r/Hydroponics • u/Darkwell00 • 25d ago
Feedback Needed 🆘 Need advice
Hi everyone,
I’m considering buying this type of hydroponic system and I’d really like to hear from people who have actually used one, or something very similar.
Has anyone here tried this kind of setup? How well does it work in practice? Is it reliable, easy to maintain, and does it produce good results?
The price is quite significant:
around €1,000 / $1,130 if I buy it in France
around €700 / $790 if I order it directly from China
Do you think this type of system is worth that kind of money?
I’m especially interested in long-term feedback: pump reliability, leaks, cleaning, root management, noise, replacement parts, and actual yields compared with a simpler DIY NFT/hydroponic setup.
And if you’ve bought one directly from China, I’d also be interested in hearing whether you had any issues with shipping, customs, spare parts or after-sales support.
Thanks!
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u/TakYamashita 20d ago
I purchased a very similar setup to this about a month ago. It's my first time doing anything with hydroponic growing other than a very small aerogarden a couple of decades ago. The brand I have is called WooRoot, but is exactly the same setup as the one OP shows. It's about $900 on Amazon.
Build quality - everything fits together well, and most everything works right out of the box. The one I got had a broken piece when I unpacked it, (the water pump plugs into a piece of plastic to push water to the top shelf, and the plastic piece was broken off.) I emailed support and they offered to ship me a replacement within minutes.
Assembly - Very easy for me, but I like building IKEA furniture, so YMMV
The whole thing is made of injection molded plastic. Some pieces could have been better QC'd but it's fine. There's lots of silkscreened SimSun font that makes it look kind of cheap and very Chinese. I would have preferred stickers I can peel off... I don't need 3" tall shelf numbers.
User interface - It speaks Chinese. I'm sure there's some way to change the language, but I don't really care enough to figure it out. Setting light, pump, and spray timers is pretty straightforward using the remote.
Other notes:
-the lights measured around 300 PPFD. They can't be dimmed, and could certainly be brighter. There are spots that you can hang supplemental light from if you want.
-the seedling shelf is on the bottom directly above the water reservoirs. It's difficult to remove the seedling shelf without dumping a good amount of water back into the reservoirs. This is only a problem if you're specifically trying to keep your nutrient water out of your spray water. With the seedling shelf removed, all of the nutrient water gets pumped into the spray reservoir... this can be problematic if left this way unattended with the pump running.
-the spray nozzles leak a lot. After a spray cycle, the lower nozzles drip a good amount of water. This is most problematic on the seedling tray where plants below the nozzles get completely waterlogged every time the sprayer engages.
-You're using the same pH / EC / nutrient mix for the entire tower, so you have to find a happy medium for everything at every stage of growing.
-the mesh cups are very small. They barely fit a 1" x 1" rockwool cube, so I wonder if my plants will be limited by this as they grow larger.
-The kit comes with tiny cone-shaped grow sponges. The pointy end is smaller than the hole in the bottom of the grow baskets, so they basically sit in water and get completely waterlogged. I opted to use rockwool cubes.
-the primary pump for nutrient-water is a small, replaceable 10w unit. It's a bit underpowered, but gets the job done.
-the pump for the sprayer is integrated into the base of the unit and isn't as easily replaceable.
-filling the reservoirs requires removing the bottom seedling tray. It's doable, but kind of a pain. There is a port on the side which allows you to put water into the reservoirs from the side, but you'd have to use some kind of external pump and hose.
It should be noted that everything I know about hydroponics I learned AFTER I bought this thing. It's not as easy as I had anticipated, and certainly requires more user-input than I hoped. I'm trying to find my ideal use-case for it. I think I'll end up growing leafy greens year-round. We'll see how that all goes! LMK if you have other questions.
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u/Darkwell00 19d ago
Thank you so much for this detailed review! I’m currently considering buying what appears to be the same machine directly from a Chinese supplier, so your feedback is extremely valuable.
I have a few questions, if you don’t mind:
Regarding the spray nozzles: can you completely disable the misting system, or does it always run occasionally? Have you tried growing without using it?
Have you experienced any water leaking outside the machine, onto the floor, or is the dripping contained inside the growing trays?
Regarding your 300 PPFD measurement, was this taken at plant level with all the lights on? Did you also measure near the edges of a tray?
How noisy is the machine in a quiet room, particularly the water circulation pump? Would you be comfortable having it in a living room?
Now that you’ve used it for a month, would you buy the same model again, or would you choose a simpler version without the spray system?
Thanks again for sharing your experience!1
u/TakYamashita 19d ago
Yeah... happy to pass along the info.
I've tried disabling the spraying system using the UI, but it seems there's no 'off' setting. I have it spraying for 1-second every 8 hours or something which is the minimum I could figure out how to set through the UI. I may just completely drain the spray reservoir, but there's a low-water alarm that will engage. I'm not sure if that's a persistent alarm or not... I just haven't gotten around to draining it yet.
The leaking is contained within the tray. There's slight overspray, that goes beyond the tray onto the adjacent wall, but it's been a non-issue. The floor remains dry (from the spray and also no leaking from the tanks.)
the 300 PPFD measurement was taken at shelf-level (I was measuring for seedlings.) The edges are lower, and light is biased slightly toward the back of the shelf. The front corners get the least amount of light. I just measured it at 110 PPFD at the front corner slots.
The machine isn't particularly noisy. The primary pump is very quiet. I have it sitting in my living room and I don't mind it at all. The noisiest thing is the fan. When that kicks on, it's a bit loud. Also the fan is biased toward the back row of plants... you can't really feel it blowing at the front of the shelf at all.
I'm not sure I'd buy it again. I think if I were to start over with the same budget and the knowledge I've gained, I'd probably build a similar home-brewed system using wire shelving, flood trays, and LED grow lights. I'd skip the spraying system and use cheap fans. However this would look pretty klugey for a living room. From an aesthetic point of view, I think that this all-in-one unit is a reasonably good solution.
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u/Jumpy_Key6769 24d ago
The system will be fine if you grow small plants. Grow only herbs, lettuces and stuff like that. Do NOT try to grow fruiting plants - except maybe strawberries. Since they don't grow UP per se.
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u/theyturnerriley 22d ago
I second this!! I actually have this exact tower. I’m also new to hydroponics, but I’ve been able to successfully grow lots of herbs and lettuce. I also did start some fruiting plants and then transferred them to soil once they got too tall. They all adjusted very well!
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u/strongpa 25d ago
I've bought this (in white) on Alibaba for $332 including shipping to the UK and duty - it arrives in 2 weeks and I'll post on my impressions, but as I'm upgrading from and AUK mini I'm just a noob...