Can Hydroponics Be Organic?

[PeelsWindy]

Gentlemen please don’t quit now.
I’m 58 and growin since the 80’s and hydro since mid nineties. I’ve been trying to use organics forever and with the oh so many lost crops that make you scream. LOUD. And stomp around mad. . Break some glass, kick at my dog.

So What details am I missing? The type of food? good bacteria? Temps? I’ve used piranha and tarantula and voodoo decades ago. Even more GH products. GH claim their critters are made for water.
And the worm castings. I figured it was me not hitting it right. Oh, fwiw I’m in a state of felony convictions for a single plant So I couldn’t always share anything or have discussions. ( helicopters been flying here this year. Can’t believe in these times the cops are still spending resources to hunt a plant but they are) . We hide. But back to the point how many ways can this not work? Don’t you guys think it’s oh so close to coming together OR are you more certain it won’t grow organically & hydroponically?

I have nothing for you to glean but I wanted to thank you all for the idea and working knowledge of this bio filter. I think it’s been acknowledged that they work so I’m trying to get a grasp. I had only heard of them recently. This topic of organic is still not covered where I can find much reading. It seems ignored almost . Shelved til another day. I don’t believe every grower said it’s salts for me! But I can’t find much info that helps. The articles seem to all say bennies and what not but have no depth.

Does the bio filter work? And for me too?
Has anyone here repeatedly pulled harvests organically with or without this filter?
And if yes please tell me what did work for you? Filter alone or many products? Did anything not work repeatedly? Anything to employ or to stay away from?

Can anyone point me towards a tutorial ? Or is that necessary? I’d like to see the thing and I can understand its assembly and operation. Is this the missing puzzle piece?

I work ebb an flow buckets. A few systems although mostly one is vegging for the other. The two gallon buckets are fine in my basement. I’ve tilted all in a way to remove as much water as I can each cycle. Obviously I have the barrels.

I believe I read one fellow plumbed his bio filter inline like another pot. And Damien is building what sounds like a stand alone filter a hair higher than his soon to b found barrel. And was there another enclosed filter design that worked? Two? Can I have a situation of too much bio filter? Wouldn’t think so.

Is there any way to measure the level of activity created,, or needed? By the amount of buckets, media, or water?

This layered filter seems too simple to be the cure. A little layered box with an easy going water flow . Does your water have any free fall in this filter?

I run 12 , And use about 40 gallons in my barrel. Ok,, How large would I want to assemble this multi-tiered filter? Circumference and distance tween layers if any. Each layer the same? Sand to peat, same thickness? Advice on pros & cons of peat at all? I’ve never used it. How about doubling its filtration by making it twice as large? Thicker or redundant layers? Two separate filters instead of one?

How long should I give it to be in full microbial action? Before growing.

I hope it’s this simple but can it be? Is this filter getting enough flow to stay ahead of the bad critters throughout?

Damien please post back before my ol buddy the root rot says hello. Old rivals we are! And I don’t want any visits.

My cigarette tastes aren’t too bad. I get comments leaning towards good instead of Oh, that’s hydro. One guy here earlier said he thinks maybe peeps are running too strong of synthetic nutes to the end and that’s what I think. I feed hard but I cut back early then lay off the salts entirely weeks ahead of harvest. I’m running a 7 week finisher so that doesn’t allow many res changes anyway.
Then I throw floralicious plus at em pretty hard the last couple weeks . This way I at least feel I’m getting a touch of cool flavor and before problems can arise .

I am getting ready to go at this again with a renewed vigor to work every tea and enzyme an bacteria an fungi I can try. I’m no college kid and don’t begin to understand the science like you guys are talking but I do believe this isn’t impossible nor should it be that hard.

Id like to think, how can we not figure this out ? It’s watering a plant . And not an orchid. It’s gotta be getting this biology in place a little more substantially. Endless oxygen. I’m going to be burning up the res exchanges for now and hope biology wins.

Or it must be harder than I give it credit for. Nah. I think it’s at our fingertips. Gotta be.

