There are about six types of hydroponic growth systems on the market today and each has its advantages and disadvantages. There are some systems that can be bought already made and others that can be constructed by the individual. There are also advantages and disadvantages to each of these. If a person chooses to buy the hydroponic growth system, he should check to see what the materials are in the product to make sure they are quality materials. It used to be that the best hydroponic growth systems would have titanium piping in it so that they would last for a long time without having to be replaced. With PVC piping today, however, PVC is a great replacement for the titanium piping and is much less expensive. Additionally, if a person is going to buy a system rather than make a homemade hydroponic system, then he should check out the warrantee on the system. The longer the warrantee, the more the manufacturer is certain that their product will not break down, leading to a problem free environment for the person who bought it.

Types of Systems

The first type of hydroponic growth system is the wick system. This type has a tray that is held on top of a reservoir which has the water and nutrient solution as well as an air stone to oxygenize the water. The tray and the reservoir are connected to each other by a wick which allows the water solution to come into the tray and give the plants what they need to grow. They hydroponic growth systems are popular because they are easy to construct and maintain and are also very inexpensive. The problem with the system is that it cannot support a large amount of plants since there is only a limited amount of nutrients that can flow through the wick at a time.

Another type of hydroponic growth system is the water culture growth system. This one is also a fairly simple one to construct, which makes it a popular choice as well. In this system, instead of a tray being set on top of the reservoir, the plants are placed into a Styrofoam strip that floats on top of the reservoir where the nutrients and oxygenizing system is in place. This is beneficial to use since the nutrients can be drawn straight into the plant rather than having to flow through the wick. The downside to the system is that plants that do not need a lot of water do not enjoy this system where they are sitting in the water solution at all times.