by britta
How to: WF Version 2.0 Standing AirLift Mini (SAM)
11:05 am in Getting Started, How-Tos by britta
These are UPDATED instructions that show you how to make a ‘mini’
1 hour build- The easiest, cheapest, smallest windowfarm. Gets you started on hydroponics ASAP! This version is designed to be easy to assemble for folks who want to try out a windowfarm but are not quite ready to build the structure needed for larger windowfarms. This system can grow three plants. The basic configuration includes three bottles that act as plant holders, a bottom reservoir to capture/hold water, and tubing to move water through the system. It also utilizes a small air pump that uses water displacement to elevate the water up to the top of the system, where it can then trickle down through each plant.
Check the comments below for updates and to read about other folks’ experiences before you build (remember this is an ongoing R&D process so don’t think of it as a product!!)
Please note that we ask anyone who downloads the how-to to register on the site and to come back and post as you build, not just when you’re finished. You give back to the project by participating on the site. Bring questions, ideas, results of your testing various processes. This is a mass collaboration on the R&D of these systems.
IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT ELECTRICAL SAFETY: Remember to include a drip loop (position the cord so it hangs down below the electrical plug).
Note: Starting in 2012, after a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, Windowfarms began selling One, Two, and Four-Column Windowfarms. The new Windowfarms are sustainably manufactured in the US, made of recyclable components, and are easy to setup — so you can quickly get setup and begin learning about growing food. If you would prefer to buy a Windowfarm, please visit The Windowfarms Store.
Hello!
I was (and still am) VERY excited about this project… I have gathered all materials and will start building soon. found stores in my area that had the items. I DID want to make one comment so far that may be of interest to some: I wonder HOW the starter can be done for less then $30… it seems like a far dream… I am not sure I’ll be able to eat next week.. this thing ran so overbudget! (Chuckle)
But seriously… the recommended Petco pump (model 9903) was 17.99 plus tax for a total of 19.38… and THAT was just because an associate had looked at the isle price and had told me that.. OTHERWISE it would have been 19.99 plus tax!
Then…32oz of plant food IS going to cost you at least 12.95 just for cheap stuff with chemicals.. I bought the cheapest organic 32oz size type for 18.95…
You doing the math? I’m already at right about $40 and i haven’t included ANYTHING ELSE that’s needed yet like air needles or tubing. Tubing ALSO ended up being expensive! (Although.. I may have gotten twice what i need and can return some… it was sold pre-cut at 10′ at home depot so i got the one or two of the required sizes in 10′ lengths since it doesn’t say what length or how much tubing you needed..) AND don’t even get me started on the huge bags of clay pellets…
Anyhow… once started i was really committed to at least TRY this… but really…I went in thinking “around $30…” I am right now at around $70, for the 3 bottle starter system… (NOT even including plants!)
I was talking to my mom about growing tomatoes in my new system and she’s all like: “Darlyne, you could buy a whole lot tomatoes for $30…” After that… I didn’t DARE tell her how much it was really costing me!
I’m new to this site and don’t know how to navigate my way around the discussions.
Having said that . . . .
Several days ago I assembled a version of a mini-stack. Four Ozarka bottles. After 4 or 5 hours of jiggering with the airlift, I gave up and bought a small aquarium pump. The pump lifts the feeder solution to the top , at which point it is fed through the stack with a small pressure compensating dripper. Feed rate is about one gallon per hour.
I posted a picture of this thing on my Blog.
Question: Is there a reason to leave the pump on 24/7? That would be the easiest approach. If not . . . should I install a photo-switch to turn the little rascal on during daylight hours.
One thing we have in abundance down here (Houston) is sunlight. Since my apartment is mostly floor to ceiling windows, I’m assuming that gro –lights would be unnecessary.
Any thoughts?
Rudy
I just made my air lift system! Very excited for it, and I hope my plants will hold on. I do think I’ll add a silencer soon. Gurgle, gurgle.
The instructions were pretty clear, but a few amendments for the how-to manual v. 3.0:
a) The materials list should say what the lengths needed are of the different tubes (it has inside/outside diameters, but I did buy 3′ too much of some tubes because, admittedly, I wasn’t as thorough in fully reading and analyzing the instructions until I had all the materials on hand).
b) Plumber’s tape is needed to make the adapter tube fit snugly with the pump hose. After I figured that one out, the system seems to be working fine.
