Vertical hydroponic tower — v1

After the first attempt with the triangle of tubes, time to build a proper vertical tower.

Build

I bought a 100mm diameter PVC drainage pipe and cut it to 1.5m. I then made 2 rows of opposing slots along the full length of the tube, rotating a quarter turn between each slot.

Each slot is shaped using a heat gun (watch out for fumes!) and a 33cl bottle slowly pushed in to get the right curve for the net cups.

The whole assembly is hung from the ceiling of my garage. Inside the tower, a 10mm tube connects an aquarium pump at the bottom to a 3D-printed part at the top that redirects the water onto the inner walls of the outer tube.

At each slot, a net cup filled with substrate and a seedling.

Verdict

Pros:

• Much more compact than the previous triangle setup

Cons:

• Fixed to the ceiling with the pump on the floor — a pain to move
• Leaks at the slot edges: some water escapes along the outside of the tube
• The deflector works well but creates too much flow against the walls, worsening the leaks over time

Keeping what worked (slot shaping, 3D deflector) and moving on to v2.