AQUAPONICS

Aquaponics is a system combining both aquaculture and hydroponics. Aquaculture is raising aquatic animals such as fish, prawn or snails in tanks while hydroponics  is the cultivation of plants in water. There exist a symbiotic relation between these two systems. The advantage of this system is that there will be no accumulation of animal excreta in water and hence no toxicity.

PARTS: This system consists of two main parts – aquaculture and hydroponics. In aquaculture, effluents accumulate in the water due to the closed-system recirculation. The water thus becomes toxic to the aquatic animals in high concentration. Apart from the toxic substances, it also contains some essential nutrients for plant growth. In aquaponics, water from the aquaculture system is directly fed to the hydroponic system. The hydroponic system consists of nitrification bacteria which breakdowns the by-product into nitrites and nitrates, which are utilized by the plants as nutrients. The cleaned water is then recirculated back to the aquaculture system.

COMPONENTS :

·         Rearing tanks : for raising and feeding of fish.

·         Settling basins : to remove uneaten foods and to settle out fine particles.

·         Biofilter : place where nitrification bacteria can be grown (helps in converting ammonia into nitrates.

·         Sump : lowest point in the system from where the water flows and pumped back to the rearing tanks.

LIVE COMPONENTS: This system consists of three main live components – plants, fish and bacteria. Plants which require low nutrients are most suitable such as spinach, chinese cabbage, etc. If we want to grow a plant which requires more nutrient (such as tomato, cucumber, pepper, capsicum, rose, okra, bell peppers, beans, peas, sweet potato, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, etc.) or fruiting plants (like melons), we can increase the fish stocking density (number of fishes) in such system.

            Freshwater fish are most commonly used in aquaponics. Prawns are also used sometimes. Tilapia is most suitable fish. For ornamental, we can use Koi and Goldfish.

INPUTS: It needs mainly five inputs such as water, oxygen, light, feed for aquatic animals (kitchenscraps, worms, etc.) and electricity ( to pump, filter and oxygenate the water).

HOW AQUAPONICS CHANGES THE GAME

·         It eliminates weeds, back strain and small animal access.

·         There is no more toxic run-off from either hydroponics or aquaculture.

·         Aquaponics uses only 1/10th of the water of soil-based gardening, and even less water than hydroponics or recirculating aquaculture.

·         Watering and fertilizing is integral to an aquaponics system.

·         Water is recycled and reused.

·         Tasty food.