A Water Spinach Hydroponic System using Automatic Water Temperature and pH Level Controllers

Abstract

Hydroponics is a water-based planting method that uses less extensive land while enabling us to produce healthier and more hygienic plants. For water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), the hydroponic system must be able to maintain the water temperature within 26oC-29oC and the pH level between 5.5 and 6.5. Due to these strict requirements, the hydroponic system for water spinach must be continuously monitored to remain within the desired ranges. One solution to automatically control the water temperature and pH level utilizes a control system that incorporates  several components such as the Arduino Mega 2560, the SEN0161 pH sensor, the DS18B20 waterproof sensor, a water heater, a fan, and a peristaltic pump. The benefits of using the control system for the water spinach hydroponic system were evaluated against the conventional no-controller method by assessing the growth of the water spinach. With the controller, the water spinaches had an average height and average number of leaves per plant of 24 cm and 53, respectively. These averages are significantly larger than those measured from the conventional method which yielded 16 cm average height and 16 leaves per plant.