THANKS! AWESOME INITIATIVE!
I’m very interested in this as well. I live in a very small place in Amsterdam and have had the urge to garden for a while already again. I’m currently looking around shops and web shops to see if I can find all the stuff I need over here as well.
One thing I was wondering though, is it absolutely necessary to have two tubes going from the air pump into the tube to lift the water up? So far I haven’t been able to find any details on why there is two going up. Can anyone help me with that? Thanks!
Basically, chaurica, we just found that it did not work without two tubes with the pumps we were using. I think all the pumps we used with this design had two outlets. WE found that to create a big enough air bubble to carry the water, you needed to have bubbles from two lines converge. It may be a factor of the interior diameter of the larger tubing. Do some experimenting! Improve the design!
Thanks for your answer. I wondered because I could only find pumps with a single outlet rather than two.
Darlyne, thank you letting us know about the cost. I wasn’t sure if $30 was a enough and I want to budget it properly.
Sorry it was a surprise for you…
Just finished my mini. I eventually got frustrated try to make the one gallon reservoir work so I threw it out and bought a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. It works SO MUCH better. The water depth is sufficient to generate the pressure needed to make the pump work well. And the air pump can just sit on top of the lid, instead of using the one way air flow thing to prevent back draining of water into the pump (which is good because the pump I bought only included one… damn you Petco). I really suggest this approach to anyone who is freaking out because their airpump isn’t working…
Complete newbee here,(10 minutes). We live on a houseboat in Alameda Ca. and enjoy good weather most of the year. One of my passions is container growing and want to try foods. Heard about you on NPR and thought this was a great way to get all season growing and keep my outside windows box’s as well. Can you please send me off on the best no experimentation start up for a small system?
Tks Walter
I’m really confused about the sizing of tubes needed and the lengths that they need to be.
Step six says that the air lift tube should be 3/8″ Inside Diameter, however, the materials list does not indicate a tube with 3/8″ Inside Diameter, just two with 3/8″ Outside Diameter. Is this a typo? Should the reinforced tube for the airlift be 3/8″ Inside or Outside?
Step eight says to cut the adapter tubes and the pump tubes to the appropriate lengths according to the materials list. However, the materials list does not indicate lengths, for either the adapter tubes or the pump tubes, nor which is which.
Finally, I’ve been to two different Home Depots, a plumbing store, and a kitchen supply store, and none have any tubing with 1/8″ Inside Diameter. Is anyone else having problems finding that? I don’t live in NY so I can’t go to Canal and it doesn’t look like you can order from them online.
Aquarium stores (Like actual fish stores) will sell pumps for less the then Petco sometimes. granted you will not get the same brand (Elites by Hagens) and will need to foot the cost for the check values.
Hydroponic stores can also be a source of cheap parts as I’ve found that the tube to tube connectors they use work just as well as the pump needle, fit to the airline tubing WITHOUT a connector, and are pointed on one end with threading to allow for a close, and tight fit which does not allow air to leak out. Their barbed on the other end as well. Those sell for 10 cents a fitting. And are avaliable at homedepot for more if you want to buy it in a pack for a little more.
Check your local hydroponics and the irrigation section at Homedepot.
There are ways you can cut cost on this project, but like a lot of DIY projects, there are also a lot of ways cost can balloon. Proper planning is ESSENTIAL before you start, and having an idea of what you want yours to look like if you decide to modify is critical to keeping cost low. The ability to see outside of the box for part sourcing and usage will also cut cost you will find.
Due to the nature of this (you can always find things to tweak, and ways to make things *better*) your cost will always go up over time unless you can stop yourself from tweaking thigns
@Cora I’m using a pump with only one outlet, and it’s working fine. It’s a pitiful puny thing, with only 0.016Mpa pressure, but I tweaked things a bit and it works for four bottles. It was a matter of straightening up the tubes and getting a tall reservoir. Hope that helps!
Hello! i just came upon your initiative, and it seems pretty amazing. I have a few questions though, before i would embark on constructing myself a window farm:
-what is the advantage over just sowing vegetables in pots that you put on your windowsill?
