jadekettle2
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- Jul 5, 2025
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Just starting out and curious what's the most beginner-friendly hydro system that scales well once you get the hang of it?
New to all things hydroponics
- Thread starter jadekettle2
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ChrisInTheTropics
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- Jul 1, 2025
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Beginner here too, or possibly could claim to be slightly past the beginner stage, but not much 
For me, NFT seems the simplest way to get going with a decent number of plants, there are lots of pre-made/kits for the 'a bunch of pipes with embedded pots, connected together with a pump and bucket' style rigs out there.
The tower rigs are nice, not sure it they strictly count as NFT or a kind of ebb-and-flow, but a similar idea, very self contained and low-footprint, I have one on the way to try out.
The 'scaling well' thing has been on my mind too, I have a pre-made NFT rack with 12 pipes of 9 pots each, and a home made thing with a few metres of connected 2" pipes and bigger pots, and a shared reservoir buried in the ground for the two (it's damn hot here) - have had lots of fun with laying half inch water pipe back and forth, playing with pumps and all that.
If you're anything like me, I'd suggest accepting that you'll rapidly learn more and have new ideas about how you want your setup to be and constantly want to change everything (yet again) so just build one or two simple rigs, whether pre-made or home-grown, but secure the pipes with a dab of silicon sealant rather than a good helping of strong glue, it should still hold water fine but means you can pull it all apart again and re-use the pipes and joints/adaptors.
I'm planning to go a bit OTT, with a big shared reservoir sunk in the ground in shade, feeding half a dozen big horizontal 2.5" pipe-rack style rigs with 72 pots in each, but I'll get there slowly, feeding each rig with it's own nutrient supply initially (so a mistake will only wipe out one set !) and adding another rig when the previous one is set up and stable - adding them one by one to the 'nutrient motherlode' system as I go.
If you want a simple life and don't enjoy the nuts and bolts of it, I'd suggest getting a pre-made rack and just using it as intended, you can always adapt it later if you want to start experimenting.
For me, NFT seems the simplest way to get going with a decent number of plants, there are lots of pre-made/kits for the 'a bunch of pipes with embedded pots, connected together with a pump and bucket' style rigs out there.
The tower rigs are nice, not sure it they strictly count as NFT or a kind of ebb-and-flow, but a similar idea, very self contained and low-footprint, I have one on the way to try out.
The 'scaling well' thing has been on my mind too, I have a pre-made NFT rack with 12 pipes of 9 pots each, and a home made thing with a few metres of connected 2" pipes and bigger pots, and a shared reservoir buried in the ground for the two (it's damn hot here) - have had lots of fun with laying half inch water pipe back and forth, playing with pumps and all that.
If you're anything like me, I'd suggest accepting that you'll rapidly learn more and have new ideas about how you want your setup to be and constantly want to change everything (yet again) so just build one or two simple rigs, whether pre-made or home-grown, but secure the pipes with a dab of silicon sealant rather than a good helping of strong glue, it should still hold water fine but means you can pull it all apart again and re-use the pipes and joints/adaptors.
I'm planning to go a bit OTT, with a big shared reservoir sunk in the ground in shade, feeding half a dozen big horizontal 2.5" pipe-rack style rigs with 72 pots in each, but I'll get there slowly, feeding each rig with it's own nutrient supply initially (so a mistake will only wipe out one set !) and adding another rig when the previous one is set up and stable - adding them one by one to the 'nutrient motherlode' system as I go.
If you want a simple life and don't enjoy the nuts and bolts of it, I'd suggest getting a pre-made rack and just using it as intended, you can always adapt it later if you want to start experimenting.
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