What's inside an aerogarden?

I thought it would be cool to show you guys what the inside of the Aerogarden looks like.  Basically it's a covered bowl with holes in the top for your seed pods.  The seed pods come pre-filled from Aerogarden*, and you can pick what you want off their website or select a Grow Anything kit where you get the pods but can add your own seeds.  Each Aerogarden purchased come with a free seed kit.  I got the big one (tall/raisable light), so mine came with tomatoes.  Smaller Aerogardens come with herbs or the "salad kit" (assorted lettuces).

Water drips down each seed pod to keep the grow sponge moist.

Anyway, inside the bowl is water, and nutrients, which you add at start-up and every 2 weeks thereafter.  There is a filter inside which lets the nutrient-enriched water drip down each seed pod from the top, keeping it moist.  There's also an air pump and a sensor to remind you when you are low on water.

Indicator lights are on the front of the Aerogarden to tell you when to add water, add nutrients, or change light bulbs.  It has a built in light timer which you can customize the setting for, depending on what time you want it to go on/off or what plants you are growing (ie: flowers vs. vegetables).  It's gardening for dummies!

So, to summarize, this is a hydroponics system with "grow sponges" as the medium.  Some people fill their own seed pods with something called rock wool.  I haven't tried that - I just bought some extra seed pods with grow sponges from Aerogrow (Grow Anything kit).

How much energy does the Aerogarden use?  Here's the article from the Aerogarden knowledgebase.  It's ridiculously cheap!
http://www.aerogarden.com/aerogarden-customer-service-support/HOW_GREEN_IS_YOUR_AEROGARDEN_/how-much-will-the-aerogarden-raise-my-electric-bill.html
Since mine is the Extra model, I average around $3.51/mo in energy cost.

*Aerogarden replaces any seeds that do not germinate, free!