-could there not be a way to do it without the pump (not to mention lights)? It seems a little bit on the energy consuming side still. I don’t mind watering my plants multiple times a day. So why not construct a reservoir on top of the windowfarm, with some slow trickle-down mechanism? I’m sure it can’t be impossible to make something simple that just lets water drop down slowly (reservoir with a tiny hole on top of the first bottle, some filter material to slow down the water…). Or is the pump absolutely necessary?
so i was about to get started, when i realized that wheat should be grown in continuous bunches, and it’s inefficient to grow wheat with this bottle system. so, i got a 3ft wide section of some plastic corrugated roofing material, and im going to place little slanted shelves across the face of it going all the way down. i’ll use strips of water-proof tarp riveted to the roofing material and tied up by string as my ‘shelves’ and i’ll lay some 50/50 vermiculite/perlite mix in as growing medium. the roofing material will be slightly slanted to allow each wheat stalk to grow up past the shelf above it. then i’ll be using the air-pump drip-feed system illustrated in this pdf. basically, im modifying this project to make it more continuous than just bottle-to-bottle, specifically for growing wheat
of course, i just dreamed up this whole set of modifications moments ago; i didnt describe it well and i havent thought it through entirely =P any questions as to what i mean, or any suggestions to save me from making mistakes??
Thanks!
Ken
What steps have been taken to insure that people building window farms are not exposing themselves to toxic heavy metals found in many types of vinyl tubing? What has been done to ensure that vinyl-tubing types that do leach into water and are not approved for human water use, do not affect plant quality, and toxic assets are not passed on to the plant consumer? To many components of these systems are not approved for use in human water supplies, this leads me to believe that there is no research on the potential risk being passed onto vegetation consumers. For those who choose to eat any fruit or vegetable at the store are probably not at any higher risk of ill health but what about people who choose to be strictly organic?
What toxic trace metals are found in the inflation needles? Maybe hypodermic needles would be a better substitute? (Probably not legal to posses in all states) Its never safe to garden in untested dirt, what about an untested hydroponic system?
Hi – am new. What would be the minimum ideal window height for the 3 plant system? AND – can you expand the 3 plant system or would you just be setting up a series of 3 plant systems? Thanks!
I was wondering the same thing that Oliver tog asked in the first post. Does anyone know about leaching? Thanks.
@Oliver tog,
Silicone tubing is widely available from petstores, which i believe is quite inert and will not leach, (further research required).
Stainless steel inflation needles are easy to come by, and shouldnt be laws against them. Ebay search for dispensing needles should give a result or 2.
Ps., usually its best to offer a solution before you start whistleblowing..
@olivertog check out: http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/05/05/plastic-free-window-farm/ for a completely plastic free system, if you are worried about the original materials, this is a reference. And as asawula said, don’t be a whistleblower, this blog is for people to realize deficiencies in the design and work together to fix them; this is a grassroots movement, not a corporation.
Is there any perticular reason to have a 2 way air pump?
We are trying to create a windows farm at our school in Denmark and we are trying to convert to our local resourses. We have figured out that we need a 4 Wats pump for the 3-plant airlift system, but we can not find any 2 way pumps. We have found a splliter so we can get 2 tubes coming from one pump, but is this nessassary?
How much pressure does one of these pumps use? And how much air per houre do they push through? Why I ask these questions is because here in Denmark the air pumps are not messured in the size of the aquarium, but watt and air per hour.
Also there is a big difference in price between 3 watt pumps and 4 watt pumps. Can we use a 3 watt?
@Ken: Look in to the NFT (Nutrient Film technique). It is what you are looking at doing.
I’m brand new here today, and am just getting my bearings. One thing I would like to fiddle with is the air pump and reservoir size. I have a few old aquarium air pumps collecting dust, but they’re small. My hypothesis is that if I use two, and use a reservoir that’s tall and narrow, perhaps that will give the right flow.
I’m also interested in testing LED lighting. Not cheap exactly, but very low power. I may end up hanging everything in a little metal shelf unit/enclosed greenhouse that I got for starting seeds, as I have three cats who like to mess around with leaves a lot. I’d prefer to have first dibs on the lettuce we grow.
Oh, for those who are not sure about plastic tubing, but can’t do latex either, there’s silicone. Found some here that looked useable:
http://www.industrialplastictubing.com/pages/SiliconeTubing.htm
I am having the same problem as rhubarbpie. I have been looking at these instructions for hours now, and I can not figure out what length of tubbing is needed, nor what the tube types are. The following is all that the instructions mention about tubes:
____
- 1x 3/8″ Outside Diameter 1/4″ Inside Diameter Kuritec Reinforced
- 2x 1/4″ Outside Diameter 1/8″ Inside Diameter vinyl Tube
- 1x 3/8″ Outside Diameter 1/4″ Inside Diameter
Step Six: … air lift tube (3/8″ Inside Diameter Rubber Tube at 4’6″ long).
