NFT Hydroponic Gully & Gully Accessories
Hydroponic Gully makes up a large proportion of the total cost of a commercial NFT system.
It is therefore essential that the gully is well designed and durable.
A correctly designed NFT gully promotes the Nutrient Film Technique by allowing a thin film of oxygenated nutrient solution to flow along the base of a flat bottom gully surface from which the root system of a plant can feed from.
Failure to use a well designed gully will lead to continuous problems such as ponding, blockages and deep nutrient flows which starve the root system of oxygen leading to root death, root disease and crop losses.
Often it is only when a grower switches to a properly designed gully that they notice significant improvements in crop quality, over and above what they previously thought was acceptable.
Round section pipe is Not NFT!
The gully should be of a sturdy construction to reduce the number of frame supports required along its length.
Gully accessories such as End Caps and Joiners should also be well designed and compatible so they do not leak or require excessive amounts of solvents to attach them.
The gully must also be made from UV stabilised Food Grade PVC. This type of PVC does not utilise any cheap fillers and won’t leach any harmful chemicals into your system.
Proper UV stabilised food grade PVC should also last at least 20 years.
To qualify as Food Grade PVC, a PVC product should be manufactured using a Calcium Zinc Stabiliser or better still, an Organic Stabiliser.
All gully supplied by Pure Hydroponics is made with Organic Stabilisers. Our products are also free of cheap PVC fillers. This makes it a high quality product and totally safe for food production. The food grade feature is critical for hydroponic gully. If growers are considering purchasing hydroponic gully that sounds very price competitive compared to other gully products then it is quite possibly Not Food Grade PVC, not UV stabilised, or uses a large amount of cheap filler which shortens the life of the product. Stabilisers such as lead are still commonly used in some overseas countries for PVC production but these are not deemed safe for use in food production.
We stand by the high quality of our gully and our 20 year guarantee on Hydro Pure 1 piece and 2 piece gully reflects this quality.
It is very easy for a factory to make a cheaper gully. All they need to do is use less UV stabiliser and use a higher proportion of cheap filler. By doing this a factory can reduce their price and still say that their product is UV stabilised – but what lifetime will it have? Unless they can give you a 20 year guarantee then there is no assurance that the gully will last for a reasonable time in direct sunlight or that it will have enough elasticiser additives to make it impact resistant.
Pure Hydroponics have selected a range of high quality gullies and accessories which comply to the above-mentioned quality control criteria. Each design has been tried and tested in the harshest of climates to ensure they perform to expectations.
When making such a valuable investment you need to make sure it lasts the distance. A grower’s focus should be on growing great crops, not spending their hard earned money on maintaining or replacing poor quality gullies and fittings.
Our selected range of gully & accessories is detailed on the following pages.
Please let us know if you have any further questions on our gully or if you require a quotation.