Reddit reviews Hydrofarm Active Aqua Air Pump, 2 Outlets, 3W, 7.8 L/min
We found 11 Reddit comments about Hydrofarm Active Aqua Air Pump, 2 Outlets, 3W, 7.8 L/min. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Super silent with multi-level mufflerSpecial artificial rubber to keep a steady air flow output and pressure that can be adjusted freelyLow power consumption and adjustable air flow125-GPH, maximum amperage is 0.025 and maximum decibels is 403-watts, 7.8-liter per minute, 120-voltage
Spend a few extra bucks and get an adjustable air pump it is worth it.
I have this one for $16 you'll forget you have it running in no time, I actually can't remember ever hearing it over the bubbling of my sponge filters.
Lighting/Electric
1 - Apollo 180W LED Grow Light This thing is painfully bright, even when you're not looking at the light itself. Without a grow tent to block the light I wouldn't be able to share my office with this light when it was on. Previously I've had issues with the grow tent and HPS/MH lighting, since over heating quickly became an issue. I tried some solutions involving air ducting and vent fans, but these didn't really help a lot. These LEDs fortunately put out almost no heat, so I don't really need to ventilate in the tent.
2 - TaoTronics 25*3w LED Grow Light (They don't seem to sell it on Amazon any more). Sort of painful too, but not as bad as the other one. Tent or some sort of light-blocking device is recommended if you share a room with your greenhouse.
3 - EnviroGro 2 ft T5 Flourescent These things are awesome. Great value for the money and everything seems to thrive under them.
4 - 8 Outlet Programmable Power Strip Highly recommended! Way better than those timer ones.
5 - Hydrofarm 2 Outlet Air Pump which actually has splitters on the lines coming out of each outlet, so the pump is providing air to all four homemade units.
Hydro Units
A - 1 gallon bucket DWC currently growing brussels sprouts. No actual sprouts yet, but it seems to love the LED lighting. Slightly concerned about the space its trying to take up.
B - 1 gallon bucket DWC currently growing bell peppers. Peppers have just started blossoming earlier in the week and I've been vigorously vibrating the tree each morning to pollinate them. Got a few small peppers starting to come in already. Slightly concerned by how lopsided the plant is growing, but otherwise it seems to be thriving.
C - DWC I made from a tupperware container. Just planted some cilantro in there earlier. For some reason all of the Cilantro I've gotten previously has failed to germinate. This time around I put out about 30 cilantro seeds on a paper towel and waited until I saw some starting to sprout before planting. So far so good.
D - 2 site DWC unit I made from a storage bin. Just planted two additional basil there this morning since I am using much more than 2 plant's worth. Been making quite a bit of pesto lately.
E- 3 site Aerogarden currenly growing curly leaf parlsey. I took off the light that comes with the plant, since the T5s have a way higher output.
F - 7 site Aerogarden currently growing two basil plants and one oregano. Same as the three site aerogarden, I just use this for the base. This one can hold 7 plants, but I fine that having so many means they crowd eachother like crazy.
Tent
Mylar grow tent
An air pump and stone are cheap, and should solve your problem. Air bubbles are totally key in hydro reservoirs.
Also try to keep the temperature of your reservoir (and your whole grow area, unless you have CO2) below like 80F or you're gonna have a bad time. This applies to soil as well.
Consider trying a non-organic fertiziler. Organics are great and can give better results, but they expensive, and more likely to crap up your system and smell weird (in my experience).
Soil has a whole bunch of drawbacks IME. It can be stinkier indoors than a well run hydro system (especially if you use awesome worm teas and such). You'll probably get a lot more bugs, especially fungus gnats. You have to be more careful feeding the soil plants, because if you feed them wrong, it's not as simple to detect and fix as with hydro. It's also amazingly easy to overwater in soil.
You can get awesome results with soil or hydro. I personally prefer hydro because it's easier to keep clean (once you get a good routine set up), and the plants grow really fast with great results. If you really aren't cool with the hydro setup you've got going now, consider coco drain-to-waste instead of actual soil.
What about something like this, lol?
Get some tubing that fits over a drip tip, then vape out of the other one, bassically, letting this thing do the sucking for you.
I basically did what's in this picture, outlined in this thread here. I used this pump.
This method---honestly, I don't know how anyone could get it to work. Using 3/8" line for the lifts is the problem. I fought with this for HOURS and couldn't make it work. Now, like I said, the pump does fine on its lowest setting, maybe I'll make a video too. I could definitely throw a 4 gang splitter and run more lifts, no problem---I'd just need a different reservoir. (I have a 19 month old...so...I need to mitigate spill risk, lol.)
What I did differently was to use 1/4" line for the lifts as well as the air intake. I wound up having to use a connector (because I already had the lift lines in place), but if you were smart you wouldn't need to. At first I was afraid there would be too much friction this way, but it goes just fine.
The 2 air lines come in from the bubbler and get e-taped to a dowel, which is about level with the top of the reservoir. One more bit of tape at the bottom, we're just making a loop. The hard part is not kinking the line but still being able to fit it in the jug. as it goes back UP the dowel, the ball-pumps pierce it at a steep angle (I actually ground them down so they'd pierce better), the little 3/8" pieces of tubing are just at the bottom of the reservoir. The idea there is you want it as low as possible, but also with some length so that it's easier for the air to go up the line than out the water-inlets.
As it travels up the down, it's taped again, just to keep everything straight. It goes up the sides of the bottles, and goes through a melt-hole in the side of the top bottle, rather than coming in from the top. Water is delivered directly to the grow block.
The two bottom-most bottles have additional pieces of 1/4" line coming from them (I used "Sticky ass glue" for the seal, which is basically just gorilla glue but stronger and cheaper) to a T, and then the bottom of the T drops back into the reservoir.
That probably doesn't make any sense, would it be worthwhile for me to video it?
sorry, this is a real pain on mobile.
these are the pumps. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TCC46U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
thimk i may get a stronger 4 outlet pump and drop a small airstone in each bucket i have leftover from my last grow.
This is my air pump
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TCC46U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
these are the stones
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JLA83C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Yes I am going to increase the ppm slowly. My plant doesn't respond well to high nutes. I am doing the lucas formula so it has been working great except the calcium deficiencies.
Hello!
So I use this for my AG:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TCC46U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And then I have a couple of 3" air stones that I got at walmart for cheap.
Make sure you get black tubing, so that light doesn't get in. Also, look into getting a "check valve" for each line so that if your power goes out, water does flow backwards into the pump.
Then I unplugged the basin pump from the back, and have the air stones running 24/7 at a medium setting. I've done this with all of my AG grows (peppers, strawberries, ground cherries, tomatoes, herbs) with success. More oxygen=better.
Here's the basic parts list to build a bucket like this:
Lots of this stuff can be had cheaper at a home improvement or pet store. Check around. You'll need a soldering iron (I like my adjustable 40w), a drill and drill bits up to 3/4" (I like step bits for work on plastic), a heatgun or lighter to shrink that heatshrink tubing. An infrared thermometer is nice to have and can tell you the temp of your nutrients, the plant itself, your lights, etc...Just make sure to calibrate it first, all the cheap ones are inaccurate by at least a few degrees.
The setup you want is pretty quiet. With the airstones on 24/7, set the top feed drip pump to come on a couple times a day and it will still be quieter than a window A/C unit
Air Pump
Drip pump
It was a buddies that he let me borrow from an old fish tank. Just ordered one of these though.