May 20th, 2013
No, Aquaponics is not the name of a pop band from Norway. It’s really an excellent sustainable system of producing food, where you create a symbiotic habitat where you grow plants in water on the one hand, and fish, prawns, snails and other aquatic animals on the other.
The word comes from ‘aqua’ of ‘aquatic’ and ‘ponics’ of ‘hydroponics’ or growing plants in water, without soil.
How Aquaponics Works
You can create an aquaponic system in your own backyard. It can be on any scale, depending on the size of your backyard. And it’s very low maintenance, since you’ll find that the two parts of the system take care of each other. The fish release ammonia in the water from uneaten food etc. If this remains in the water, it can kill the fish. Instead, the plants guzzle up the ammonia and other nutrients in the water. They clean the water and release oxygen into it. This water then circulates back into the system. It’s a near-perfect system where the plants and animals help each other to survive.
In return, you can grow your own food without having to use up too much precious water!
All that you need are some grow beds and some fish tanks. Also using durable poly water tanks means you can collect rainwater to run your aquaponics system. Not only will you be doing the country’s groundwater a service by making use of rainwater, you will also be able to make the most efficient use of the water you collect! Check out Clark Tanks for your water tank needs.