What is Aquaponics?
Aquaponics is setting up your own small ecosystem combining aquaculture and hydroponics, by using fish waste to feed micro-organisms that then feed the plants. The plants and micro-organisms act as a filter for the water in a fish tank or pond. Aquaponics has the potential to maximize the output of food in a very small area and use less water than traditionally grown gardens. The hardest part of these systems is the installation. After the initial install there is just small maintenance, caring for the plants, and feeding the fish.
Finca Morpho's Design
We have experimented with a few different modules. Currently we have 2 independent systems both working with one pump each. One module has the fish tank above ground being gravity feed to a wicking bed that feeds to another wicking bed and then to a pond that grows our duckweed (Lemnoideae) and finally pumped back up to the fish pond. We refer to our first wicking bed in this system as our "Germinator" due to the fact of it is one of the easiest seed germinating tricks for most type of seeds. The other module we have is set up differently with the fish pond in the ground and the water pumped up to 3 grow beds which fill and drain to a sump tank and finally back to the fish pond. All our systems are feed off the farm with black soldier flys, this makes our systems 100% organic
Resources and other links about Aquaponics
- Bright Agrotech with Dr. Nate Storey
- The Hydronut design - more sustainable than most pvc aquaponic designs
