Water Culture Systems are one of the easiest,simplest and most fun of all active hydroponic systems.
First the platform that holds the plants is usually made of Styrofoam so it can float directly on the nutrient solution. An air pump usually supplies the air to a air stone generator located at the bottom of the pump. The air forms bubbles in the nutrient solution and supplies oxygen to the roots of the plants directly.
This type of system is usually a great choice for growing leaf lettuce, which are fast growing water loving plants due to the fact that lettuce is predominately water. This type of plant thrives in these types of conditions. Water Culture System is great for classroom experiments and is very popular with teachers now days.
This is one of the least inexpensive type of hydroponic systems. It can be made out of an old aquarium or other water tight container. The biggest down side to this kind of system is that it will not work well with large plants or with plants that require longer cycles.
The aeroponic system is the most high-tech type of hydroponic gardening to this date. It is also one of the newest types to hit the market. Like NFT systems below the growing medium is primarily air. The roots hang or dangle in mid air and are misted with nutrient solution by misters.
The misting s are usually done every few minutes and are controlled by a pump. Roots may dry out rapidly if misting cycles are interrupted due to the act that the roots are in mid air and will dry out very quickly . You must make sure and check this constantly while cycling.
Much like the other types of hydroponic systems a time controls the nutrient solution Except aeroponic systems need a very short cycle timer that runs every few seconds or couple of minutes not to dry out the roots.
The wick system is by far one of the simplest type of hydroponics systems to set up. This type of system is considered to be a pssive system, which means there are no moving parts. The nutrient solution or organic solution is drawn into the growing medium from the reservoir with a wick. There are various growing mediums which can be used in this type of system, such as perlite, vermiculite, pro-mix and coconut fiber are the most common.
The main down side to wick systems is that the larger plants may use more amounts of water which will cause a un-even balance distribution of nutrient solution. Also the plants will not be able abe to get feed fast enough because he wick solution cannot supply it as fast as it can extract it.
Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) system
Most people think that this this type of hydroponic system when they think about hydroponics in general. NFT systems always and must have a constant flow of nutrient solution. The advantage of this is that it doesn’t require the use for a timer. The disadvantage is that it does require a submersible pump which can eventually be another cost expense.
The plants are suspended in a growing tray where the nutrient solution is pumped into and flows over the roots of the plants, and then drains back into the reservoir.
Growing medium is usually not used in this type of system. It uses air which can save the expense of replacing a growing medium after every harvest. In usual occurances the plant will be supported in a small plastic bucket or net pot with the roots dangling into the nutrient solution.
The downside to NFT systems are they are very susceptible to power outages and pump failures which can result in the death of your whole entire crop. The reason your plants die is because the roots end up drying out very rapidly when the nutrient is interrupted by power failure or pump malfunction.
Ebb and Flow System
The Ebb and Flow hydroponic system works by temporarily flooding the grow tray with nutrient to water the roots and then by draining the solution back into the hydroponic reservoir. It works by temporarily flooding the grow tray with nutrient solution and then draining the solution back on the reservoir. This method is also known as the flood and drain system. Commercial systems tend to be this type.
This action is normally done with a submerged pump that is usually connected to a timer in regular hydroponic systems. When the timer turns the pump on the nutrient solution is umped into the grow tray. When the times is shut off the pump pulls the nutrient solutions back into the reservoir through gravity.
The timer is usually set to come on several times a day depending on how big or small your hydroponic system is. Temperature, humidity, and the size of plants can also influence how long the pump is set to.
Ebb and flow is probably the most versatile system that can be used. There is a variety of growing mediums in which can be used in this type of system. You can use your choice of grow rocks, gravel or granular Rockwell.
Lots of people like to use individual net pots filled with a growing medium, this makes it easier to transplant plants in and out of the system. The main disadvantage of this type of hydroponic system is that with some types of growing mediums such as gravel, grow rocks and perlite, they are very susceptible to power outages as well as pump and timer failures.
The roots are also susceptible to drying out very fast when the watering cycles are interrupted. People avoid this problem by using growing media that retains more water just in case of the event.
Drip System
Drip systems are probably the most widely used hydroponic system in the world to date. The operation is quiet simple, a timer controls the submersed pump. Whenever the timer turns on the pump, pumps nutrient solution into the drip feeder which is dripped onto the base of each plant by a small drip line. The nutrient solution runs off the plant roots and growing medium and back into the hydroponic reservoir for re-use. Unlike most other hydroponic systems which cannot collect the run off solution.
The recovery system uses its nutrient solution alot more efficiently, as excess solution is reused. As a result it uses a much more inexpensive timer because recovery system doesn’t require precise control of the watering cycles.
Non-recovery systems need to have a much more precise and accurate timer so that when watering cycles can be adjusted to ensure the plants receive enough nutrient solution and the runoff is close to non-existent.
The non-recovery system requires much lest maintenance due to the fact that excess nutrient solution is not recycled back into the reservoir which cause the nutrient Ph vary depending on how much solution is soaked up by the roots. This means that you can fill the hydroponic reservoir with pH adjusted nutrient solution and then totally forget about it until you will need to mix more. A recovery system will create large fluctuations of pH and nutrient levels that require constant checking and adjusting.
Information on Hydroponics
