I have a link to a download for the pdf file in the video description.   Please note that I have not looked in any detail at the file because I only got it yesterday morning.  BUT it probably contains relevant info or leads on how to make better low pressure airlift pumps.    So if you are into scientific research, dig in!      Please also note that my old pulser pumps produced something like 11 litres per minute  of 3 psi air but all you need for a windowfarm is about 20 litres per hour of 1 psi or less.    A small pulser pump in a stream with an air chamber 1 meter below the exit water could supply  something like 20 litres per minute of low pressure air.  (Enough for 60 windowfarm columns).   I do not have access to a river or stream here so I cannot demonstrate this.  Brian     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdx6qzpC988

Hey fellow window farmers! I switched out my old gallon green tea jug with this…a football fish tank I’ve had since I was a little kid. There’s a built in filter system too, so hopefully that will help reduce the algae build up. Let me know what you all think!

Hello everybody,

I am a student of industrial design that loves plants and the investigation of hydroponic watering.

So i have started to design a new kind of Windowsfarm by myself, following the steps of the ready-made process.

I am documenting everything in this webpage.

http://veggafarm.wordpress.com

Any advice!???? =) Hope you like it!

I do not have a stream near my place so I had to use a little solar powered water pump to make a “head of water”. So imagine that little flow of water is your stream, and it falls down a tube or pipe.  This is enough to power 1 windowfarm, so a real stream falling a ft  through a 3 inch pipe and going another 2 ft under water in the pool below the day  would pressurize enough air for about 6 windowfarm columns.  Then you can pipe the air through 3/8 irrigation tubing to wherever you want, into your house or greenhouse and up to your windowfarm.  (I found 3/8 irrigation tube the cheapest at my location).  Anybody want to try ?  Brian   Link is pulser pump nano demonstration

Here’s a pic of week 5. I use my phone’s camera so I couldn’t capture everything. I bought a new air pump with four outlets because I plan to build another grow container and put it on the other side of my windowsill. Making sure to have it elevated higher than the reservoir this time because my last pump had backlogged. I’d like to use all glass if I can…but most likely I’d have to get it cut the way I need it. Any suggestions? I’m thinking of a small glass fish tank for the reservoir. Adding another 15 watt solar panel to my Goal Zero Escape 150 will help with the addition to capture more battery power. Questions? Comments?

If you’d like to power your window farm via solar I suggest going with Goal Zero. Their kits are affordable and definitely work.

Hello, I’ve attempted my first window farm this week as a prototype for class. It’s been a bit difficult to find proper supplies in Hong Kong due to language barriers. Challenges and questions I’ve come across while exercising my poor engineering skills. I will be using black socks to cover the bottom of the bottles.

1. My seedlings have already been attacked twice with aphids and fungus gnats in it’s growing plugs. I had to start a fresh batch. If the seedlings are already so sensitive to the  moisture and humidity, how soon will my window farm be attacked by these pest? Anyone have experience with handling this in a humid country?

2. My tubing is too stiff to direct it away from the seedling. I’ve seen some systems using a toothpick or wooden chopstick, but my result was a moldy chopstick. I ended up using a fishing wire just to hold it down and a tape to keep the tube in place. I obviously need to find a better alternative. 

3. Reservoir problem. Due to the limited space in HK, I don’t have the luxury to have a big bottle for reservoir so I attempted to use a ketchup bottle on the bottom. I found the tip was a good way to plug the tubing in (I still need to reinforce it with plumbers tape, but haven’t found it yet).

4. Cutting through plastic was the biggest challenge.  I am not a very handy person, but I attempted to use the drill to make some holes on the bottom of the bottles but the bottom is thicker than the rest of the bottle, so I am not able to cut through it. In the end, I made a big circle but the bottles don’t fit perfectly. Any suggestions? I thought about using sticks to reinforce it.

5.I wanted to try out using water beads instead of clay pellets. Anyone have any success in it?

So, anyway I have been making pallet gardens and I airlift the water up to them and around and cycle it back to a reservoir just like in windowfarms. But it is a pallet so the water has to be spread across the pallet. I made a “flip flop” to do this and it fills up from the airlift pipe and then dunks the water out along the length of the pallet. Maybe that could be adjusted to work with just one airlift tube supplying 2 or 3 or 6 windowfarm columns? and video is at Flip Flop Video

It’s been almost a year since I lasted posted on here. Now I’m back with a little video update below. I bought a new air pump because my last one back siphoned due to the fact I didn’t have it elevated higher than my reservoir…oops! The new one has four air outlets, so I’m thinking of setting up a horizontal system on the other side of my window sill.

I’m open to any advice or comments! Here’s the video update link…

http://j-memory.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mov015.mov

So, just for play I wanted to see how little submergence I could get and still pump water. I filled a bucket, turned on the airlift and waited. How low would the water level go and still work? The gallery shows screenshots from the video when the submergence was 4 and a half inches. Sorry that they are so poor but you can always watch the video instead!

I am doing a couple of vertical pallet planters and changed the airlift to suit the planters. In this case, the next planter will have 2 wooden legs in plastic buckets. The water will drip down the legs and back into the buckets. I usually use the t joint method outside the bucket but I also appreciate that not everyone has room for a u tube that is one ft lower than your T joint. I tried a few different methods and this one works.
This way uses all the depth of the bucket and you might get a little bubbling when it restarts for a few seconds but usually not. Note that once again, I got a few days where the tubes acted funny before they behaved themselves. Pretty sure it is whatever sheen or grease is on new tubes. I think all new tubes need to just sit low with nutrient running through them for about a day before you put them up in position. There is almost zero drainback in new tubes and that is what is causing the problem. Newbies are going to be very confused by this.
My pallet planter project is at instructables A very interesting aspect of this (for me) is that the air pump is 120 ft away from the planter. (It still works and pumps the air through 1/4 inch tubing all the way to the greenhouse). Brian