sounds interesting. keep us updated.

Hi orlchris,
I guess I am at the opposite side of the world and can hardly volunteer in exchange for natural goods ;-)

But about those "verti grow systems", don't be impressed to early, they are not exactly saving energy. You need a high head pump to get those fed properly. Rather keep it flat and simple, easy to clean and maintain for production. The first thing many new hydronists do, is actually buying a fancy power pump and think they are safe with that toy - while a tenth of the performance would be sufficient for E/F or else system. I recently found the top-notch pump. It costs 3 bucks here in Thailand, it's only 2 by 1 inch big, consumes 4 watt only (same as a small air pump) and pushes a nice stream up to 60 cm. I could run a few NFT gullies with it, when elevating the reservoir just a bit.

Browse around all the websites as much and as long as you can, before planing anything concrete -as you'll discover new and even more amazing things day by day, that's my humble advise.