background preloader

DIY Systems

Facebook Twitter

Home Built Hydroponics Unit for an 8th Grade Science Classroom - The Hydroshack Lives Again! My wife teaches 8th grade science.

Home Built Hydroponics Unit for an 8th Grade Science Classroom - The Hydroshack Lives Again!

This project "The Hydroshack" is a rendition of one I built over 20 years ago in my college teaching methods class. It is designed specifically for performing experiments in a science class. It therefore incorporates some modifications for flexibility and control purposes. It also needs to be collapsible for storage in tight quarters. If you are considering building something similar for your home, it can be less complex. Please keep in mind that this instructable is not the only way to do this.

Educational conditions:The Hydroshack will be used to teach the students the "Scientific Method" (formal experimental procedures) and also be used in the genetics portion of the class. Parameters of this Instructable:This Instructable will feature the construction of this unit. The numbers in each step correspond to the position of the pictures in each step. Also, I had to redesign the control panel. How to Build a Home Hydroponics System. Hydroponic Drip Garden for Vegetables, Herbs or Flowers. Here are the items you will need:1 - 27 gallon heavy duty plastic storage box with recessed plastic lid10' of 1/2" PVC pipe5 - 90 deg PVC elbows3 - PVC T connectors1 - 3/4" to 1/2" PVC reducer1 - 3/4" PCV pipe to 3/4" Male Thread connector4 - 1/2" PVC J-Hook Hangers1 - Male Quick Disconnect to male 3/4" hose thread1 - Female Quick Disconnect to female 3/4" hose thread1 - 1/2" hose barb to female 3/4" hose thread 1 - rubber washer with filter screen3' of 1/2" flexible rubber hose1 - Active Aqua PU160 water pump12' 1/4' O.D. drip line hose12 - Drip stakes or drip nozzles with tie down stakes12 - Square Plastic pots sized to fit 3 across top of tote lid1 - 24 Hr timer with 15 minute on/off timing intervals The first 11 items on the list were all purchased from Home Depot and can be picked up at most hardware stores.

Hydroponic Drip Garden for Vegetables, Herbs or Flowers

The remaining item were purchased from a local hydroponics store in Billerica MA [www.greenlifegardensupply.com]. Small NFT Hydroponics System. Garduino: Gardening + Arduino. Garduino Upgrade, Now with more Twitter! A couple months ago I came across two great instructables. The first was the Garduino, an arduino controlled garden to help you grow plants at home. The second was the Tweet-a-Watt, a project that teaches you how to monitor your home power usage using Xbees and Twitter.

I read about both these projects here at Instructables and in Make Magazine, Vol 18. I thought it would be great to combine both these projects and build myself an indoor garden that I could monitor from work via Twitter. Thus began an adventure in gardening and electronics that taught me a lot and took me much longer than perhaps it should have.

If you're ready then head to the next step and begin the process! My Indoor DWC Hydroponics System. To the naked or untrained eye, plants can appear as very simple and boring forms of life.

My Indoor DWC Hydroponics System

In reality, plants are very complex creatures. In fact, genetically speaking plants are about twice as complex as humans. They exist in two very separate yet two very interconnected and equally important worlds. There is the above ground world of the shoot system and the underground world of the root system. The shoot system of the plant is what we normally see when we look at a plant in the ground. This chemical process is known as photosynthesis in which the radiant energy from the sun is harnessed and converted into chemical energy in the form of sugars. The process of photosynthesis is actually much more complex than the above chemical reaction. The root system is responsible for providing the leaves and the rest of the plant with the required raw materials for metabolism and photosynthesis. The second problem with soil it that nutrients are often scarce and in a form not usable by the plant. How to build a Hydrobucket.