Today, the growing popularity of aquaponics is remarkable. It has become a common practice among organic gardeners across the globe. Moreover, the benefits of this system have increased the number of building home Aquaponics systems too.
Understanding the Process of Aquaponics
The aquaponics system can be defined as the process of combining aquaculture and hydroponics systems. While aquaculture is the procedure of growing fish, hydroponic refers to the process of growing soilless plants. Here, there is absolutely no use of chemicals, and only about 2% of water is used. This use of water is required to grow plants in the field or garden. Only a fraction of water is used further for fish culture or aquaculture.
In the present date, the availability of fish through natural sources is slowly depleting. This directly affects the health of the human body and indirectly the global supply of the same. The reason being people looking for healthier options or dropping the consumption of fish. With aquaponics, organic vegetation becomes more ecological and the crops grown are much tastier and healthier.
Benefits of an Aquaponics System
In this system, the treatment of the waste produced in the fish tanks is done by natural bacteria. They convert the waste into nitrite and nitrate and the waste absorbed by plants is pumped into a biofilter system. In the entire aquaponics system, the only input from the outside is food for the fish. This makes the system extremely healthy and safe. While a few benefits of this system have already been mentioned above, there is plenty more to benefit from this. Here are five of the important advantages that you should be aware of:
- There is absolutely no requirement of weeding during the entire process of aquaponics.
- Unlike the necessity of adding fertilizers when growing crops, no extra addition of chemicals or fertilizers is required here.
- The system dismisses the extremely tiring and long process of digging a typical garden for growing the vegetables.
- With an aquaponics system, an entire family can happily indulge in the delicious and fresh produce of fish and vegetables for an entire year.
- It eliminates the necessity to discard the waste products as these wastes are used to fertilize the plants growing in the system.
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Considerations to Make for a Home Aquaponics System
For those of you planning to build a home aquaponics system, you are definitely making one of the wisest choices. The result of the same can bring you fruitful results for a lifetime. Therefore, you need to be assured that you take the right steps to avoid unwanted circumstances. To help you with the same, here are a few important considerations to follow:
- The first and most significant step to consider is to invest in a nice space. It doesn’t have to necessarily be a large one and a decent one can do wonders. However, just be careful that space is enough for the system to be placed.
- The fish tank you choose should be spacious enough. This, however, can vary from people to people. The size of the tank directly affects the number of fish and the number of plants you wish to grow inside.
- Check beforehand the types of fishes that you can add to the system. There are tons of options available and you can buy the same based on your taste. Some of the popular dishes that you can consider include Goldfish, Jade Perch, Tilapia, Sturgeon, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, and Barramundi.
- Consider investing in a reliable and high-quality aquatic pump. The power of the pump depends on the size of the fish tank you’ll have.
- Invest in good PH testing kits to check the pH of the water that you would add to the system.
- Buying a tubing system is also an important consideration to make. This type of tubing again depends upon the system that you are building.
With aquaponics, you can start a new hobby that will not only keep you indulged but also your family members. It will be an investment for a lifetime for each family member. It can also be a learning opportunity for the young ones about the benefits and working of nature’s processes in creating food. In addition to this, you can also be assured of consuming chemical-free and organic foods that will be cultivated and brought straight to the kitchen yourself.
Ensure that you do your research and development on the entire process beforehand. This is extremely important and you can come across several experts online for the same.