Hi daisy,
Nice pots are better than fishtanks. The tanks are fragile and they don't look good.

I suppose any nursery will sell you hydro nutrients, or else refer you to a supplier.

I think you need a pH meter. Without it life could become difficult. The cheapest are the ones they sell at aquarium shops or swimming pool shops(five drops of phenol red into 5mL of water held against a colour set to read the pH). Good enough most of the time.

Can't help you with the lights, but I can assure you that not ALL fluorescents work on plants.

Parsley grows slowly, baby spinach is not easy, but cherry tomatoes are easy to start with.

Go for it and have fun.

Thanks for the quick response.
I think I have a good idea for this with a platform that floats up and down with the water level. It needs to be light tight all around right?
I'm glad tomatoes are doable. My husband has complained that he hasn't had a ripe tomato from the store in years. They must do something to make them turn red faster.

I'm not a favorite of floating platforms, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. It's just that I never got it to work reliably.
I prefer a bin with a lid in which holes are cut to accept netpots. Fill the pots with perlite, bring the level of nutrient up to just covering 1/4" of the bottom, plant your seed and away you go.
Plain water is enough while the seed germinates, but the moment a leaf appears nutrient must be added. Start by half-strength. Go to full-strength when the plant matures.

The reason I'd like to do a floating platform is that it would indicate the water level to me reliably. Would putting wicks in the pots work as well if it gets away from me a little?
My plan is to build a pvc frame to hang the light from using cup hooks and small chain to adjust the height. How tall should I make it, assuming I grow patio tomatoes? I was thinking 18 inches above the pot would give me room.

I drew up a rough plan that I'd like feedback on, but I can't figure out how to post a picture. Anyone know?

post it on a site like www.imageshack.us and post a link.

Here is my idea so far. I could also make the lights separate for more individual plant attention. I don't know if that would be detrimental to a plant sitting next to a lower light though.
Do strawberries and tomatoes co-habitate well? I was thinking of doing half and half.
Is there a way to by the different nutrients separately and mix my own, or does that involve a lot of chemistry? I only ask because I'm not sure I can get the stuff I need in my little town.

Here is a link that might be useful: My plan

The plan looks OK to me, but I can't help you with the lights. I hydro outside, but I'm sure someone else will respond.
Tomatoes like stronger nutrient than strawberries. Perhaps better to separate.
Mixing your own is quit possible. All depends on what base chemicals are available. Check whether you can get:
Calcium nitrate
Magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt)
Potassium mono phosphate

But there are many other ways. I dissolve woodash in nitric acid, then I add some epsom salt plus a bit of superfosfaat.

I used to work at a nursery here and I know they had a wide variety of amending agents. I have epsom salt already, it's good for sore muscles.
I suspect in this town it would be cheaper to go that route. Any place that has premixed stuff will have a corner on the market, and thus charge an arm and a leg for it. It's been described as poverty with a view here.
Do I just need to keep a balanced ph? I'm there are certain measurements.

Also I can what are called plant lights at Home Depot and wire them up. It's just lamp kits and a housing.

OK,
I that case you may need to check out a source for micro-nutrients as well. Comes in bottles and you can order it on line.
But perhaps you can ask your nursery for a supplier, or maybe you can buy it from them. Do don't need a lot.

As for various recipes and pH levels, check this link:
pH/PPM/CF for Various Vegetables

Uhhh,
Forgot one ingredient, ie: Potassium Nitrate.
Also: Potassium mono phosphate should be: Mono Potassium Phosphate (bloody names!) or else: KH2PO4

