Hydroponic System...cheap and reliable. Grow your own!

Hello, I have designed a simple, easy to use diy hydro system.
This bad boy can grow anything you want.
I have experimented with every type on the market, and have designed only one that can beat this setup, but is aeroponic and has a lot more components and risk to plants from swings in plants healthy parameters.
Use as the law allows. The repercussions of not doing this are not worth it.

If you have a system that works very well, please share...thanks

This systems base component is an atv sprayer. It has a pump on it. The pump maintains a 45 psi pressure in the line when powered on. It does not need a drain, the plants use up all the moisture, but a tray is a good idea, because the blocks will be damp on the bottom.


The sprayer hose will be removed and connected to a filter with a 100 micron screen in it. This screen will keep the nutrients from clogging the drip ends on the drip system:


The pump will activate at the intervals you set. I ran it at 2 min run time, twice a day.
Once in the morning before the light cycle, and once at a bought 1pm in the middle of it. Not before the dark cycle at night, because it will oversaturate the plants. The idea is to only use enough to maintain moisture.


The drip ends will go into 8" rockwool cubes, but size may vary to plants required root ball size.


A multimeter can help you keep an eye on your pH, ppm of nutrients as well as temp. You will have to research the ideal pH, ppm tds that your plant crave and they will explode with growth.


I also add a tiny fountain pump and fish tank air pump to the reservoir for oxygenation and consistent nutrient mixing.

Happy gardening. No need to buy veggies with cancer spray on em'.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I came in here expecting a detailed post on how to grow my own hydroponics system

a reply to: SpongeBeard

Sorry to cornfuse you.
..there changed it

a reply to: Mandroid7

haha, it still gives me the same impression. it's probably just me, don't worry about it.
I hope to have a use for a setup like this soon, thanks for the thread!

The only drawback of a powered survival hydro system, is the power or rather the lack of it in a genuine survival situation.

Really ought to have gone with a gravity fed system of some description...no power whatsoever anywhere in the system.

A header tank, high enough to allow sufficient pressure to feed drippers with nutes to develop would have been a better idea i think.

a reply to: Mandroid7

In the past I simply used a 25 Gallon drum with a pump in it and let a grow table flood twice a day a little more over one inch with a simple household time clock between pump and power.

Once a day measurement/adjustment with handheld electronic pH and nutrients meter in the drum, and also an oxygen fish pump for keeping it mixed up.

Can a properly set up and maintained hydroponics system produce plants as good as any that nature can?

originally posted by: MysterX
The only drawback of a powered survival hydro system, is the power or rather the lack of it in a genuine survival situation.

Really ought to have gone with a gravity fed system of some description...no power whatsoever anywhere in the system.

A header tank, high enough to allow sufficient pressure to feed drippers with nutes to develop would have been a better idea i think.

The problem I have run into with gravity feed systems with drip irrigation is clogging at emitters and inconsistent drip rates between them. Under pressure, the emitters themselves are self regulating the rate.

I would recommend a gravity feed system if drippers are not used, a drain is available and nutes as well as water are plentiful.

The pump on this system is utilizes a low draw 12v pump. Easily adapted to solar and battery. It only runs for about 2 min a day with almost zero evaporation waste. It consumes approx 4-5 gallons a week feeding 10 plants.

You could just open a valve from a tank into a large substrate vs multiple small ones, but I am after injecting highly oxygenated and properly mixed nutes into each rootball in a controlled fashion, by automation in a fairly simple system.

In a survival sense, I was more after clean home produce, then an off the grid or camp type setup. This could be run by solar, but I'm going with the assumption power is available.

originally posted by: BornAgainAlien
a reply to: Mandroid7

In the past I simply used a 25 Gallon drum with a pump in it and let a grow table flood twice a day a little more over one inch with a simple household time clock between pump and power.

Once a day measurement/adjustment with handheld electronic pH and nutrients meter in the drum, and also an oxygen fish pump for keeping it mixed up.

