AquaSprouts Garden Review

The AquaSprouts Garden allows you to enjoy a garden and an aquarium all in one, with a design that collaborates to help each individual portion thrive.

The AquaSprouts Garden is self-sustaining, easy to assemble, and according to testers, the company which provides this mini ecosystem has great customer service.

Unfortunately, not everyone speaks of a wonderful experience with this product. Some users complained that the garden didn’t include a tank, while others found it to be overly noisy.

Nonetheless, before you make your final decision, let’s take a more in-depth look at the AquaSprouts Garden.

AquaSprouts Garden: The Details

Specs

• Weight: 24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 28 x 8 x 17 inches.
• Capacity: 10 gallons.
• Lighting: Yes, removable light bar included.
• Glass or Acrylic: Doesn’t come with tank, but will fit either glass or acrylic.
• Accessories: Pump, timer, and growth media.
• Warranty: One-year warranty.

Features

Design

This garden boasts of a rather modern design. From an outside glance, it’s a smooth, matte black, which prevents clashing with any other décor in your living room or bedroom.

Additionally, the area in which you plant your garden is custom-molded as a single, contained piece. There’s no worry of dirt getting into cracks and crevices!

As for assembly, all that’s needed is to snap on the legs. It fits any standard 10-gallon tank which is about 20 x 10 x 12 inches.

Light Bar

With the AquaSprouts Garden, you don’t have to go out and buy a light fixture for your plants. It comes with a removable light bar, on which you can attach any two-foot lighting option of your choice.

The garden doesn’t come with its own HID/LED lighting, but this does give you a chance to pick the kind you prefer.

Because of this light bar feature, you can grow your garden just about anywhere, with no need for natural lighting.

Pump

This garden kit also includes its own 9.5 watt/120 V submersible pump, which can handle up to 160 gallons per hour.

So, once you get your aquarium tank, you don’t have to worry about buying a separate device. AquaSprouts has you covered.

The pump also comes with a one-year warranty, so if there are any problems, a new one can be sent to you.

Timer

Along with the pump, this aquarium garden includes a timer. This feature allows you to pump water for up to 24 hours, and can also be set at 15-minute intervals or more.

It all depends on what you’re growing, the type of fish kept in your tank, and how dirty you find the water becomes.

Growth Media

There’s no confusion about the type of media to use with the garden and its future tank. It comes in the AquaSprouts’ custom kit.

The special clay growth media replaces the soil you would normally use for gardening and provides the plants support in the growing bed.

This clay media also delivers a place for bacteria to grow, so that fish waste will be converted into nutrients and food for the plants. This is accomplished by the media’s ability to trap fish waste, as well as any leftover fish food, so that your tank’s ecosystem becomes self-contained.

The growing bed serves as its own mechanical filter, preventing the need for other filters or media – now or in the future. The media included does not degrade.

The clay also supports the plant’s roots, and wicks moisture to keep the plants from drying out.

AquaSprouts Garden Review

The Positives

Self-Sustaining

Usually, growing plants and herbs takes a lot of work. You have to ensure they receive the proper amount of water, that they have the right soil, and that they are exposed to adequate levels of natural sunlight.

However, with the AquaSprouts Garden, all of that is a distant worry. The kit itself handles each of these tasks in a self-contained manner.

Once it’s established in your tank, with the media and your plants properly arranged, there is barely any maintenance. The plants clean the water for the fish and the fish fertilize the plants with their waste.

All you have to do is watch your plants grow!

This makes the AquaSprouts Garden a great option for busy homes or parents teaching children a lesson on gardening and ecosystems. It doesn’t require much upkeep from the owner, so there is less of a chance of any mishaps from you or the kids.

Easy to Assemble

Quite a few users liked how easy the Garden is to assemble.

The base of the garden is pre-arranged before it arrives, requiring only that you snap on the legs, place it on your 10-gallon aquarium, establish the clay media, and then add soil as well as any plants you like. It’s that simple!

There are also step-by-step instructions within the package if you need them.

A tank that’s easy to assemble usually means that it’ll be easy to maintain and clean too! Fortunately, customers have confirmed the little effort it takes to keep this aquarium running.

