Hi, I will like to know if anyone knows how to make a system of irrigation such that by using valves or other materials and a storage of rain water it can irrigate the plants while I am not home. If anyone knows of  websites that might help me I will appreciate it.

A quick question with, I am sure, no quick answer.
I am building a top reservior system.
A 23 watt water pump, on a timer, gets the water to the top of the resevoir, and gravity feeds it down. Simple!
But what if a pipe were to disconnect, leak, or water to leave the system unexpectedly?
I would then have the pump still working with NO WATER.
An obvious fire and electrcal hazard!!
Does anyone know of a way to make the system detect, then shut down, in such an event.
As I am building this in my work place I don’t want to come in 7 days a week to check on it.
I have no clue as how to solve this one.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And I wil try my best to return the favour.
Cheers!

very new to this windowfarming. only saw it yesterday but really like the idea of it and want to get one set up as soon as i can. i have tried looking all over the site so i wouldnt have to ask… but i either cant find it.. or i have but i just dont understand it.

i have an air pump already but it only has one place the air come out. in the v2 model pics they have 2 tubes comming out of the pump and going into the airlift tube thing. do i need a pump with 2, or would a pump with one work. it may seem like a small question to ask but im working on a minimal budget so the money i cna save on not having to buy a new pump will go on other things

thanks in advance to any help

Here is a recent photo.  All of the components are together and working well finally.

It’s powered with an 8 outlet air pump (I’m only using 6).

http://www.hydroasis.com/hy/productdetail.aspx?id=1183#

Here is my spin in the basic window farm design, with additional lighting added due to the lack of sunny days in Portland Oregon this time of year.

The water/nutrient source is from an already established planted aquarium that is also my coffee table.

Indoor aquaponic window farm

I’ll be adding 4 more columns, 2 in each of the side windows.  The water supply line is extra high above the pots to allow room for additional pots later.  The completed system allows for 24-30 pots.

Custom hanging design

I used alligator clips with S hooks to hang the pots.  I went with white nylon cord to match the white pots.  The cord can be found at general Walmart type stores for really cheap, it’s more expensive at hardware stores.

Close up of pot and drip tube.

I went with an open pot design for aesthetic reasons.  I shopped around for something better looking than bottles, but I couldn’t find anything I liked that wasn’t overly expensive.  To take care of the splashing issue of water dropping from pot to pot, I added air tubing to guide the water flow.  This also allows me to place seedlings in the center of the pot, and place the water outlet to the side, to keep the seedlings from getting beaten up from the impact of the dripping water.

Closeup of how I added a reflector to the fluorescent light.

For an extra kick of light during the fall/winter session I added a T5 florescent light.  To keep the light from lighting up my entire place, I added a reflector to direct the light out sideways which also pushes more light towards the plants.  Using 2 elbow brackets, and a piece of roof flashing from the hardware store, it was easy to put together.  I’m going to spray paint the reflector with white primer to match the rest of the design.

More info coming soon….

Has anyone an idea, whether a smal solar panel can run the air pump? I want to build up a absolut green windowfarm, so that the air pump didn`t use normal electricity, but with solar energy. How big has that panel to be? Has anyone tried it?

Greetz Matthias

I don’t want to spend too much money on lamps, and the space between the window, the plants and the curtains is very small, so i don’t think it would be wise to put some 100W of heat right next to the curtain. I think these are okay: 10 euro’s for a 15 Watt CFL (the site claims it gives light as a 75 Watt incandescent).

http://www2.conrad.nl/goto.php?artikel=610325

and the manual (in german  )-: ) is here:

http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/datenblaetter/600000-624999/610325-da-01-ml-MegamanErsatzPflanzenlampe_ESL_15W_de_en.pdf

There’s a graph of the spectrum, which looks like it’s intende for plants, but i’m not sure if it’s not just a waste of money because they’re either to weak, or simply too cheap… Anyone?

Has anyone tried using RGB LED Light strips as a grow light for their plants? I’m wondering if this would provide the right spectrums of light? With the right controller, you can have incredibly precise control over the color of the light, plus they are available with a waterproof feature.

I’d like some input from people that have greater understanding than I on the subject before I drop the $300 or so this particular system will cost me to build, please!

Here is the strip: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&category=BARS&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FFLS-RGB.htm

The controller: http://www.superbrightleds.com/pdfs/LDK-RGB3.pdf

Update:

I was just reading on a website that plants get the best use of light in the violet/ blue and then red range, with the interceding green/orange/yellow range pretty much not doing much of anything. If I just set these to produce strong violet/blue colors, that’s pretty much the same thing, right?

I recently got my 2 column farm set up. I have to CFL’s hanging between the columns but have found that they are quite bright, and blind you if you look to close to them. I tried cutting up a plastic cup to just shade the back 1/4 of them not facing the plants, but the cups started to melt. Has anyone attempted doing anything like this, or have any ideas?

I just ordered and received a Petco #9902 pump, unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be adjustable according to the website.

http://www.petco.com/product/109838/Petco-Air-Pump.aspx

Unless I’m missing something, there are no knobs or dials to turn anywhere on this thing.  The bottom of the device has the model number AC-9902.  Not sure if this is the same thing as the instructions, but the link above is EXACTLY where I ordered it from.

Rather than argue with Petco, or try to find another pump, I’m simply going to find some inline control valves I can use in order to adjust the airflow.  I’ll post my results (including pictures)!!  Hopefully this will make any pump a good fit for this project.

-bk

This is something I came across at another project site. Its a detailed tutorial on how to modify a 24 hour timer into a 35 minute repeat timer at 50 sec intervals for hydroponic and aeroponic setups.

Very handy link.

If you don’t feel like making one, he also sells them from Ebay and his website.