Aquaponics Designs

Aquaponics by definition is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. The beauty of Aquaponics is that in the combining of the two they equal out the negative aspects in each of them. In other words, the sum of the two when combined is greater than the sum of the two individuals.

Nutrient rich fish water is pumped from the fish tank into gravel beds, where plants growing in the gravel extract the nutrients from the water. The water then drains back into the fish tank cleaned of excess nutrients and freshly oxygenated.

Imagine, your own permanent supply of fresh herbs, vegetables and fresh fish growing right on your back patio, enough to feed the whole family. With no chemicals and no wastes, using about one tenth of the water required for normal vegetable growing. This may all sound a little too good to be true and you might be wondering where's the catch, but there isn't one!

Aquaponics is a sustainable food manufacturing system that amalgamates aquaculture (raising fish in tanks) and hydroponics (growing plants in water) so that both produce better.

� Aquaponics uses less than 2% of the water that traditional farming does.
� Aquaponics is power-economical: our existing systems use one-tenth of the power traditional farming does!
� Aquaponics has eight to ten times more vegetable foodstuffs in the same area and time.
� Aquaponic systems with mosquito fish get rid of mosquitoes in a HUGE neighboring area!
� Aquaponics is fully scalable from interior systems to backyard domestic structure to full business structure.
� Aquaponics is unadulterated, dirt free, and natural: USDA Certified Organic and Food Safety Certified.
� Aquaponics is simple to be taught and manage: everyone can do this!

In contrast to hydroponics systems, where the aim is to have a sterile system to avoid disease outbreaks, Aquaponics systems are teeming with life. They are miniature human-made ecosystems: mosquito fish, prawns, tilapia, water fleas, and little red worms in our systems. Those are just the things visible with the naked eye; there are also myriad smaller creatures and bacteria, all of which contribute to the incredible health, dynamic strength, and stability of these systems.

Growing in this nutrient rich water your vegetables experience accelerated growth rates, are stronger and healthier and use about 10% of the water it takes to grow vegetable plants in soil. These Nitrites are then converted into Nitrates by Nitrobacter bacteria, the plants can then consume the nitrates to grow.

One interesting aspect of Aquaponics is that it's a self balancing system to a great extent. As more nutrient becomes available through increased feeding of the fish, plant growth rates will increase to consume the extra nutrient. When fish are smaller or if the fish aren't being fed as much feed growth rates of the plants will slow down accordingly.

The advantage of Aquaponics is that it is an Eco friendly symbiotic system. Once the initial water is filled, then only make up water, to restore water lost by evaporation and absorption by the plants, is needed. There are various types of Aquaponics system that can be installed, depending on suitability, cost etc.

Giovanni Medina is an aquaponics expert. For more great information on aquaponics designs, visit http://www.smallaquaponicssystem.com/.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com