The ability to grow luscious vegetables in a small space has been the focus of my hydroponic gardens. This was the second version of an aeroponic garden and this one seems to be more user-friendly than my previous barrel design. This garden has space to grow 32 plants and the timer can be set for different intervals depending on the plants' needs.

Supplies

Materials

5'- 4" PVC pipe
(32) 3/4" 45-degree elbows
1/4" PVC board
Round tote bin
Water Pump
Light Timer
PLA filament
Silicone caulk
4' pipe cap
1/2"x1/2" screw to barb fitting (brass)
1/2"x1/4" barb to screw fitting (brass)

Tools

Drill
3D Printer
Jigsaw
1 1/4" spade bit
Variety of sandpaper
Caulking gun

Step 1: The Tower

To start, make four lines equidistant apart along the side of the pipe. These will be about 3 1/2" apart and should divide into quarters. Next, make seven points along each line spaced 5" apart vertically. At this point, it's time to drill the holes. If your reservoir bin allows for more space, you could add additional rows. The spade bit is exactly the same diameter as the outside of the PVC elbows, so I had to rock the drill side to side in order to widen the holes for the elbows. Once all the holes are drilled, you can put silicone around the elbow and press-fit them into the holes. You can also scrape the excess silicone off with a little spade. The pump I used was too big to fit in the pipe, so I had to also drill holes around the bottom to feed the water tube through and to let the water recycle back into the reservoir.

Step 2: The Reservoir

I chose a round container for my reservoir based on personal preference, but any tote bin or container would work. The tower needs a way to stay upright in the reservoir, so I 3D printed a piece that the tube fits in to keep it in that position. This piece could easily be made from something else if you don't have a 3D printer. I used caulk to connect it to the bottom of the tank, but I would probably use some sort of plastic cement next time.

3D file

Step 3: The Lid

The bin I used was 22" wide, so I opted to make the lid 23" to give it a lip. I used 1/4" PVC board so it would look clean and wouldn't be susceptible to water damage. This could definitely be substituted with wood if you are looking for a more budget-friendly option, it will just have to be treated with some oil or varnish. I used a scrap piece of plastic and a nail to draw the circle. To do this I spaced the nail and the pencil the distance of the radius I wanted, which was 11 1/2" for the outer circle and 2 1/4" for the inner one. After that, I cut along the lines with the jigsaw and sanded the edges until they were round and smooth. The bin I used had rope handles, so there were already holes around the rim to secure the lid. I traced where the holes were and drilled them out so I can tie down the lid.

Step 4: The Pump System

The pump I used for this garden was an 800gph pump from Amazon (nothing too special), I'm sure there are plenty of options at a hardware store as well. To get the water to the top I used a 5/16" ID vinyl tube with a 1/2"x1/2" barb to screw brass fitting to connect it to the pump. I cut the tube at just over 5' and put a 1/2"x1/4" barb to screw brass fitting to screw into the 3D printed insert. The insert goes at the top of the tower and holds the water supply in the middle and helps divert the water to the roots. The pump has a lot of pressure for the height and the water jets out of the top, so I just used a pipe cap to direct the water back down. To assemble it, I connected the vinyl tube to the pump and fed it through one of the holes we created in the bottom of the pipe, and feed the tube all the way to the top. Then you can attach the 3D print and fit it into the pipe and cap it off.

3D file

Step 5: The Timer

The timer is one of the most important aspects of a hydroponic garden because it has to be reliable and consistent. Generic light timers are pretty cheap but they run on 30-minute intervals. The plants need water more often than that because there is no soil medium to keep the roots moist. The timer system is basically a mechanical gearbox that flips a switch at the set intervals. In order to change the time settings from 30 minutes to 1 minute, I was able to bypass two of the gears in the gearbox and basically lower the time it takes to make a revolution. Now, each click on the dial is a minute and I can run it for about 4 minutes on and 12 minutes off. Let me know in the comments if you would like me to make another instructable explaining this.

Step 6: Final Product!

This was a fun project to work on and is fairly simple to do. I already have some ideas for a revision of it, one of which is to scale it up. Hydroponic gardens like this are great ways to grow your own fresh produce even if you have limited space. The material costs are around $80-100 per unit, but that could be drastically reduced by buying in bulk or if you already have some supplies. I hope you enjoyed this project!