its a basic bubbler system. you should be able to build your own for about half the price (or less).

Thanks for the response, but the system I was referring to I believe is a drip system(instead of a water pump, you would use the air pump to draw water up) but your right, you could put an airstone in the bottom to make it a bubbler.

I've never bought a system off the shelf, so I thought I would give one a try to see how it would compare to a homemade one. I was just curious if anyone has bought one of these systems from General Hydroponics before?

In fact (at least some of the models) are hybrids, they allow you to chose between Drip and Recycle or bubbling. Which is interesting for growing seedlings directly in the main device. I agree of course that they are a way to expensive and would add that here you pay for the design.

The drip ring seems to corrode rather easily while crusting up with salts. Hydroton will also experience salt buildup on top of the clay pebbles which makes it even more unsightly. I tend to agree with everyone else about the price.

Thats symptomatic of too strong a nutrient solution

I have a gaggle of waterfarms; used 'em for years. I'm not really into duct tape projects, and these are rugged and simple little growing containers.

Its a hybrid drip/shallow water culture system, thats air-powered, which may or may not be of some advantage for outdoor users or others who don't wish to run spaghetti lines or electric all over [hydro is wet]

It depends on what you want to do with them, though. For a couple of plants in a couple of waterfarms, its not a huge deal. But they don't scale well, in that a whole bunch of them can be a butt pain to maintain.

Since they're individual, you can move them around as need be. Since they don't hold much water, they're not terribly heavy, either.

I'm currently using a few of them to grow hot peppers and pickling cucumers outdoors. :)

Well I live in texas so putting these systems outdoors will not work for me, its just too hot outside. We are moving to northern san diego in a few weeks, so I'm looking forward to putting a few things outdoors and trying some real light with hydro!

I have several. Only I didn't buy the whole setup. I bought the $15 kit without the bucket. Not because of price. Because the waterfarm doesn't have a deep enough reservoir for some plants. It does if you feel like watering daily, but if that is the case then why do a hydro system when you can pot them and water less and use compost, right? I'm talking about the individual systems rather than the ones daisy chained to a single large reservoir. I've no experience with those.

I bought cheap 5 gallon buckets and large net cups. I still have to water daily on the tomatoes, but peppers don't drink at nearly the same rate. They last 5 days to a week before having to water or adjust anything. I have also seen a 14 gallon rubbermaid container adapted to house two plants with two rings in it. That actually looks like it might be better if it weren't for the fact that the containers are more flexible and prone to warping with water weight or plant weight. I'm sure you could compensate.

I agree that salts can build up, but only if you ignore the system. Even with high salt content for lowering water consumption and forcing flowering I don't have to worry about it unless I neglect to add water. I have no build up at all on the ring with Botanicare, but I only use it for peppers. I use GH for the tomatoes. My peppers are snobs.

I've been using the same equipment the last couple years without any corrosion whatsoever on the ring. I am not really sure how the plastic corrodes. Bilberrybrian, could you describe what you mean?

The grommet where the sight tube connects to the bucket, however, can corrode easily. They're cheap and can be replaced without much effort. I buy them in packs of ten for a few bucks. They last two cycles at least. I've only replaced a few out of necessity. The others for "just in case". I recently decided to try adding a coat of silicone to the grommet. I think that will completely eliminate having to replace them.

I also call it a bubbler system because the ring is bubbling, not dripping. I know it might seem a petty difference, but I think it makes a huge difference. The bubblers are not nearly as efficient because they tend to splash a bit. Drip systems are slow enough that much more water goes down before evaporating. Covering the ring with something (I have used a pie pan with a hole for the plant) can greatly decrease evaporation.

I have used and sell waterfarms...they are very nice systems. There is also a system called the power grower which is slightly larger. They are well made systems that have very few parts that can go bad. The drip lines will occasionally crust up, usually if you have hard water but are easy to clean (we used one in our store for 4 years before we finally replaced the drip ring). There is also a reservoir system that can be purchased called the controller or Texas controller that will allow you to go longer between waterings...in these I would add a air stone so the water is constantly moving. I hope this helps.

Thanks hydrohome, I think I have decided to buy a waterfarm and compare them to my DIY DWC buckets. I like the waterfarms setup.
You said you sell them, do you have a store? I'm also gonna try putting one outside. I currentlty live in Texas where the temps have been around a 100. I'll be moving to the northern San Diego area in a few days.
Has anyone here ever tried them outdoors in the coastal San Diego area, or will the temps be too cool at night?

"Bilberrybrian, could you describe what you mean?"

It's possible that I'm mistaken but I recall the demonstration waterfarms from the hydroponic store where I used to work had copper drip rings that were corroding and I always thought it looked bad. When I google searched replacement drip rings and the few non-cgi pictures I found showed plastic rings in every case so either my memory is just wrong, the drip rings where I used to work were a custom job, or they have changed over since those particular water farms we used had been assembled. I'm heading there Saturday to talk to someone so I can check up on it then. If yours is plastic it won't corrode in any case. I know the demonstration EZ-Clone machines are made of clear plastic while the consumer ones were solid black so it might have been something along those lines.