Home Aquaponics and the Benefits for You

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Anealka

homeaquaponicsblog 300x300 Home Aquaponics and the Benefits for YouEmbracing nature through a healthy way of living is possible in several ways. Farmers are seen growing vegetables and fruits through organic manure to promote the feature of natural living. Think of home aquaponics in case you would like to follow the same procedure for raring fishes.

The availability of space is a huge concern in order to achieve your objective in this regard. However, you can produce your own food and grow your preferred vegetables in your own backyard. Though it might appear to be beyond imagination; the fact is that several home owners have already started implementing the concepts of home aquaponics in the little space available.

Home aquaponics has been in prevalence since a long time. There was not enough publicity created about it in the past, because of not having enough concern about space in the past. With the increase of concrete jungles and high cost of agricultural as well as aqua produce, the need for cheaper alternatives has been felt. All these factors have resulted in the realization of home aquaponics in a serious manner. After knowing the requirements and management of this home-based system, you will be able to grow your own vegetables and fishes with minimum cost. Maintaining the system too never requires any additional amount from you.

What is home aquaponics?
People who are aware of growing fishes in their backyard are able to see a considerable change in their health. This is because of the raring of fishes through natural food products that are rich organically. Alternatively known as portable farms, these home aquaponics do a world of good to you in terms of health and finance. You need not feel concerned about the pollution levels as well. Remember that home aquaponics has been regarded as perfectly safe from an environmental perspective. You hardly require electricity to maintain the aquatic systems. In fact, you can save even more money with smart ways of farming such as water conservation.

Click HERE to read John Fay’s Aquaponics4You, the guide to home aquaponics.

Congested areas too could be considered for portable farming. Growing crops in make-shift locations is something that might be a matter of concern for you. However, you can turn it into your advantage by changing the locations whenever and wherever you want. Experts dealing with home aquaponics are well aware of the pros and cons of raring fishes in the least amount of space available. Going through all the available information from various sources will be beneficial for you.

The best advantage could be had by small groups that can be fed with nutritious food through home aquaponics.

The Ultimate Advantage of Growing Vegetables in Your Backyard
In addition to space conservation, the beauty of home aquaponics is that you will be able to save maximum amount of water. As a matter of fact, it has been scientifically proved that this advanced system of growing vegetables consume over 90% of water in comparison to conventional ways of farming. Understanding the concepts behind home aquaponics will help you in realizing several benefits as such.

The use of pesticides too could be totally banished because you can have maximum control over the quality of soil. You also require 2,000 square feet of commercial land to meet the consumption levels of 50 persons. However, there are certain factors to be considered before you can go on implementing home aquaponics for your personal needs.

One of the biggest limitations of this kind of farming is that it is not possible to grow root crops such as potatoes and radish. This is due to the fact you require more depth in soil in order to raise them. The use of organic manure too has been highlighted in recent times so that the best quality could be obtained.

Growing Fishes through Home Aquaponics
Fish varieties that are grown in rivers and seas are different from that of the ones grown in aquatic farms through home aquaponics system. Ideally, the latter could be regarded for eating readily without being conscious of the health prospects. You will be able to determine the exact size and weight of the fishes through constant monitoring on a daily basis. Providing all the required features for fishes as part of aquaculture will prove to be more beneficial for you in the long run with home aquaponics.

Another great advantage of home aquaponics is that you can reduce the harvesting period as well to a considerable extent. For instance, all you need is a period of 6-8 months to rear Tilapia so that it could be consumed readily. Ensuring that each fish is free from pollution is something that offers you maximum benefits from a health perspective. Commercial feed that is available on an exclusive basis to offer fishes could be considered for a cheaper price. You can even rely on duckweed along with organic stuff to provide a rich diet. Thus, taking care of your home needs is easily possible through home aquaponics.

Click HERE to read John Fay’s Aquaponics4You, the guide to home aquaponics.

