Trying to plan my outdoor garden

[stephaniejmccloud]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum and have been searching some existing threads to try to fill the gaps in my understanding of hydroponics. There are still some things I just can't quite wrap my head around, though, so any help is very much appreciated.

I have been interested in hydroponics for about a year, but am afraid of spending the time and money on a system only to find out that maybe I should've just used some dirt. I like the idea of using less water, which I suppose is my main reason for wanting to use hydroponics.

I'm in New Mexico, and planned to have the system outside on one of the two balconies of my apartment. Both are east-facing. I'm looking at either buying a drip system/vertical tower or making a NFT pipe system.

My main two questions are:

1. Which kind of plastic is safest to use? An over-asked question, I'm sure. I know that #1, #2, #4, and #5 are generally considered safe and stable, but with the intense heat added into the equation, are ANY plastics safe? I get conflicting information all over the place on this. Very little mention on whether even the most stable plastics will not leach into the water when heated. I read that HDPE is the most heat-resistant, but that stuff isn't really available for pipes. I absolutely love this plan for a nice-and-tidy system, but just want to be sure about which plastics to get for the trays. Using this design is not set in stone...it's just near the top of the list.

2. After reading some other threads on here I realized the water in the reservoirs will get very hot...and the chillers on Amazon are $100+. This is an expense I hadn't taken into consideration...Is this definitely important to have?

I have a few other concerns (like the intense NM sun that fries everything that's green), but I think they're manageable and just a matter of getting my hands on things once started and figuring them out.

Thanks for any advice—
Steph