Disclaimer

📚 General information, not professional advice

Nothing on this site, in our tools, emails or book pages is electrical, plumbing, medical, nutritional, veterinary, legal or financial advice. For anything to do with wiring, your health, your pets or your home, talk to a qualified professional. You are responsible for how you use what you read here, and for following your product manuals, local codes and the rules of your building or lease.

⚡ Electrical and fire safety

• Use equipment certified for your country (for example UL or ETL listed in the US, CSA in Canada, UKCA or CE marked in the UK and Europe), and never go over the rating of an outlet, timer or power strip.
• Grow lights and heaters get hot. Keep them clear of curtains, paper and plants, follow the maker’s hanging distance, and do not cover ballasts or drivers.
• Check cords, plugs and seals for damage and water before switching on. Stop using anything that sparks, trips a breaker, smells hot or has been wet inside.
• Place reservoirs where a leak or spill cannot reach outlets or cause damage below. A tray under every system helps.

🧪 Nutrients, pH adjusters and other chemicals

• pH Down and pH Up are strong acids and alkalis, and concentrated nutrients and hydrogen peroxide can burn skin and eyes. Wear gloves and eye protection, and read the label and safety data sheet.
• Never mix concentrates straight into each other. Add each one to the water separately, as the label says.
• Store every chemical in its original, labeled container, closed, and out of reach of children and pets. Never put nutrient solution in a drink bottle.
• If someone swallows a chemical or gets it in their eyes, follow the label and get help at once: in the US call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222, in the UK call NHS 111, and anywhere call your local emergency number if someone is seriously unwell.

🥗 Food safety

• Sprouts and microgreens have been linked to outbreaks of foodborne illness from bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria, because warm, wet growing conditions suit bacteria as well as seeds. Food safety agencies advise that children, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with a weakened immune system avoid raw sprouts.
• Use seeds sold for sprouting or microgreens, food-safe containers, clean water and clean hands and tools. Rinse your harvest before eating.
• Do not eat plants, roots or anything grown in a reservoir that smells rotten, looks slimy or shows mold. When in doubt, throw it out and clean the system.
• Only eat plants you know are edible. If you have a food allergy or a medical condition, check with your doctor before adding a new plant to your diet.

🐾 Children and pets

• Buckets and tubs of water are a drowning risk for small children. Cover or lid every reservoir and keep young children away from your setup.
• Some plants, and many nutrients and pH products, are harmful to cats and dogs. Keep them out of reach, and read our guide to hydroponics with pets at home. If you think a pet has eaten something harmful, call your vet or an animal poison control line straight away.
• Keep cords, clay pebbles, net cups and small parts where children and pets cannot chew or swallow them.

🌱 Numbers and results vary

The pH, EC, light, temperature and timing numbers on this site are ranges from published research and extension services, listed on our sources page. Your seeds, water, light, temperature and equipment will differ, so treat every number as a starting point, watch your plants and adjust. We cannot promise any particular harvest, yield, saving or result, and plants can fail even when everything is done right.

We check our guides and correct them when we find a mistake or new research. If you spot something that looks wrong, please tell us and we will look at it.

🛒 Products, prices and affiliate links

Each product we recommend carries a label. “Hands-on tested” means we have grown with it ourselves. “Research pick” means we chose it from its specifications, the maker’s documentation, verified buyer feedback and independent sources, without testing it in person. Features and specifications come from manufacturers and can change without notice, so check the listing before you buy.

Links to Amazon are affiliate links: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product prices and availability shown on this site are accurate as of the date and time shown beside them and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of the product. See our Affiliate Disclosure and How We Test.

⚖️ Responsibility

You use the information on this site at your own risk. To the fullest extent the law allows, Urban Hydro Space is not responsible for any injury, illness, loss or damage that comes from using it, from any product bought through our links, or from any website we link to. The full terms, including the rights that the law gives you and that we cannot limit, are in our Terms of Service.