I started my first aerogarden 3/9/10 using Fox Farm nutes and 2 extra 40W 5000K CFL Bulbs clipped on the sides of the AG, a timer for lights, an extra air stone, a power strip, 6 seeds in an open closet with a curtain to close . I got sick and left lights on 24/7 for over a month and just added plain water when needed. Too sick to do more. 6 weeks in, the illness gone , I dumped the reservoir, rinsed the roots, refilled with water and Fox Farm for foliage, and in error reset the light timer for 12/12. I also lost 2 plants. The 4 plants left went nuts and grew like crazy. End of May I switched the side lights to 40W 2700K CFL Bulbs, dumped then refilled the reservoir with Fox Farm Big Bloom and water but put in the Fox Farm recommended amount instead of 1/2. Within hours the plants were showing signs of nute burn so dumped the reservoir and refilled with the proper nute amount. Caught it quick so no problem. A week ago I reduced light to 10 hours and found some boys just starting on one of the branches only. I pulled the branch and air dried the tips. Yesterday I topped several plants as there was no more room to pull over the tops and they were touching the top lights. This morning the first hairs of budding can be seen.
Bottom line, I used bag seeds , I've abused these plants like crazy and they're still living, thriving and going to set bud. The tips from the boy branch I pulled are real stoney so I can't wait to try some buds in a month or so. I have no doubt my yield would be much higher had I dealt with the lights/nutes/dump/refill better comma but it shows even if you abuse the heck out of the plants they are weeds and will survive and thrive.
I just started my 2nd areogarden with similar seeds and the same light set up as before but this time will stay on top of the optimum light and nute schedule and anticipate greater yield. I'll try cloning those plants and put the clones in the areogarden that will be harvested in a month or so. (Didn't want to clone the current plants as even though they are very healthy they have been badly abused.)
What I've found is the learning curve isn't that big. Proper nutes and lots of good light set properly are the keys. I found zero need for the figure 8 cord. I just plug the AG and extra lights into a power cord and plug the power cord into the timer. The extra air stone is plugged in separately and runs 24/7.