Hydroponics is a subset of hydro culture .It is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only, or in an inert medium, such as gravel.
Aquaponics consists of two parts:
a) The aquaculture part of raising aquatic animals &
b) The hydroponics part of growing plants.
Aquaponics, refers to any system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (growing plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals being raised can accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity. In an Aquaponics system, water from an aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down by nitrification bacteria into nitrates and nitrites, which are utilized by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then (when purified) re circulated back to the aquaculture system.
As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all Aquaponics systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an Aquaponics system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline.
This is how Aquaponics Works:
1. First of all fish are raised in a tank
2. Water from the tank is pumped to the plants
3. Bacteria convert ammonia and nitrite to nitrate
4. Plants absorb the nutrient rich water & then finally
5. Filtered water is returned back to the fish tank, clean
Aquaponics is Considered Sustainable because:
1) Waste from fish is used to feed the plants
2) Plants and fish create a polyculture producing 2 products
3) Water is re-used in the re-circulating system
4) Local food production, increases the local economy and deceases food transportation
Plants like Aquaponics?
1) Warm water bathing the roots
2) Nutrients are constantly provided
3) Less effort required in putting out roots
4) No need to search for water or food
5) All the energy goes into growing UP not in growing DOWN
6) No weed competition and most important of all
7) No waste – hydroponics waste solution, aquaculture waste fish solids – Aquaponics all waste is used
Components of Aquaponics:
a) Fish Tank
b) Place to Grow Plants
c) Water Pumps
d) Air Pump
e) Irrigation Tubing
f) Filtration
g) Grow light
h) Fish & Plants
Some Aquaponics System Designs are:
a) Media-Based Growbed
b) Growing Power System
c) NFT (Nutrient Film Technique)
d) Towers
e) Raft System
f) VertiGro
The basic tenet of Aquaponics is that the fish are fed with a low value organic product (usually fishmeal, or plant products), which they convert into animal protein. The waste from the fish is then converted (by bacteria) into soluble nutrients, which are absorbed by the horticultural crop, and this ‘cleaned’ water then returned to the fish tanks.
Modern hydroponics increasingly demands a precise control of the nutrient content of the solution, but in Aquaponics this is not possible.
