Aquaponics can produce 10x more than agriculture and 5x more than aquaculture, making it the world’s solution to food insecurity. With the amount of arable land diminishing, aquaponics has become more popular as we can harvest both fish and plants without the use of fertile soil. In a coupled aquaponics system fish and plants share the same water source, this limits the use of fertilizers and supplemental nutrition for the plants to not affect fish health. There are supplements that can be used but they do come with a heavy associated cost. Optimal Fish Food produces a diet that has been formulated to fortify potassium, phosphorus, and iron that will enter the water column via fish waste. These nutrients are often lacking in aquaponics and will elicit optimal fish and plant growth. To determine if this feed actually works, the overall health of Nile tilapia and nutrient density in Thai basil will be examined. Fish will be fed Optimal Fish Food’s Optimal Aquaponic feed and Purina Promax Fingerling Starter 300. Length, weight, blood glucose, packed cell volume, plasma protein, and lysozyme will be measured on day 0 and day 40 for both groups to evaluate fish health. Basil from both groups will be harvested after 48 days of growth. Leaf samples will be sent to A&L Great Lakes Laboratories for nutrient testing and total harvest wet weight and sample dry weight will be used to evaluate plant growth and nutrient richness. Results will be presented at the conference.