The concept of aquaponics is in its name-a combination of AQUAculture (fish-growing) and HydroPONICS (vegetable-herb-growing). Aquaponics is a prime example of sustainable food production, and many individuals are turning to this home food cultivation system. It will save you a lot of money to use aquaponics to grow your food and give you food that is organic and of better quality than what you can buy in supermarkets.
The water from the fish enters the hydroponic beds in an aquaponics system. Some of the water will be taken up by the plants, and with it the nitrogen in the water. This nitrogen originates from fish manure and feed that decomposes. It can reach dangerous levels if nitrogen is allowed to build up in the fish tank. This nitrogen, however, happens to be a great vegetable fertiliser! This saves you from having to add artificial fertiliser, which is costly and contains potentially harmful synthetic chemicals. The water returns to the fish pond squeaky clean after the plants have soaked up the nitrogen. Therefore, you won't need complicated fish water filtering systems, as the plants will do this job for you!
The advantages of aquaponics are numerous. It is a sustainable food production system, where nutrients are recycled and there are limited external inputs. As it can produce large quantities of food in the least amount of room and with the least amount of expenditure, it is the most effective form of food production. It is a very versatile device that enables you to grow a wide range of fish and plants. And it can basically be set up anywhere! In addition, as the required equipment can easily be installed at home, it is very easy to scale according to needs. Make it as big as you want, in other words. Maybe you just want a small unit just for your family to produce food. Or you may want to devote a whole room to it so you'll have plenty of vegetables and fish to sell for a profit! Keep in mind that all foods produced in an aquaponic system are organic and no chemicals are used.. And organic foods, as you know, are of greater quality and have higher prices than non-organic foods. Currently, many are turning this hobby into an income stream.
When you understand the principles of aquaponics, you will realise that the set-up needed is actually very simple, and it can be easily built at your local hardware store using materials from around your house or bought cheaply. To get you started, all you need are some core instructions and a few diagrams.
Learn more about aquaponics, and how to build your own system in Aquaponics 4 You