Hi, guys, have been intensively studied aeroponics lately.
When done properly, the nute solution is damp on the dangleing roots, never dripping--no visible drops. (drops obstruct the access of oxygen by the roots, NFG)
The proper sized droplets is 30 microns,+/- 20 microns. This size is kinda magical because the roots like the 30 microns, they do not need to break the droplets down any further.
In order to produce the 30 micron droplets, you need water pressure of 80 psi,+.(6-8 bars). The oriface size should be .012-.015" diameter,(.3-.4mm) It appears that plastic nozzles will not do this job. Good ones are are mostly metal, or perhaps ceramic. I am having a bit of a rassle finding the right stuff because the manufacturers are all in China, and somehow I,or perhaps,we, are not their target market. So, very good product may not be spec-ed out with the info we most need.
A proper noz will most likely, cost more than $2 per, and you need a bunch of 'em.
The pump most appealing is:
Aquatec (6840-2J03-B221S) CDP-LFO Low Flow 6800 Series Booster Pump with 1/4" JG.(http://www.isopurewater.com), about $100. (That site also lists a bigger pump w/ 3/8" outlet.)
You'll need a 12 v. power source, and a microprocessor type system to run it, like maybe Arduino. The cycle is 'round about 2 sec on, 2 min. off, looping.
And another thing. The noz need routine cleaning in some special juice to keep 'um working.

This is a tricky, high maintaince setup. Supposedly, the plants grow 30% faster with the rightious stuff.
Bong!

smoked, I have a question for you. Is that information you espoused above something inwhich you have come up with in your vast growing experience? Or is this something inwhich you read and are now sharing with us in hopes that it might help? I'm just curious, as each gives a vastly different weight to the comment.

Right you should ask, Col. Dawg.
This is something inwhich I have recently read. The principal source is Wikipedia where the tenents of aeroponics are presented. Do have a look!
The sizing of the noz comes from stumbling from one supplier site to another and piecing bits of info together.
If anyone find fallacy, I'd welcome correction.

Holy crap that all seems like a lot of work.

Three letters to make it easy for you. DWC.

A couple of airstones and a dual outlet air pump. About $50.

the worst thing that's ever gone wrong after 40+ tubs in the last 12 years is plugged up airstones, $5 and 5 minutes to fix that. Or 1 side of the air pump will quit. About 5 more dollars and 10 minutes to fix that.

With two 12" stones in a 50L tub it's no big deal with either scenario. If you run two tubs you run two pumps with one line of each going to each tub.

Even a total pump failure leaves you with one working stone in each tub and that's all you really need. I've never had a complete pump failure. The Maxima-R aquarium pump has a speed control that I usually run at half speed and the water looks like its boiling. The repair is a simple rubber cup and one little nut to replace it. They tend to crack around the washer on the cup but will run 24/7 for months before that happens. The 7 screws on the bottom of the pump are more hassle than the actual repair.

I like the KISS way of growing but each to their own.

Hey Dawg, he/she answered that in the first sentence, "Hi, guys, have been intensively studied aeroponics lately.", lol.

Got a plan for testing the pump and noz setup. I will buy a pump, probably The Aquatec (6840-2J03-B221S) CDP-LFO Low Flow 6800 Series Booster Pump with 1/4" JG, mentioned in previous post. Buy as well, perhaps a dozen nozzels, and a pressure gage. Rig the pump to a pipe, and one by one add nozzels. With each addition, note the system pressure. Each additional noz will knock down the pressure a bit. This way I can figure how many noz the system can carry, then make an informed decision on which pump(s) to buy. Don't want pressure below 80psi.
Worth considering is the possibility of "zoning" the mist system. Since only a couple seconds of on-time are required in a 2-minute loop, it might be worthwhile to have solonoid valves to open one zone, and close anorher. There is potential for a considerable number of zones, say 10. I have seen solonoid valves for < $20. All this would be contingent upon geting my Arduino microprossor stuff working. These days you can't do squat without micro control, or so it seems. Without labratory-grade apparatis this shit ain't gonna work. Not for everyone, nerds only need apply. I am sustained through all this by the vision of gloriois shit growing like magic. Later

Precisely, I just wanted to clear up any doubts. A large part of my job as a mod is to point out those that do or do not have personal knowledge, so that the newbs know who to and not to listen too.

Okay smo-ked, I'll bite.

May I suggest a company that I've been doing business with for a couple of decades, when I worked for a living that is, and maybe orgasmic will find something useful... take a look at Spraying Systems Co.

They have "tens of thousands of spray nozzles..." to choose from, both in metal and ceramic, and I've spec'd some that had .016 inch diameter orifices, so they probably have smaller.

Good luck to both of you... 52.

I think if you can create a situation where the roots are held at a controlled low temperature, and hang, or are nicely spread out for a lot of surface area to accept a small micron, short burst type of spray, it could work okay.

However, in the real world, I think a low pressure aero system that moves a higher volume of solution would probably outperform the higher pressure, lower volume setup.

Reason I say that is most setups use some type of horizontal tube arrangement for the roots, and the roots typically quickly grow to line the bottom of it. At that point, it doesn't much matter what your droplet size is, since the majority of the roots won't be seeing the droplets. At that point, they need to be immersed in the solution and drain between spray cycles, or just sprayed continuously. If they are sprayed on a cycle, they need to be sprayed long enough to flush out the solution sitting there between spray cycles, and long enough to keeep the temp down.

True aero typically fails both ways with that, it does not move enough volume to be able to work with roots lining a tube, and also due to that low volume of solution, it is not able to remove enough heat either. Think about that heat thing, if you're running a sealed room with co2 at 80+ degrees, (which I assume most aero loving nerds would be) you cannot allow your root zone to get anywhere near that, so with the comparatively tiny amount of chilled solution spraying the roots with a "true aero" setup, you'd have to insulate the hell out of everything, and that still probably wouldn't be enough. With low press aero that sprays enough to pour water out of the tubes, if you set the res temp at 62, spray on 1 minute, off time about 4-5 minutes, I'd almost guarantee the root zone would stay cool enough.

Harvey, the system described in Wikipedia calls for the roots to hang free in a chamber. I don't know, but I ben told, the roots grow as long as the plant is high. That's my working assumption. So, a 36" deep root chamber is what I am going for.(planting Nirvana Short Ryder auto) The nute solution will be delivered by fine nozzels at different levels , say 8" apart down the length of the root mass. Air will flow into the root chamber from below and be pulled up by a convection stack at the top of the chamber. Ambient temp in the space will be held 70 to 75 deg. Typically I would work with forced air supply and exhaust, on a thermostat. . During down time, say 4hrs/day, the target dif would be 10deg.
Thanks for your interest.