Aquaponics is one of the latest techniques that enable you to have a self-sufficient food supply. It is a sustainable system that is simple to understand and easy to maintain. It is borne from two traditional approaches, aquaculture and hydroponics. What’s great about aquaponics is that it eliminates the disadvantages of these traditional approaches. In a nutshell, aquaponics is a way to maximize the benefit of fish tank water, instead of wasting it like aquaculture does.
The way the cycle works is simple, the fish produce waste which is sent through a filter to remove lumps but retain the nutrition. This clean but nutritious water is then pumped through the grow beds, giving your plants all the food they need before returning to the tank to start the cycle over again.
The simplest design is the flood and drain system where the plant bedding is located on top of the fish tank. If you are very limited on space, this commercial aquaponics design is best suited for you. The water in the fish tank will drop when the plant bed is being flooded, but it would return as the water works its way through the bed and back to the fish tank without the assistance of a pump.
I personally never saw myself as a gardener and had in fact never grown anything before in my life. When we were kids we did have a little plot we called a garden but I don’t think we ever waited until anything actually grew big enough to bare anything edible. We just planted the seeds and were off to other things as kids are want to do. We really had no idea of the care and nurturing that a garden would require.
The latest type of gardening without soil is known as aquaponics how to and turns out to be a simple way to grow a garden. The great thing about this type of gardening is that you can grow vegetables while growing eatable fish providing a diversified variety of food.
Aquaponics is more of a complete system than hydroponics and aquaculture. It basically takes the negatives of both systems and uses them to make a more complete natural cycle that becomes a benefit to both systems. The fish wastes are converted to nutrients by naturally occurring bacteria in the water. This feeds the plants, while the plants clean the water for the fish.
With aquaponics, you get the advantages of hydroponics but without the chore of fertilizing and keeping the nutrient levels just right. With aquaponics, you feed the fish, and they do the rest of the work. Instead of paying for chemical fertilizer, you just pay for fish food, unless you grow the fish food yourself. But the fish that can be produced, can more than cover the cost of the food. In that sense, your fertilizer can be free.
If you are really serious about eating healthy organic food, growing your own food is the way to be sure you are getting the most nutritious and organic food there is. With aquaponics this can be practical, even for those with busy lives fish aquaponics not a lot of space.
An aquaponic system with high water pressure has an increase chance of leaking to occur. The most common source for leaks are the stab fittings and spray emitters. Root growth can cause water backup, however, this is less common.
Oxygenation is simple, but it is very critical to the system and it is important that you check your system daily to make sure the air is still flowing. A battery powered backup air pump is recommended in case of a pump failure or an extended power outage. This will help ensure your aquaponics system will keep producing great results for many years.
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