Hydroponics set-up question

Greetings to all

First of all I am new and have not build anything (yet), however I am in the planning stages.

Here is my situation: I live in Houston Texas so I am a little worried about the heat. I have had a garden in the past in my back yard but it was on the side of my house and it was always out of site out of mind, so I wanted to bring the garden closer to me. In my back yard I have a swimming pool that is surrounded by a screened

room (like you would see in Fl )

I am planning on building the 11 plant system. But to keep my back yard

looking a little nicer I am planning on building a box that contains the unit inside, with the top of the plastic bottles being flush with the top of the container.

Some of my questions are:

What would be the best medium to have in the bottles

I plan on cutting slits into the back on the container for air flow but

wondering if it will still be too warm

Will I need to paint my plastic containers since they will be in an enclosed area with no sunlight

Anyone seen any plans on anything like this? I have seen a table top version but not an enclosed area

Should there be any problem with the over-flow pipe being under the wood top

66 gallon container - what size pump should I use, how many gallons of water do you normally use for the 11 containers

I am planning on running the solution every 20 mins during the day and about once a hour at night - should this work, I do not want the roots drying out

My main items will be tomatoes and peppers. I know that the PH level should work for both of these together but anymore thoughts on what might also grow well with them

Thanks for any and all advice I know that this is a large amount of questions.

On 2 Mar 2006 05:34:46 -0800, "Simon" wrote: Simon, I don't really understand what your questions are, but I do know your method needs some "tweaking".

Many years ago I produced a home video on Hydroponic Home Gardening.and marketed it through magazines. With that said, I will try to give you a few basic pointers.

First and most important, you only feed your plants twice a day (not ever 20 minutes).

Second, the amount of nutrient you need to circulate most certainly not 66gal.

Third. The pump I recommend is the small (plastic) pumps used in home fish aquariums to circulate the water through the filter(less than $10.00 then).

There are dozens of suitable medium, but I found "pea gravel" to be the best by far(you can get them in a variety of colors).

The concept you need to keep in mind is this. Twice a day you need the nutrient level to raise to the top of the medium, then drain completely. If you are using gravity flow, a small pump can be used to return the nutrient to the higher reservoir. This all can be put on a timer and completely automated. Also you need to change the nutrient solution once every week.

Sorry for the long post-and good luck with your project: The Oldtimer!