There were no tools needed to set up the NFT system, which was great! It was really straightforward and I was able to put it together in a few minutes. But first, I wiped it down inside and out with 90% isopropyl alcohol to sterilize it.

Next was to secure it to my wall. Thankfully the measurement of the width of the tubes was correct so I was able to get wall hooks that would fit them perfectly. It was important to not get something that would be impossible to remove the system because I want to be able to take it down to clean it. The outflow tube was a bit shorther than I anticipated so I had to set it up lower on the wall to be able to meet the reservoir. No problem though, made the marks on the wall, screwed in the hooks, hung the system, and that was that!

So I got it hooked to the wall, next was to see how it all flows! I set up the tubing for the water pump, put some water in the reservoir, and it worked! It was such an exciting moment. I waited a few minutes for it to get started up and for the water to reach the end when I unplugged the pump. This is when I learned that I didn't put the the system together securely enough. One of the pipes detached from the fitting and when I tried to fix that one on the bottom also did the same and then there was water getting everywhere and I didn't know how to stop it. Luckily it wasn't running but it still had plenty of water in it. ooooooo I coulda cried it was so stressful, but after mopping up all the water and there being no real damage to anything, I enlisted the help of my fiancee Rachel to make sure the tubes were secured as tight as possible in their fittings. This meant now that the measurements for the hooks were a bit off, dang I put it together that poorly huh! Huge lesson learned.

With the system repaired, the hooks repositioned, it was time to set up the lighting. I was a little disappointed when I opened it to find that the tubes were not as long as the measurements stated on the webiste. On their website there were conflicting measurements between the pictures and product descriptions, so I called their company and they confirmed it was the length specified in their description. Getting the correct length was crucial because that would determine the length of led light strips I would need. Because I thought the tubes would be approximately 4 feet, so I went for lights that were two feet in length fror a total of 8. Unfortunately the system wound up being smaller than that so it was a bit disappointing, and when working within a budget it was hard not to regret having been able to maybe spend less on the lighting, but I think I will still be able to make them work

The rows wound up being just over 2 feet in length so I would use one light strip per row. It was very intuitive and exciting to rig up. The lights came with screws, zipties, and sticky tabs. I used the zipties to secure each strip of lights to the tubes and the sticky tabs to stick it to the wall above the top row.

Up until this point, the DWC system took a backseat to the NFT. I ordered a lighting system that would need overhead rigging, so I had to make a trip to home depot to get a plant hanger for it. The drill bit for the hole saw was too big for my drill so I couldn't cut out the holes for the netcup or the air tubing. But I was able to borrow a drill from a friend that would fit it so I was finally able to get it all together. This also meant I could drill the holes for the NFT system!

Now everything was put together, all I have to wait for is two crucial things: my seedling starters and the GFCI adapter with 5 outlets. When I get the adapter I can plug in all of my lights, air pumps, and water pumps and see how the system is running. Until then it is waiting and ready to go!

Another exciting aspect of my farm system is that I will be incorporating sensors to monitor the pH, EC, temperature, and CO2 levels of my NFT system. The process of connecting all of the sensors to the bread board and connecting our mini computer was difficult but super fun. As of right now we are waiting for the code for the pH sensor and I still need to calibrate my EC sensor- when I first did it the values wouldn't reach what I needed so I'll have to try again and see what went wrong there. These values will be logged to The Urban Wild's PlotBox system where I'll be able to monitor my systems values remotely!