___
As you can see, there is no tube in the material list that has a 3/8″ Inside diameter as is mentioned in step six. So which of the three tubes in the material list is the air lift tube?
Also, what type of tubing is third tube, the 3/8″ outside diameter?
And for all three, what is the length of tubing required?
Thanks for your help!
I too bought the simplest air pump with only one air outlet and it seems to be working fine. And my lift tube is only the smaller 1/4″ one, not the 3/8″ every says to use. The hardware store didn’t have 3/8″ so I bought the tubing that fits on the air pump. Using a small piece of tubing I actually has at home I attached a 1″ piece to the bottom of the 1/4″ tubing, tied it good with a zip-tie. And then I stuck my air tube up it along with a 1″ piece of air tubing to allow water in.
It seems to be working fine and I’m confused why everyone says to use a dual pump. In fact I forgot to attach my one-way valve and it’s working fine. My airpump is above my reservoir (just the way my setup works) so I’m not sure if I need to be worried about water getting into my airpump since I don’t have the one way valve.
The water is really barely trickling out though. Maybe a drop every few seconds. You can definitely see movement in the lift tube but nothing drastic. Should I be seeing more (if I used the dual pump) or is this what I should be getting?
How about noise? Any tips to muffle it? The most sound is coming from my reservoir, I even stuffed a sock in the top.
the materials list does not list any 3/8″ inside diameter tubing that the plans say 4.5′ are needed. what are the specs for this tubing other than size? black rubber? clear plastic (vinyl?)? I like the idea of clear plastic so I can watch the bubbles.
What are the lengths needed for the 3 other types of tubing listed on the materials list?
thanks,
mgrafste
HI! I downloaded the pdf but the resolution is really small. I can barely read it.
I want to do something between this one and the large one. I must be free standing, does anyone know how many bottles I can attach and it still function right. I figure possibly making three stacks but can the air pump power three lines?
@jef, i looked into the benefits of this system over just growing plants in pots – a hydroponic system can produce much more in the space of a window than just plants in pots because the plants dont use waste their energy growing roots to get their nutrients and water from the soil. so more plant volume and food production per window – from what i’ve read maybe twice as much
I just completed my windowfarm and found that the airlift system was very sensitive. If I moved any of my pots or touched the tubing a bit, the system would start bubbling rather than push water up the tube. Quite a bad system, plus the fact that it relies on the volumetric water pressure above the tube openning to push water up the tube. Meaning, I’ll need to top up the water every few days to maintain the water pressure.
I decided to put a one way valve at the tube opening that sucks in water. It works perfectly now. In fact, I believe I can even cut down the air-pumps to just a single outlet and maintain a consistent drip coz now the there’s no reliance on the volumetric water pressure at all. I don’t need to constantly top up the water either…. In fact, I believe I can have the water level close to nothing and there’s still going to be a suction! =D
Latest update: I set my airpump to the lowest setting(like running off half of a valve), and I’m getting a nice consistent drip. Now the airlift is almost silent! One way valve works miracles!
What I like suggest is to use instead of collection bottle for every vertical line – maybe is better to use bigger one (like canister – from which one pump will distribute) – what will give equivalent supply of fluid for all lines.
Thanks,
dr
While I think what you have made is excellent! I agree with others about cost.
The whole point is to use excsiting recyclable items and create a garden with low maintenance.
mine dosent need any tubes hangs freely and can be made for a few dollars
KIS thats my motto
anyway for anyone thats intersted heres the link
http://urbangreensurvival.blogspot.com/2010/07/hydroponic-bottle-garden.html
How to: WF Version 2.0 Standing AirLift Mini (SAM) The NEW PDF link does not work, the old one does.
I am sorry if this is posted somewhere and I have missed it – but I would really like to build a window garden.
However, I have tinted my windows to decrease the UV and heat entering my condo and this cuts out (supposedly) 99% of the UV rays.
I feel silly asking this, but will this diminish the ability for my window garden to grow or fruit?
