Good Reasons to Try Home Aquaponics

What is Home Aquaponics

Aquaponics is a fairly new form of farming which has arisen through a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. Aquaculture being the rearing of fish in an artificial environment such as tanks or man made lakes or dams purely for consumption. Hydroponics of course is the growing of plants in a soil free environment where the nutrients are usually fed to the plant through the roots via a nutrient rich solution and can be grown either indoors or out. Hydroponics can be used to grow vegetables or flowers. Aquaponics uses the principle of feeding the fish, which in turn through their waste products feed the vegetables which makes them grow resulting in both fresh fish and vegetables for your table.

Why Home Aquaponics?

There are numerous reasons why aquaponics makes so much sense today. With the prices of meat, groceries and petrol all going up it just seems like we would all want to grow our own food organically right at home happy in the knowledge of what has gone into it. But is it all too hard?

Most of the components required for home aquaponics are very easy to get. Poly tanks, piping and pumps can all be sourced quite easily from hardware stores. Vegetable seedlings are available at all nurseries and fingerlings ( baby fish ) can be sourced from specialty fish outlets specifically for use in aquaponics. All that is required now is a little area at home, some water and the right guide book or education which you can find a link to at the end of this article to get you started.

The Benefits of Home Aquaponics

Firstly there is the satisfaction that you have grown your own fish and vegetables at home. You know exactly what went into them so you can be sure they are fresh and organic.

The benefit of aquaponics versus hydroponics is that because hydroponic plants are fed a nutrient solution, the end product can taste a little chemically. With aquaponics the vegetables are fed on the organic fish waste so it is all natural and really tastes it.

It really is an easy system of farming to maintain Keep the water right and the fish healthy and fed and the rest should just look after itself.

Besides the obvious benefits of aquaponics being fish and vegetables, as it is still a fairly new style of farming, there could also be a lot of upside in the business sense. Depending on the scale to which you want to take your aquaponics, you may create a market to sell your aquaponics fish and vegetables to. Along with that, you may develop the skills to promote, supply and install home aquaponics systems to others in your area. Once systems are installed no doubt there is a need for further education to newer users of home aquaponics so you could tutor in the subject. Who knows, you may even be trusted with the upkeep of others already established home aquaponics systems.

So whatever your reason for getting interested in home aquaponics, healthy food for you and others, educating others on an environmentally sound method of farming or setting up your very own thriving home aquaponics business, it certainly makes sense.