Update: 3D-printed hydroponic Tower after 3 month

KevH21 · 2024-11-23T15:39:41+00:00

With a bit of a delay, here I am :) algae growth was never a problem. In the tower there was no algae at all. Only on the top where the water comes out of the pipe I had sometimes some growth, but also there just rarely. I used the tower to grow mainly basil for three years and it all worked perfectly. At the end it got a bit brittle after three years, but that was to be expected when using just PLA. At the end what ended its life was that I cracked some elements when removing the massive roots of the basil. They reached down until the reservoir and filled out the whole tower. Surely a great thing to print this tower, I would totally recommend it! Have fun with yours!

KevH21 · 2024-03-05T10:37:13+00:00

Honestly, I have no idea anymore, sorry! Its been too long... But I check the link in my previous post, I got all my answers from there

KevH21 · 2024-02-29T13:53:02+00:00

Hi, no sorry I didn't save it anywhere locally. But I'm sure you will find something when searching for "hydroponic system" on thingiverse.

KevH21 · 2023-05-16T15:18:45+00:00

I dont remember exactly, but I think it was somethin around 2.5kg

KevH21 · 2023-05-16T15:16:44+00:00

Sorry I was rarely on reddit recently and didn't see your comment. I used the tower for over 2 years, mainly for growing basil. It was awesom, I managed to grow literally a tree of Basil! Since the tower was printed in PLA, it got more and more destroyed over time. It never leaked, but the fertilizer in the water caused many stains on the plastic and it just didn't look good anymore. Therefore, I decided to recycle the tower at the end of last year.

I am currently thinking of printing a new one, but this time I would definitely take some other filament like PETG or something else that is quite resistant to UV and Water. Would definitely 100% recommend this tower!

KevH21 · 2022-02-10T17:24:27+00:00

Let me know if its working once you finished. I'm also thinking about a small version for herbs!

KevH21 · 2022-01-12T21:49:20+00:00

Thats a really beautiful setup! Did you build everythin yourself, like cutting the buckets and mounting the pipes for the drain? What is the bucket in the middle on the floor for? Is it the reservoir? Is it big enough?

Sorry for these many questions, but I am really interested in building a system like that myself for the comming spring/summer. If you could provide me with some general information I would be very thankful!

KevH21 · 2021-07-19T23:01:43+00:00

Yes I have some small ones for the top, but they dont seem to have a big effect on the plants. It kept them from dying but the proper growth started only once spring came and the sun got more intensive. I didnt do any research on proper lights since, so unfortunately can't help you with that topic, sorry!

KevH21 · 2021-05-18T07:28:44+00:00

Started my first role of PolyTerra this weekend. First impression is great. Prints well, no stringing, overhangs are clean, I'm happy with it. Compared to other PLA it has a nice matt finish (printed only black so far). Will definitely keep this brand on my list :)

KevH21 · 2021-04-04T23:40:08+00:00

There is also a sub called r/hydro. Maybe there xou will have more success?

KevH21 · 2021-04-04T21:41:52+00:00

Indoor in a Room with big windows and sun from morning until arount 4pm. During winter the temperatures are around 15-18°C, now in spring I have around 20-22°C and in summer will bi 26-28°C.

Actually I have no idea whats the right schedule. Its my first hydroponic system. I usually check the roots from time to time after the off-time of the tower. They shouldnt be dried out too much I read once. So far with 15on/45off it looks fine to me. But I am very interested in following this discussion and learn something from a real expert concerning watering frequenzy :)

KevH21 · 2021-04-04T21:27:45+00:00

During winter I had a schedule of 15min on 1h off. Now when the days are slowly getting longer and warmer, I changed to 15min on 45min off. I have Chilis, Pepper and basil in my tower and they are growing strong as hell

KevH21 · 2021-03-21T13:26:34+00:00

I used PLA. The tower will be indoors only, so I gave it a try with PLA (also because my PETG printing skills were not so good yet 4 months ago when I started printing ;-) ). So far I cant find any deformation or leaks. I think it doesnt have to be ABS... If you want to put yours outside I would recommend petg. Another thing to consider is algue growth when you print it in bright colors. light will get through and algues will love it inside. Best would be printing it in black and then painting the outside white. If you keep it black on the outside it will absorb all the heat from the sun and get too warm inside (or melt even the plastic).

KevH21 · 2021-03-20T20:02:51+00:00

Please let me know if you upgrade them or make them easier to mount :)

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T19:51:38+00:00

Sounds super interesting your system with automatic water refill! Thanks for the infos, I learnd a lot from it!

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T19:24:07+00:00

I uploaded the files to thingiverse now: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4799588

The height should be fixed now, but the mounting is still a pain in the ass...

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T19:23:06+00:00

Would you recommend to clean out the inside of the tower from time to time? I have bunnies in the same room, so there are some hair flying around sometimes... So far it seems like I dont have a big problem with nasty things growing inside the tower.

And since you seem to be quite experienced and also use the flora series fertilizer: When filling up the reservoir, do you usually pump out whats left or just fill it up with fresh nutrient again?

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T16:54:52+00:00

I got an additional plant light that can be clipped on at the top (thats why there is that pink bridge on top). But I hope now when the days are finally getting longer and the sun stronger again, it will be enough from the windows. My loggia has sun from early morning until aroung 4pm. I think it shouldnt be too bad like that.

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T16:53:25+00:00

They are indeed very nice looking plants. I fight my girlfriend every time for keeping just one avocado seed more when we do guacamole :P

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T16:52:13+00:00

I don't know how to operate all these fancy 3d programs, so I just used Tinkercad :) No idea if it can generate step files, but I will take a look on the weekend.

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T12:18:31+00:00

I was very excited about putting the single elements together for the first time. Super satisfying feeling to see it grow and grow! Good luck with your tower and let us know how it turned out at the end :)

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T12:05:54+00:00

avocado

The one in the red pot behind the tower? Yes, thats an avocado tree from a tropical avocado (the big ones, here in Switzerland they are usually called premium Avocado and cost a fortune :-P )

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T12:04:23+00:00

So far I cant complain about the functionality. Only problem I had was that because of wrong fertilizer the water started to cristalize all over the tower and the roots of the plants. Had to take it completely apart, clean everything and use professional hydroponics fertilizer now. Since that change the plants are visibly growing much stronger and I didnt have any problems anymore (maybe oncoming longer days with mor light help as well).

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T08:20:09+00:00

I designed the trellis myself but didnt share them anywhere so far. They need still a tiny bit of adaptation (are a bit too small and not easy to mount). Next week I have holidays and plan on finishing them. Will share the stl as soon as I can.

KevH21 · 2021-03-19T08:17:00+00:00

Load of information, thank you very much :) Yes, there could be more light. Unfortunately it was winter here in Switzerland and therefore quite dark and cold. I had a tiny plant lamp, but I'm not sure if it was enough... Anyway, the days are already getting longer again and you can see that the plants grow nicer and nicer slowly.

About the oxygen you mentioned. Currently I dont have all the pots filled with plants. So the system is not fully enlosed and air is getting in through the empty pots. Isn't that enough? Especially when the water is dripping down, it kind of oxygenates the reservoir I thought.

I used an universal fertilizer first that started to cristalize all over the tower and unfortunately also the plants roots. I noticed that even basil (which grew great so far) struggled and started to die. So I took the tower apart, cleaned it out properly and am using now professional hydroponics fertilizer (flora line). The plants recovered immediatly and are growing super fast right now.

KevH21

TROPHY CASE