Hyduino - Automated Hydroponics with an Arduino

So, you may be wondering...WHAT IS HYDROPONICS?

Basically, hydroponics is growing plants without the use of a traditional dirt medium by using a nutrient rich water solution. Those mediums used to "plant" in range from fiberglass to sand and from fired clay balls to nothing at all. Several branches of hydroponics include aeroponics, aquaponics, etc. But WHY would I want to take all this extra time and effort to grow my plants in this "special water"? Well, hydroponically grown foods not only taste better and are more nutritional, you can change the properties of your food, monitor what goes into your food and pollute less. You can also grow more in less space. This is especially great for those people that that have limited areas in their backyard to grow in. With the right plant selection, you can also keep pests away; a citronella plant has oils that keep away mosquitoes and other pests. Now if this wasn't enough for you to jump right in to hydroponics, listen to this: hydroponics uses 70 to 90 percent LESS water than conventional growing does.

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I think this will be my first full instructable project. Great Job.

Good.... project...I feel that there are many one who buy it with some plants with ethernet shield to control via internet.

Sweeet!!!!

For your next project, and the last word in hydroponics automation, combine this with one of the spectrometer projects on Instructables to give a readout of the nutrient concentrations and a mechanism for adding them based on the measurements. :-)

Super, will try this in the new year for veggies outside.

awesome job, thanks so much for sharing! how long did this project take you?

no problem! thanks for the compliment! It wasn't *too* time consuming after I had planned everything out. If you had all the parts or were able to go to a local store to get them, you should probably be able to finish it in a weekend.

It's funny finally seeing a project such as this on here. I have been toying with the idea for a little while and using the Mega ADK. However...have you looked into the use of a different light spectrum? The F3 light spectrum works fine to mimic summer early fall...but Nasa has released the X5. 6500 Kelvin white with blue mixture. Also...a varient of the octostroller would work but would require a beagle bone to drive it and a 60amp power supply for the 5v. Still yet...great design!! I've honestly debated on using MISO/MOSI and controlling other microcontrollers to do pH. Once again...THANKS FOR SHARING!!!

Great project, I am working on my own, but if I didn't, I would probably have used your design.One question though. In the pin numbers you mention pin 53 for SD chip select, but you use pin 51 and 52, which are used for communicating with the SD card. Is this a typo or is this really true, cause if it is, you won't be able to use the SD card.

You're totally right in pointing that out! Yes, apparently I mistyped the pin numbers in the list...thanks! Good luck on your project!

nice projet

Nice project

what is the RTC for?

well i read many about this project, its sounds really good, i think i understand all to star working, except how to connect the 3.2" TFT LCD Shield, anyone can help me with that please? Thank you so much

Great project

Cool

Can you share more detailed wiring information please

Could you share the libraries needed for code?

Do you have any pictures to offer with plants successfully grown using this system?

Did you write the code for this project? Because your post seems to imply that it is all your code and idea, with minimal input from Billie, but the inverse is true; you just copied his project, added a function for light control, removed the comments at the top giving Billie credit as author, and then took credit for it all.You're young; here's a lesson in life, your reputation is more valuable than what internet people think of you, stealing ideas and taking credit for them as your own is a huge blow to your reputation and credibility. Especially having used your actual name with a picture attached.Original project by Billie:<a href="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=130344.0" rel="nofollow">http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=130344.0</a>

lol, offended that you got called out for ripping off someone elses work and calling it your own?http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=130344.0

Here's a youtube video of the system in action by the guy who actually designed the whole thing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbRGrWuBp-Y&feature=channel&list=UL

Nice work on the write-up, but shame on you for not giving credit where it's due! Your code is almost a complete rip of Billie-s-Hydroponic-Controller (<a href="https://github.com/BillieBricks/Billie-s-Hydroponic-Controller/blob/master/HydroponicControllerV1.1.0" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/BillieBricks/Billie-s-Hydroponic-Controller/blob/master/HydroponicControllerV1.1.0</a>) . At least give credit where its due and avoid misdirection if folks want the real source and perhaps even contribute to it. Thanks again for spending the time to do a decent write up, but please, at least cite the resource you used to avoid confusion.

Did you write the code for this project? I ask because the instructions make it seem like it is your code, but it's open source and written by someone else. The last commit on github was 2013, well over a year before this post. Additionally Billie's project has been on going since at least 2012.His github: <a href="https://github.com/BillieBricks/Billie-s-Hydroponic-Controller" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/BillieBricks/Billie-s-Hydroponi...</a>Original discussion thread: <a href="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=130344.0" rel="nofollow">http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=130344.0</a>You shouldn't take credit for things that you didn't do.

can i add ec to it or not

I like your project. but I just have some questions regarding it and I already sent you a private message. I hope you'll reply. :)

hi, good project i'm waiting the missing parts

I must be missing something. We would love to build this for our makerspace, but without any pictures of the complete setup and a wiring diagram or schematic, it seems to be something of a crapshoot. Clearly, you know what you are doing and have posted a reasonably good partial description, but there seems to be a lot of missing information. Is there another site where I can find this or has anyone else actually built one? Any additional information would be much appreciated.

Great project! Love the design and documentation. I have one concern: How long that Ph sensor is going to last, or more importantly, how long it will give accurate readings. Can you please check it and let us know how long it actually works?

would love to have TDS supported as well great build

Is there a picture of the finished product? That helps me visualize. Thanks.

Can you add some diagramms and schemantics to your instruction, where we can identifiy the wiring of the water-pipes (in and out directions), the eletronic wiring to the eletronic parts (lights, pumps, water-switches) this would help us to understand the already great instruction better. A drawing with pencil and basic symbols on white paper would done the job so I thing. An higher-level overview of the System.

What was the cost for the entire set up?

What if i want the result to be displayed on my smartphone?? How can i control it from my smartphone? If possible what are further modifications?

oops, not 46 but 56

Was just wondering... the RTC has 46 bytes of non volatile ram. I am not sure how much EEPROM memory you use in the Arduino.. I saw some eight write/read actions with bytes. integers and floats, but I guess rather than write to eeprom, you could store yr values in the RTC. Reason for this is that the RTC claims to have no limit on the number of write actions, whereas the Arduino I think does have a limit (100.000)

great project. I made a basic controller that can be used for a greenhouse or a growbox, and i was thinking of doing some auquaponics with it as well... so i may steal yr idea of using 2 peristaltic pumps for the pH. Do you have any results with the LED lamps? supposedly some people swear by them while others say it doesnt work