I use hydroton. I like it . I bought a Aeroflo model 24 when GH first marketed them back around 90. The hydroton and GH flora have been around a minute . Gotta love them rocks!
The clay is very craggily. I never hear anyone talk super favorably. This clay is designed with hundreds of the tiniest recesses to allow the tiniest bit of a part of a drop of water to remain all over on every rock and then the clay slowly releases an unseen fog over the roots the next few hours as temps warm up the clay between cycles,,,I never hear peeps acknowledge that detail discussing mediums. And,, that’s where I was gonna focus more this time with hand watering directly onto the clay instead of mixing biology in the res again. I was gonna lay it on a little thicker by hand and see what happens.

So if you can give me any advice from experience you have or any ideas rolling around that I may try you might save me another losing effort or maybe help me turn the corner. It’s crazy hard to be consistent that’s for sure. GH works well I guess by itself and I could leave it alone but I know, like y’all that organics can work.

My take on what’s organic? I follow another earlier comment. What’s going onto my roots are either rock salts all stirred up or it’s a natural , previously alive , organic substance going up in em.

And another said, organic is a commercial description and maybe there’s something to that too.

Thanks for listening ,,, send all advice my way,, including more theory of the make up of this bio filter. How thick of layers . If three layers are good is six better?
Thoughts on amount of critters to put in initially ,, and how often to replenish em if everything is rolling along.
What symptoms of a proper working filter are there? or the evidence it’s failing?
Besides Ph. Oily looking water? A film?

Then what? Straight to the bleach scared it’s too late?

And how bout them ol clay rocks??? Lmao. . I’ve been thinking if I come up with the way to easily clean em I might still get rich!! I wonder if maybe I’d go coco without my rocks. The trick is work em out of your roots the instant you harvest an while they’re still good and wet. An hour for the 12, 2 gallon pots.

When you see a tiny plastic bowl concrete mixer for sale in cleaning them rocks that be me.

Good luck gentlemen. Hope you chit chat some more.

 

[W8ing4Buds]

I will give you my very simple answer.
Bio hydroponics can be done if you are willing to invest in new equipment very often. Hydro was made for kem and for it to be clean. Bio is messy and it will clog your sistem.
I wish you a good growing experience

 

[PeelsWindy]

I’m pondering various sizes of this filter.

I do have the barrels and am wondering how about this filter being the size of a galvanized wash tub perched high enough to drain in the barrel.

A sediment mix say 15 inches thick. Peat on bottom ? or in some panty hose plumbed in line with tubing ? A foot of sand mixed with good earth with aggregate mixed through?

An inch of clay?

Maybe I’ll just go google me up some bio filters from the past !!! Thanks much!

 

[PeelsWindy]

Hello w8ing 4 buds, and how are you?

I’ve done this a couple times and think I’ve got a handle on it and then... yuck!

Please put up with a couple questions. And I’m jus talking here,, no disrespect at all on your skills,, but I need to learn.

Why say it’s messy and will clog?? That has not been a problem. Can you pin down any product? I never use any carbo load or sweeteners. Molasses in some teas to feed em. My problems have always and always been Pythium. I can’t remember funky except dem roots in the bucket. Res is cool and lots air bubbling.

What equipment should I expect to replace? That bites.

And I hear you on chem. That’s the way she works very easily without problems. I keep seeing all the hydro and that’s how I like to grow,, automated in eater.
But I keep trying to get organic working without slowing down to dirt.

Teach me young man

Thanks

 

[Aqua Man]

I'm off to bed will see what kind of help I can provide tomorrow if any. Sorry drunk and high af. Doesn't happen often but hey even old men need to have their fun.

 

[Aqua Man]

Wow that's a lot of questions. If you look up trickle filter you will see various ways to implement them. The bigger the volume of water the bigger you will need your filter. You will want about 4x per hour flow of your total volume for the filter. I prefer a gravity fed system higher than the res or in my case tank. It can be built out of plexiglass easily by building a box and making trays and several more diy options. Take a look at aquaponics and aquarium forums you will find a shit ton of info and answers. There is a lot to the whole process it's not a simple task. The way current hydroponic systems run is not very ideal for organics so I would say hydroponics is not the place you want to be looking for info on it.

 

[PeelsWindy]

Thanks Aquaman,, I appreciate the pointed direction.

How’s the head today? I drank for 40 years and finally got tired of it. I miss the laughter. Drunk laughter is better than none.

