Well I guess a few of you may have heard about aquaponics by now, possibly some more so than others.

I remember when I first discovered information about aquaponics on the net maybe 8 or 9 years ago, I was amazed at the simplicity and the common sense behind it. How is it that in all my years of studying and learning everything I could about organic food production, permaculture and such like, I’d never heard of this before. That was all besides the point I guess, I’d heard of it now..

For those who haven’t heard about aquaponics it’s basically the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. Dirty fish water is pumped through gravel filled grow beds, where plants growing in the gravel extract the nutrients. The water then returns to the fish tank cleaned and freshly oxygenated. The two combine together beautifully to create an efficient growing system that uses little power, very little water, and yet produces quite an incredible amount of produce for the area that it uses.. Of course different people take different paths with their aquaponics ventures, some people may prefer the aesthetics of a system with lovely goldfish, that produces a few fresh herbs and vegetables that can be plucked at will. While others, like myself can tend to go a little overboard in creating systems that are as productive as possible in both terms of fish to eat as well as vegetables.

Aquaponics can come in a myriad of forms, and likewise the amount of money that you spend on a system can vary just as much. Aquariums, bathtubs, barrels, old swimming pools, water troughs and plastic tubs, right through to custom made steel or fiberglass, the possibilities are endless, but with a few basic principles a system can easily be built, and quite often with bits that you may have laying around the house or farm. So long as you can find water proof containers, then your on your way.
Systems don’t need to be made using gravel grow beds either, it could be as simple as polystyrene foam sheets floating on the surface of the water, with plants poking through the foam into the water below, NFT (nutrient film technique) guttering, or aeroponics can also be used, systems are limited only by your imagination.

There’s a wealth of information on this discussion group concerning all aspects of aquaponics and if your after a little more in-depth information laid out in an easy to understand format, the backyard aquaponics package is available from www.backyardaquaponics.com. The package contains the manual, DVD and CD-Rom, all that you need to get you on your way in understanding and building your own aquaponics system.