This method is a fantastic way to grow organic fruits and vegetables and has gained popularity in the media in recent years as a way to start your own sustainable commercial business. Part of this increase in popularity is because aquaponics systems create a self-sustaining closed freshwater fish tank that produces clean healthy fish, in addition to providing nutrient-rich organic fruits and vegetables. It is easy to scale up most home aquaponics systems into a commercial aquaponics business, and once you achieve biological balance, the system requires little, if any, maintenance at all.
With a system in place, both the freshwater fish and the fruits and vegetables provide benefits to that the other that is needed to grow and flourish. Traditional vegetable gardens lack a constant supply of nutrients, and closed freshwater fish systems lack the ability to clean and filter the water. Aquaponics solves both problems in a lasting and sustainable way.
The reason why aquaponics is known as a self-sustainable system, is because the plants sustain the environment of the fish and the fish supplies the food and nutrients for the plant life. As the plants absorb the nutrient-rich waste products of the fish, they also clean and purify the water, which provides the fish with a natural and healthy ecosystem to live in.
By using these aquaponic techniques, people all over the world have created sustainable systems that constantly provide delicious, healthy fish and nutrient-rich organic fruits and vegetables.
What It Is All About
Aquaponics is a new way of growing food. It is based on fish farming methods (aka aquaculture) and traditional ways of growing food without soil (aka. hydroponics).
Aquaponics was developed by scientists nearly 40 years ago, and is a way of creating an ecosystem that includes the fish and plants. Aquaculture is the fish farming method that has been used for many years all over the world. With aquaculture, you have a fish holding tank where fish are maintained and fed on a daily basis.
Hydroponics is a method used by farmers to grow organic produce without any polluted soil. Most of the soil is contaminated with different chemicals and pesticides, and this method takes these pollutants out of the equation. Basically, hydroponics sprays water on the plants that has the nutrients that they need to grow.
With the newer aquaponic techniques, you combine these 2 antiquated methods to have the fish in the system providing the food for the organic produce.
The public awareness about the pollutants that have crept into their food supply is expanding, and many folks are opting to try the completely organic aquaponic method for several reasons:
- it only takes a couple of days to set up a fish holding tank and growing beds.
- Aquaponics costs just a few hundred dollars to get up and running, and then runs itself for the most part.
- With an aquaponics business, you simply make the fish holding tank and growing beds larger, for a larger harvest.
- Creating a commercial business from a home system is easy to do.
- The organic food from aquaponics is healthier than the food on the shelves at the health food store.
- There are experts all over the planet that are willing to share the tricks and techniques that they use to maximize the output of their systems. You can contact most of these people on the internet, or in your local area.
- One the system is balanced, the fish, the bacteria, and plants support each other. Scaling up a system that is in balance is simple to do, and only requires a day or two of additional work.
Aquaponics – Your Size
Once you have an aquaponics backyard system that has obtained biological balance, you can quickly scale it up or down to meet your goals. Many people who have built a small system, have found that it will produce nearly 200 pounds of fruit and vegetables every six months. The other main benefit is that a small system will also provide over 100 pounds of tasty, delicious fish such as tilapia, catfish or salmon during that time period.
If you have an interest in growing a larger stock of fresh fish, vegetables and fruit, you may want to build a larger system that will require more space and an initial one-time investment. Folks that want to sell fish and vegetables typically decide to go with a more powerful water pumping mechanism that will support a larger harvest from the outset.
To successfully develop a system that will consistently produce a large harvest of fish and vegetables, it is important to maintain the system on a daily basis at the beginning to ensure that the fish, fruits, and vegetables are all getting what they need to grow and thrive. Probably the most important thing you will want to pay attention to is to make sure the water is clean enough for the system to work properly, at least from the outset. Once the amount of fruits and vegetables being produced is large enough to clean the water, the daily maintenance requirement is reduced significantly.
Anyone can easily set up a home aquaponics system or a business, even folks with no experience at all. If you have the drive to accomplish small tasks and you are looking to be self-sufficient, then aquaponics could be the perfect solution for you!
