108 Cup NFT Hydroponic System

A three tier nutrient film technique system with 108 planting sites. A shallow stream of nutrient solution runs through closed channels past the roots and drains back to a tank. No soil is involved. It is the largest of the three kits we sell.

The gullies, the connectors that join them, 108 grow pots and a water pump. You supply the reservoir tank, the nutrient solution, the growing medium and the seeds.

So you can stagger planting. Plant one tier, wait a fortnight, plant the next. After the third you are cutting continuously instead of having every plant ready in the same week and nothing after it.

Yes, and it is a sensible way in. One planted tier is a working system, the frame is already there, and you can bring the others in when you want more. Filling 108 sites on a first attempt is a lot to learn at once.

140 cm wide, 96 cm deep and 50 cm high, so allow a little under a metre and a half of wall and room to reach the back. The reservoir sits beside or under it.

Size it to how many tiers you are actually running rather than to the frame. More planted sites drink more, so the tank needs to hold enough that it is not running low between top ups. Opaque, with a lid, either way.

Light on nutrient water grows algae. The channels are already closed for that reason, so the tank is the weak point left to you. A clear bucket in a bright room will turn green.

Leafy greens, celery, beetroot, strawberries and smaller tomato varieties. NFT suits plants light enough to be held in a grow pot. Root vegetables and heavy fruiting crops are not what this is for.

That depends on the crop, the light, the season and how the solution is kept up, so we would rather not put a number on it that reads as a promise. What is fair to say is that 108 staggered sites of salad leaves keep a family in greens rather than producing an occasional bowl.

Around thirty days from planting for salad leaves, as a guide rather than a guarantee. Slower for celery and beetroot, longer again for strawberries and tomatoes.

Not really. It is the same method, the same pump arrangement and the same maintenance; there is simply more of it. The extra work is planting and harvesting, not running the system.

Only where there is not enough daylight. Three tiers do complicate this: the upper tiers can shade the lower ones depending on where the light comes from, so if you are lighting it indoors, plan for light reaching each tier rather than one lamp above the top.

Yes, and outdoors it uses daylight rather than needing lights. Keep the reservoir out of direct sun and make sure the frame is somewhere it will not be blown over.

A general hydroponic nutrient made for the crops you are growing. It is not included. Follow the dilution on the bottle: too strong does more damage than too weak.

Every two to three weeks for most growers, topping up with plain water in between. With three tiers planted the tank turns over faster, so watch the level more often than you would on a small system.

Yes. Most leafy crops do best somewhere around 5.5 to 6.5. A pH pen and a bottle of pH down cost little and remove most of the guesswork.

The flow stops and the roots live on whatever moisture is left in the channel and the grow pot. Short outages are fine. NFT does depend on the pump in a way deep water culture does not, so if your supply is unreliable that is worth knowing before you buy.

A few days, if the tank is full when you go. Longer than that and someone needs to top it up. A pump that runs dry usually does not survive it.

Drain it, separate the gullies at the connectors and rinse them with clean water and a soft brush. Skip the detergent: whatever is left in the channel goes into the next batch of solution.

Keep light off the water, which mostly means the reservoir. If it does appear, a full clean and fresh solution clears it. It is a nuisance rather than a disaster.

PVC. The channels are closed so the solution is not sitting in the light, and the frame carries the three tiers.

Same method, three times the sites, and arranged as three tiers instead of one slanted bank. The 36 cup kit is the better choice if space is tight or you are not sure how much you will use. This one is the choice if you want a rolling harvest.

The 11 cup system is deep water culture: roots sit in an aerated tank, nothing flows, and there is no pump to fail. It is much smaller and much cheaper. This is a different scale of thing entirely.

It can be, particularly if you start on one tier. If you have never run a hydroponic system, the 11 cup or 36 cup kits are a smaller first step, and nothing you learn on them is wasted here.

It is sold as a home system. People do use kits like this for a market stall or a restaurant herb supply, but we would not describe 108 sites as commercial production, and we do not supply it with any commercial certification.

Quiet. The pump is submersible so the water muffles it, and most of what you hear is the return running back into the tank. Letting it run down the inside wall of the reservoir rather than dropping in helps.

One small pump running continuously, so very little. If you add grow lights, they will use considerably more than the pump does, and that is the part worth checking against your own tariff.

We do not have that confirmed for the European market. The supplier's listing names a plug type for another country and we would rather tell you that than guess. Ask us before ordering and we will check.

Across Europe in 5 to 7 days after a 24 to 48 hour handling time. Free over EUR 50, otherwise EUR 22. Express delivery is available at checkout.

Tell us and we will replace it. Check the parts against the list when it arrives rather than on planting day, because a missing connector is a much smaller problem before the solution is mixed.