So I’ve been on a hydroponics kick it seems lately. it’s not that I’m some sort of vegan hippy tree hugger… I still play with my Arduino’s, blow stuff up and have midnight raves with led’s. But there is something just captivating with watching the grass grow. This project has to be my favorite hydroponic project so far. Not because its technically difficult, it’s not. Not because I’m breaking down walls of intellectual bullshit so anyone at home can do it. Not even because its oxygenating my office, but that’s a nice perk. No I have to say this is my favorite hydroponic project because of the results. It takes about 4 weeks to go from seed to sea of edible green! The rate of growth for this is insane. Anyone can do this at home and definitely its practical indoors or outdoors. yep this can be scaled up big time. Perhaps I will… Try this one!

For more info on creating a deep water culture system I recommend you read our article here.

This simple low cost system provides amazing results in plant and root development. utilizing low cost and low power usage ultrasonic foggers we atomize a nutrient solution in a high oxygen high humidity environment that promotes rapid plant development. we were surprised at the effectiveness of this system and its ability to yield amazingly healthy plants ready to move onto the vegetative growth cycle with strength and vigor.  – Read More

The stuff you will need

1- Necklace Vial – These are available in almost any craft store.

One necklace Cord – This cord is realy nice, its leather and already complete.

Algae – For our algae we opted to use a salt water algae that is very hardy. This Caulerpa Micro Algae seems to fit the bill.

Step one – Remove the cork and set it aside. Wash the glass bottle out.

Step two – remove the eye hook from the cork.

Step three – Attach the eye hook to the necklace.

Step four – Add your algae to the vial. Add just enough water to reach the neck of the vial.

Step Five – insert the cork so that the top of the cork is flush with the top of the vial. Use a drop of super glue on the hole in the cork and then screw in the eye screw. This extra step will insure it wont fall apart. Thanks and we hope you enjoy!

DIY ALGAE PHOTO-BIOREACTOR FOR A SOUTH FACING WINDOW IN YOUR HOME

Built by Meggio Omega (AKA. Algae Girl) and Friends

Our algae photo-bioreactor framework is 43 ¾” tall x 17 ½” wide x 2 ½” deep. It consists of 5 vertical 1 inch tubes. We built this unit for a 2 ½” deep window sill. It is pictured here sitting on a light box. A bit about this window unit photo-bioreactor design: We built our algae tubes with PVC end-plugs and hose barbs on the tops. This isn’t actually necessary. We inadvertently redesigned this bioreactor after we had already reduced and augmented both ends of the pipe. The new design doesn’t require it. The new design (not shown) doesn’t have any end caps on top, it’s just open ended on top. One plus to having the tops reduced with fittings is that it cuts way down on water evaporation. Basically, it’s up to you.

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YOUR SUPPLY LIST:

• Pine wood for frame (measure window sill if applicable)We chose 2 ½”x ¾” pine so it would fit in the window sill and we liked the look/price of the wood.
• 3 lengths of 6’ long clear acrylic pipe: 1” OD x 27/32” ID (will all be cut in half)
• 6” tall x 15 ½” wide x 3/8” thick plexi-glass sheet to use as a catchment tray (just in case you spring a leak). Our tray is 15 ½” x 2” x 2 ¼” and looks space age.

(Plexi-glass is not a required material, it’s just what we had available. You will need a table saw to cut this.)

Tool dip is pretty toxic and not required, but good for reducing vibration as well as helping the pipe bottoms be water-tight.

Figure 1: PVC plugs and brass hose barbs Figure 2: 2-gal per hour button dripper (bottom view) Figure 3: 2-gal per hour button dripper (top view) Figure 4: inline valve (plastic)

Figure 5: The underside of the lower rack showing the 5/8th” hole where the brass barb comes through. Figure 6: The top-side of the lower rack showing the 1 1/8th” hole where the 1″ acrylic pipe can rest, inset 1/3 of the way into the wood.

Cut your air hose into the following sizes: 9 – 2 inch pieces, 5 – ½ inch pieces, 1 – 5 inch piece for the hose that leads to the plastic inline valve and 1 piece that will easily reach the air pump when it finds its place on the floor below the window. This piece will get cut somewhere down near the pump where you will install the inline check valve (which protects the pump from algae water backflow). Begin by attaching 5 T-fittings to 4 sections of 2 inch air hose. As seen across the bottom of the above pictures. Next, attach the 5 – ½ inch pieces of hose to the open tops of each T-fitting. Next, dab a bit of super glue on the barbed end of each button dripper as you insert them into the tops of the 5 open ½” air hoses. Next, dab a bit of super glue on the top end of each button dripper as you attach the remaining 5 pieces of 2” air hose. If your wood framing is complete, put your 5 tubes in it and then attach the air inlet manifold (pictured above)to the brass hose barb adapters that stick down through the holes. Make sure all your air hoses fit snugly on to your barbs so there are no leaks! Mix your algae concentrate with urine tainted water (1% urine) to make the growth medium and use a small funnel to fill your tubes. If you made your tubes to look like ours, you’ll need to make a little filling apparatus out of an inline air hose connector and a somewhat flexible plastic water bottle to look something like this:

To drain the bioreactor, simply open the inline valve and let it drain into a little bucket. If you are trying to harvest (thin out) the algae, turn the pump off over night and the thick stuff will drain out first in the morning. Fill the tubes back up with tap water. That’s it! Send us your pictures and thoughts! You can get into contact with meggio on facebook.

We won the sustainables categories of the make magazine / GE tag your green project contest! yay!