Low-profile (short) hydro options?

[Hephaestus]

See what this does with humidity levels. Don’t want algae growing I know that for sure.

Yes it got a tray, couple days later it started weeping/seeping about 15ml per day. Which is interesting in itself - since I ran some aquarium parts at the same time and they’re not leaking?

Debating a coat of epoxy to seal, maybe polyurethane sealer coat? Krylon? Going to reprint a revised version when amazon drops off my next roll of white PETG.

I’ll throw it up on thingiverse or cults3d if someone wants to print their own. I’ll do a bigger one if this 16oz challenge goes decently and seems worth pursuing.

[Hephaestus]

Dum dee dum… Something’s not right.

Peat plug is constantly soaked, tips getting discolored… Thinking it’s wicking up? Air has been off since last night.

Thoughts/suggestions?

[anon32470837]

Hard to say, but it does look too wet - maybe. More air circulation to keep humidity lower?

[Hephaestus]

I’m having a hard enough time getting it up into the 40s (prairies, house is 25-30% RH right now).

Probably should throw a fan on it though.

[HolyAngel]

the plug should never get wet, like, your air tube drain thing shouldn’t pour water over the plug. If the plug is getting wet it can cause damping off so I’d either adjust that, or look at where/how it’s sitting in your cup to make sure it’s above the water line.

Also, looking forward to that stl, this is pretty neat

[Hephaestus]

The airlift is pretty useless in its current state, dribbles out about 1/2tsp every 30min or so. Not a constant flow, head is tipped back so it accumulates then drips in in one semi regular pour. More keeps water from going stagnant & humidity up.

With the original 18mm and a proper airstone, it’ll move about a fair bit but that’s way too much so revised to 8mm id and no airstone in a tapered section. Really needs another 1-2" of depth to work well.

Probably next revision, but 16oz solo cup challenge says let it roll although think i have an interim option. Waiting on amazon to deliver my next roll of PETG…

[Hephaestus]

30mm fan tipped 3° down. 9v-ish seems to work nicely 12v it was a hurricane for the poor seedling. Pulled the basket out of the sump for now. Let’s get some dry first then see what needs a tweak.

[Hephaestus]

Plug finally got dry sometime after midnight. This is what I found this morning…

Time to try again.

[Bob13]

How goes it? REtry yet?

[Hephaestus]

The plant in it is still technically alive… Not doing good but alive.

Waiting to see what shakes out honestly.

One of the siblings in a hempy bucket, is massive… The others no worse off, but were a week or so behind.

Roots are now down into the reservoir. Just playing the waiting game unfortunately.

[Mohamed]

I don’t really completely understand your setup but from what I see you will have some problems.

Also, from the pictures, it doesn’t look like the 24x12x30" space you mentioned in your first posts. What is the actual dimensions you have? Or maybe the pictures are tricking me

from what I see I can identify several issues:
1- your water container seems to be not light proof and that’s a complete no no. Algae problems which will cause PH issues and a bad smelling reservoir.

2- Wanting short plants while wanting to get some appreciable yield, one plant is not enough. You might want to for SOG (sea of green). I would suggest about 4 plants for this grow space but not one.

3- during flowering, this grow space shouldn’t have any light leaks or the plants won’t flower. I don’t know how you dealt with that, especially that you should have air inlets and fan outlets for exhaust.

4- I don’t know how you dealt with the exhaust issue, like where is the fan and is there a hole at the top of this grow space?

5- For a stealth growth, you will have problems with the odor without a carbon filter. So much for stealth

I can suggest a working design that can solve all these issues in this tight space (well maybe except for the odor but I can try to come up with something). The thing is that you will have to change some aspects of your design. So tell me if you’re interested and I will post my suggestion in here as it takes some time to draw in CAD.

[Hephaestus]

Iterative design.

12x24 not for public consumption right now. Taking a different approach with it.

And yes I was testing at smaller scale - decided the solo cup competition was a good excuse for a minimalist size. Still no algae growing in that resevoir - it does have a lid. Still open to ideas - test driving a few right now - but I’ll need a few more to test in about 2 months

[Mohamed]

You know your reservoir is light proof when you hold your mobile phone’s flash light right against its outer wall and you don’t see the light dot on the other side. Lid or no lid, it doesn’t matter. Once you add the nutues and light can penetrate to the inside of the reservoir, algae will grow. It’s kinda of a scientific fact

Anyway, good luck with your trial.

[Hephaestus]

The walls are 3mm thick white PETG. Printed solid. Lids 1.5mm with a coat of silver then white krylon - light penetration is managed…