The plan

I became interested in hydroponics several months ago after seeing a video on Will Allen, a former NBA player who decided to go back to doing what he loved, which was farming, and began experimenting in aquaponics to grow vegetables and fish in the same space.

(Aquaponics = Aquaculture, or the raising of fish and other organisms that live in water + hydroponics, which is the process of growing plants without soil).

Here is a video of Will Allen and Growing Power, which is his urban farm + education center in Milwaukee:

At the time I didn't think full fledged aquaponics was an attainable goal for me but I have since changed my mind.  It's actually quite doable, and no more complicated than maintaining a large aquarium.

In the past few months I have given myself a crash course in horticulture and hydroponics, learning the science behind them as well as many techniques people employ.  I think one of the things that attracts me to it is how young this field is.  It's barely 60 years old and people are still innovating and improving the art.  One thing that makes you know the field is still new and fresh, there is no 'standard' big corporation hydroponic setup aside from a few manufactured systems like Crop King and the like (which I think are still great in what they do).   It is still very much in the hobby phase.  I suppose like the early automobiles that were hand crafted by blacksmiths, and personal computers which were built on wooden breadboards, someone huge will eventually step in and dominate the market, but that hasn't happened yet.  Looking at hundreds of different setups that people share on the internet, every single system out there is custom designed by people browsing the aisles at Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware, and other stores in their area.  The parts are all off the shelf, although there is an increase in specialty shops on the internet that make specific fittings or tools.  Nearly everything needed for hydroponics can be done cheaply by anyone.