What is Aquaponics?

Aquaponics the mixing of aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponic (growing soilless plants) that mutually benefits both environments. Aquaponics uses no chemicals, requires 10% of the water needed for field plant production and only a fraction of the water that is used for fish culture (Aquaculture).

Naturally, some plant species are better adapted to this system than others but you can link the plants that are needed with the right fish and the use waste products to feed the fish. This makes aquaponics one of the best systems for the developing world. Hydroponics4Life aim to choose the best plants for the paticular area, mix them with the best available and product a cheap easy system for anyone in the developing world.

In aquaponics the waste from fish tanks is treated with natural bacteria that converts the waste, largely ammonia, first to nitrite and then to nitrate. The fish waste absorbed by plants is pumped to a bio-filter system as a nutrient solution for the growing plants (Grow Bed). The only external input to the system is food for the fish.

Once the system is initialized the water stays Ph balanced and remains crystal clear. The water is recycled with a small amount of water added weekly to compensate for what is lost by evaporation and transpiration by the vegetables. Aquaponics is the future of home gardening and commercial fresh food production.

Aquaponics is becoming more popular in both the Aquaculture and Hydroponics for the following reasons:

• Crop growers view fish-manured irrigation water as a good source of fertilizer that enables plants to grow well.
• Fish farmers view hydroponics as a bio-filtration method to allow them to intensively re-circulate water.
• Food-producing greenhouses – yielding two products from one production unit – are naturally a better use of minimal resources.
• Aquaponics can enable the production of fresh vegetables and fish protein in arid regions and on water-limited farms, since it is a “water re-use” system.
• Aquaponics is a working model of sustainable food production because both plant and animal agriculture are integrated and the recycling of nutrients and water filtration are linked.

Nutrients in Aquaculture

Greenhouse growers normally control the delivery of precise quantities of mineral elements to hydroponic plants. However, in Aquaponics, nutrients are delivered via Aquacultural effluent. Fish effluent contains sufficient levels of ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorus, potassium, and other secondary and micronutrients to produce hydroponic plants.

Plants Adapted to Aquaponics

The selection of plant species adapted to hydroponic culture in Aquaponic greenhouses are related to stocking density of fish tanks and subsequent nutrient concentration of Aquacultural effluent. Plants yielding fruit (tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers) have a hig nutritional demand and perform better in a heavily stocked, well established Aquaponic system

Fish Species

Several warm-water and cold-water fish species are adapted to re-circulating aquaculture systems, including tilapia, trout, perch, Arctic char, and bass. Crustaceans such as Shrimp, crayfish and krill can also be used very effectively.

Water Quality Characteristics

Fish raised in re-circulating tank culture require good water quality conditions. Water quality testing kits from are essential. Critical water quality parameters include dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, chlorine, and other characteristics. The stocking density of fish, growth rate of fish, feeding rate and volume, and related environmental fluctuations can elicit rapid changes in water quality; constant water quality monitoring is essential.