aquaponic organic

A small aquaponic system is as efficient and viable as a backyard project or as a commercial two-in-one food production venture. The two food products are fish and vegetables, the supply of which continues to fall short of demand because of the universal preference for healthier foods. The single system that raises these two food products combines the technologies of aquaculture (the raising of aquatic animals) and hydroponics (the growing of food plants).

In aquaponics, the waste water from the fish tank component is seen as rich in nutrients and is re-circulated to grow the vegetables in the plant bed component. After the plants have made use of the nutrients to leave the water clean again, the water is returned to the fish tank. This symbiotic processes goes on and on.

Advantages:

Aquaponics only have advantages and practically no disadvantages. The biggest of these plus factors is the relative ease by which it can be taken up. No expensive tools and materials are required to build one. All you need is a container big enough for fish to swim around, water for the fish, pebbles on the tank floor, a small water pump and a plant bed on top of the tank wherein to grow your vegetables or herbs.

A small aquaponic system does not use much water and produces no dirty water that could harm the environment. The system's water goes back and forth from the fish tank to the grow bed in a process that supports the growth of both fish and plants. For these reasons, you can put up a small aquaponic system close to any location and no one will complain.

The fish and vegetables you grow in an aquaponic system are the safest food you can get because of the organic process involved. You cannot use pesticides and herbicides on the plants because this will harm the fish in the system. This is more than you could say for the commercially sold food plants.

Components:

An aquaponic system consists of the fish rearing component, the filtering component and the plant rearing component. The fish component is similar in many respects to a typical aquaculture system that re-circulates water. As for the plant component, it consists of a gravel bed that serves as the system's biofilter. The most popular hydroponic components utilize the deep-flow method and the nutrient film technique.

The deep-flow system makes use of large tanks of water where the plants are grown in floating polystyrene boards that sit on the water surface. This allows the plant roots to grow directly into the water. Many commercial aquaponic systems use this method, as it is cheap to build, easy to manage and maintain and requires no or little media for the plants. The plants are placed into small, plastic net baskets that sit in whole in the polystyrene boards. This allows the roots to gain access to the water and feed the plants the nutrients they require.

As for the nutrient film technique, this consists of many small channels into which the plants are placed. A thin-film of water runs down the channel and allows the roots of the plants access to the nutrient. The theory is that about 90 percent of the channel area is actually air space, thus allowing the plant roots access to plenty of oxygen.