Hydroponics Growing System Indoor Garden 12 Pods Indoor Gardening System with LED Grow Light Height Adjustable Plants Germination Kit Quiet Smart Pump - Hydroponic Planter Fresh Harvest Black

I bought an off-brand hydroponics kit back in 6/2021, grew about 3 cycles & put it away for 1 to 1-1/2 years until las week. Pulled it out & pump isn't working, so bought this & got it this morning. Took inserts with seeds out & moved to the new unit. You need to know some basics to succeed:1. pH OF WATER: You really must test the pH of the water before planting, which should be 5.5-6.5 for lettuce, herbs, etc. I try to keep it near 6.0 generally. You need a pH meter kit to do this that has solutions to mix with water to calibrate it. Tap water here in Colorado & bottled water like El Dorado and Arrowhead usually test 7.5-8.5. I use General Hydroponics pH up & pH down to adjust. To adjust your water, just add 1/8 tsp at a time of Up or Down and retest, etc. until you reach near 6.0. This pH adjustment is important when growing hydroponically. Check the required pH for growing because certain plants grow best with a more acidic or alkaline environment. Everything I've grown before & now are around 6.0 pH.2. HYDROPONIC FERTILIZER: I bought a 3-bottle kit of General Hydroponics hydroponic fertilizer (organic) after using what came with my 1st kit. Very easy to use & they have charts on what mixture for each stage of growth. The mixture changes from seedling to green growth to fruiting. The solutions don't go bad & they have worked fabulously for me.3. NO TALL & SHORT PLANTS TOGETHER: If you try to grow tall plants (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers) with low-growing plants (lettuce, herbs like thyme/oregano), the tall plants will kill off the low-growing plants as they mature, so think ahead. My jalapeno peppers & tomatoes killed off all my lettuce & herbs the 1st time.4. TALL PLANTS NEED PRUNING: If you grow tall-growing plants like peppers & tomatoes, you will have to constantly prune to keep the growth manageable & to get flowers & fruiting.5. POLLINATION: Certain plants have to be pollinated or cross-pollinated by hand, so do your research. You can do this with a paintbrush or even with your finger (called tickling the flower). I had many flowers on my jalapeno plant that never fruited. I did actually get some cherry tomatoes, but these tomatoes would normally grow to 4-5', so it was a chore of pruning & pollinating flowers to get just a few tomatoes at the time. If you don't do this, you will get flowers & no fruit at all. Plants like tomatillos need 2 different plants to cross-pollinate (male & female).6. OTHER GENERAL: I don't soak seeds generally. Certain harder seeds can benefit from soaking. As well, what temperature certain plants grow well at can vary & you need to keep this in mind. Leave the caps on growing seeds until you can see at least 2 leaves & a bit of height (like in my picture); leaves reach top of dome over them. I planted these seeds last week in the old unit where pump wasn't working. On the left, I have 5-6 loose leaf lettuce plants. On the right, I believe it is arugula showing. The thyme, oregano, marjoram & spinach all have small sprouts coming up under the caps. Apparently I have one I'm not sure of at this moment, but I will know when it comes up, and 1 empty slot.7. PUMP: I will edit the review if something happens with the pump. It is very quiet compared to my other one. I can feel the vibration when I put my hands on the side, but I don't see moving water when I look into the water. Without a working pump, the plants will die before maturing.8. CLEANING: Keep an eye on the water. As plants mature, the roots will be too long & tangled to safely take out individually. Keep an eye out for a lot of algae (greenish), too much sliminess, etc. Brownish color doesn't necessarily mean you need to change water. I think I had to change water once in the first 3 growing cycles I did. You will have to take the whole top off, dump the water, clean out base, & then fill with new pH adjusted water with new fertilizer, then put base with plants back on. ALWAYS thoroughly clean and sanitize the base & plastic inserts between growing cycles (mild soap & warm water should be fine, but check your instructions).I hope this helps some newbies as I often see newbies leaving comments that nothing grew or died halfway. Measuring the pH is really important because tap & most bottled water is too alkaline. Invest in a pH meter & calibration kit. I just put the seeds in, fill up the water, & let it go. This is my 4th cycle of growing and you can see the seeds are all coming up. I may add pix after the plants start to mature more.Even though my last off-brand hydroponic system had 14- and 16-hour cycles, it only cycled 14 hours and everything was fine. As well, the timer didn't work well & time on/off would increase about 15-20 minutes probably every week; I just reset it if I was up early enough to turn it off/on again. So cheap, yes, but it worked just fine overall.

Issue more than resolved. I got a response from a email I sent and was told they would replace the unit, which is ideal since I loved it until it lost power. I also got contacted through Amazon by the seller offering a refund. I would much rather have the replacement!!!!Less than two weeks of starting seedlings all power went out, lights and pump. I have checked the outlet and all connections to the unit. Other items work when plugged into the outlet, but this does not. I have gone through all the troubleshooting offered under the amazon returns process and tried to contact the seller at the link provided. The link does not work.After two days trying to get in touch with someone about getting a replacement finally requested a call from Amazon. It was a robot call with only option was to return. It said it text a link for the return, but the text was never received.

EDIT: I contacted support and they were very helpful and prompt. I am updating my review as I liked the features of the product. Hopefully there will be no issues with the new pump.I really liked the product at first. There are a few features that other similar did not have. The lights raising to accommodate taller plants for one. But unfortunately the pump stopped working at 4 months and when I selected contact the manufacturer, it says there is a problem with the url. It is past the return date, so I think I am stuck.

This Brand is NOT Reliable! I returned three of these a month ago when they failed to turn back on the second seed starting session. I had everything set and ready to go. Then plugged the three of them in and none of the white lights went on, no matter how I tried to get them to work! Amazon was very helpful and agreed to give me a refund for each one even though it was several days past my return option. I still have the other three systems from this company. Yesterday, I set them up to start a new set of Ground Cherry Seeds which from past sessions have grown very well using these. Two of my Ureq machines turned on and the third one did not!!! It is a lost cause!! What a waste of money and effort! This brand is NOT WORTH PURCHASING! I own the Suncoze brand and it works fantastically! I also have one Growell Hydroponic System and it works AWESOME too. Stay away from this brand as well as "Garden Cube". Because neither of these work after one cycle!

I really like this system. It is large and functions as expected. I like the options for 3 different light selections and the large lamp. The only drawback for me, and why I gave it only 4 stars, was because it is very difficult to see the water level in the window; it just looks black, even when I use a flashlight to try to see. That being said, I had sprouts of my faster growing veggies within 2 days! Way quicker than the seeds I am sprouting in dirt.

They offer a very complete kit, lacking only the seeds the owner wants to grow. I am very impressed with the light that is attached to the tank; it is amazingly bright and really gets your seeds germinating and keeps on providing what your plants need. Everything is high quality, and when the time comes, I will be able to get refills for the unit. Living in a high rise apartment, I can now grow real food like the leafy greens I need and want for good health, and know that they are organically grown with no exposure to pesticides or insects that would ruin a crop. I will clone all my houseplants via this method as well, because growing hydroponically, they will be far easier to take care of! This is a wonderful kit I would urge all households to own and use!