The school of aquaponics don't know where to start? enroll in my free course to get additional information about aquaponics! i also have for you a free downl.... Even though, in other experiments, we’ve gotten very good growth rates with flow rates as little as 2 gallons per minute, we’re now recommending 5 gpm as a minimum flow rate for a 4-foot wide trough. if you use double- or triple-wide troughs (there are other problems with those, also), you’ll have to double or triple this flow rate to get the same velocity of water past your vegetable roots..