Posted in Aquaponics | Leave a comment

Backyard Aquaponics- The Best Choice

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Anealka

wses175177 300x200 Backyard Aquaponics The Best ChoiceIf you have the desire for heaps of tasty vegetables and fruits in your backyard and are looking for a natural, sustainable way to grow them, consider building a backyard aquaponics system. Backyard Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system using plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment in your own backyard. Why would anyone bother building a backyard aquaponics system in their backyard?

There are many benefits of a backyard aquaponics system. Let’s take a look at few of these benefits.

Backyard aquaponics systems provide an organic system not only for your vegetables and your herbs, but similarly for the type of edible fish in your system. Fish are placed into a tank supplied with oxygen and when they release their wastes, the wastes are pumped into a gravel bed. Bacteria in the gravel beds will naturally convert these wastes into nutrients that your vegetables need to become strong and healthy. You are not pumping chemicals into the ground to kill beetles that might eat your vegetables.

Fish that you grow will be chemical free so you don’t have to worry about them containing mercury or other dangerous wastes. Your water use is lower because the water in the system circulates. You only have to provide the electricity to keep the pumps going and if you do some searching, there are solar backyard aquaponic systems available for purchase in the market.

Click HERE to read John Fay’s Aquaponics4You, the guide to home aquaponics.

Another benefit of a backyard aquaponic system is, you don’t need to have a huge yard to set up the system. Systems can be small where they only need around 300 liters of water or they can be very large and require up to 1000 liters of water. A 10 x 20 backyard aquaponics system may produce up to 1000 pounds of vegetables and 400 pounds of fish. You can find small balcony kits available for purchase too. By searching on line, or building your own, you can find a backyard aquaponics system to fit your desired space.

But you say you don’t have enough money to build a backyard aquaponics system. Prices vary, depending on the size of the fish tank and garden tank that you install. One system listed on Amazon.com retails for $1,295.55 for a 60 gallon tank, a 12″ deep vegetable bed, the steel frame, pump, fittings, tubing, a timer, and a set up DVD. Searching on Ebay, a 50 gallon backyard aquaponics system with two 25 gallon grow beds was only listed at $299.00.

If you are a do-it-yourself type of person, there are various websites that provide easy directions to follow, pump types and information on the various plants or fish you should grow depending on your climate. YouTube has videos on building and setting up backyard aquaponics systems. Books available on websites and in stores will help you choose the type of backyard aquaponics system you would like to build.

So, what can you grow in your new backyard aquaponics system? Hybrid tilapia is one choice of fish for a backyard aquaponics system. These are low-fat whitefish which may take about seven months to grow large enough to eat. Salmon and trout are not recommended because they are a cold water fish and the temperature in a backyard aquaponics system tends to be too high for this type of fish.

Other species of aquatic life that are successful in a backyard aquaponics tank are blue gill, prawns, catfish or even Koi. Get your salad by growing basil, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and cucumbers in your system. Other successful vegetables are peppers, beans, peas and zucchini. In some warm climates, berries, figs, papaya and passion fruit are good choices.

Are you wondering how long it will take to maintain the backyard aquaponics system each day? Most units will only take a few minutes to check the water temperature and feed the fish. Your plants are planted in gravel, so you don’t even need to weed the vegetables! Water only needs to be added due to temperatures where water has been evaporating.

Finally, backyard aquaponics systems offer wonderful educational benefits for you and your family. Your family can begin trying on scientific experiments with a backyard aquaponics system. Children can learn about the pH of the water, and how acidity affects the fish. They can measure and record the daily water temperature. They can net and weigh the fish to see how fast they are growing. If the root systems of the plants become too large, they will need to research to determine how to fix the plants. You could never dream up a better real life experiment for your child to learn about balance in nature.

Now that you know the benefits of a backyard aquaponics system, all you need to do is locate the right system you can afford to buy or build and find a sunny location in the yard. Soon your table will be full of delectable vegetables and mouth-watering fish.

Click HERE to read John Fay’s Aquaponics4You, the guide to home aquaponics.

