What is Aquaponic Gardening

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What is Aquaponic Gardening?

It is an innovative system of farming in which it uses the natural cycle of life of both plants and fish for the benefit of each other. Wait, what? How do fish and plants work together in this system in order to produce fresh fruits and vegetables?

There are many different methods of gardening.  You can grow in the ground, in containers, in gutter systems, and using hydroponics. 

Aquaponics is another method of growing food that has gained some momentum in recent years. If you’re wondering how aquaponics works or how you can use it in your garden, then read on.

How Aquaponics Works

The basic idea of Aquaponic Gardening, or Aquaponics for short is that it is a closed system used to grow both fish of some sort and vegetables.

Both of them need each other in order to be healthy.  Each part works together in a symbiotic relationship where they help each other.

Plants need nutrients in order to grow and produce food for us to consume. The fish need their waste to be filtered out of their water.

It is a match made in heaven!

It is more natural

This is one of the best ways to grow organic produce in your home garden because it builds upon a concept that has been hard at work for thousands of years.

Nature has been working together in harmony to produce food for generations. Aquaponic gardening being more natural and organic makes it possible so you don’t have to rely on synthetic fertilizers loaded with chemicals to grow your plants and crops healthily

Traditional vs Non-Traditional

Traditional gardening can be a lot of work!  Fertilizing, and controlling pests in your garden, and don’t forget the weeding!  Whew! I’m tired just thinking about all the work.  It can also be expensive year in and year out to maintain your garden.

The idea behind aquaponics solves this problem, and not only you will benefit from having healthy crops, but also you will gain a protein source from growing freshwater fish at the same time, without the need to constantly change the water from the fish tank.

Also Read:  Can You Raise Shrimp In Aquaponics? (Answered)

The Idea

What is aquaponics? Aquaponics is a type of gardening system that combines agricultural and aquatic life. It uses a water pump system, that supplies the water for the fish in a fish tank and the plants in the grow beds. The waste materials coming from the fish are a great source of nutrients for the plants for them to thrive and be able to survive.

How it works.

As the water from the fish tank is pumped to the grow beds, the soil absorbs it, and then it returns back to the fish tank by water pumps but this time, the water is cleaner and has more minerals since sands, pebbles, or stones filter it. Only a portion of the water has been evaporated so you don’t need to constantly replace the water that has been lost. You can add a little, but it’s nothing compared to adding tons of water to the tanks like traditional fish-raising.

Benefits of Aquaponics

There are lots of benefits that you can get from aquaponic gardening. If you learn more about aquaponic gardening and how it works, you’ll realize you are spending less with this system rather than with the traditional way of farming. It’s easier to maintain which means that it is more economical.

Learning curve

The work will be hard at first since you need to constantly check for the pH of water as well as the ammonia levels. But once they are established (usually in the first month), you don’t have to constantly check for the pH and the ammonia levels any longer.

After running the system for a little while you will get accustomed to the normal day-to-day maintenance that goes along with it.

Jump out there and dive in!  Give aquaponics a try!  It can be fun and exciting to not only grow vegetables at home but to also raise fish to eat.

Hi, I’m John.

John grew up on a farm where his family raised chickens, goats, rabbits, and grew a huge garden. John has a family of his own and gardens to know where his food comes from. Learn more..

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