Growing Organic Plants The Easy Way While Keeping Your Aquaponics System Clean Article by M Wilson
Many people question the claims of how easy an aquaponics system is to operate. When people think of growing fish, they often think about filtration systems, cleaning the tank and regularly replacing the water. With traditional aquaculture and aquariums, this is the case, but not with aquaponics.
In nature, people don’t have to go out and clean up or maintain natural habitats. They typically take care of themselves. Aquaponics creates a similar situation. The fish, plants and beneficial bacteria create a complete system that has just about everything it needs to take care of itself. Any wastes put into the system are cleaned up by the bacteria and the plants. So there is no need to change the water or to regularly clean the system.
In some cases, you may want to stir up the solids if they accumulate at the bottom of the fish tank. This way they will be picked up by the pump and carried to the grow bed. Here a bed of solids at the bottom are not a problem, and can make a place for colonies of bacteria to grow. These bacteria are essential for turning the ammonia and other chemicals into nutrients that the plants can use. Having a bed of these solid wastes can actually benefit the system.
As long as oxygen levels are maintained, these bacteria will do their thing and help keep the tank clean. It is also important to keep enough plants growing to remove enough of the fish wastes from the water. If these levels start to build up too high, consider reducing the number of fish, or even better, add another grow bed. This is an example of how scalable an aquaponics system can be. It is easy to add on more grow beds or to add a larger tank, or multiple tanks.
Although we humans like things to be clean, nature does not always like things clean. A clean sterile environment would be unhealthy. You don’t want the system to become toxic, but a slightly dirty system is often the sign of a healthy system that will produce a continuous supply of high quality organic food for many years.
This aquaponics guide will walk you through setting up your aquaponics system. This simple to build and operate will produce amazing amounts of food in a small space.
aquaponics guide
http://www.yournetideas.co.uk/aquaponics.html