Hi Daisy.
How many of which plants do you intend to grow? Tomatoes plants have notoriously large root systems. I believe spinach and strawberries roots pale in comparison. Also, tomatoes aren't completely compatible with leafy greens for the same reason they're not with strawberries. they're nutrient hogs where as the others are not.
As far as keeping light out goes, it is generally a good idea as light promotes algae growth which will leech off some of your nutrients. Other than that and that algae is ugly, it will not hurt your plants and should not noticably affect how they grow.
I've seen lots of articles and what not about growing lettuce on floats. I don't think floats are too good for tomatoes however. they're generally top heavy and must be supported along the top. with the everchanging float level, you'll be adding extra strain to the stems which could stress the plants.
Plantboy has had good success using T5 fluorescents but in my experience normla or 'grow'(like you get at department hardware stores) do not put off enough usable light for plants that are taller than about 6 inches. I grow parsley, tomatoes and am starting some spinach in my office window.(south facing) that's all the light I use. do you have a similar window you could use? Otherwise, I would look at getting an inexpensive MH. you can order low wattage ones (100w I believe) for under $50 from afore mentioned hardware stores, though sometimes thay have to special order them.
If you don't have a hydro store in town, just order them online. we have a hydro store in the next city, but I've found it's still cheaper and more convenient to order online.
grocery tomatoes are red and tasteless because they pick them green then ship them(usually) several hundred miles to market. during this transit time they normally acquire their color. Unfortunately, off they vine, they won't acquire any additional flavor.
Wicks in net pots should work fine. At least until the roots work their way down into the nutrient solution, at which point they're not needed.
your system looks fine. I believe the type of system you're emulating is known as deep water culture (DWC) and its major hurdle is to ensure the nutrient gets enough air. Personally , I would recommend at least two 6 inch airstone per 5 gallons of water at a minimum. Also, be aware the aerogarden using aeroponics to grow plants and is inherently different than DWC. you'll have fine success with DWC, but you can't really compare it to an aerogarden.
Unless you're just into chemistry and/or planning on opening a large commercial hydroponics farm, I would say steer clear of mixing your own, but that's just me. they make inexpensive balanced powder solutions that will last a long time and save you a lot of effort.
Oh! My thoughts are rambling now, but 6" is not deep enough for your tomato plants. the roots will clog that thing up. I like to grow one or two tomato plants in a 5 gallon paint bucket. that's worked well for me in the past. Yet another reason to seperate the tomatoes from the other plants.

Wow, thanks for all the imput. I don't have any good windows for light hog plants like tomatoes. I was considering also doing smaller plants that don't need as much light in tall vases in my kitchen window. I've seen some setups that I can do that way.
I can put a couple of bubble stones in it (we used to have a 55 gallon fish tank, so I have those supplies). My idea was to put two small variety tomatoes in a two foot long planter. Would they really get too big in it?

this is the early girl I grew last fall.
{{gwi:999342}}
you decide.
for reference, the shelves are about 16" apart.

What size pot is that? I was under the impression that I had to do tomatoes with hydroponics indoors.

the pot is at the bottom where the date stamp is. its a 5 gallon paint bucket I got at wal-y. right click on the picture and select 'view image' to see the full size version.
or {{gwi:999342}} to see it.

Oh I see. I thought the tomato was potted in the plastic pot next to the fruit.
I have poked around the internet and found several varieties of determinats that can be grown in as small as six inch pots.
I'm also thinking about just going with a self watering system with soilless poting mix. All this talk of ph and ppm has me wondering if I'm up to hydroponics right now. I'm not sure I have the kind of time it seems it takes.

daistd681 wrote:
. . wondering if I'm up to hydroponics right now. I'm not sure I have the kind of time it seems it takes.

Hey . . don't be disheartend so quickly! {{gwi:1002854}} Its a rewarding hobby. Most time is taken at preparing. After that it's just waiting (and checking)

I think I'm going to start the seeds in soilless mix in a selfwatering bottle thing I saw in my window and use the interum to decide which route to take. Hopefully I can find Tiny Tims or the like locally. I really dislike shopping online. I don't know if it's an instant gratification thing or just the not knowing if a place is legit.

you could always ask here for online store suggestions
I like southernexposure.com. They sell heirloom seeds.
they sent them out quick and weren't terribly priced.
I only saw one determinant tomato variety though.
anybody else have any suggestions?

Well, I just got back from Home Depot. I bought things that I can set up with potting mix for now, and convert to hydro later if I find a good source for nutirents later on. I want to make sure I can grow tomatoes at all before I invest money in specialized stuff. Anyway, my next quandry are lights. I have a desktop swingarm fixture and I bought a couple of cfls. They say Soft White, 23 watts=100 watts, 1600 Lumens, and 2700k. The room I'm doing this in has a kitchen window, 4 tall windows, and a skylight in a 300 sq ft space, so it gets quite a bit of indirect light. My two questions are 1)Will these bulbs even work? 2) Should I get another swingarm so I have one bulb for each plant (I bought two plants instead of seed because they had no dwarf seeds, just plants)?

I know this is an old post, but I was walking past a swimming pool & spa supply store several weeks ago and decided to pick up a 22 ml. bottle of Phenol Red, because I remembered reading this post and I had two bucks burning a hole in my pocket. It turns out that this reagent is totally useless below 6.8 ph. After more research I discovered that Azolitmin, (4.5-8.3 ph) seems to be the secret ingredient in commercial Ph Indicator for hydroponics. Bromocresol Purple looks interesting also, as it functions in the narrow range of 5.2 - 6.8 Ph. Litmus paper, or hydroponic ph test strips, (not the ones for pools/spas/aquariums) are also options.
~Ken~

I have more information regarding ph testing reagents but it's a bit off of the subject of the original post. I simply wanted to make a comment regarding the use of Phenol Red.
~Ken~