This is an indoor gardening project started by myself and some apartmentmates at NDSU. Aquaponics is similar to hydroponics, but adds fish as a supply of nutrients for the plants. We are currently working on expanding our setup.
Our first setup originally had tomatoes planted in it, but they had issues growing due to their high nutrient requirement. We removed them and have now planted a combination of parsley, oregano, and kale. For our ECE 376 final project, my apartmentmate Jake and I made a video showing the electronics that control the system:
After some time, we ran into problems with the tomatoes being unable to get enough nutrients to sustain themselves. Some research indicated to us that plants like lettuce and spinach require very little nutrients. With this in mind, we removed the tomatoes and the rocks.
Later in its iterations, we attempted using Perlite and then expanded clay as substrates. However, we had too many issues maintaining enough nutrients for the plants.
We have since converted the system into a regular soil growing tray where we have spinach plants.