Hydroponic Systems – Water Culture

You can make water culture hydroponic system by converting an aquarium, for example, into a simple reservoir for the hydroponic system, while your chosen plants will be suspended on a floating Styrofoam platform. This type of system normally used in the classrooms due to the visibility of the roots of the plants hanging below the floating platform. In order to know the water culture Hydroponic system, below is some of the information that may be useful to you.

What you need:

  1. Airline/tubing with airstones
  2. Reservoir (water proof bin, bucket, or fish tank)
  3. StyroFoam
  4. Air pump (submersible)
  5. Net Pots
  6. Rockwool or grow rocks as growing medium
  7. Hydroponics nutrients (Grow fertilizers, Bloom fertilizers, Supplements, pH)
  8. Knife, box cutter or scissors

Method:

  1. First thing that you need to do is to measure the reservoir used for the project and then, transfer all the measurements onto the piece of Styrofoam which in turn will be your floating platform. The floater is up to you whether you want to either cut it into individual floaters for each plant or just use the whole piece as floating platform on the top of the nutrient solution.
  2. As for the large floating platform, you need to also measure the length and width of the reservoir before transferring it onto the large Styrofoam. Then, you have to cut at least ΒΌ-inch smaller than the measurement marked. If the reservoir tapers at the bottom, make a cut about 2-inch to 4-inch smaller.
  3. After that, you need to trace the net pots onto the Styrofoam and also cut out the marked area. The net pots have to sit by halfway down the Styrofoam.
  4. A submersible air pump need to be installed at the bottom of the reservoir. Then, you can attach the air tube and air stone to the pump.
  5. Once the seeds have germinated, you need to transfer them onto the planters or net pots into the growing medium (rockwool/grow rocks)
  6. Then, fill the reservoir with hydroponic nutrient solution which follows the correct specification according to the type of plants you are trying to grow.
  7. Place the net pots into the holes that you have cut on the Styrofoam and try to float the Styrofoam above the solution and finally, you need to turn on the pump.

Additional Reading:
http://www.simplyhydro.com/free2.htm
http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/html_pubs/hydro/hydroponic.html

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hackaday/133031719/