Home Gardening has taken on new meaning thanks to the popular evolution of backyard Aquaponics and Hydroponics.
It is now possible, relatively easy and affordable for the average person to to build a natural environment that can sustain both fish, as well as fruits and vegetables, thus providing them with year round healthy organic food.
Aquaponics is a technique that combines aquaculture(growing fish) with hydroponics (growing plants in non soil media and nutrient-rich water) that has become increasingly popular because of its environmentally friendly methods of growing fish, fruits and vegetables- all at a fraction of the cost to the environment.
An Aquaponics garden typically only uses approximately 5% of the water volume and 10% of the land area that is required for conventional vegetable and fruit crops.
Less water and land use make Aquaponic systems perfect for any environmentalist or survivalist who doesn’t have unlimited amounts of land, time and money to grow healthy, organic food and fish.
And with an indoor Aquaponics system, fresh food can be grown year round for a fraction of the cost of organic produce at the markets.
How does Aquaponics work?
To have an Aquaponics system, you need a fish tank (with fish), a grow bed for your produce, and a pump to move the water between the two.
An Aquaponics system takes the water from the fish tank and recirculates it through the vegetable grow bed. The nutrients that come from the fish waste in the water feed the plants. As the plants take these nutrients from the fish water, they filter the water through their roots and send it back down to the fish to keep the them health.
The results: healthy organic produce without harmful pesticides or fertilizers and healthy happy fish!
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