This aquarium is self-sustaining but if you do ever need to take it apart for any reason, it won’t be a pain.

Compact and Efficient

Since it’s an all-in-one kit that forms a symbiotic relationship between an aquarium and a garden, it’s far more convenient than if you had two separate units.

With AquaSprouts, your aquarium and garden enjoy a single, well-suited partnership. If you live in a small apartment or have only limited space within your house, this set-up will be perfect.

Since everything stacks on top of the aquarium, you are using vertical space instead of spreading it out horizontally – or worse, needing to place a small garden and then a separate, small aquarium in two different rooms.

When you need to access your aquarium, the garden is easily removed. It’s quite efficient, and even more impressively, you can enjoy herbs and plants in your home all year round!

Great Customer Service

Users of the AquaSprouts Garden also mentioned how great the customer service is. Any concerns they had were dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Good customer service can make or break a product, and the company earns high marks here. So, if you’re considering this garden for your aquarium, there’s no worry of being left high and dry should you, unfortunately, experience a defect or other problem.

The company has a phone number, an email, and an online chat feature on their website.

The garden also comes with a warranty included on the pump and timer. Should you find a problem with your tank that’s due to manufacturing, you’ll simply need to contact AquaSprouts and they’ll be in charge of handling the repair or replacement of your items.

Great Learning Tool

Whether you’re teaching on the topic, or have budding young aquarists of your own, the AquaSprouts Garden is a great way to teach children (and even adults!) about sustainable ecosystems.

It doesn’t require a lot of space in a home or in a classroom, and since it’s easy to maintain, you can place it in reach of children so they can watch the garden at work.

It will be hard to ignore your aquarium under this conversation piece, and the AquaSprouts Garden also makes a great gift for those fascinated in this niche.

The Negatives

Light Bar Does Not Come with Light

While you do receive a light bar with this garden, it doesn’t come with an actual light. You will have to make a separate purchase in order to grow your plants.

Several users were confused, as the product description online implied that a light was included. Other users were disappointed to pay and then still need to make additional purchases.

This might not be a dealbreaker, but customers should be more aware of this situation before purchasing to save from the confusion and extra hassle.

No Tank

In a similar vein, numerous users were dissatisfied to realize a tank is not included with this aquarium garden kit.

The product was designed for people who already own a 10-gallon tank and want to add a cool new feature to it. If you aren’t among this category, then a separate purchase will be necessary.

As with the customers who were upset about the light, some felt that for the price they should be getting more than just the garden unit.

Iffy Pump

A few testers mentioned a bad experience with the pump that’s included. It didn’t keep the tank as clean as they would have liked.

You can invest in a different pump, but, once again, that is another purchase. The company should provide a pump that works properly right out of the box.

While this isn’t always the case, this is where your warranty will come in handy.

Noisy

A number of users also mentioned how noisy the pump is on the AquaSprouts Garden. One user stated that it could not be placed in their bedroom, despite their original plans, because of how loud it is.

So, if you do invest in this product, be sure to place it where noise won’t be a large issue.

Here’s a video showing what the AquaSprouts Garden looks like out of the box and set up.

Overall Verdict

After looking through all the positives and negatives, we are recommending the AquaSprouts Garden.

Since this kit does not come with everything you need, has a noisy pump, it may not be the ideal tank for everyone.

However, if you are prepared to make the extra purchases or if you already own an aquarium that will suit this garden, it will be an excellent upgrade. Who doesn’t want fresh plants in their home?

Where to Buy the AquaSprouts Garden?

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, AquaSprouts has ‘sprouted’ their way into the aquatics market with their unique garden.

The company has received a lot of excitement from enthusiasts and customers, including parents and teachers who can easily use this device as an educational tool.

Their success has allowed this product to be picked up by a variety of retailers making the AquaSprouts Garden available both in-store and online.

While it’s usually best to check pet, fish, and specialty stores, you can kick-start your search with the following online retailers.

• AquaSprouts (from $169)
• Aquaponic Source (from $169)
• Wal Mart (from $167)

And of course, you can also find this aquatic garden on Amazon.

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That’s all four our AquaSprouts Garden review. Curious to give it a go?