DIY Bubble Cloner

Ok guys what’s up,
I decided to make a thread on building your own Bubble Cloner. I know there’s a ton on the Internet but I just made my own and figured I should make a thread for the community to check out. So here it goes;

Supplies needed:

  1. Dark/black Plastic storage bin and lid (Tupperware bin, Rubbermaid bin, etc.)
    -you’ll want a smaller sized bin to start with. This is going to be the actual bubble Cloner.
  2. Clear/see through Plastic Bin and lid
    -But with this one, you’ll want to get a big deep plastic bin, because this bin will become your humidity dome!
  3. 2 air stones, I used 4" air stones
  4. Hot glue (super glue didn’t work on first attempt)
  5. Air hose
  6. Y adapter or T adapter for air hose
  7. Neoprene disks 2" (hydro store)
  8. 2" circular drill bit (I already had one luckily)

So the first thing I did was take my small plastic bin, and cut 6 holes in it, evenly spaced around the lid. After that, I made sure my neoprene disks fit snugly into their holes. Then, I glued my air stones down to the bottom of the bin. I didn’t want them to be able to move around because I know I’ll be moving the Cloner around! Don’t forget to drill your hole in the side of the Cloner for your air hose to be able to run to your air stone!

Next, I added water and connected the air pumps. I did a test run to make sure there were no leaks or over spray. Now, I know there’s a lot of debate of what to put into the water for your bubble Cloner. Some people do plain pHed water with low ppm, while others add root booster or cloning gel or even nutes. Well I chose to add a little big of Hydroguard to the water, but nothing else. The only reason I even added it was because its a root inoculant and should help with keeping bacteria away. I also chose to dip my clone stems into a rooting gel before I placed them into the Bubble Cloner. People who have used this say it works. People who have used just plain water say it works. It all comes down to what YOU want to do.

After adding water and Hydroguard, I got the pH down to 5.8 and then I went into my flower tent and took 6 clones from my Blueberry plant who is just beginning to bud. I added the clones, and everything looks great!

Now, you’ll want to cut a little hole or notch into the RIM of the BIG CLEAR PLASTIC bin. You do this so that the air hose won’t get pinched when you do put your “humidity dome” on. I turn the big clear bin upside down, so that the lid is on the ground now. You’ll want to place the lid in your veg tent, or wherever, in the place you’re going to put your Cloner. Once the lid is down, place the Cloner in the middle of the lid. Now you’re ready to add the “dome”. They seal nicely at the bottom because of the lid being there, and now you have a nicely sealed humidity dome around your brand new bubble Cloner.

It’s been 2 days since I started the Cloner in my tent. They all look great, they’re still standing up straight. I put a temp and humidity monitor in the dome just to see if it was building good humidity or not. And to my surprise, on the first day it was at 86% humidity! So, I think it’s safe to say I built a nice bubble Cloner that will work great for me. I’ll post back when they show signs of roots, or if anyone has any questions! Hope this helps someone!

Treez

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Of course I’ve seen Old School! “We’re going streaking!”
And thanks Victor, I appreciate the compliments! I’ll try to keep my feet out of the pics from now on lol!

My DWC set up is literally the easiest DWC you’ll ever see. I don’t use a water level tube, so I just use a food grade black bucket with a 6" net pot for the lid. Then just run an air hose through the top that has an air stone in the bottom of the bucket. And that’s it. Literally. Most people use a water level tube to check the pH of the water, and to see how much water is in the bucket. But honestly, there’s no need for it in my opinion. I just lift the lid and can easily get a pH reading, I can see the water level, and I get to check out my roots. Makes things easier for me. Keep it simple stupid.

Treez

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I just run simple 5 gallon buckets for my DWC. Each bucket has its own air hose that runs to a pump, along with their own air stones. So if one has a problem, the others won’t because they’re all seperate units. You can do it with a reservoir that pumps to and from each bucket, that’s a RDWC, or a Recirculating Deep Water Culture. I have to change out each bucket weekly, with fresh nutes and water. But to me, it’s easier to maintain than a whole system that’s connected together bucket to bucket then to and from a seperate reservoir. But if that’s what you want to do, do it my man! Every one has their own setup, this is just how I do mine.

I don’t need to chill my water, I’m lucky enough that it’s always at 70F. I think it’s another reason why a seperate bucket setup is a good idea.

