Quote:
Originally Posted by silkcom
So how much air is actually needed? I'm trying to build the cheapest first system I can that will work to show how it works.
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Think of it like this:
How much air is actually needed? To grow what quality of plant? Showing how it works? To what extent? Are you trying to convince a significant other to allow you to spend money on the project because it will be cheaper to grow, than to buy? Keep in mind that not producing what's promised will have negative effects on their opinion of weather hydroponics work at all. you may wind up trying to defend your expenses, and that will just make it harder to negotiate for expenses later.
Spending the least amount of money rarely produces the best results (unless the design makes up for it). Same with lighting, that's why I chose to use natural lighting (it grows great, and is free). Simply put, bottom line I don't think you can give your roots too much air/oxygen. But to answer the question how much is needed, enough to produce the results your looking for. I know that's an ambiguous statement, but everyone's growing and financial situation, as well as expectations are different.
What type of results would you need to justify another air
pump/more lighting? It really comes down to cost effectiveness to me. I would always say do the best you can, evaluate the results, and improve based on that. We all learn from our experiences. Just saying if you don't get great plants from one small air pump, and one florescent fixture, don't figure hydroponics doesn't work because you didn't get the best plants on earth. Learn from trying, and grow from your experiences.
But it may be harder to convince a significant other that doesn't have the same faith in hydroponics, because they will just be interested in the final results. Not necessarily how you got there, but how much you spent to create what can be bought at the store will be under a microscope. And if those results were lacking you will have a hard time convincing them to allow you to continue. But the catch 22 is if you try to cut costs to satisfy someone else, and don't produce results they expect, you face the same problem of them not beveling that growing hydroponically will save money in the long run, as well as quality produce.