Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics.
What is aquaponics? How does it combine aquaculture and hydroponics? Well in aquaculture they grow mainly fish in an enclosed system and in hydroponics they grow vegetables or even fruit, without any earth.
In aquaponics they grow both produce and fish and without some of the drawbacks associated with aquaculture and hydroponics.
Aquaculture, this is sometimes also referred to as Aqua Farming.
It is really big business and produces millions of tons of fish every year.
However it has some big problems associated with it.
Carnivorous fish such as salmon eat several pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of salmon.
Also a farm which has 200,000 salmons produces more fecal waste than a city that has a population of about 60,000 and this is discharged, usually untreated into the environment.
The wastes settle on the bottom of the ocean and so damages or even eliminate bottom-dwelling life.
This waste can also reduce the oxygen levels of the water and so puts more strain on the wild fish.
Aquaculture of fresh fish has problems too.
To make them profitable they are densely stocked and disease and parasites and a lack of sufficient oxygen all put stress on the fish.
To reduce the risk of disease, antibiotics are added to the feed and also chemicals are added to the water to fight parasites and other pests.
A lot of water is wasted and fresh water pumped in to try to keep the water suitable enough for the fish to survive.
With Hydroponics the nutrients are put into the water and circulated around the plants.
To keep the water with the nutrients balanced it is necessary to flush out a lot of water regularly.
Getting rid of this water poses a real problem as it is full of chemicals.
Also different plants require different nutrients.
You need a CE meter in order to be able to measure the amount of nutrients that are in the tank.
A problem arises when one kind needs a low CE level and another requires a high level.
What level are you going to use? Therefore you will find that commercial hydroponics setups grow just the one kind of produce.
And so they are not really all that suitable for a home setup, as of course you want to grow a good variety of vegetables for the table as well as a variety of herbs.
What about aquaponics? Does an aquaponics system have the same problems of having to get rid of water that is full of either fish waste or chemicals? A very definite no.
Aquaponics uses only about 2% of the amount of water you would use with a home vegetable patch.
The fish produce the waste and the plants use the nutrients that are in the water, which is circulated from the tank to the plants and back into the fish tank..
The fish waste produces ammonia and bacteria, which naturally appear in the water, change the ammonia to nitrates and plants thrive on nitrates.
As the plants take in the nitrates they are filtering the water and in doing so keep the water suitable for the fish to live in.
And thus with an aquaponics system you get the best of both worlds.
You are not only growing your own fresh vegetables, you are also growing your own fresh fish for the dinner table.
It is ideal for the backyard.
It does not take up a lot of room and once it is established it does not take a lot of time or hard work to look after it.
It is actually quite enjoyable to see not only your plants grow, but it is also very interesting to see your fish grow.
What is aquaponics? How does it combine aquaculture and hydroponics? Well in aquaculture they grow mainly fish in an enclosed system and in hydroponics they grow vegetables or even fruit, without any earth.
In aquaponics they grow both produce and fish and without some of the drawbacks associated with aquaculture and hydroponics.
Aquaculture, this is sometimes also referred to as Aqua Farming.
It is really big business and produces millions of tons of fish every year.
However it has some big problems associated with it.
Carnivorous fish such as salmon eat several pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of salmon.
Also a farm which has 200,000 salmons produces more fecal waste than a city that has a population of about 60,000 and this is discharged, usually untreated into the environment.
The wastes settle on the bottom of the ocean and so damages or even eliminate bottom-dwelling life.
This waste can also reduce the oxygen levels of the water and so puts more strain on the wild fish.
Aquaculture of fresh fish has problems too.
To make them profitable they are densely stocked and disease and parasites and a lack of sufficient oxygen all put stress on the fish.
To reduce the risk of disease, antibiotics are added to the feed and also chemicals are added to the water to fight parasites and other pests.
A lot of water is wasted and fresh water pumped in to try to keep the water suitable enough for the fish to survive.
With Hydroponics the nutrients are put into the water and circulated around the plants.
To keep the water with the nutrients balanced it is necessary to flush out a lot of water regularly.
Getting rid of this water poses a real problem as it is full of chemicals.
Also different plants require different nutrients.
You need a CE meter in order to be able to measure the amount of nutrients that are in the tank.
A problem arises when one kind needs a low CE level and another requires a high level.
What level are you going to use? Therefore you will find that commercial hydroponics setups grow just the one kind of produce.
And so they are not really all that suitable for a home setup, as of course you want to grow a good variety of vegetables for the table as well as a variety of herbs.
What about aquaponics? Does an aquaponics system have the same problems of having to get rid of water that is full of either fish waste or chemicals? A very definite no.
Aquaponics uses only about 2% of the amount of water you would use with a home vegetable patch.
The fish produce the waste and the plants use the nutrients that are in the water, which is circulated from the tank to the plants and back into the fish tank..
The fish waste produces ammonia and bacteria, which naturally appear in the water, change the ammonia to nitrates and plants thrive on nitrates.
As the plants take in the nitrates they are filtering the water and in doing so keep the water suitable for the fish to live in.
And thus with an aquaponics system you get the best of both worlds.
You are not only growing your own fresh vegetables, you are also growing your own fresh fish for the dinner table.
It is ideal for the backyard.
It does not take up a lot of room and once it is established it does not take a lot of time or hard work to look after it.
It is actually quite enjoyable to see not only your plants grow, but it is also very interesting to see your fish grow.