Water & Drain
Water & Drain

One important factor in doing hydroponics is making life easier for you and having water easily available is one of the biggest challenges in doing hydroponics in the home. However it does not have to be so. Many of you will need a plumber unless you wish to carry large quantities of water. A gallon of water weighs approximately 8.2 pounds; multiply that by say 30 gallons and you are looking at 246 lbs.

If you are considering a room inside your home you not only need to consider the water coming in but also the water being drained. 

It is very important that you do not drain your water into your house drain, the water you are discarding from your hydroponics system still has a lot of nutrients that are better used on your house or outdoor plants, your plants will love it.
Algae bloom in a body of water

Discarding the water into your house drain can cause algae blooms in beaches and lakes where this water is being discharged due to high concentrations of Nitrogen and phosphorus. High concentrations of these nutrients cause the algae that remove oxygen from the water and cause large fish kills. 



Algae bloom
Discarding the water is probably the most difficult of tasks to think about if you are considering a room in your home, If your home is elevated several feet higher than say your lawn the issue is not difficult if you are willing to place a hole in your wall leading to the outside of your property where the water can be distributed to your lawn with a hose.

Adding an inline pump can help distribute the water faster and to different elevations it can also save you from having to place a hole on the wall for the drain. Simply open a window in the room stick the hose out turn on your pump and drain.

If you are using a Dutch bucket make sure you use 1 1/2" PVC pipe for your drain, smaller pipes although cheaper don’t do the job well.
Dutch bucket drain pipe

A close  up of a 1 1/4" Dutch bucket drain pipe, Notice the crusting and algae caused by the leaking of water because the pipe sat a 1/4 inch lower than the recommended 1 1/2" pipe. Not to mention the roots inside the pipe.
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