How to Make Hydroponics in RimWorld | Layout + Power Planner

Year-round food, stable power, no crop deaths

How To Make Hydroponics In RimWorld

Build one reliable room, keep the lamp fed, hold the right temperature, and pick crops that recover fast after outages. This page leads with the 11×11 setup, the 20–24 basin layouts, the sun lamp power math, the temperature plan, and the fixes for common failures.
1 lamp + 24 basins under bright light
2900W lamp + 70W per basin
21°C target room temp
Rice first at 1.98d grow time
Quick Solution
Power Table
Layout Diagram
Crop Picks
Troubleshooting
At-a-glance setup
Start here
Room
11×11
One centered sun lamp with room for 20–24 basins.
Peak draw
4580W
Full 24-basin room during lamp-on hours.
Night draw
1680W
Basins keep pulling power after dark.
Starter crop
Rice
Fastest stable food cycle for a new room.
24 BasinsBest tile efficiency
21 BasinsBetter planter pathing
2 Solar + 2 BatteriesSafe default power pair
1–3 Heaters/CoolersDepends on biome
Build priorities
Guide
Layout24-basin max yield and 21-basin walkway variant
Power2 solar + 1–2 batteries or geothermal backup
SafetyFix lamp outages, stalled growth, and dusk brownouts fast
Also included
Extras
Biome cardsIce sheet, desert, and mountain base playbooks
ToolsPlanner link, mod notes, and patch timeline
FAQAnswers for sterile tile, basin limits, and crop deaths
Quick solution Build one room that stays alive
Fast answer

Build this first

Research Hydroponics, then place 1 sun lamp in an 11×11 interior.
Fill the bright area with 20–24 basins. Keep a walkway if planter travel is slowing sowing and harvest.
Feed the room with 2 solar generators + 1–2 batteries at minimum, or anchor it to geothermal.
Hold temperature near 21°C / 70°F and plant rice first.
Materials
Layout
Power
Temperature
Crops

What you need

Item Purpose
1 × Sun lamp Provides the bright-light footprint that the basins depend on.
20–24 × Basins Compact year-round growing space inside the lamp radius.
2 × Solar + 1–2 × Batteries Smooths out dawn, dusk, and short weather dips.
1–3 × Heater/Cooler Keeps the room inside a safe growth range for your biome.
Layout 24 basins for output, 21 basins for smoother pathing
Blueprint

Room blueprint

24 Basin Max Yield
21 Basin Fast Pathing
Planner Copy
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Center the lamp exactly. A small offset is enough to leave a band of weak growth on the far side of the room.

Placement notes

24 basins Best tile efficiency when your growers are fast and the harvest route is short.
21 basins + walkway Better for lower-skill colonies, larger farm blocks, and slower pawns.
Shelves and kitchen Put shelves near the door and keep the kitchen one room away to cut hauling time.
Planner link Place a secondary planner button under the diagram for quick room sketching.
Power and temperature Power the lamp safely and keep the room inside the growth range
Critical

Power budget

Safe default room 1 sun lamp, 24 basins, 2 solar generators, 2 batteries, hidden conduits, and a reserve line you can isolate.
Peak day
4580W
Lamp plus 24 basins while the lamp is active.
Night base
1680W
Basins stay hungry when the lamp turns off.
Average
2435 Wd
Best value for long-run generation sizing.
Basins Average draw Recommended generation
12 ~2015 Wd 2 × solar + 1 battery
20 ~2295 Wd 2 × solar + 2 batteries
24 ~2435 Wd 2 × solar + 2 batteries or 1 geothermal + 1 battery
Peak day = 2900 + 70 × N Peak night = 70 × N Average = 1595 + 70 × N Generation target = room average + margin for benches and dusk spikes

Temperature by biome

Temperate forest 1 heater for cold snaps, 1 cooler for heat waves. Hold the room near 21°C.
Desert / Arid 2 coolers on opposite walls. Intake from a corridor and exhaust outside.
Tundra / Ice sheet 2–3 heaters, double walls, and an airlock. Geothermal makes this much safer.
Mountain base Natural insulation helps, but overhead mountain blocks transparent-roof greenhouse tricks.
Crops and failures Plant the right crop first and fix the top failure states quickly
Recovery

Crop picks

Crop Best use Notes
Rice Fastest food, ~1.98d grow time Best first crop for a new hydro room.
Strawberries Raw edible fallback Useful when cooking labor is tight.
Healroot Medical security Switch in after the food buffer is stable.
Cannot grow Corn, Devilstrand, Haygrass Keep these on soil or greenhouse plots instead.
Rice first
Healroot later
Corn blocked
Devilstrand blocked

If something breaks

Lamp won’t turn on Check daytime headroom, switches, and whether the battery line has any charge left.
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Plants stall near 50–60% Look for a misaligned sun lamp radius or a room that drifted outside the safe temperature band.
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Night brownouts kill crops Add another battery, reduce competing loads, or isolate a reserve grid for the farm.
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Solar flare or blight Harvest early if needed and clear infected plants fast before the compact room spreads the damage.
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Decision support Use hydro where it wins, skip it where soil is cheaper
Advanced

Hydroponics vs greenhouse

Hydro wins when

You are in ice sheet, mountain, desert, or toxic conditions.
Space efficiency matters more than steel and components.
You want year-round food behind your defensive core.

Soil / greenhouse wins when

You already have strong soil and a long growing season.
You want lower capital cost and less power fragility.
You need crops that basins do not support.

Biome playbooks

Ice Sheet Put the first room near a geyser. Start around 16 basins, then scale up after warm clothing is stable.
Desert Use coolers aggressively and keep heat exhaust away from your service corridor.
Mountain Base Mirror two rooms around a kitchen corridor to cut hauling and protect the food chain.
Shelves by door
Kitchen next-door
Reserve grid
Walkway for speed
Tools and context Planner access, mod notes, and the current 1.6 timeline
Support

Tools and mods

RimWorld Planner Sketch 11×11 interiors before spending steel and components.
Growing Zone Priorities Helps keep sowing and harvesting organized across multiple rooms.
Normal Light Growth Useful for low-power runs. Keep it clearly separated from vanilla rules.
Greenhouse-ish Transparent-roof alternative for modded indoor farming.
Related guide Power that never fails: batteries, solar, and reserve banks.
Related guide Greenhouse without a sun lamp for soil-based indoor farming.

Recent 1.6 timeline

2025-07-11
Odyssey + 1.6 stable release Sets the modern baseline for the numbers shown on the page.
2025-07-29
1.6.4535 bugfixes No hydro stat shifts, so the layout and power guidance stay the same.
2025-08-28
1.6.4566 update General stability improvements without changing the room recipe here.
2025-10-31
1.6.4630 release Confirms that the hydro setup remains current in the latest 1.6 cycle.
FAQ and related guides
FAQ Do you need sterile tile, can basins be moved, and how many basins can one grower handle?
Related guide Power that never fails: batteries, solars, wind, and reserve lines.
Related guide Crop picks that do not waste your time in bad weather and short seasons.
The page keeps the answer path clear from top to bottom: quick solution, room layout, power, temperature, crops, troubleshooting, biome advice, tools, timeline, FAQ, and related reading.