Aquaponics - As a Hobby and As a Business

Any plans to build your own Aquaponics? Is it for a hobby, leisure or for business? A lot of people have tried... and succeeded in this field, who knows you might be the next, right?

Aquaponics is a pretty simple hobby you can start with. If you are familiar with Aquaculture which involves taking care of aquatic animals like fish, prawns, and the likes, and Hydroponics which includes growing plants with water, then the combination of these two famous terms when combined turns out to be Aquaponics. It uses the concepts of Mutualism and Symbiosis. The effluent of one serves beneficial for the other and vice versa - specifically, the wastes of the fish act as nutrients mixed with water that shows to be a fertilizer for plants.

Everything starts one step at a time. You need some plans before diving into Aquaponics. Doing it as a hobby first is better so you can get a hold of the do's and dont's based from experience. Nevertheless, here are some tips you can live from and later on if you have some more, just add it.

� Aquaponics has different styles to choose from depending on the requirements. If you are starting it as a hobby - you can go for media filled which involves a plant bed full of media like clay and the like. It absorbs the nutrient-rich water coming from the fish tank. This is the simplest and highly recommended for beginners. For experts doing Aquaponics as a business, then Deep Water Culture (DWC) is more suitable. It involves floating styrofoam (where the plants are in place), with holes onto which the roots of the plants will be hanged down to reach the water below. The other type is Nutrient film technique - for food production of green and leafy vegetables. It is also easy to do but not as complex as DWC.

� Choosing the right fish - indeed, this is a bit difficult decision to make. Aside from choosing the fish which suit your interest, you also need to consider several factors like Aquaponics style, weather, food conversion ratio, and marketability. If you are on a warm place, the Barramundi fish can be considered. It has a clean and crisp taste, and it can also grow bigger. On the other hand, if you live in a cold place, you may consider taking care of trout. Some fishes are too flexible that they live in water with very poor condition which means less maintenance for the owner. This includes tilapia which is the second most cultured fish in the world, tilapia remains to be one of the favourite dishes especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

� Choosing the right plant - as much as you want your fish to live, you also want to have a bountiful harvest for every season for your plants. Root crops show a prowess for Aquaponics. Most crops from this practice are bigger than the usual, because it is supplied with the right nutrients from the fish. You can also use seeds but make sure to combine it with seedlings, as this provides a more conducive setup - allowing enough time, space, and cultivation for the seeds' germination process.

So here - definitely, you can start thinking on the options you'll go through for your Aquaponics plans. Just remember - everything that has been planned well, is most likely bound for success.

E. Guiriba is an aquaponics expert. For more great information on aquaponics plans, visit http://www.smallaquaponicssystem.com/.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com