What is Aquaponics

What is aquaponics?  It's a handy way of combining aqua farming (growing fish for food) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil) into a home aquaponics system that is the best of both worlds, providing you with clean, healthy protein and your own freshly-grown vegetables.

By combining these two systems, you solve the problem of hydroponics (how to bring nutrients in) and aquaculture (how to get the excess nutrients - fish manure - out and clean water in. 

Keep fish in a freshwater tank, and you'll soon realize the importance of changing the water on a regular basis. Otherwise, they'll be swimming in their own waste.

What is aquaponics? A great way to provide your own clean protein and fresh produce.

Fish manure is loaded with nitrites that are great for plants, but deadly to fish if they are exposed to too much of it.  With an aquaponics system, the plants work as a giant, highly efficient filtering system. 

The roots of the plants remove the nitrates from the used fish water while bacteria on the growing medium convert the ammonia in the water to valuable plant food.  The remaining clean water is then pumped back into the fish tank. 

If you don't have a pond or giant fish tank handy, you can still build your own hydroponics system once you understand the basics of what hydroponics is.

What is aquaponics? It's keeping fish and allowing their dirty water to feed your plants.

What is aquaponics?  It's a system of combining fish and plants for the best of both worlds.

What is Aquaponics?

A home aquaponics system can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, although if you are just starting out, a simple system is naturally the best. 

For a basic aquaponics system, you will need a fish tank (a 100-gallon tank can cost $500 or more, so start small and then work your way up), a table for your plants, as well as a growbed and growing medium, such as clay pebbles. Anything that anchors in your plants will do. You will also need pipes, a submersible pump, and a standpipe. 

A growbed is a container for the growing medium that holds your plants in place and has deep sides that will hold water. 

What is aquaponics? It's using clay pebbles as a medium for growing plants and filtering out fish waste.

Expanded clay pebbles make a good medium for aquaponics.  You can find them here.

The growing medium can be anything, but is typically gravel or expanded clay pebbles (you can find them here). You can also use soil, and many do so to great effect. 

Place your fish tank on the floor beneath the table where you plan to keep your container of growing medium and plants. 

Then place the submersible pump in the tank and run the water through a pipe from the fish tank to the growbed. 

Place the standpipe in the center of your growbed.  When the water in the growbed gets to a certain height, the water will run through the standpipe back into the tank. 

The rest of the water will filter through the medium, where bacteria on the medium will convert the ammonia wastes into nitrates that can be used by the plants.  The plant roots themselves will also draw in the nitrates and plant wastes from the water.  The resulting filtered water flows into a separate pipe that also runs back into your fish tank. 

The end result?  Your fish get new, clean water every day, and you get healthy, happy plants.  And that, in a nutshell, is the answer to what is aquaponics.

Growing Tip: Invest In Two Pumps
As Well As Good Lighting

One thing I've learned about having an aquaponics system is the importance of having two pumps rather than one. That way, if your pump goes out (this usually happens in the middle of the night), then you can replace the dead pump right away. Otherwise, your plants will die pretty quickly.

If you use soil as your growing medium, you won't have as much of a problem with your plants dying on you from dehydration. Just be sure to use sterilized soil or container soil, or you will bring in pests that could eat your plants.

Also, make sure your plants have plenty of lighting. Good-quality grow lights are a must because without sufficient lighting, your plants will get sickly and die. So invest in LED grow lights designed specifically for plants, and make sure your plants get good quality light for at least six to eight hours each day.

Learn More About Organic Gardening

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About the Author

My name is Sue Merriam, and I began the journey of self-reliant living more than three decades ago, which enabled me to stay home with my children. Fifteen years ago, I founded Joyful Homesteading to help others save money and face the future without fear. My goal is to give you practical, honest advice so you can save money and experience the joy of simple living. I hope you join me.

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