EDI Flex Air disc, cheap source

[Warrioreuel]

I don't know about you but I looked every where for an EDI Flex Air disc. I found a few here and there but they were expensive. Finally I came across this website. I got two 9 inch ones delivered to my house for under $45. Pretty sweet.

 

[monkeyboy]

that IS pretty sweet ! did you hook it up yet ? what size air pump do you run and what size buckets ?

 

[Warrioreuel]

It is not setup yet but is going in a 10 gallon control bucket. Its a major task to convert all the different units on air pumps and match it up to the air disc. If you go to EDI Flex Air website you will find that the air requirements for that disc are (min-max)
14 - 140 Liters/min,
1/2 - 5.0 CFM,
0.8 - 8.5 cubic meters/hour
I will be using a Eco Air 3 which delivers 60L/min. So this will be right in the middle range of the disc (14-140L/min). The main system is 5 gallon buckets, 5 buckets total plus the 10 gallon control. My intention were to drive 5 air stones plus the disc with that pump but I am afraid it may be too small. I will hook everything up and have a look at it and maybe use another Eco Air 3 just for the 5 air stones. If I have my wits about me I will try and post a pic in a week or so of everything bubbling away.

 

[monkeyboy]

now this may sound funny, but hear me out - i wanna set up (2) 27 gal. storage totes on dollies with one piece of plywood that would cover both totes ( w/ several coats of paint to waterproof it ) holes for net pots, air lines, etc. this piece will have cables attached to pullies so i can raise the whole platform and roll the totes out and roll fresh ones in. the platform will have 1 float valve for each tote attached to the underside so i won't have to fuck around too much with transferring shit from the used totes to the fresh ones. just the airstones/diffusers.
i also want to attach an adjustable screen (scrog) to this platform. i'm thinking 4 or 5 plants in each tote ? feel free to point out any flaws in my logic - it's the only way i'm going to learn;)

 

[Warrioreuel]

Once your babies start to grow and get big it may be a royal pain to raise and lower the platform. Have you allowed for a water chiller? I have a serious lot of faith in the farming techniques by "doubleds", "https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/doubleds-10-lb-plant-room-test.29805/"
he keeps his water at 63 degrees to stay off root rot and increase the amount of oxygen in the water. My next system after these 5 gallon buckets, I am going to try and duplicate his setup as close as possible and see what happens.

 

[monkeyboy]

yeah, i picked up a chiller at my job, but i think it may be undersized (it was a freebie anyway)
but i know refrigeration and i have some other ideas on how to keep it cool. i just have to keep my eye out for some other free shit that i can use. i did check out that doubleds thread; to say that he knows his shit would be putting it mildly. i guess if you're going to emulate a grower, he would be the guy

 

[Warrioreuel]

I am so concerned about keeping the water cool that I will be using on of these
My current system will only have about 23 gallons total including the control bucket. Then I have a 27 gallon reservoir that I will also keep chilled using the same chiller. Basically that little heat exchanger allows you to chill two independent bodies of water using one chiller. My reasoning is to reduce plant shock to as close to zero as possible. When I do a water change I want the new water premixed with the new nutes and PH'd the day before, chilled and ready to go. This will remove any shock from cold/warm water.

 

[monkeyboy]

forgive me for sounding stupid but walk me through this; are you recirculating clean water through your chiller and coil which sits in the rez or are you recirculating the nute solution ?

 

[Warrioreuel]

The main solution with nutes first gets pumped to the aux heat exchanger which is submerged in the reservoir. Look at the link I posted, this unit is a bunch of stainless steel plates all welded up to make a very efficient heat exchanger for two independent liquids. If the reservoir is warmer than the main system water now circulating through the aux heat exchanger then it will be cooled by the slightly cooler circulating main water. It leaves the heat exchanger and goes to the chiller. From the chiller the now nice and cold water simply gets dumped back into the control bucket. The res itself has a very small 100 gph pump circulating the res water through the other side of the heat exchanger but isolated from the main system water circulating directly through the chiller to the main control bucket. In this way the chiller is cooling two independent volumes of water. Look at the heat exchanger link i posted earlier. Its not fancy, I am just using a chiller capable of handling 100-150 gallons to chill two independent bodies of water while keeping those waters separated. You could just buy another chiller, one for the system and one for the reservoir. But for me it is way cheaper to spend under $100 on the aux heat exchanger. Keep in mind I am chilling my reservoir as well so on water change days in the system I will have fresh RO water already made up the day before PH'd and nuted the way I want it already to go at 63 degrees. I also have a constant air stone in the reservoir. This minimizes any shock the to plants from cold(63deg)/warm(80deg summer water) water plus gives me a chance to get the new water just the way I want it before i use it. The way I have it hooked up, the res water should be a few degrees warmer than the main water at all times. This is ok. A few degrees different on water change day is not a big deal, it will be chilled down to 63 within and hour or two after hitting the main system. My whole intend here was to avoid dumping 80 (summer tap water here, RO water actually) degree water into my system that the roots have known nothing but 63 degrees.

 

[monkeyboy]

80 deg. water ? dude, wadda ya livin in the fuckin sahara desert ? lol - my apologies (and condolences) if you really are. but seriously, i like where your goin with this. you've obviously put a lot of thought/research into this set up and i just may have to copy this as closely as i can ( on a smaller scale ) you know what they say: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. i'm trying to set up a room in my garage and pulling air in through a wall from my basement which stays fairly cool all summer (i'm on the east coast). that freebie chiller i mentioned is only 1/6 hp so i don't know how effective it's gonna be. but in any case, i'll be interested to see your progress in this endeavor.