I’ve been getting things out and cleaned up for a month or so and I’ve always added bits of organic . Rarely up to the base nutes.
At times I’d go organic 2-3 weeks and then bleach and that is pointless really.

The past few days has been a torrent of searches and reading and going over all the goodies to buy. And then I ran into this and I’ve found some good articles but I’ve flip flopped totally after recognizing good advice opposed to my enjoying screwing up my grow.

I’ve decided a pharmaceutical grade with ph perfect. Connoisseur. Then probably the rest in Gen Hydro’s line. It’s all here anyway. Just need the Connie

Even this second I’m toying with thoughts of floralicious plus and some teas.

But no subculture ,, be florashield ,, which moots my floralicious.

I know I don’t want disappointed my first run including losing it so it’ll be fairly sterile.

I was reading last night that even starting sterile it was hours before a colony was measured as significant. 100000, ... rising by itself to 10 million in a day meaning it’s happening whether we supply the critters or Mother Nature. The biology came. I’ve saved that piece if interested.

Indecision blows. Puff puff. That’ll help my indecision .

If you don’t mind or may be possibly enjoy talking with a hillbilly ..... could you jot down any thoughts of salts like connoisseur with a pinch of organics??

Other articles said it’s the pyth,,(always has been) but then it’s a matter of fixing the contributing factor for pyth. Warm water or too much ec. So fix the cause allowing pyth to take over and keep on. Diligence.

An opinion yes or ney will lead me,

I’m leaning towards being safe on my buckets and produce. At the same time I have room for a couple totes to play organic. And a tidy cat box. Usually me moms house. Lol. Love my tidy cat one plant dwc system .

Thanks much mister and I hope to see you again.

Salts are easy and clean but the cats coming out the bag I’m thinking. Give organic hydro some time as dirt has had and Shazam! One trick, or method, technique is gonna change everything.

What’s is pythium s. Natural enemy in biology? I ain’t smart enough but If there is such a thing , bingo!

Time to throw some water around.

I will add dirt for mother’s and extra cuts so I picked up promix and it’s in a normal bag instead of the bale and it’s loose. Powdery as can be. Kids don’t remember the black bigger bales.. getting old boss. Wasn’t it a short minute ago Johnson and Nixon we’re lying to us? Just another sunny day

Thanks again for your time

 

[Aqua Man]

Pythium was once classed as a fungus but incorrectly so it's an oomycote. It's opportunistic in my experience. Some bacteria such as bacillus amyloliquefaciens have been shown to attack infected pythium plants cells and kill it. This bacteria has been used in agriculture for some time now successful and there have been numerous studies on it. The product hydrogaurd uses this particular bacteria I believe strain 747. This bacteria however does not reproduce well in current hydroponic systems so that's why you need to continually add in order to keep an adequate population. There are ways around this but I won't get into that.

Also several strains of denitrifying bacteria from the bacillus species are effective at consuming organic nitrogen that pythium feeds on and in turn choking out the food source and not allowing it to take hold. You see this method used in aquaponics and aquarium for many many years. It will occur naturally if you supply a food source. The food source for these bacteria is ammonia/ammonium. You can look up fishless cycling, nitrogen cycle to get an idea of how to properly seed your system. This process generally takes 4-6weeks unless your seeding with established bacteria.

The claims of high temps causing pythium are false but do carry some truth. Ideal temps for reproduction of the bacteria we are talking about are in the high 70's due to the metabolic increase. This is also true of pythium. So when things go wrong they go wrong fast leaving little time to react. Also plants ideal temps in hydro show 77f in many many studies. So why do we grow in what most call ideal temps of 68f? A couple reasons 1) cooler water holds more o2 giving us a bigger buffer to work with and 2) we slow the metabolic rates of bacteria and pythium drastically giving us a much more stable environment in those terms.

I prefer a live system and test to make sure my bacteria health is good on occasion. I use mega crop with does have some organics in it but the main source of food for the bacteria comes from the plants themselves. So in the early stages having some organic a is a good way to ensure you have food for bacteria. But to much can make for bacterial blooms and with the current systems in hydro this can cause some issues but with a trickle filter it can support these blooms and you don't see these issues due to location of bacterial blooms and the extra mechanical filtration.

I think hydro will evolve and adopt several aquaponic and aquarium practices in the future once people realize the benefits. However it's not just plug and play like a sterile system and that's why I think we don't see much effort put into the knowledge and equipment needed to do so.

 

[oldskol4evr]

i think that i really means that i take a section of land,i farm that soil with nothing but what mother earth supplies,like wood ash for potassium,dig what happens after a forest fire,watch how fast it grows back and even stronger,other words i can throw all the compost in a pile and have every nutrient if i layered brown and greens right,all nutes,but if trench in amends such as 0-46-0 for phos, potash and calcium,side dress with 20-0-0 nitrogen as in urea,that in my mind would also fall out of the organic lineup,it all is mined and processed if you dig,even trenched in 8 to 12 in deep it still mined product,mining made non organic,bet you would never see a soil guy say that shit,but damn true,these guy claiming organic just to attract vegans and there money ,in the real still isnt organic,now take my ground bed,if i till it after every harvest ,that breaking up the colony right?if i take a fork and bust and shove instead of dig and toss that is organic,so im stoned as hell talking shit but,true organic can be amend with eggs coffe comfrey stinging nettle and plant juice from the harvest before all the shit from any animal and bang out the product veggie or meds,the real organic is under the plant,if colony happy your gonna work your ass off harvest time,another tip,if you have a garden without every damn bug in the world something is wrong,like that organic gardener using more than just spray ,he using insecticide,insecticide is what we drive down the road and see that sorry no good for nothing farmer spraying shit or hiring a plane,nothing wrong and misunderstood,really it is,fungicide is sprayed as is herbicide,all that wouldnt be needed if it started right at the inoculated seed,there is your balance right at seed crack,they all have a place,all good with me beside the herbicide nope aint doing it.
so to conclude all this jammble hahahahah i cant spell for shit,lmao,organic is that until you bust and turn soil and amend the soil,plant that seed in a hole right under your feet and it grows with just water thats organic,so why not include the water guys and soiless guys,all those mined product are in bottles to,they mention this blast that and so on,but over many years ive discoverd that most water guys do it because it is much faster and they dont have to look up what bug they find on plants daily,pretty much it,i think yall work to damn hard dabbling with it,so yes it can sure enough be organic in water or soil,in my on opinion and i more than a few screws loose,hell been married 40 yrs haahahh

 

[PeelsWindy]

Im learning I know nothing really, about what many say is the key to success.

And that’s getting a comprehensive working knowledge about each bacteria including what each does,, eats,,, reproduces etc.

Thank for that guidance .

And this little aftermarket addition of an external trickle filter is growing (Ha!) on me.

To be clear Aqua,, say after I build it, and it’s in place .... while using salts with organics are the teas still a big part still to continually work your roots?

GH subculture. Silly question ,, but are we inoculating the filter physically or root balls or both. And theirs my answer . Of course both. Why not. Thanks Aqua!

I’m excited as hel to try this and jump up & down!

How about dwc in a tote ? I’ll do a 2nd or 3rd strain for variety . But I can’t make filters for each tote . Or do I ? Hell yeah if that’s al it takes .
Question. Would a two liter bottle be adequate for a medium size tote? im thinking it wouldn’t be hard to add. Are layers required? Fill the bottle with ,, pro mix?? Plain sand?

Then we be golden.

Once again thanks for talking these things thru. A huge help!!

What’s your take on how often to add ?

I’m gonna knock this out the park Boyz !

Thank you much,, So comical... it’s like taking your blood and running it thru filtering and back in you. It works. LOL!

Aquaman. I’m taking for granted this is in place for you giving consistent results including a beautiful root ball. .
Or has been.

THANKS FOR SHARING THIS KNOWLEDGE !!! I know it’s lots of your work. Lol. gimme it Aqua!

My blue dream HSO’s Lemon Thai.

And some Volkswagen sized Kush

Enjoy mi amigos

 

[PeelsWindy]

Oldskol4evr,,, I fckn dig your rambling talking!

Talk us up mate ,, make me laugh!

 

[Aqua Man]

Im learning I know nothing really, about what many say is the key to success.

And that’s getting a comprehensive working knowledge about each bacteria including what each does,, eats,,, reproduces etc.

Thank for that guidance .

And this little aftermarket addition of an external trickle filter is growing (Ha!) on me.

To be clear Aqua,, say after I build it, and it’s in place .... while using salts with organics are the teas still a big part still to continually work your roots?

GH subculture. Silly question ,, but are we inoculating the filter physically or root balls or both. And theirs my answer . Of course both. Why not. Thanks Aqua!

I’m excited as hel to try this and jump up & down!

How about dwc in a tote ? I’ll do a 2nd or 3rd strain for variety . But I can’t make filters for each tote . Or do I ? Hell yeah if that’s al it takes .
Question. Would a two liter bottle be adequate for a medium size tote? im thinking it wouldn’t be hard to add. Are layers required? Fill the bottle with ,, pro mix?? Plain sand?

Then we be golden.

Once again thanks for talking these things thru. A huge help!!

What’s your take on how often to add ?

I’m gonna knock this out the park Boyz !

Thank you much,, So comical... it’s like taking your blood and running it thru filtering and back in you. It works. LOL!

Aquaman. I’m taking for granted this is in place for you giving consistent results including a beautiful root ball. .
Or has been.

THANKS FOR SHARING THIS KNOWLEDGE !!! I know it’s lots of your work. Lol. gimme it Aqua!

My blue dream HSO’s Lemon Thai.

And some Volkswagen sized Kush

Enjoy mi amigos

It's been proven for millions of years in nature Its not some miracle though. I don't run one as of right now because I find a canister filter works absolutely fine for denitrifying bacteria and yes I run one on my tote.

 

[oldskol4evr]

Oldskol4evr,,, I fckn dig your rambling talking!

Talk us up mate ,, make me laugh!

i get wired up on ocassions hahaaah,im more into the love of plants is all,doesnt matter which method you choice,all have difrent technic,but end game is the same no matter what plant,i do all and better at others lol,my main garden only have okra, watermelons, canaloupe, black beans, pumpkins ,tomato left to finish and the bugs are pretty much doing that for me,went to check a watermelon day before yesterday,damn thing was about 25 lbs,been staring me in the face for week or so,went to check if it was done,ya it was done alright,under side have bore holes as big as a quarter under it,damn grubs,then when i split it open to make sure what had done it,the seeds had like clear domes over one side of them with a type of larvae in them,damn japanese bettles them bastards are as big as golf balls just got them this year,pissed me off so bad went and bought a 50 lb bag of oyster shell flower same as de,i spread that shit all over my garden even walk ways,was 103 yesterday and by days end it looked like snow in july hahahah,the top container garden me and mama picked off 18 tomato horn worms,one shit on her and that damn girl went sissy on me,i feel to my knees couldnt breath made my damn day,i was pulling them of with needle nose vice grips,one of them was 3in long and round as a nickle,that oozing crap shot right at her,of shit there went my help,lmao i dont grow the herb in summer anymore,4 months of year is 100 or better here,end of august i drop seeds and roll as long as weather permits,i dont have a controled area to grow them,so no heat or ac just forced wind is my only option,but ya i get a bit wired up sometimes hahahah

 

[oldskol4evr]

oh ya forgot about my hydro,33 gal trash can no pump or air,second plant and it has just stopped growing,still very much alive but just wont give,diva cucmbers,first one got about 3 ft long putting on chukes and got stem rot,so i cleaned and redone the res and just put 1/4 in into the water and been same place for 2 weeks,damn thing popped ground 2 days in the cup grew first set leaves week ago and been like that every since,maybe you hydro guy can explain what to me looks like a thin jel on the top of water,kinda resembles wax,like melted wax,scops of the top of water easily,im puzzled hahahah that dont take much,but ya im not dead set for soil alone,im like old chris columbus adventure wondering when all the fine indian women going to showup hHAHAHAHAH

 

[oldskol4evr]

It's been proven for millions of years in nature Its not some miracle though. I don't run one as of right now because I find a canister filter works absolutely fine for denitrifying bacteria and yes I run one on my tote.

hey bro a question for ya,i got a swimming pool filter from last year,is it at all possible to rig something up with the recurculating water down say 4in pvc pipe on a timer?im thinking a manifold,wouldnt that recurculating water be enough to exchange air and nutes outside in 4in pipe

 

[Aqua Man]

hey bro a question for ya,i got a swimming pool filter from last year,is it at all possible to rig something up with the recurculating water down say 4in pvc pipe on a timer?im thinking a manifold,wouldnt that recurculating water be enough to exchange air and nutes outside in 4in pipe

I assuming it's a sand filter correct? If so extremely effective at trapping small organic matter and particulates. Yeah you could absolutely use it. I'm not sure how you are thinking of implementing it, I just can't picture it. Like gravity fed or pumped through. I think you might have to pump it through? Sand also makes a great biofilter... Look at artesian wells you can drink right from them.

