Course Materials: Build Your Own Home Hydroponic Farm
Welcome! We have created a handy list of all of the materials and tools needed to build a home hydroponic rail system as shown in our video course. If you haven't signed up for the course and are interested in learning how to build a home hydroponic system go check it out on Udemy or on Skillshare! If you're interested in learning more about growing lettuce in this system, we've created another video course detailing how we grow lettuce and how to troubleshoot common issues. You can check out that course here!
All quantities are shown for building a 4 rail system. If you are building a 2 rail system, you will scale down the quantity for fence posts and connection fittings.
Note about links: Inventory of linked items changes all the time so some items may be out of stock but available elsewhere. Also, some of these links may be affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases after clicking one of these. We take great care to only link to products we have found to be useful - products we would recommend to a friend or family member building this system - but you are more than welcome to use other products instead.
Tools
- Hand Saw, Circular Saw or Miter Saw (for cutting 4" fence post)
- Cordless Drill or Reversible Drill Press
- Hole Saw Arbor (Amazon - this requires drill with 1/2" chuck)
- 2" Hole Saw (Amazon)
- 1.5" Hole Saw (Amazon or Amazon)
- 1.375" Hole Saw (Amazon)
- 1.25" Hole Saw (Amazon)
- Caulking Gun (Amazon)
- Sandpaper or Rotary Tool
- Measuring Tape (Amazon)
- Ruler with Tenths of Inches (Amazon)
- Marker
- Safety Glasses
Materials
Rails:
- (2) 4" x 4" Square Fence Post Jacket - 100 inches long (Home Depot)
- This is a no-cut option from Amazon but you will need 1 for each rail (4 total) and each rail will be 48" instead of 50"
- (8) 4" x 4" Vinyl Fence Post Cap (Home Depot or Amazon)
- (1) 1/2" Double Threaded Bulkhead Fitting (Amazon)
- (1) 1/2" Barbed x NPT 90 Degree Elbow (Zoro or Amazon)
- (1) 1" Schedule 40 Round PVC Pipe - 24 inches (Home Depot)
- (3) 1" Socket PVC Union (Zoro or Amazon)
- (9) 1" Schedule 40 Coupling Slip x Slip (Home Depot)
- (1) 1" PVC Male Conduit Fitting (Zoro or Amazon)
- (1) 1" Barbed x NPT Female 90 Degree Elbow (Zoro or Amazon)
- (1) Clear PVC Glue (Amazon)
- (1) Aquarium Silicone Caulk (Amazon or Amazon (alternate))
Reservoir and Pumps:
- (1) Heavy Duty Opaque Tote with Lid (27 gal works for 2 or 4 rails) (Home Depot)
- (1) 1" ID Pond Tubing - Cut to desired length (Amazon)
- (1) 1/2" ID Pond Tubing - Cut to desired length (Amazon)
- (1) Submersible water pump (sizing varies depending on height of rails) (Amazon)
- (1) Air pump (Amazon)
- (1) Airline tubing
- (1) Bubble bars for aeration (Amazon)
- (1) Aquarium heater optional (Amazon)
- (1) Cable Tie (optional)
Nutrients:
- Masterblend Mix-in Nutrients (Amazon)
- Dynagrow Foliage Pro Nutrients (Amazon)
- TDS Meter (Amazon)
- pH Test Kit (Amazon)
- Aquarium Water Conditioner (optional) (Amazon)
- pH Down (optional) (Amazon)
Lighting and Environment:
- Barrina LED Grow Light Tubes (Amazon)
- Mars Hydro TSL 2000 LED grow light (Amazon)
- Active Grow LED grow light (Amazon) - need 2 bulbs per rail so 8 bulb model for a 4 rail system
- Fluorescent grow light (Amazon)
Planting: