The simple description of a basic aquaponics set-up is a system that contains a fish tank and soil-less grow beds. The fish tank can be used to grow edible fish or ornamentals. The water is pumped from the fish tank to the grow bed (usually around 12" deep), which contains small river rock, or expanded clay 'pebbles'. The plants utilize the fish waste as nutrients and the grow bed media acts as a biological filter for the water so clean water returns back to the fish tank via a mechanism like an auto-siphon.
A few advantages to an aquaponic system include:
-Uses substantially less water than gardening in soil, some estimates say that it uses as much as 90% less water (!)
-You don't have to deal with any soil-borne diseases
-You can grow your own fish for food
-Plants grow rapidly
A few disadvantages:
-Uses electricity
-More expensive than traditional gardening to start up
For people concerned about the energy usage of running pumps. There are some VERY low energy pumps out there, the one I use is a 600 gallon per hour pump that uses only 35 watts of power. It's only on for a maximum of 6 hours a day since the pump runs on a timer, running generally about 15 minutes per hour.
There are all kinds of different aquaponics systems and methods out there, but the basics are all the same. Fish poop feeds the plants and plants and grow bed filter the water for the fish.
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