Deep Water Culture (DWC) Hydroponic Bubbler Bucket Kit by PowerGrow ® Systems (4) 5 Gallon - 6" Buckets

This setup is great and comes complete with good quality durable equipment made for long use and can help you achieve high quality and abundant yields absolutely love growing Deep water. I prefer it to a flow system because it helps isolate problems and allows individual attention to plants that may need it . The five gallon size gives room for huge root growth . As another reviewer said the price point you cannot match buying individual component

This is a great setup! I wanted to expand this and buy either cheaper or better components. Buckets at the hydro-store were are about 1/3 of the cost. You have to drill the holes, which is harder than it seems because you are starting on a smooth convex surface. I got a top for very little money at HD. But I had to spend money on a drill bit that nearly snapped my arm off when the teeth caught the plastic (otherwise, you will spend about 1/4 of the cost of this rig, just on tops.Then I needed a pump. I listened to some of the high output pumps at the hydrostore. I'm just growing tomatoes for the winter and want to relax a little bit in the basement. The high output pumps are not as loud as jack hammers. The high output pumps sound like jet engines from inside the airport--not loud, but a high pitch whine that is not conducive to relaxing.So, I went with the Hydrofarm dual diaphram--which is half the power for twice as much (3/4 of the cost of this setup). The hydrofarm pump puts out only a little bit more that the Elemental pump that comes with this kit. But they are louder.So, why not just go with the elemental that is half the cost (which is about 1/3 of the cost of this kit).Then the airstones. I bought an air ring thinking it would put out a more even curtain of bubbles. They are larger bubbles and only come out of half the ring. The airstones that come with this kit are perfect in overall size and porosity. Why experiment with different components when this kit has exactly what you need at a quality that you will be happy with.Bottom line, if you just love to tinker with a system and experiment with different components, do it yourself is O.K. But if you just want to grow plants, you are not going to save money and probably will not get significantly better quality by doing it yourself. Just spend the $100 and enjoy an inexpensive system with components that are perfectly balanced with the other components. And get something that has enough quality to last you through a growing season (or several--I'm not implying low quality components. I'm sure they will last much longer than a growing season). But, being realistic about this, by next winter, I may have no interest in hydroponics. And five years from now, I will probably have forgotten that I ever did hydroponics. However, if I keep up the hobby, I'd probably be happy to spend $30 to replace the airpump with the same Elemental pump. I guess, what I'm saying is that there is no reason to consider an airpump an investment. It will probably last 3 - 5 years. To spend twice as much on similar output and louder sound is just not worth it. Who wants to pay up front for a break even point that is five years down the road.Buy this kit! You will be happy with it! Here's to $100 tomatoes:-).

Started from soil, moved to coir, wanted to give hydro a try before investing in recirculating system which my local hydro store builds for minimum $300. I knew the challenges of individual-site care and semi-easy flushes, but ultimately I failed due to lack of experience. After 1 week I had algae and showed up on my leaves. I am certain it may be nutes, Fox Farm, having high solids over say Sensi products, but just a thought.I recalled a system previously interested in, Smart-Pots, which are auto-feeders. My concern there was the schedule of Fox Farm (changes every week, so sucks w/ a 17g tank if you're OCD - I am). One of the add-ons of this product was an air-pump to feed the roots, surrounded by a mesh. It would be a switch from fabric 5g pots to plastic, but I took this kit and rebuilt a hybrid Smart-Pot $300 and this $100 product with 2 more purchases - the medium (you would have had to buy anyway - mine are expanded clay stones), and 4" mesh pots.As you can see I put together with same materials you would have had to use except the 4" mesh filter protecting the air stone. This setup allows for even distribution of air (at which the soil density and saturation take over) which you can see by my placing plastic bags over my pots (perfect size). 3/4 successful, the other I'd assume failed due to a loose cork.The cork - to prevent air from escaping from the drainage/meter tube, which has a purpose of checking for overwatering, I put a cork in the tube. Otherwise I'd expect air to escape. I need to measure the inner-width of the tube and order the plugs, but for now it's literally shaven corks :DCheers.Cytan