Aquaponics: Modern Gardening

Aquaponics: Modern Gardening

Imagine being able to drop a sustainable garden off an AC-130 into a third world country. This situation is a reality thanks to aquaponic gardening. In this type of gardening, there is no soil and a continuous water supply running through plant roots, much like hydroponics. Where hydroponics and aquaponics differ is the fertilizer, instead of using chemical fertilizers in the water, aquaponics uses fish to fertilize the plants. This is helpful because the fish help the garden stay maintained at a certain rate or more sustainable. The aquaponic gardening system is the most modern growing technology in gardening today. This essay will outline how aquaponics work, the uses of aquaponics, and the future of modern gardening.

The beauty of aquaponics is that the system is relatively simple to understand. There are three main parts to an aquaponic system, the growing media, the siphon system, and the fish tank. The growing medium usually consists of hydroponic expanded clay rocks. The specific rocks one uses should be based off the plant species (Silcox, 2013). For example, using smaller rocks means less oxygen to the plants. On the other hand, using bigger rocks means less surface area. Aquaponic gardeners typically use rocks between 8mm-16mm in diameter. Around the growing medium of an aquaponic system, one may see pipes releasing water onto the rocks. The pipes are apart of a simple siphon system. The system starts in the fish tank and literally pulls water from the fish tank up to the growing medium where the plants are located. Typically for ebb and flow systems, the most popular form aquaponic systems, one will use bell siphons. Bell siphons make it possible to regulate the water in the growing bed so the plants never get flooded with water but they also never get too little water. The fish tank is arguably the most important part of an aquaponic system because the fish tank is what separates aquaponics from any other form of growing. The types of fish that work well in aquaculture are high-waste fish like tilapia or trout. Although, there is no set type of fish one must use for successful results. The fish are fed with organic fish feed. They are housed in a separate tank and it’s important to keep their habitat natural (Mungkung, 2013).

Aquaponics can be used for both residential and large-scale farming. The produce one could grow using an aquaponic system, is much healthier than the produce at a supermarket. The reason being, there’s no pesticides and/or chemicals involved in aquaponic growing. Also, it is much easier obtaining produce from your backyard rather than having to drive to the grocery store. Lettuce has proven to be the best growing vegetable for aquaponics but almost all vegetables can sustain life on aquaponic systems (Blidariu, 2013). The aquaculture or fish farming side to aquaponics has great benefits as well. Tilapia is one of the most purchased freshwater fish in the world. Many people enjoy the taste of a freshly cooked piece of tilapia. It is important to farm the fish because if the tank is over populated, the fish will produce too many nutrients (poop) for the plants, the plants won’t be able to take all of the nutrients in and the fish will have to survive in a tank full of their waste. This will ultimately hurt the fish and the outcome of the grow operation. As a general rule, backyard systems can stock between 10 - 30 kg of fish per 1000 liters of water. Large-scale aquaponic farms have also been popping up around the world. China is leading the industry with over 85,000 tons of produce, grown aquaponically in 2012 (Xie, 2012). In America, aquaponics is still relatively new so the industry is not as developed as China. Companies like Norcal Aquaponics are trying to change that, they are a business dedicated to installing, consulting, and training people how to use aquaponic systems on a large-scale. Norcal Aquaponics was recognized by TIME Magazine for their efforts in educating farmers on this breakthrough technology.

Whether it is a backyard set-up or a large-scale farm, the future of aquaponics is looking bright. In the most recent times, aquaponic proponents have focused on two new areas, salt-water aquaponic systems and sustainable grow boxes. These new technologies coupled with already well preforming industry present a vast amount of business opportunities. Saltwater systems are self-explanatory; a normal aquaponic set-up except instead of running on fresh water it runs on saltwater. Meaning, the fish one uses must be saltwater fish. Also, the plants that one grows on a saltwater system must be able to grow in saltwater system. Botanists have chosen seaweed to grow on these systems. Dr. Amir Neori is a scientist who advocates the use of edible seaweed in association with the raising of finfish and invertebrates such as shrimp (Wilson, 2005). He said, “ Most people do not realize that seaweed and shellfish, not fin fish, are by far the biggest elements of the world’s marine aquaculture industry.” While other nations are heavily invested in this industry, America has played a part in world of aquaponics with the introduction of sustainable grow boxes. Sustainable grow boxes, as mentioned in the introduction, can literally be dropped out of an aircraft into a location. These boxes contain a constant supply of produce and fish, enough to feed an entire village. Ryan Cox, CEO of HATponics, is the man behind sustainable grow boxes. Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee recently announced HATponics to be one of the top ten startups in the state of Tennessee (Silcox, 2013). The business opportunities with aquaponics are seemingly endless. Aquaponics is a sustainable technology, in other words it’s a product that gives benefit to the future with the reproduction of produce and fish. In business this is called a capital good. The business world today is filled with consumer goods, which are goods that are short term and offer no benefit to the future. If one could start a business based on a capital good such as the aquaponics industry, that business would be more profitable for a longer period of time. There’s a reason China, one of the most developed nations in the world, hoped on the aquaponics train early (Xie, 2012).

In conclusion, Aquaponics offers the newest technology in the gardening and aquaculture industry. There are many aqauponic systems although, the most popular is the ebb and flow system, which contains expanded hydroponic rocks, a bell siphon system, and a fish-rearing tank. There are two main uses for aquaponics, independent home gardens and large-scale commercial farms. Scientists are constantly coming up with new ways to use aquaponics such as saltwater systems or sustainable grow boxes. This industry is getting a lot of attention worldwide, therefore presenting many business opportunities for the young entrepreneur.

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