When you think air exchange the best way to look at it is surface area and agitation. The larger the surface area and more agitation of that surface area the better the gas exchange. So if you can make a system that sprays or separates the water say something as simple as a 4" PVC tube filled with river rock since it's mostly inert and pour the water through the top breaking all the water up it has a very high exposure for gas exchange so almost all the water run through it is exposed to air.... Very effective where surface area is hard to come by. Essentially this is like a trickle filter and one of the great benefits of a trickle filter. But if you are just running the water through a half filled 4" PVC say on a horizontal angle the exposure to air would be next to nothing in comparison.

Not sure if I answered your question.

 

[oldskol4evr]

I assuming it's a sand filter correct? If so extremely effective at trapping small organic matter and particulates. Yeah you could absolutely use it. I'm not sure how you are thinking of implementing it, I just can't picture it. Like gravity fed or pumped through. I think you might have to pump it through? Sand also makes a great biofilter... Look at artesian wells you can drink right from them.

When you think air exchange the best way to look at it is surface area and agitation. The larger the surface area and more agitation of that surface area the better the gas exchange. So if you can make a system that sprays or separates the water say something as simple as a 4" PVC tube filled with river rock since it's mostly inert and pour the water through the top breaking all the water up it has a very high exposure for gas exchange so almost all the water run through it is exposed to air.... Very effective where surface area is hard to come by. Essentially this is like a trickle filter and one of the great benefits of a trickle filter. But if you are just running the water through a half filled 4" PVC say on a horizontal angle the exposure to air would be next to nothing in comparison.

Not sure if I answered your question.

it is a pump that has a reg filter in it,flow rate slows put in a new filter,thats great advice,i kinda figured i would have to use it like a fish aquarium and also couldnt figure if i would need to have two res per say,the pump stays on as it does in the pool if you dig,so probally wouldnt do what i thought,unless there would be some way to drown the pipe several times a day,i was thinking about every 15 minutes,anyway like i say i dabble hahahah,sunlight on the res was what i was trying to figure out,manifold and circulation isnt the problem ,do you think rocks inside the pipe would keep it moist enough without spraying the roots?

 

[Aqua Man]

it is a pump that has a reg filter in it,flow rate slows put in a new filter,thats great advice,i kinda figured i would have to use it like a fish aquarium and also couldnt figure if i would need to have two res per say,the pump stays on as it does in the pool if you dig,so probally wouldnt do what i thought,unless there would be some way to drown the pipe several times a day,i was thinking about every 15 minutes,anyway like i say i dabble hahahah,sunlight on the res was what i was trying to figure out,manifold and circulation isnt the problem ,do you think rocks inside the pipe would keep it moist enough without spraying the roots?

would depend on how often they are wet and your temps. I would keep it out of the sunlight as if using rocks they will absorb and hold heat very well from radiation even some reflective material would be ideal. If i'm thinking what you are in terms of design you could take 4" PVC run horizontal with a slight angle for flow and you cut holes in for the plants to sit in net pots correct? Then put a shut off with coupler and 90 elbow on the end with a 2' ish pipe for easy removal. Then use something like this https://www.amazon.com/4-Pack-Darice-Mesh-Plastic-Canvas/dp/B073WJYWTC?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1 cut to fit cut to exactly fit in the female side before gluing together. That way your rock will stay in the 2' vertical tube. You could even add other stages of filtration like course sponge etc. Pump the water in on the side with the 2' vertical pipe and its goes through the rock providing very good gas exchange and any other filtration you want to provide and then along through the horizontal tube to the plants and back to a reservoir with your pump that feeds it. You could do it on a timer or constant? keeps recirculating but kinda like an NFT system.

