aquaponic system

Aquaponic systems are designed to raise fish and plants together in a productive and ecologically balanced system. The high production of leafy greens and fish takes place in a circulating zero-waste system. It can grow food continuously year-round. The aquaponic system merges aquaculture and hydroponics into one production system. Aquaponics relies on the food introduced for fish, which works as the system’s input. As fish eats this food and process it, they transform it into urine and fecal matter which can be toxic to plants and fish.

The water flows, together with un-eaten food and rotting plant matter, from the fish tank into a filter. Hence inside this filter, bacteria break all down into healthy nutrient solutions for growing vegetables.

As we can see, aquaponics freshwater systems rely on freshwater fish,  bacteria, and plants. Without the bacteria to consume the fish waste, plants would not have a usable form of nutrients.  And also thanks to plant growth, nutrients are removed from the water and leaving it clean for the fish.

Aquaponics’ Benefits

1. It makes it possible to have a food production system that is still sustainable;
2. Aquaponics encompasses two agricultural products ;
3. It is an extremely water-efficient system;
4. Aquaponics does not require soil and  therefore it is not receptible to soil diseases;
5. It does not require using fertilizers or chemical pesticides;

Aquaponics’ Weaknesses:

1. The very high initial start-up costs;
2. Aquaponics requires a lot of expertise in the natural world;
3. It is hard to find a perfect match between the needs of fish and plants;