Advantages of Small Aquaponics

Aquaponics, the re-circulating culture of fish attached to plant production, boasts of many fantastic advantages topped by its yield of fresh and organic foods that can generate considerable savings on the household budget to boot. The 2-in-1 food production system is compact it can be built-in any part of the house - the backyard, the garage, outdoors and indoors. If you are more ambitious and intend to sell your produce to restaurants or public markets, you can set up a small aquaponic system right in their neighborhood.

The aquaponic system is a 2-in-1 affair because it produces two kinds of food products from a single input. The feeds for the fish you will put into the system supports the growth of both the fish and plants.

In terms of ecological impact, a small aquaponic system does no harm to the environment at all. Although the system generates waste from the unused fish feeds and the fish discharges, this solid waste is not thrown away since it will serve as nutrient for plants. It use of water is also minimal and it is re-circulated throughout the system.

Food production through a small aquaponic system is the closest thing to nature that you can get. You cannot use any kinds of pesticides to protect your plants from infestation because these would kill the fish under the hydroponic component. Anyway, the nutrient-rich waste water from the fish tank component will protect your plants from diseases.

But for you to reap the most benefits from an aquaponic system, you must build one based on the climate and weather conditions in your area. This means that the fish and plants you will grow must be endemic to your locality. For example, it is an exercise in futility if you raise fish species native to Africa while you are in America. If you are in the U.S., it is likewise folly if you grow tropical plants.

Most aquaponic systems grow the freshwater called Tilapia because this is good to eat and relatively easy to breed under any climatic conditions. The reason is this fish has greater tolerance for burst of oxygen and ammonia that may develop in the system. If you do choose tilapia to grow, you will do less filtering and less work in controlling the system's water quality.

There are hobbyists who take up only the aquaculture component of the system since this is harder to initiate than growing plants, which can be done on any available plot. In a stand-alone aquaculture, nutrient-rich water is removed from the system and discharged to the environment on a regular basis to manage nutrient levels within the system. In aquaponics, this nutrient-rich water is seen as a commodity instead of a waste, and is used to grow plants. Once the plants have utilized the nutrients and cleaned them out of the water, the water is returned to the fish for further fish culture. This cycle goes on perpetually.

There is really no end to the ways that you can design an aquaponic system. The best approach is to build a simple system as a starter project. As you run the system with the basic technology, you will get a feel for aquaponics and how it works. Then you can try the more complex methods involving the techniques of flooding and draining the system which is more advantageous than letting the water flow continuously.

Giovanni L.M. is an aquaponics expert. For more great information on aquaponics backyard, visit http://www.smallaquaponicssystem.com/

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