Come to think of it most canister filter media fits 4" perfectly sponges,ceramics etc and would much much lighter that river rock. Also if you go that route with the plastic mesh I would run a bead of GE 1200 construction adhesive around the inside lip of the female PVC and then press it in to help strengthen the bond. Thats what i used to use to build my fish tanks and its very strong. Silicone doesn't bond well to PVC but more than enough to hold this is place.

 

[oldskol4evr]

would depend on how often they are wet and your temps. I would keep it out of the sunlight as if using rocks they will absorb and hold heat very well from radiation even some reflective material would be ideal. If i'm thinking what you are in terms of design you could take 4" PVC run horizontal with a slight angle for flow and you cut holes in for the plants to sit in net pots correct? Then put a shut off with coupler and 90 elbow on the end with a 2' ish pipe for easy removal. Then use something like this https://www.amazon.com/4-Pack-Darice-Mesh-Plastic-Canvas/dp/B073WJYWTC?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1 cut to fit cut to exactly fit in the female side before gluing together. That way your rock will stay in the 2' vertical tube. You could even add other stages of filtration like course sponge etc. Pump the water in on the side with the 2' vertical pipe and its goes through the rock providing very good gas exchange and any other filtration you want to provide and then along through the horizontal tube to the plants and back to a reservoir with your pump that feeds it. You could do it on a timer or constant? keeps recirculating but kinda like an NFT system.

Come to think of it most canister filter media fits 4" perfectly sponges,ceramics etc and would much much lighter that river rock. Also if you go that route with the plastic mesh I would run a bead of GE 1200 construction adhesive around the inside lip of the female PVC and then press it in to help strengthen the bond. Thats what i used to use to build my fish tanks and its very strong. Silicone doesn't bond well to PVC but more than enough to hold this is place.

sorry i left,grand baby wanted to go swimming haaaha,but ya that was what i was thinking to,i want to put right beside the house and direct sunlight is about 4 hrs and rest of day it shaded,that the main reason i havent done anything,temps sore for 4 months here and thats my biggest problem,same with the tent and why i run lights on at night,from fans in utility room shaded and forced in coming air and exhaust out the tent stays right around 85 90 during the day,they do ok just got to work with what i got,new neighbors on both sides ruined my gorrila op if you dig,i have one them old canopy that you take to beach and camo leaf netting i drape over it,i did pretty good in 100 to 105 heat with it,even breed my last strain under it,blue dream x brass monkey,hurricane harvey blew threw here with 65 mph winds and they never missed a lick bent a little but worked out great,i grew it twice since then and i swear it has a cross of gorrila glue in there and blue dream also has clustering mess of foilage,smoke is great though,i will run out before end of august,thats when i start growing again,last batch yield 2 pound and i smoked it almost 2 yrs now hahaah,had so much sitting on had to smoke instead of grow hahah,think im give it a shot though

 

[Aqua Man]

sorry i left,grand baby wanted to go swimming haaaha,but ya that was what i was thinking to,i want to put right beside the house and direct sunlight is about 4 hrs and rest of day it shaded,that the main reason i havent done anything,temps sore for 4 months here and thats my biggest problem,same with the tent and why i run lights on at night,from fans in utility room shaded and forced in coming air and exhaust out the tent stays right around 85 90 during the day,they do ok just got to work with what i got,new neighbors on both sides ruined my gorrila op if you dig,i have one them old canopy that you take to beach and camo leaf netting i drape over it,i did pretty good in 100 to 105 heat with it,even breed my last strain under it,blue dream x brass monkey,hurricane harvey blew threw here with 65 mph winds and they never missed a lick bent a little but worked out great,i grew it twice since then and i swear it has a cross of gorrila glue in there and blue dream also has clustering mess of foilage,smoke is great though,i will run out before end of august,thats when i start growing again,last batch yield 2 pound and i smoked it almost 2 yrs now hahaah,had so much sitting on had to smoke instead of grow hahah,think im give it a shot though

Could also bury your res in the ground. Like an old rain barrel to keep the water temps cooler but would make a pain to clean. Or a garden hose return to a tote as a res, like a 50ft hose and dig out a nice whole and coil it back filling between each coil. Like a wort cooler but using the ground to pull the heat out that's probably the most economical or a combination of both. Idk just thinking out loud.