How Aquaponics Works

image – public domain (Bangladesh Agricultural University)

As you know, aquaponics combines farming plants and fish symbiotically. Before you can understand how aquaponics works, it’s important to realize why it’s so essential. By combining aquaculture and hydroponics, it removes a lot of (if not all) the issues with the two separate methods.

One of the major issues with aquaculture is that when cultivating fish or other sea animals, large amounts of effluents (wastewater) is produced since it is a closed system. This matter is dangerous and toxic for the fish to live in. The result is polluted water and fish that isn’t safe to eat. So, as a result, you have to constantly change out the water every day which means wasted water. The water you’re disposing of might be harmful to the fish but it is beneficial for other purposes as you’ll find out.

One of the challenges of regular hydroponics is that it requires costly nutrients in order to feed the plants. The money spent to feed the plants often makes is difficult for the average person to sustain it over an extended period of time. There are some DIY hydroponic nutrient recipes, but it can be time consuming to create. Also, you have to flush out your system periodically. It can be difficult to find methods to constantly dispose of all this wastewater.

Aquaponics introduces a solution to these issues while providing an entirely new way to cultivate aquatic animals and plants at the same time. It’s really the future – while taking full advantage of natural principles and harmonious closed loop system. It mimics nature and the benefits of this are true abundance. This principle is one of the keys to life and could replace our current flawed, entropic model of consume-discard-destroy.

Through aquaponics, the wastewater and effluents are utilized to provide nutrients to the plants used in the process. In laments terms, the fish fertilize the plants. This enables the aquaponic system to remain a closed system without the need to constantly change out the water and also allows it to operate with minimal amounts of water.

Here’s an awesome full tutorial into aquaponics systems: Backyard Liberty Aquaponics.

What Is Aquaponics?

What Is Aquaponics? Photo – Wikipedia – lic. under CC 3.0

Lately, I’ve been working on a project that can make anyone self-sustained. The project is called “Backyard Liberty” and it introduces a new concept called Aquaponics (actually the concept is new to mainstream media but there are tens of thousands of people already using this concept because it’s so easy to use and the return on investment is huge).

I decided to share with you a couple of paragraphs from “Backyard Liberty” and if you want to know more please use the following URL:

BackyardLiberty.com

Aquaponics is a combination of two different food cultivation methods.

– Hydroponics: A sustainable method of growing plants in water without soil. Instead, it utilizes mineral nutrient solutions and water.

– Aquaculture: This is essentially aqua farming. It is the practice of cultivating animals that live in water such as fish and mollusks under your control.

In a nutshell, aquaponics combines hydroponics and aquaculture into one symbiotic system consisting of plants and aquatic organisms. There is definitely some science involved in the process, but at its most basic elements, aquaponics farming is simple and the benefits are unmatched.

Just like with a typical barnyard farm, there are several different methods involved with aquaponics and different types of systems that people apply. The flexibility of creating your own farm is part of what makes this method so popular. Systems can range from small backyard setups to vast commercial systems that fill up entire rooms. You can use fresh water or salt water. You can choose different types of fish and plant life as well. The world of aquaponics leaves you with so many options that you can completely customize your system to your preference and have it be completely different from every other aquaponic farm out there. No matter what the size is, they all utilize similar methods and tools.

Another great thing about aquaponics is that it has encouraged different farmers all around the country to form large groups and associations including the Aquaponics Association. There are several internet forums for aquaponic farmers to trade ideas, and get tips. So by getting into aquaponics, you’ll be joining a large community of like-minded people who want to eat organic and aim to help the environment at the same time.

Meanwhile, try my Backyard Liberty Aquaponics.

By Admin