What is Aquaponics ... ?
How many times have you thought about growing your own vegetables without chemicals or preservatives.
Natural Organic Food for you and your entire family and knowing it is safe and healthy?
Have you thought about the land you are on now or purchasing in the near future, could offer you the organic crops you
want to eat?
How many times did you wish you could just go out and pick your own veggies without having to worry about
how much they will cost at the checkout with the continuously rising prices? I dont need to tell you
Supermarket veggies are way over priced, full of chemicals - pesticides - fertilizers and more.
If you answered `YES` at least once or are not sure ... then read on and find out how all you wishes can come true.
So, let`s start with the beginning. The first invention which made gardening far easier was hydroponics,
this process involved growing your vegetables in special pots with water. However, the hydroponic system involves using
many chemicals and fertilizers, thus the plants growing in there are not quite organic. Yet, the use of fertilizers
and chemical substances is not necessary when building your aquaponic system.
Aquaponics or aquaponic farming involves growing fish and plants in a natural and useful interdependence.
So, you grow fish in a normal fish tank and after a certain period you `plant` the seeds. Then you just take care of the
fish and the plants will grow and develop naturally without any further help from you. The fish grow and can be sold or
eaten if you use an edible fish.
The aquaponic principle is simple: the fish provide food and fertilizer for the plants (their excrements), while
the plants clean the fish`s water, creating great conditions for them to develop. If you take good care of your fish
and make sure that their water is always oxygenated properly, then your plants will not need any other type of care.
So, as long as your fish are happy, your plants will grow well.
There are plenty of advantages such a system can offer you. First of all independence from the supermarket
as you will grow your own vegetables in the comfort of your own home, secondly great use of your space, you will
only need a place inside the house, garage, shed, barn, greenhouse or where ever you can place the fish tank!
Then there is the comfort side to aquaponics because you no longer have to dig the ground and plant the
seeds outside, bending over and over again or on your knees to clear the land from weeds and harvest the crops each time.
I dont know about you but my knees`s aren`t as good as they used to be. Looking at the info above ...
you do not need any land at all!! I have heard of a someone that had a fish tank in his office in the city with an aquaponic system.
This is by far the easiest, safest and most convenient type of gardening that has ever existed. Try it now and
be 100% convinced that aquaponics is the future of gardening!
**
5 Important Things You Really Need to
Know When Building an Aquaponics System
**
Setting up an aquaponic system is a relatively easy task but you simply need some basic knowledge of aquaponics.
If you have made the decision to build such a system on your property then you probably know a little about it already
and how it could help you.
However, there may still be things which can interest you and definetly make things easier.
Below you will read
about 5 Essential Tips which you should know in order to obtain spectacular results.
1. Location.
The place where you put your aquaponic system is very important for the way in which the plants and the fish will
develop. To obtain top results you should make sure that the temperature in the room is not too high, nor too low,
that there is enough light for the plants to prepare their food and that no wind or extreme weather conditions can
harm them.
Also, make sure that no stray chemical substances can get in to the water as this could be bad news for both your
fish and plants.
2. Oxygenizing the water.
The happier your fish are, the better your system will work! This is why you need to oxygenize the water on a daily
basis and make sure your fish have all the `comfort` they need.
3. Choosing your fish accordingly.
The aquaponic system works well with almost all types of fish. Yet, there are places certain breeds of fish that are not legally allowed. Find out before you start planning.
your aquaponic system as you do not want any problems with the law.
4. Placing the pots.
In order to make the harvest much easier, you should place the pots or the entire system at your waist level or about
kitchen bench height.
This way you will not have to bend over or kneel on the ground making any maintainence or picking veg a much easier activity.
5. Adding additives.
There are cases in which your fish may not provide all the nutrients needed for your plants. If the quantity is lower
than what the plants need, then you will have to supply them with the respective substances as a top up.
In most cases you will need to add iron, calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate or simply adding more fish.
Aquaponics is an easy fun activity which will provide you with the necessary vegetables and fish in a short amount of
time. Just follow the tips mentioned above and you will have great success in your attempt to grow organic food in your
home.
Here`s a comprehensive complete guide.
** More Hints and Tips To Help You Started **
* Planting the seeds in your aquaponic garden is much easier than putting them in the
ground.
You just have to put them on a netting pot and thats about it. Then you just have to wait for them to start vegetating
and grow.
However, there is one little thing you must know before placing the seeds, `when` is ideal time the seeds should be
planted.
* Many people purchase the fish, place them in the tank and in the same day they also
place the seeds in the pots.
This is by far the worst way of approaching aquaponics as the seeds, even though will grow and develop up to a certain
point, they will die in a
matter of days after they finish their own supplies if there are no nutrients in the water on which they can feed.
* Thus, the perfect moment to place the seeds in the pots is when the fish excrements
have turned into nutrients.
The process through which you can obtain nutrients for your plants is quite simple. After you place the fish into the
tanks, they will start freeing excrements into the water.
Because the excrements contain ammonia, they are highly toxic for the fish. However, do not worry about that, as this
issue is solved by nature itself.
There are bacteria which transform the Ammonia Nitrite into Nitrates. In order for your plants to grow
you need Nitrates, so once the process of decomposing
and transforming ammonia nitrite is at a certain level, the water will be ready to support the plant seeds.
* The entire process can take up to 3 months depending on the amount of fish.
Within this time you should not place any type of seeds in the pots as they will certainly die.
There are also ways to speed up the process by inserting nitrates into the water before the fish excrements can
transform to the required level. However, many people do not like to interfere in nature`s way.
However, no matter what way you choose it is recommended to monitor the amount of ammonia nitrites and nitrate
content from the water so that you will always know the quality of your water for both your fish and your vegetables.
* Planting the seeds at the right time is essential if you want good crops and healthy
fish. So monitor the quality of your water on a regular basis, keep an ongoing record before and after planting.
It is the only way through which you can obtain good crops.
Please email us
if you would like any further information, photos to come shortly.
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