Once you have your aquaponics system up and running, you will have a tank which holds the fish (possibly Tilapia) and a growing bed that the plants are in. In the fish tank, you will have a species of freshwater fish in one to 2,000 liters of water. The fish create waste and so does the uneaten fish feed. This waste creates ammonia.
Now it’s time to discuss the plants. The nitrates that have now become a threat will be dealt with. Plants will destroy the nitrates because plants require them to sustain their life.
In regular agriculture as we know it, you till the soil, sow the seed and then maintain it by watering, fertilizing aquaponics weeding your garden or field. Eventually you harvest the hard earned produce.
Then came hydroponics, the science of growing plants without soil. Sounds almost like science fiction, doesn’t it? Well, it’s been around at least since the time of the Aztecs. They had their plants sitting in rafts that floated on lakes. Clever huh?
But plants don’t really need soil in order to grow. Plants grow in the soil because that is what is available on the surface of the earth. Plants just use the soil to anchor their roots and to absorb water and nutrients out of it. If you supply plants with water and nutrients, and a way to keep them from falling over, plants will grow just fine without any soil.
aquaponics is simply the next logical step after hydroponics so let’s start at the beginning. I’m going to explain what hydroponics and aquaponics how to are in a fairly simple way. This lets you get the concept so when details are explained you will be able to follow along much easier. At least, I find it easier that way.
Buying commercially available organic fertilizer can be expensive, and one persons idea of organic may be different than another persons or labels idea. So what’s the solution? I will tell you about a solution that is quickly changing the way a lot of organic gardeners are producing food. I am not going to just give you a source of organic gardening fertilizer, I am going to give you a completely different way of growing organic plants.