Sun Shelf 3 | Plant shelf with built-in full spectrum LED grow lights

1480 mm tall for the full shelf and 740 mm for the Mini, and both are 816 mm wide and 320 mm deep. On the full shelf the gap between layers adjusts from 154 mm to 754 mm, so there’s room for low houseplants, tall seedlings or even vegetables.

Size	Full shelf	Mini
Height	1480 mm	740 mm
Width	816 mm	816 mm
Between the uprights	777 mm	780 mm
Depth	320 mm	320 mm
Gap between layers	154 to 754 mm, adjustable	one gap; the top shelf can move up 154 mm

To change a gap, unscrew the shelf, move it to a new set of holes and screw it back in.

The Sun Patch is a separate light we sell, sized to sit on top of the Sun Shelf 3 (full size or Mini), so the top level becomes a growing level too. It uses exactly the same light panel, controller and 24 V supply as the lights in the shelf, so it works as part of the same system, with the same brightness and timer settings.

It comes with its own 36 W power adaptor and plug, so it uses a second wall socket rather than the shelf’s splitter cable.

Order it with the shelf, or add it any time later if you change your mind. It’s the easy way to grow more than the base shelf allows: one more light, and room for a fourth basin on the full shelf (a second on the Mini).

20 L per basin, with 18 net cups in each: enough water for three to four months between refills. You can order the full shelf with up to 3 basins (4 with a Sun Patch) and the Mini with 1 (2 with a Sun Patch).

Basins are also sold on their own as the heirloom basin, so you can start with none, or just one, and add more later.

The food-safe ABS is impact- and scratch-resistant, won’t fade with age, and is fully recyclable at the end of its life. Rounded inside corners make it quick to wipe clean.

Hydroponics is growing without soil. Each seed starts in a rockwool cube in a net cup, and its roots grow down into the basin, where the water carries the nutrients straight to them. The aeration pump bubbles air through the water so the roots get oxygen, and it plugs into the light above, so it runs on the same timer.

• faster growthWater, food and air reach the roots directly, so plants spend their energy on leaves instead of searching through soil.
• ultra-low maintenanceNo soil, no daily watering and no mess. Top up every 3 to 4 months and change the nutrients every 3.
• less waterThe water stays in the basin until the plants drink it, rather than draining away through soil and out of the pot.

Pots of houseplants don’t need any of this: they sit straight on the bamboo and are watered as usual.

Every 3 to 4 months for water, and every 3 months for nutrients. The 20 L basins hold enough water that you’ll usually go three to four months between refills, and the water level indicator on each basin shows when it’s time to top up.

We recommend emptying and replacing the whole nutrient solution every 3 months, because some trace elements build up as plants use certain nutrients faster than others. Read more in what nutrients do plants need?

This only applies to growing in the basins (hydroponics). Houseplants in pots are watered as usual.

2,000 lumens per panel, with 5 brightness settings and 3 daily timers. Every panel (3 on the full shelf, 1 on the Mini) has its own controller, so you can set each light to suit what’s growing under it. Warm white and deep red light gives plants the full spectrum they use to grow, and a lens over every diode focuses it onto the leaves, which makes the lights twice as efficient as our previous ones.

The basin pumps plug into the lights and run on the same timers. Not sure where to start? See which brightness and timer to use.

1 wall socket runs the whole shelf, and each light panel uses 24 W (24 V, 1 A). A Sun Patch has its own adaptor and plug, so it uses a second socket. The full shelf comes with a 100 W power adaptor with an Australian plug and a power splitter cable that runs up from the bottom level, with a branch at each level to that light’s own controller; the Mini comes with a 36 W adaptor. Because every controller plugs into its light, a faulty controller can be replaced without replacing the light, and new controllers can be added later. The aeration pumps plug straight into the light panels, so there’s nothing fiddly to wire up.

Running cost: at full brightness for 12 hours a day, a full shelf uses at most about 0.9 kWh a day (3 lights × 24 W × 12 h), roughly 29c a day or $8.70 a month at an average Australian price of 33c/kWh. The Mini, and each Sun Patch, uses about a third of that: about 10c a day. Lower brightness uses less.

3 light panels and 3 controllers come with the full shelf, and 1 of each with the Mini. A Sun Patch adds one more of each. Here’s the full list:

About 20 minutes, and it’s simple: the bamboo frame goes together with the Allen key and 16 screws in the box (8 for the Mini). The light clips arrive ready assembled, so there’s no fussing with a screwdriver to get your lights up.

setup in four steps

1. Build the frame. Screw the bamboo frame together with the included Allen key and screws.
2. Clip on the lights. Clip each light panel up under a shelf (3 on the full shelf, 1 on the Mini). No screwdriver needed.
3. Plug in once. Plug each controller into its light panel, run the splitter cable up from the bottom level and plug each controller into the branch at its level (full shelf), then plug the adaptor into one wall socket.
4. Set the light. Choose a brightness and a timer on each panel’s controller. Growing in basins? Plug each basin’s pump into a light panel so it runs on that light’s timer.

Full shelf: fix it to the wall with the anti-tip kit in the box, and keep each layer under 25 kg.

The manual in the box has the full steps, and our walk-through video shows the whole thing.

watch the setup video

2,000 lumens per panel, 1480 mm tall (740 mm for the Mini), 20 L per basin and 1 wall socket: here’s every spec in one table.

Start here, then let the plants tell you. Every light has its own controller, so each level can have its own settings.

Crispy, bleached or burnt edges? That’s too much light: turn the brightness down, shorten the hours, or give the plant more room below the light.

Slow, small or wispy, stretching towards the light? It needs more: turn the brightness up, lengthen the hours, or bring the light closer by moving the shelf down.

Very likely, yes. Growing indoors protects plants from temperature swings, wind and uneven light, and without soil there are fewer pests. The nutrient solution feeds the roots directly, and the water level indicator and light timers take most of the guesswork out of daily care.

New to growing? Start with our Serial Plant Killer series.

No: set the built-in timer to 8, 12 or 16 hours on instead, or use a wifi smart plug. Plants need a dark period each day to rest, so copy a natural day and night cycle rather than running lights around the clock.

Light needs vary by plant. Too many hours of light can make some leafy greens, like spinach, bolt to seed.

1 year warranty from the date of purchase, on top of your rights under Australian Consumer Law. If anything goes wrong, contact us with your order number and a photo, and we’ll arrange a repair, replacement or refund.

We also offer change-of-mind returns on all products, and a 60-day seed guarantee: any seeds that don’t grow, we’ll replace free of charge. Everything in the sun series runs on the same 24 V system, so pumps, lights, net cups and other parts can be replaced or added later.