If you are someone who loves to grow his own food and you love sustainable food systems, then you must consider Aquaponics. Aquaponics is nothing new though, as it has been there for centuries but the amount of popularity and awareness it has got in today’s time has added much more value to this concept. It is ancient and one of the most effective food production systems ever created.
How and What of Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a science of growing plants without soil, and is a combination of hydroponics, aquaculture, and rearing fish. The combination of these three things works so well that all the three complement each other and makes Aquaponics one of the most self-sufficient and efficient food systems. The thought that has gone behind the making of this wondrous product is to save the environment and to come up with a green way of food production.
People who are aqua culturists often face the difficulty of getting rid of fish waste, which is both time consuming and bewildering, as to what place should they choose to dump the waste. Likewise, hydroponics also has its own fair share of difficulties. First, hydroponic systems demand a lot of money to feed plants, enough nutrition to keep them healthy, and to help them grow fast. The second trouble that troubles people using hydroponic systems is their periodical flushing, which is equally time consuming and annoying as it is in aquaculture.
There is no denial that hydroponics and aquaculture are two amazing ways to grow plants and produce fish but they come with one or two troubles, which rather takes away all the goodness of both of them. However, if you consider Aquaponics, it has combined hydroponics and aquaculture in it and has excluded the major troubles of both the food-providing systems. This unique food system provides both plants and fish quite efficiently and without any trouble.
Major advantages of using Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a space saver and you can place it both indoors and outdoors and a time saver because you need not spend any more time to weed and water plants. While using it you will never strain your back because you need not bend, as the produce beds are lifted. Whenever you want, you can access fresh fish and fresh plants, and plants in Aquaponics grow faster and remain healthier. One need not spend their money anymore on pricey and harmful pesticides and fertilizers, and can enjoy organic produce.
Species of fish that work well in small-scale Aquaponics
Trout
Trouts have an extremely high growth rate and they survive well in cold water, so no need to put ant efforts to heat water. Ensure that you feed them with meat-based fish pallet and insects, as they are carnivorous.
Tilapia
They grow fast, taste awesome, and breed readily but you need to provide them with warm water. They demand plant-based foods.
Catfish
Well suited for Aquaponics, is very nutritious, and their diet is omnivorous.
Carp
This is an oily fish breed that is extremely nutritious, reproduces fast, and survives on omnivorous diet.
As far as the plants are concerned, the list is endless. You can grow leafy greens (kale, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, etc), tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, most herbs, eggplant, broccoli, berry bushes; dwarf fruit trees, and earlier said the list is really long. The root vegetables are the only exceptions that are difficult to be grown in Aquaponics. One can keep rotating vegetables and get a varied yet constant supply of fresh vegetables without spending much of energy and money.
Summary
Small-scale Aquaponics system is a time saver, space saver, economical and a practical way to produce sufficient amount of food to feed yourself and your family in a day.