Tried and true setup for sure...did you drain or recycle the runoff?

a reply to: IvanAstikov

Depends who you ask. I say hydro is much better.

From my experiences you can't touch the quality and quantity produced by hydro. 100% faster grow time with some plants.

The organic vs. Chemical debate is a good one.

Soil vs. Hydro is another.

Here's my rundown on the subject.

Chemicals used in hydro now are the chelated forms of all the essential nutrients and micronutrients the plants love.

You can get a much more complete and consistent nutrient solution to the roots as well as increase in oxygen to them. They actually love to have a 50/50 ratio of air to water. Your getting all of the essentials from the natural forms, in a state that won't clog your system and avoiding all of the one you don't need.

The second major flavor advantage to hydro vs soil is the ability to flush nutrients and salts from the plants. In soil, you can pour fresh water into it, but you will never remove them from the soil.

The third is the control of pH. Much easier to monitor and control in water than soil.

Your directly injecting goodness into them without the junk thats not needed, so I would say better quality.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I just went back in the same drum, and by so not wasting anything.

So, it's Dedicated Nurture 1 v Good Old Nature 0, in your opinion, Mandroid7?

Hi

I really like your design!

In my XP NFT is the most reliable and simple and is easy to set up and reuse (this is my recommendation).The fully submerged bubble pots and aqua phonics are what you need if you want best yield and quickest results,although if a failure occurs they will be effected the most compared to other systems.

Flood and drain (ebb and flow) systems are again great,also they won't fade away dramatically if an outage occurs,but they are a pain in the sense that you need to replenish the substrate,you don't have to always do this,but I have found it difficult to remove all the previous old roots and this brings in detrimental pests and bugs.
Soil and ORGANICS are the way to go IMO! All these chemicals are killing us slowly.

I have thought about combining the two ie ORGANICS and hydro although you will need to dial in the nutrients precisely as with the quick growth, deficiencies would most likely set in fast.

As another poster pointed out.If we are looking at survival,then hydro is a no no,unless you have solar power,but even still you maybe putting all eggs in one basket (solar systems could be destroyed by EMP)..I feel that is not wise.As the same poster mentioned,a gravity system is what would be ideal under those set of circumstances.

An idea that has occurred to my imagination,was if you could divert a river flow (or utilize it) and have a flow of water over rocks,which as you build it up,would contain different grades of material,say large rocks,smaller rocks,gravel and then possibly soil or rock wool?

Thanks for. Sharing your ideas,you have sparked my passion for growing veg,now the spring is on the way! happy season!

Good Post OP!

I'd suggest, if you haven't already, read more about what creates the best root growth. From my reading you get way more root surface when they are suspended in air and not in a medium, cube you mentioned. Also the nutrient spray size droplet matters when suspended in air. As fine a mist as possible, like a fog, stimulates intense root surface growth.

en.wikipedia.org...

I built a small system but never got the best mist sprayers so always felt I wasn't doing 'the best'.

It's an amazing subject to be honest. Of course you didn't go into lighting which is a major key to the whole growing of any plants. I guess that's a detailed thread all by itself!!!

If you used this system near a pond do you think you could use the pond water as a nutrient ready water source similar to an aquaponic system?

I ask as I have toyed with the idea myself, setting up an aquaponic system utilising a natural source as opposed to a made version.

a reply to: nonspecific

There are people that use fish tanks to help supply organic nutrients to there water.

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: noeltrotsky

Yes it's called aquaponics and an awsome idea.

Thats why I have been wondering about using a pond or river as opposed to a built fish system.

If built on a river you could also use a small water wheel or screw to power the pump.

a reply to: nonspecific

A river doesn't carry enough nutrients to help that much...just water. The water from a pond or fish tank is chalk full of plant food.

a reply to: noeltrotsky

I figured a pond would work but was unsure about a river.

It would make a great experiment in my opinion as removing the need for addtional nutrients would make it far more viable.

a reply to: nonspecific

Rivers are great if you want to fish farm actually! Divert some flow into ponds and grow fish! Some people are doing it as a business already right now!