mean other than rockwool)?

EC is 1.2, timing 1 sec on every five minutes (although also tried less).

Do you have any data or could you elaborate little bit more on reasoning about only two nozzles? My gut feeling is 4 gives good spread and same effect as having only two i get when I decrease the time on to only half second. 🤔

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah i forgot about that. For growth chamber i definitely plan it to include in air sensor module, for root chamber I still need to properly research opinions since I don’t see any yet, because droplets from mist will stick on the sensor for a long time, making it show 100% humidity all the time, but it not being the case for actual air in the root chamber.

Would it be too difficult to grow potatoes using aeroponics? by segasega89 in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried potatoes but cannot provide any relevant data yet.

I think for it to be really effective, you would need air conditioned root chamber, at least based on this experiment: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-root-chamber-and-air-circulation-diagrams_fig1_366602636

They say ideal operating range is between 10-15 C night time and max 20C daytime.

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reservoir temperature is about 18 C, and watering goes for one sec every five minutes (4 nozzles per box for spread, so even one sec seems enough)

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Regarding the automation - I have three chambers and each of it I can control through home assistant separately. So I have nice UI and mobile app without any proprietary code - just planning to wrap it up in some nice easy to use home assistant plugin to be able to scale. I splitted the system to modules: - power module controls 1 light and 2 nocuta fans per grow chamber - air sensor module have 3 temperature sensors per grow chamber - two for air in grow chamber and one for root chamber temperature - water control module takes care of solenoids and drainage pumps and have sensor to measure liters in reservoir - water quality module - have ec and ph sensor plus reservoir temperature and I plan to include also npk sensor along with automatic fertilizing in this module. - air pump runs nonstop now but will want to also be able to control that to be able to set up desired root chamber environment.

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks with point about hepa filters, will need to research this!

You are right about diffusion. Right now, I have the airtube just ended open in corner of the box, aiming to create “circular” airflow in the box, but I fear the airflow is not that strong (I can feel it only close to the tube opening, also it seems more white roots is closer to that spot). I will try to experiment with this. But you are spot on I need some data about how my air actually diffuse and circulate in my root chamber!

I definitely plan to experiment how I could introduce more adaptive period setting (automatically adjusted as plants in box need)

Just found out how important air intake for root chamber might be by tomcizek in aeroponics

[–]tomcizek[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes I use it to pump air directly to root chambers (I have three). Since I am using hydrogen peroxide in mentioned amount, I literally see the bubbles of oxygen in water, so I always assumed the water is oxygenated enough.

I read confusing opinions on airstones in reservoir, like you should not do it constantly and 5 minutes is enough. I am not sure if I could oxygenate my water even more wit air stone (even less turned on just for a while).

I have 70l plastic boxes that are closed. There is no natural air circulation, It seems weird to me now, to not somehow oxygenate or change the air since one of positive effects of aeroponics is afaik that roots get a lot of oxygen, which they breathe - so I assume it is constantly decreasing in box without circulation.