Hi! well I have constructed a drip nft system useing coco.I used 4 inch sewer pipe to make my smaller plant beds herbs ect, and 6 inch thin walled sewer pipe for the larger plants. to solve my problem for end caps on the 6 inch pipes I used plexi glass since the system has no pressure it works great and the kids can see the roots growing I just cover them with a piece of drapery backing from walmart that is white on one side and black on the other. my 4 inch pipe I used sour creme containers to cape them they actualy poped right on and on the bell end of one the lid fit pretty well so that saved me a little. Another thing I wanted to bring up is places to buy tools cheap cause if you dont have have them they can get pricey. I have been useing harbor freight tools they sell sump pumps for about half the price of the hardware store. Heck I purchased a 13 piece hole saw set that goes up to 5 1/2" or so for around 10 dollars and they worked great. I also purchased my drip emitters it had 10 in line 10 free standing in the set 100ft. of tubeing and alll the t's and hookups for 7 dollars a set! Another tip I learned is that when I went to lowes there 6 inch pipe was 30 bucks for a 10 foot section and was thick walled. I was like wholey crap! so calling around I found a pipe supply company that had thin walled 6 inch sewer pipe for 12 dollars and there end caps were about half the price of the home stores. so looking in the phone book payed off and almost every town has one (I live in temple tx a small town and we have 3). I used solo cups for my net pots just stacked them up and drilled them. I wanted to try coco but that proved to suck cause the shipping was more than the coco as I was told after giveing my credit card! I purchased my
pump at tractor supply company they were on clearance for 50% off so I built the whole thing for under 100 bucks. My girlfriend is most awesome and let me set it up in the house and I decided to just drop my
seeds in the system turn it on and let her rip! so far I am impressed it took my lettuce about 2.5 days to sprout when the pack said 8-10 days silly dirt farmers! oh well I just wanted to pass on some ways to save money while constructing your system they may not make it look all NASA and stuff but it works. Have fun and happy gardening!