I'd like to help, but you seem more hydro-advanced than I am. I do have and use a couple of Waterfarms with the standard drip set up and the tri-flora three bottle series of nutrients. Each bottle is applied in different amounts according to what stage the plant is at- cutting, vegetative growth, flowering, etc. I have a timer go 30min on/off all day. Just that and a PH test/adjust kit and I've had incredible results. I've only used my waterfarms outdoors as well, not indoors yet. Evaporation really wasn't that bad this year, but the only other thing I had to keep an eye on. The plants got so massive they laughed off any pests. Aphids, birds... there was just too much plant for them!

I was thinking of tossing a waterfarm outside this year, 3 questions.

How did you waterproof the air pump. and 2, if it rains how do you keep the system from overflowing?
Have you had algae problems?

In terms of waterproofing the air pump, and overflow from rain, those weren't really problems for me considering I live in San Diego. Although when I lived right on the water, condensation was a problem from time to time and I would hide the pump under a pot or something. I went through a couple pumps. Having them below the water line elevation probably did not help. It makes the pump work harder than it needs to. Maybe a large tupperware container rigged up with a couple of holes for the cord and air line and some screen in the bottom for the air intake. For the rain overflow, some kind of temporary hood that goes around the stem and over the drip ring, maybe plastic or card board. Wish I had better answers for you. In terms of algae, never had too much of a problem, but I did with salt. Had to remove the drip ring and soak and clean it a couple times during a plants run. A reverse osmosis system would solve that problem with the salty water, but I don't have enough waterfarms to justify the cost of one of those systems yet. Got to head out for the day- what kind of peppers are you hydroing this year?

As many as I can fit with my setup. probably about 6 ramdom varieties, after this summer I plan on taking cuttings of the outdoor plants that perform and yield the best. and will grow those all fall/winter. Try running the Waterfarm with just plain R/o water (ph correct of course) between nutrient changes, if that doesn't cut down the sale, maybe try a product like "flora Kleen" I would say cut down on your nutrient solution, but the plants will know more about that than I do :-p

But so far I am going to try to grow a Yellow Thai, red savina, Fatalii and Coban

I just stopped by the hydro store on my way home and they want $70 for a complete setup now. Used to be $50 two months ago. I'm just going to MacGyver up some new setups out of some buckets and tubing. That way I'll just buy a big bag of pellets and a new multi pump. The waterfarm concept is pretty easy to duplicate. I'll have to post a pic or two when it's done. I'll probably have something outdoors in two weeks or so.

yeah, you're right about the waterfarms, The only reason I buy them, is because the hdpe plastic is lightproof and food grade, Make sure if you eat your peppers you stay away from cheap plastics. I did the same thing myself, I bought an aquarium air pump 6x as strong and just used gang valves to run all the farms on one pump. Also they come with the Nutrient solution, that's pretty much the only value when buying the waterfarms.

Food grade! I forgot about that. Good point, thanks because eating the peppers is why I grow them. I'll have to find a good source for my plastic buckets then. Maybe a restaurant has some bulk-food style buckets/plastic. I'm bummed- I could have bought an eight pack waterfarm deal for $300 at one point a year or two ago. Who knows what it is now? Eight different hydro peppers would be great. I wanted to get another one and put a plant in it from Smokemaster 2007's "mystery mix" seeds I received to just surprise myself with who knows what. Anyway, thanks again on the plastic tip.