Treez

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No, when I say seperate buckets, I mean my 5 different 5 gallon buckets that I have set up to be a DWC system. The RDWC system involves multiple buckets CONNECTED together through piping, where they all actually share the water. That’s where you talk of a reservoir, for a RDWC setup. My reservoir is inside my 5 gallon bucket, completely seperate from every other 5 gallon bucket in my setup. Maybe a picture will help?

Here is my Blueberry in flower right now. Just a 5 gallon bucket, an air stone, an air pump and some air hose. The water inside doesn’t lead anywhere. This allows me to freely move my buckets around, not worried about other buckets to connect to or stay connected to.

And if you go to the pics I already uploaded you’ll see my other girls in veg right now. Notice how they’re also unconnected from each other. They don’t need to be because they each have their own reservoir inside the bucket. Again, allowing me to move one from veg to flower easily. Just switch the air line from one pump to another and I’m good to go.

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This is exactly what I did for my bubble cloner other trick when using one of these units is to keep ppm fairly low and use super thrive or a bloom based nutrient since P-K promote roots rather than top growth Takes me on average 8 days to get rooted clones with my bubbler :wink:

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Yea, once a week I do a water change for each bucket. But yes, during the week, my girls will need to be topped off with distilled water only, no nutes added. Then I make sure pH is in range and I’m good. In flower right now my Blueberry drinks almost a gallon of water every day! It’s incredible!

When I start my DWC I usually go with 1/4 to 1/3 dosage of what is recommended. So if they say 3 teaspoons for 3 gallons, I start off with 1 tsp. just to be safe. My PPM for newly transplanted plants into my DWC is around 400-600. The highest PPM I’ve reached is right now, I’m running at 2500 PPM in my Blueberry in flower. She loves the nutes so I upped the dosage. She’s got about 6 more weeks, then plain water and harvest.

When I change out my buckets, I usually will add more nutes every week then I did the previous week. This is because I want to give my girls the most amount of nutes without hurting them or burning them. But right now, for my girls in veg the ppm is kept around 800-900.

Treez

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I’m in love with the bubbler already! Yesterday I check it and already say a root forming, after 3 days, it’s crazy! When I checked it yesterday, when I took the dome off I was literally smacked with a cloud of humid air. It was awesome because it shows me how nicely this setup is working as it should! My hygrometer says it’s still 86% humidity so I know it’s right at the perfect range for clones as well. They’re all standing straight up and look great still. I’ll keep updating!

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Updated pics of my clones. Temp and humidity are staying at a perfect level!
Very happy so far, hoping for roots in the next couple days!

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So after a month of tinkering with the cloner, I’ve had 4 successful clones grow roots!
I’m sure that I’ll get a better success rate in time.

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@hammer here’s my thread on DIY bubble cloner. After seeing yours though it makes me think I should add another 2 air stones into the reservoir. There’s already 2 in there, but I think 4 air stones that are 4" would be perfect, and would probably take less time for clones to root!

Got any advice hammer?

@ktreez420 Yes you need at least 4 stones in that bubbler …bubble intensity below the clones is critical to fast and robust roots … beyond that tell me your method a-z on your clones lite ,nutes .rooting booster ECT,ECT …and ill tell you what i do . Hammer. Heres a pict of roots that are 19 days old …"Meaning " 19 days from first indication of root starting to form … iused scissors to cut into Blocks to separate …

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Lol how about we do that the opposite way @hammer haha!

YOU tell me what you’re doing, because all I do is cut the clone, and place in the bubbler. No nutes, nothing special to the water, not even pH balanced lol. I’ve been dying to know how to get the clones like yours!!!

Please help a brother out haha!

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@ktreez420 look closely at these 2 picts ,each was done differently the first youll notice more fish boneing and smaller diam of the root’s .and that only forming at the Node’s . now look at the second and see the diff… some fish boneing …thicker root diam and denser root mass .first pict is 18 days Approx …the second is only 9 days . and will over take the first by same time frame. And notice that the stems on the second set is Swollen to twice the size “diam” as the first … So tell Me which method do you want .??? Hammer …

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here is a pict of roots and plant 32 days later

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Picture number two please! And wow, both pictures are just incredible @hammer!

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@Allen13420 … hope you find this thread .Hammer :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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