Well my first question back at you would be, do you plan on moving the system around at all, say to a classroom presentation? Seems far fetched moving a whole grow room though! If so, I would either go with an aeroponic system or multiple bucket systems which are all connected to a larger reservoir/control unit. Like this.
As for environmental controllers such as CO2/Temp/Humidity etc. this will be your favorite website: Control Wizard
For air pumps, water pumps, HID lights and fans all you will need is a timer to power on and power off.
For your growth stage (say for tomatoes) you will want a Metal Halide light on for 16-18 hours.
For the blooming stage you will want to switch to a High Pressure Sodium light which will only need to be on for 12 hours per day.

I could go further but maybe other people have some input. I'm good with the equipment. I work at an indoor gardening store. Hope I was of some help! Good luck with the project!

Hey Cultivator,

Thanks for your response. I have read a bunch in the past week about the different hydroponics systems/lighting etc. My idea was to put the whole system in say a movable cabinet with maybe 4 plants or something. I wanted to do the aeroponics system, but people are saying since I have no experience with hydroponics so far I would have trouble with that system, they recommend ebb and flow or drip. I would like to do the aeroponics but you think I could pull it off? I also read about sprayers getting clogged or misters to be cleaned. I was thinking about trying to save money with the lights so I was thinking HPS with blue spectrum instead of one of eat, what you think? Also that is a good price that link for the device for listing ph, temp etc. but I will have to design that myself since that is the main electrical part of the project. Also if it were aeroponics, do you recommend sprayers, misters? Also what type of plant would be good to start with? Any more ideas or info would rock thanks guys.

~Craig

Call me crazy, but since you're new to both hydro and gardening (as per your post) I highly recommend you adhere to KISS principle until you learn what you're doing. Otherwise, if something went wrong, how would you know what was really happening, and how would you know to fix it?

start with a deep water culture or a waterfarm with a controller bucket.

eveyrthing you're thinking about designing is already on the market. how do you think commercial greenhouses do it?

I am aware that there maybe problems with whatever plant system I use. I would still like to give it a go, and I have read tons and am still reading more about it, so I may not have all the answers, but I believe I could figure out some of the problems I may encounter. Also I understand there are systems already on the market, but they can cost a boatload of money. I am doing this as my senior electrical project, and i'm trying to design a system for myself which will end up saving me lots of money. Look at some of the plant systems you can buy they range all over the place when really you can build your own for much cheaper. Im not going to stop trying to build something just because something more expensive is already available. Thanks for your posts, and I do appreciate all the feedback.

Thanks Again,
~Craig

The easiest plant to grow in Ebb and Flow system is Sweet Basil plants, I grew them in pure perlite and fed them 20-6-16 Hydroponics nutrients at one teaspoon per gallon of tap water after transplanting the seedlings . My home made system was placed on my condo East terrace. PH of solution was kept at PH 5.8, medium temp was about 75-80 F. The solution was pumped from the nutrient reservoir during winter twice a day for 1/2 hour each and let drain back to the reservoir, and during Summer the nutrients was pumped 4 times, 1/2 hour each .The full Nutrient EC was 0.60-0.80 mS/Cm-1.

Good luck in your design.
Safwat

You may want to get this book to short-circuit trying to learn about hydro from web forums.....a long process.....

Here is a link that might be useful: How To Hydro

Safwat is right about the Basil. Probably the easiest to grow. The Aeroponic systems are more complicated to build than ebb & flow. But go for it.
As for the light system, you can't get a blue spectrum HPS. High Pressure Sodium bulbs burn the red spectrum and Metal Halide bulbs burn the blue spectrum. There are a few MH bulbs out there that have a little bit of the red spectrum, but if you're going to grow basil, all you need is the MH because getting the basil to bloom is not needed. In fact, you wouldnt even need a HID light. You could probably get away with using T5 flourescent bulbs which are much cheaper. Basil doesnt require all that much light.

Thx for all the comments, still figuring out what I am going to do, I was thinking about uses an agro grow hps with added blue spectrum would this be the overall best bulb to go with? Or would you get a hid/hps ballast? Also I bought that hydroponics book a bit ago, still reading through it, and trying to soak up all the info provided. I'm thinking about making some pvc system.

Thanks Again Guys,
~Craig (p.s. keep the info coming)

craig, the kind of light you get all depends on what you're growing. If you are growing a plant that doesnt need to bloom/fruit then go with a MH bulb. MH = growth stage, HPS = blooming stage