Hello If you changed your current way of growing to make things easier I think a drip system would be best. I like the ebb & flo and I have had great success with many plants. I know that bigger roots make better yeilds and you can have better root systems with the drip. I never like to waste money buying new things. I use whatever is free except lines, pumps, fittings, etc. I noticed that you will have a bunch of five gallon buckets left when you switch to Hydro. Why not use the buckets you already have. You would have to make sure the buckets drain into a reservior with a pump if you want to recycle your nutrient solution. If you drain to waste then ignore the last sentance and the next one. To recycle let the solution collect in one reservoir and get pumped through drippers which go into the buckets to feed them again. You will need a submersible pump and a reservior and also irrigation lines and all the required parts for irrigation lines(post pump filter,drip heads, drip stakes, pressure reulators). The materials needed for drip is pretty cheap(Look around on the net for the best price and better quality) If your window is not too low you could build a small table with a slight slope with trim peices as a "wall" on three sides with a vinyl sheet attached on top(4'x8' available at hardware stores). The side that is sloping down without trim is the drain side. Put your reservior under the drain end(try not to let light in the reservior because algea grows in light). Your reservior would have a pump which pumps solution in the buckets. The buckets drain to the reservior and this repeats. If your mix is course then you must drip constantly. If it retains more water put a timer which takes them through the wet and dry cycle. The best mix I recommend is some kiln cooked clay balls (rocks) which are sold in hydro stores (I can't say the brand name). And also some Coco fiber, you mix the rocks and fiber with more rock than coco in the mix. I think this mix drains very well and the coco holds some moisture in the mix. If the right proportions are used in the mix you can set your pump low to drip constantly. Talk about a huge root system your tomato plants would be very healthy. This mix uses some coco which is more similar to soil and in my opinion that makes it easier to grow. I hope this info helps at all and I will be happy to answer any questions for you. Amar

I think you can get some info from your water company. If you mix your own fertilizers you can compensate for the minerals that are present in various amounts. I just bought an RO system and I haven't used it yet but I can't wait. I was looking for the highest quality ones which were very expensive. I started looking through a very well known internet auction site(I don't know if I can say their name but the name has four letters). Anyway I found nicer quality/more expensive ones. One day I was searching and I found some that were cheaper because a company will start some at a cheap price and let people bid away. I got lucky and got a new six stage RO system with deionizer for $50 with shipping. I say just keep looking on this auction site and be patient because it could take a month or two but you can find a good price. I hope this helps.

In many hydroponic applications the medium is mostly a method of supporting the plant's weight. It often functions as a way of retaining nutrient solution, but in some applications this is considered a "bonus". As long as there's a way to support the crown of the plant, keeping it stable, there isn't any need for a medium. In my DWC system the medium is there just to support the plant. The roots grow down into the solution and that's where they get all the food and water they need. Anything stored in the medium isn't important once the plants are big enough. In NFT systems in particular, and often in other applications, the plants are supported by neoprene collars. These are basically little neoprene disks with a cut from the side to the center so that it can fit around the crown of the plant like a skirt. This collar is slightly larger than the hole the plant is lowered into, so it holds the plant in place. Also, pretty much every hydroponic system is going to have problems with power outages. Aeroponic systems and NFT are especially vulnerable. Ebb and Flow can go a long time, particularly if the power goes out right after a flood cycle. DWC can probably go the longest without power, but it still won't go forever. Only Autopots and wick hydroponics can really run without power for long (both require no electricity at all).

Daniel, In case you're interested, my system is passive: Link. I also have some ideas for passively maintaining ppm that I haven't had a chance to try yet. Picture a tank with a constant osmotic pressure, maintained as such by the presence of a high-molecular-weight, poorly biodegradable solute (there are many options). Connected to the tank is dialysis tubing inside your grow bins. The minerals in the grow tank can pass through the tubing, but the high molecular weight solute cannot. Osmotic pressure should ensure that most of the salts remain within their respective grow bins, and that they're diluted to the same osmotic pressure as your solute tank. Thus, so long as the water level in the solute tank remains constant, so should the ppm of your grow bins. You can maintain the water level of your solute tank with a float valve -- the same type that you find in a toilet. Again, I haven't tried it, but I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work. Likewise, you could add nutrients passively. As your plants absorb their mineral salts, the amount of water needed to maintain a constant ppm will drop -- i.e., the water level will drop. So a second float valve, this time in the plant grow bins, could be used to add more nutrient solution. The one thing that this wouldn't take care of is the ratios between different nutrients, which can change over time, depending on what your plants are hungry for. I've thought of several ways to take care of this automatically, but they're anything but simple or cheap, and generally involve reverse osmosis and/or ion-selective membranes and/or automated nutrient testing systems.