New hydroponics system cheap/diy

[TravelingGnome]

Hey guys. I'm a recovering aquarium enthusiast and I'm going to be setting up an indoor hydroponics system with the equipment I have left over. I'm trying to do all of this with buying as little new things as possible... I have 2 pumps I could use to make a drip system, I have 2 air pumps (one of which with 2 outlets) and air stones I could use to make 3 seperate deep water culture systems, and I'm not sure which one I should try... Would a combination of the 2 work? Maybe plumb 3 containers together each with an airstone, and use my pumps to run drip lines from one of the containers to all the plants? Also the lighting I'll be using is a 4 bulb 48" t5 ballast I used for my saltwater tank to try and grow coral. I'm wondering if the light would be too intense? I have 2 54w 10000k daylight bulbs and 2 54w actinic bulbs, (they produce only the blue end of the light spectrum) which I can control seperately. Like I said I'm trying to go as cheap as possible so I was also wondering if anyone had any good ideas for diy net pots and growth media. Lastly, I know I'm going to have to buy some stuff, so I was wondering if anyone knows where to get quality stuff for cheap. Thanks and sorry for the long post. Have a great weekend!

[TravelingGnome]

Any ideas, hints, or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[beakhouse]

I've been watching for an answer to this, too. I've got several aquariums inside with tilapia and plan to move them to an outdoor pool when the weather warms up. While the indoor tanks are empty, I'd like to reconfigure them and am looking for a relatively simple set up (since I'm not all THAT mechanically inclined). Did you make a decision on your set up, yet?

[HydroDude]

Hi TravelingGnome,

I was thinking that if you wanted to go deep water culture, the easiest thing to do is to get these bucket baskets for hydroponics or ones like them. You could use the air pumps you already have and the air stone, too. I think all you would need is a 5 gallon plastic bucket from Home Depot or Lowes.

I would imagine that it would not be too hard or too expensive to make a few systems up like the PowerGrow DWC Hydroponic Bucket. I'd bet that you can easily make something similar to that by just adding the bucket basket, some hydroton and a bucket to the aquarium stuff you already have...

[teknowlton]

first off, I'm no expert on this topic but I've recently been reading up on (and am looking forward to trying) aquaponic gardening. For those of you looking to use your fish tanks in a hydroponic system, here's the basic idea...keep the fish in your tanks, and place a container full of inert growing medium (pea gravel for example) above the fish tank. Pump water (with nitrogen-rich fish waste) into growing medium and allow it to drain back into aquarium. Fish waste fertilizes plants, plants filter water, aquarium water is oxygenated by splashing of water draining from grow bed. Although balancing pH to a level acceptable to both fish and plants seems a bit tricky, once the system is working it is self-sustaining...just feed your fish...no need to add nutrients for plants, and you eliminate the need for air stones and filters in your fish tank. (beakhouse especially, I'd suggest you look into this as tilapia which you already have are one of the most commonly suggested food fish to try in these systems.)