November
2009
What You Want To Know About Aquaponics Systems
Bringing together the fields of both hydroponics, and aquaculture, aquaponics systems are increasing in popularity at a rapid rate. Taking all the best elements from soil less farming and the cultivation of fish, it is hoped that any negatives can be stripped out.
Aquaponics systems work, with a view to cultivating both plants and fish, in an environment that hopes to offer be ideal for both.
As with many traditional hydroponics systems; plants are grown in trays filled with gravel, whilst the fish continue to grow in regular tanks; as in aquaculture farms, and are given a diet of regular food. The water in the fish tanks is cycled through the plant trays.
Bacteria, which are already present in the plant trays, break down the waste products contained in the fish tank water, which is used by the plants to get all their nutrition. Having been purified, the water cycles back into the fish tanks.
A beautifully simple system, it has many benefits to both the fish and the plants.
The fish are healthier; suffering from fewer infections and diseases. They are less stressed than those produced by traditional aquaculture systems; thought to be as a direct result of the lack of pesticides, and other chemicals that leech into the water.
Plants too follow the same course of being healthy and more resilient to disease. In both cases this seems to be due to the lack of chemicals used in the process.
The benefits do not stop here. The process is more cost efficient to the farmer, with no chemicals to buy, reduced plant food costs and no need for expensive treatments to combat infection.
As the world’s population rises, it is going to be necessary to increase food production on a huge scale. It is hoped that aquaponics systems could, at least in part, help with this. It is already being rolled out in the developing world, where food shortages are already increasingly common. Environmentally friendly too, it could be just the answer we have been looking for.
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