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A closed-loop, regenerative life support system must include a method for recycling organic waste materials. With a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS), this will be accomplished by decomposing the wastes and using the effluent to formulate a nutrient solution which supports food production by plants. The waste processing technology used may be either physicochemical or biological. Although the effluents from biological processors have been extensively evaluated as fertilizers for soil-based agricultural systems, few experiments have been conducted to evaluate their suitability in hydroponic applications. This paper describes the results of a series of experiments performed to evaluate effluent from an anaerobic bacterial reactor as a nutrient source for hydroponically-grown plants. Germination and initial seedling growth were found to be suppressed by pure effluent.