aquaponic organic

Aquaponics is a hybrid gardening formula combining aquaculture and hydroponics which grows your vegetables two times faster than conventional gardening methods. It is also dead easy to do.

OK let's get straight to the what you need to start your first indoor aquaponics system.

1. A fish tank, how big the tank is depends on how big your room is and how much space you have allocated to your set up. The important thing is that you do not add any fish to the tank until it has been up and running for at least three weeks to allow the natural bacteria to grow.

2. A filter, this is needed to take the solids out of the water before it reaches your crops. It is essential that this is done because if the solid waste reaches the grow beds it will fester and start to smell bad.

3. Plastic piping, this is what the water travels through to reach the grow beds. The water is pumped through the pipes and it is best to place the intake at the bottom of your indoor aquaponics tank to get rid of the waste that naturally sinks, this keeps the tank much cleaner.

4. Grow beds, these are best placed higher than the fish tank so that gravity can take the water back into the tank. A shelving unit is ideal for this and use netted pots so the water can pass through.

OK now you have all the things you need to set up your first indoor aquaponics system so let's get some vegetables growing. The first set of pipes go over the grow beds and should have small holes in them to allow water to drip onto the plants. This water then seeps through the media in the grow beds. This water has every single nutrient that your plants need in order to prosper and there is no need for any chemicals, this makes your crop truly organic. The second set of pipes is under the beds and angled downward to allow the filtered water to return to the fish tank, the cycle is then repeated over and over.

Obviously some of the water will be lost due to your plants feeding on it and due to evaporation so regular top ups are needed to your tank. The cool thing about indoor aquaponics is that water top ups is probably the hardest work you need to do to maintain your system. Other tasks include feeding your fish and harvesting your crop. The harvesting is great with an aquaponics system because the grow beds are on raised shelves so you do not have to break your back to harvest them.

That is a simple guide on how to set up an indoor system but it really is simple and boy does the food that you grow with aquaponics taste good.