When I began reviewing hydroponic components and starter's kits on the Internet and nearby gardening suppliers. I was amazed to discover that basically you can purchase from a simple hydroponic unit costs about $20 to greenhouse with full automation costs $20,000. The vast range of product and amount of information available is both pleasing and confusing. While you have a great range of products to choose from, it is not easy to make a choice.

Therefore, before you buy anything or start looking for a starter's kit, get a few good hydroponic gardening beginner's guides and take your time to read up on the subject. Then develop a rough idea of the size of the hydroponic unit your want and what you want to grow in it. Much of the beginner's kits won't make sense unless you understand the basics of hydroponics and your needs.

It is very important to have an idea what you want at the very beginning. For example, a person who spends $30 a simple hydroponic system may later find out that 7 days a week, 3 times a day, he/she must be available to pour nutrient over the aggregate. For the busy city dweller, this could be a hassle. In this case, an automated hydroponic system will be more suitable for him/her.

Just to let you have an idea of the common types of hydroponic systems Water Culture System, Ebb and Flow System, Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) System and The Drip System.

When you start planning for your very first hydroponic system, the followings are just some of the considerations:

- Where do you want to plant, outdoor or indoor?

- How much space do you have?

- How large a hydroponic unit you need?

- What the types of plants do you want to grow?

- How many plants will you grow?

- How much you can afford to spend?

Once you have decided on your hydroponic system, you can handle your purchase in one of two ways

1. If you enjoy working with your hands, making things, gain tremendous satisfaction from what you create, then you can build your own unit by following the steps provided in the guides, and just restrict your purchases to those things you cannot make or otherwise adapt from materials at hand such as pump.

2. If you will rather concentrate on the actual growing of hydroponic plants using a system that is proven, then you can buy an entire hydroponic unit including a container, an aggregate and for some degree of automation, a pumping device. Many kits also include an initial supply of nutrients.

Once again, if you are new and keen to try out hydroponic gardening, then read. Personally, I think if you do it for the first time, then it will be good to get some books, at least two to three books.

Because different authors likely focus and provide more details on more than one hydroponic systems based on their own experiences. So reading a few guides allows you to have better understanding of various types of systems and helps you to identify the best system suitable your needs.

A good basic guide should provide a parts list, a tools list and step-by-step instruction, and advices to ensure that you are able to build a good hydroponic system. In fact, nowadays, there are also guides on the internet coming with video clips to better illustrate the building process.

Hydroponics is fun and simple to learn, hope you will enjoy.