Posted in Successful Aquaponics System | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Aquaponics: Its Economic And Environmental Benefits

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Anealka

acne2 300x225 Aquaponics: Its Economic And Environmental BenefitsAquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture (fish farming). This is a symbiotic relationship, where fish wastes become the food source for plants, and the plants in turn provide a natural filter for the fish. This managed ecosystem is becoming increasingly popular as food sources and groundwater have become increasingly tainted.

Aquaponics is an ideal answer to recycle nutrient rich “fishy” water and the hydroponic enthusiasts’ need for nutrient rich solution. The best part in this environmental and friendly system is that everything is organic with no chemicals added.

Still in its infancy, aquaponics is following a steady upward growth curve. The obvious hydroponic benefits include: elimination of fertilizer costs and associated labor. The dramatic reduction of the filtration of fish waste is the main benefit afforded in aquaculture.

Click HERE to read John Fay’s Aquaponics4You, the guide to home aquaponics.

A homebased aquarium which has either food fish or ornamental fish, is simple to integrate with not so large hydroponic system to cultivate garden-fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers. A number of backyard farmers are in the process of developing aquaponics frameworks that supply enough fish and produce for their family.

Aquaponics is about to become an important new part of urban food production in major world cities- especially on roofs, on walls and within buildings. It is becoming a new form of urban organic farming, with a touch of magic in the provision of more health promoting omega-3 oil, an essential oil that most human diets sorely need.

In modern aquaponics fish, molluscs and crustaceans are fed recycled food nutrients. Micro-organisms then covert fish wastes to plant food. Fish, crustaceans, molluscs, herbs, vegetables and fruit become superior fresh foods with little or no transport or energy costs. The water cleaned by the plants is used again in the tanks, and costs are reduced considerably. Fresh food transport costs are virtually eliminated. It is ingenious human mimicry of Mother Nature.

Aquaponics is a word adopted in the United States, about 35 years ago to describe the combination of farming aquatic animals and animals (fish, crustaceans and molluscs) with the growing of vegetables and fruits in organic-hydroponic. In Australia for example, aquaponics is becoming a modern, organic form of sensible urban agriculture using LED-lit technology driven by solar power, and incorporating the recycling of clean urban organic matter with the provision of omega-3 oils in fresh foods.

The aquaponics technology has its roots in China and Central America more than 1000 years ago. Chinese rice growers grew fish in their flooded paddies. Until Spanish conquistadores ruined their simple systems, the Aztecs and Incas had ‘chinampas’ where channelled city sewage pondings grew fish in water, fruit and vegetables on rafts.

It is now a most sensible food system integrating that has been largely overlooked in human kind’s blind adoption of unsustainable, industrial exploitation of soil and water. The major inputs in aquaponics are in fish feed and expert labour to tend and harvest the double-cropping system. At its best, the aquaponics fish are herbivores and omnivores that can use locally produced feed containing omega-3 oils.

Fresh produce from aquaponics is healthier local food for humans. It has less harmful fats, sugars and carbohydrates and more omega-3 oils, for sounder human diets. Aquaponics with added technology is also promising cheaper fresh food in “protected agriculture” systems next to home kitchens, restaurants and food services facilities.

Some companies’ plan is to develop a modular system for aquaponics, enclosed in a protected, climate controlled environment to minimize pests and diseases. New technologies in water, food nutrient recycling and power supply will minimize developments costs and minimize speed to local markets only very short distances away. This new technology is aimed at world markets for efficient urban agriculture that costs less for city supplies of healthy, fresh food.

Modules of aquaponics are being merged into more efficient local food production units, with the plan to put these systems together in a new way, offering them within a portable, low-cost building that can be re-packaged and transported to another site, if necessary. Such buildings and equipment will be offered as urban and rural franchises or for sale as second step aid packages when disasters adversely affect local food supplies.

Click HERE to read John Fay’s Aquaponics4You, the guide to home aquaponics.

However, the biggest short-term opportunity for aquaponics lies in the city’s retrofit rooftop gardeners and green roofs and green walls. Aquaponics is an environmental friendly practice and should be embraced because of the above mentioned benefits.

Posted in Home Aquaponics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment