The growing beds

The Eliooo book is quite simple, it use the same IKEA Trofast storage boxes for almost all their setup. They are BPA free, which is always good for growing food. As I bought the net pots at the Prince Edward flower market, they are a bit different than the one you can source on Amazon or Ebay (we don't have Amazon in HK, but Taobao/AliExpress accross the border).

My netpots are larger than the regular 2" described in Eliooo, so I had to buy a different drill hole saw than the recommended that matched my pots.

First you need to place the pots upside down to simulate their position. Keep in mind that you will have plants in them, so don't keep them to close to each other as depending on the crop, they need more or less clearance. 

Drilling the lid is a bit messy as the plastic tend to melt, so you need to drill very slowly. 

When finished with the drill, you need to clean the holes with a cutter blade and remove the melted part.

The final result is close to the design, with only 6 pots per box.

The next step is to drill the bottom part for the water overflow to the next bed. Eliooo said to drill a 14mm hole in the center, and plug a 16mm aquarium tube. It should be sealed enough...

Why hydroponics ?

We live in Hong Kong, Kowloon side... on the 38th Floor of a tower, and we're lucky to have a balcony. So I thought we could plant some vegetables and herbs for cooking and fun too... but then I realised that I would have to bring soil (heavy), build a structure like these raised growing beds to bring the plants to get some sun, and water them quite often... and this balcony doesn't have water, not electricity...
So, I looked for an alternative where the amount of water would be limited, more or less a closed circuit and also a system that work in a hot and humid environment...

Hydroponics !

But, I can't build a weed grow chamber on my balcony ;) ... so it has to be light, easy to build and easy to disassemble if needed. Then I found the Eliooo book. It describes techniques and setups that can be done using IKEA articles. As IKEA is available in Hong Kong, and pretty cheap, let's give a try.... and if it doesn't work, then my kid can store his toys in the Trofast buckets :)

 It looked simple enough to be build with a limited number of power tools and some free time. For sure, I'll have to adapt to the local IKEA inventory, but these Trofast series are really cheap.

Here is the shopping list:

1. Trofast Storage box (the water tank) black as the algae will develop in the clear version. IKEA# 902.525.74 Qty: 1
2. Trofast Storage box (grow beds), green, because it is opaque. IKEA# 201.416.69 Qty: 3
3. Trofast Lids. IKEA# 701.362.03 Qty: 4 (at least)
4. Aquarium Water pump (got one with 3m elevation, 430gph) & 16mm tube
5. Aquarium Air pump & 5mm tube & Air Stone
6. Net pots

First I bought the bigger version of the tank (501.362.04) but being clear, I got too much light in it, and then algae developed rapidly.
In the book, they also use clear aquarium tubes, which is good for air distribution, but not for water...

The wood plank and shelves are not available in Hong Kong, and I was worried of the wind we can get in Hong Kong during Typhoons, especially on the 38th Floor. So a big wood plank flying on my balcony didn't inspired me much... so I changed my design to a lighter structure made of PVC, as many Hydroponic DIY project.