About The System

I designed the hydroponic system to grow small to medium flowering plants and vegetables. We have grown some large tomato plants in these systems also. We have never heard of any issues growing flowering plants such as larger cannabis. It’s still illegal in our home state, so no testing of cannabis has been done by us. We have out-of-state customers where it’s legal to grow cannabis who have our systems, and we have used their feedback to help improve the system.

GS Hydro’s systems were developed in 2001 under the Original Company GSS. This system is a combination of NFT and DWC. I developed the system after researching the benefits of both. While the constant flow of water in an NFT system was great, there were a few issues.

If the power went out and the pump stopped in an NFT (nutrient film technique) system, your plant’s roots could dry out. The nutrients could become depleted before reaching the end of the tubes. The growing rates were fantastic when everything was running correctly.

In a DWC (deep water culture) system, the roots are suspended in the solution. There is an air stone to keep the water oxygenated. The growing rates were slower, and the buckets or reservoirs were harder to maintain due to the amount of nutrients needed or access to the nutrients. In addition, the plants always grew roots to the bottom of the containers, creating a large unnecessary root mass.

In our system, you have the best of both worlds. Oxygenated water, Residual water in the tubes to prevent issues during power outages or other mishaps. The growth rates are just as good, if not better, than a straight NFT system, and the peace of mind that your roots are submerged should water stop flowing for any period of time.

The benefits include the ability to really max out the nutrients in the system and use the stand for trellises. The constant flow of water like in the NFT system and the constant submersion of the roots like in a DWC system allow for some really good nutrient levels.

I found that in a DWC system, there was slower growth even though you can hit the nutrients at high levels. The constant flow of water moving through our systems seems to boost root growth and growth rates.

In the end, the GS Hydro system solves the NFT issue of roots drying out if your pump goes or the power goes out. We also found a way to utilize the benefits of the DWC system’s ability to hit the nutrients hard and still have an easy-to-maintain system with a reservoir for easy PH and TDS readings and nutrient adjustments.