Thank you so much,
Tammy
Hello,
My girlfriend and I are looking to make one of these. But, we only have about 2.5 to 3 ft. of vertical window space. Will a 2L bottle work for the reservoir and 500ml water bottles for the plant holders?
Thanks,
Scott.
we using the wather from a fishtank. the fishs producing a good fertilizer and the the hydrocirculation capture the O2 for them…. the fishs are feed the plans!!!!!!!!!! israel
Just built my first 3-bottle lift system today. I’m not ashamed to say that it took me quite a bit longer than most probably… about 8 hours of figuring out what I actually needed and where to find it. The local hydroponics guy was not very helpful – he wanted to sell me one of his systems istead of helping me figure out what I needed for this one.
If I could offer one suggestion to windowfarms.org folks, it would be to please show a better photo of how the air needles are used. The PDF is very hard to see and if you’re not sure what you’re doing anyway… well… it could take you 8 hours to build one!!! I was very confused by the diagram showing the air valves … my air pump has a flow regulator, so I didn’t need the valves (I hope)… wil let you know how things grow!
@mike – I was wondering if I could use my tadpole habitat as the tank. Do you think I could get away without using the hydroponic plant food with that set up? (I don’t want 5 legged frogs to develop). Basically, is there enough nutrition in the waste product they product?
Thank,
Kris
Hi, I’m trying to build the 3-bottle version but am confused by which tubes I need and which tube is which. The materials list says:
x1 3/8″ Outside Diameter 1/4″ Inside Diameter Kuritec Reinforced
x2 1/4″ Outside Diameter 1/8″ Inside Diameter vinyl Tube
x1 3/8″ Outside Diameter 1/4″ Inside Diameter (????? nothing is specified here, another vinyl tube?)
Step Six refers to an Air Lift Tube which is 3/8″ Inside Diameter Rubber Tube at 4’6″ long, but there is no 3/8″ inside diameter tube listed in the materials list.
Step Eight refers to adapter tubes and pump tubes- but I don’t know which tube is meant to be which. I have two tubes that came with my air pump which seem to be the 2x 1/4″ OD 1/8″ ID. I assume these are supposed to be the pump tubes, and the one listed on the materials list as 3/8″ OD 1/4″ ID is the adapter tube? It says “cut the adapter tubes and pump tubes to the appropriate length (see materials list)” but no appropriate lengths are given on the materials list.
Can you please clarify? I have downloaded the “latest, correct” PDF but it looks to be the same as the “old” one. Thanks!
Did you download from the site here or dis you download from somewhere else on the web? Old versions are still floating around out there, which is why we stopped doing PDFs. Makes it really difficult to troubleshoot when you are also dealing with versioning issues. Anyway, we are learning, slowly but surely. I will double check that the links are going to the updated version 2 PDF, in which we did have better pictures and a fix of the low resolution issue.
I will look into this issue. Maybe we changed a folder structure somewhere. Sorry about that! -Britta
Hi, thanks so much for looking into this! I downloaded the instructions from http://www.windowfarms.org/howto/3plantairliftHOWTO_3_4_10.pdf, which is labeled “New PDF” in the text. It is quite low-res and hard to read, so maybe it is an old one.
I think this is my winter break project! So exciting.
I have a little video about using an upside down sauce bottle as the reservoir and a t joint for the airlift. The sauce bottle cost about 2 dollars. I think 12 to 14 inches of “submergence” would be easily in the design range of these little air pumps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SOdN3LrRHU
Just arrived yesterday after searching for how to build a vertical hydroponic garden. I’m a bit of a gardening “junkie”. My outdoor garden grows in scale a little bit every year and not having food growing during the winter months leaves me a wanting. So, I practice winter sowing and early starting of my crops and now I’m researching hydroponics to extend my growing season year round. Building this mini window farm unit will be a great project for my 5-year-old and me to do together. She is learning to love gardening as much as I do
.
If any of you who have built this unit or a variation of it have links to pictures and step by step instructions of what you did and how you modified them, please, post them here or as a comment on my gardening blog – http://garden.earthformed.com. THANKS
Thanks for these instructions. Like a few others I’ve had some problems sourcing the items on your list locally and to order them online will end up costing 3 times the estimated $30 budget (might as well BUY an Aerogarden for that price). The other problem is there are no lengths provided for the tubing. The instructions are written assuming that you know which tubing to use for what and in what length – but this led me to purchase too much of one type of tube and too little of another. I’m improvising and will post images and details of my results.