Installed 11/2005.
My Attempt at a Hydroponics Garden
In an attempt to help fight my never ending battle with nitrates, I created this little hydroponics garden.
|
Construction was simple. I took a piece of 3-inch PVC pipe, glued flat caps to each end, and used a jig saw to cut out a square hole in the middle of the pipe. I drilled holes in each end cap and inserted a mini-bulkhead with a barbed end and a 90-degree elbow on the input side (right). On the output side I used a Tee (left). My original design had an elbow on the ouput side too, but air was getting trapped in it, preventing water from flowing out. The Tee solved that problem (thanks to the helpful folks at Cichlid-Forum for the suggestion). Vinyl tubing is attached to each barb. |
|
I built a frame to enclose the PVC pipe that matches my light hood. It sits just above and behind the light hood with its back up against the wall. The input tubing is connected to a very small powerhead (80 gph) that sits in my tank behind the styrofoam background. The powerhead is adjustable, and I have it set to the lowest flow rate. If it's set too high the ouput cannot keep up with the input. If I was doing this over, I would make the output a larger diameter than the input to help compensate for the unequal flow problem. The output tubing goes through a small hole drilled in the top of my filter (AC 110). |
|
Here you can see the result. Pothos plants that were rooted in water for a few weeks have been added. The plants rest in a piece of eggcrate that I cut to just fit into the pipe. Also note that the frame is not attached to the light hood, but rests on its own stand that sits on the floor behind the tank. This is so I can raise or move the light hood without affecting the plants. |
|
Installed 11/2005. |