How Do You Build A Homemade Hydroponics System?
Building your own water works system is quite simple and can be fun, if you know how to follow instructions. This type of system would be best used for water loving plants such as lettuce. • Only a few items are required to get you up and running in no time. (Please see the “Things You’ll Need” section). • Find a container to use as reservoir such as a fish tank or a bin/bucket of some sort. The reservoir should be painted black (or covered with thick black trash bag if you want to reuse tank) if it is not light proof. Allowing light to enter the reservoir will promote the growth of algae. It is a good idea to use a reservoir that is the same dimensions (length x width) from top to bottom (Example: Top: 36″x20″ Bottom: 36″x20″). • If possible, use a fish tank or similar container as your reservoir. Spray paint tank (if translucent) to black and let dry. Before painting, apply a strip of painters tape vertically from the top edge to the bottom. When the paint dries, remove the tape and
• Only a few items are required to get you up and running in no time. (Please see the “Things You’ll Need” section). Loading… • Find a container to use as reservoir such as a fish tank or a bin/bucket of some sort. The reservoir should be painted black (or covered with thick black trash bag if you want to reuse tank) if it is not light proof. Allowing light to enter the reservoir will promote the growth of algae. It is a good idea to use a reservoir that is the same dimensions (length x width) from top to bottom (Example: Top: 36″x20″ Bottom: 36″x20″). • If possible, use a fish tank or similar container as your reservoir. Spray paint tank (if translucent) to black and let dry. Before painting, apply a strip of painters tape vertically from the top edge to the bottom. When the paint dries, remove the tape and use the unpainted space to show you how much water is in the reservoir. Creating this line, however, is not necessary as you can determine how much water is in the reservoir simp
• Choose the type of system you want to build. Your choices include: • Water Culture. This is a low cost, easy to build option. It results in your plants being suspended in water by a StyroFoam platform. The water will be filled with a nutrient solution. You can grow 5-6 plants per 5 gallon water culture system. • Multi Flow. This is a medium cost, fairly difficult to build option. It relies on gravity to flood plant trays with water and nutrient. You can use a timer and float switch to control water levels. You can grow many plants at a time with this system. • Ebb and Flow. This is a low cost, moderately easy system to build. Your plant tray is put on top of a reservoir and connect to the reservoir with tubing. A water pump pumps water and nutrients to the plants. The excess is returned to the reservoir for later use. You can grow a fair amount of plants with this system. Acquire everything you need (listed in the “Things you need” section). • Find a container to use as reservoir suc
