Hydroponic System Plans by pH

You would have noticed that my system, in most part, was described over many posts. I don't archive posts so I'll include those posts here. Since the continuity may be somewhat disjointed:-) doing it this way you'll just have to understand it saves me time, copy/cut & paste if you need to. The posts are actually replies to posts or emails in case the wording sounds off.

The other two components of this reply are:
Hydro Plumbing
'Tron 2 Hydro
[NPK: More information on this setup can be found in NPK's Garden Stories titled 'Multishelf Garden Setup'.]

I'll mention a few things here that I don't think were mentioned in the posts. If you don't see something please do a word search before asking.

The reservoir is 25 gallons. A large heavy duty rubbermaid storage container. It's inside another (I think 40 or 50 gallon) cheaper, lighter weight rubbermaid storage container as a safeguard against spillage and disater:-(. It supplies two growing beds, each on a shelf in the flowrering unit, and two phototrons which I use for mothers. All are ebb/flow using Geolite as the medium. All feed lines going to beds are structurally fastened to each bed using methods described in "Hydro Plumbing" for inserting fittings into planters or tupperware containers, although the posts may give info more tailored to that post at that time.

The flowering unit simply put is 2 shelves. Each shelf is 2x4 feet and has a lip of 1x2 wood screwed around the periphery of its upper surface. Over the shelf and fastened to the lip with staples is a single piece of vinyl flooring with a drain rigged at one corner where a 3" hole was drilled in the shelf. At the 3" hole, a slightly undersized 1/2" hole was cut in the vinyl and a fitting for 1/2" tubing was installed by using a nut and rubber washer on each side of the vinyl, then tightened. Of course the shelves are graded for the drain to be the low spot. These are emergency backup drains in case a bed overflows or a fitting leaks (hasn't happened yet in 3 years). These drains are tied into the overflows for the planters, all are made of 1/2" poly tubing or 1/2" garden hose whichever was most suitable for the run. The drain runs back to the reservoir where the 1/2" discharge handles the overflow for both flowering beds and both trons with the pump delivering 5.1 psi. I would say this is "just about" the limit, any more beds may need the 1/2" drain hoses to feed into a larger discharge line. The planters fill AND drain within 30-45 minutes. Almost forgot, the flowering unit is light tight and has a vinyl shade, I can use the room during the dark cycle this way.

The planters used in the flowering unit are Grossfillex brand (I believe a French co.) I got them because of their size (8"Dx10"Wx37"L), dark gray color, water tightness, and thick vinyl construction. I built 2 simple "U" shaped supports from 1x2 wood to slip over the top to keep them from bowing out when filled with solution. I cover all beds with leftover wrap from rockwool slabs. Slabs users may take this material for granted, just try to find a thin, opaque, plastic sheeting that's black on one side and white on the other, I'm sure it's made, but I couldn't find it locally.

Into each planter I can fit three 3 gallon grow bags filled with enough Geolite to be level with the rim. I usually use two and fill the void left from the other bag with a square gallon jug filled with water and sealed. This displaces solution and allows faster filling and draining of the bed. The feed lines are attached to the planters, and use the same principle for filling and draining as that described in the "Tron 2 Hydro" post. Each planter has 2 feed lines (one at each end). The trons each have one feed line and one 3 gallon grow bag. I use grow bags because they fit the contours of the beds and make it more efficient to fill/drain the beds. They also allow me to remove one without disburbing roots of adjacent plants.

click here to read about Hydro Plumbing