Where to Put Your Aquaponics System

Where to Put Your Aquaponics System    Article by M Wilson

One of the advantages of aquaponics is how versatile it is. Unlike a traditional garden, there are many places that would be suitable for your system. To grow food this way, don’t need a large tract of land or fertile soil. All of these things that have long determined where and how people can grow food, are no longer factors.

The ideal location to place an aquaponic system would be in a greenhouse. But many people don’t have a greenhouse or the space to put one. Getting a greenhouse can also be a significant expense. If this is feasible for you, then by all means, put it in a greenhouse.

For small systems, many people put them inside their home. In a garage or even in a spare bedroom or living room, as long as there is enough light. Next to a sunny window, or if you have a sun room, that is an ideal place. The advantage of having your aquaponic garden indoors is moderate temperatures. Since you keep your home at a comfortable temperature for you, this also creates an ideal temperature for many plants and fish.

If you can have it outdoors, or preferably in a greenhouse, this will give you the most sunlight and space. The problem with growing plants and fish outdoors is extreme temperatures. If you have cold winters, a greenhouse would be a must in order to grow year round, and it may need to be heated. If it gets hot in the summer, a greenhouse may need to be shaded, ventilated or even air conditioned in extreme heat.

The type of fish you grow will determine the temperature tolerance. Tropical fish like tilapia can not handle cold water. Most garden plants don’t grow much if at all in cold weather, and will be killed if they freeze. Outdoors can be tricky, depending on your climate.

This is one reason why growing indoors is becoming so popular. Plus having a garden and fish in your home can be very decorative and provide a wonderful indoor environment. This is why house plants and aquarium fish are so popular in homes.

With the simplicity and low cost of aquaponics, I would suggest having both indoor and outdoor systems. If you are in an area with a cold climate, keep temperature tolerant fish outside, grow warm weather plants in the summer, and cool weather tolerant plants in the winter. The best thing is to just get started and experiment until you find what works best for you. With aquaponics, mistakes you may make along the way, are typically not very costly.

Get a great start in growing your own food or growing commercially with this aquaponics how to guide. Learn the easy way to set up your system and have it quickly producing fresh fish and vegetables.
This aquaponics how to guide will tell you all you need to know to get your aquaponics system set up and producing fresh food for you.

http://www.yournetideas.co.uk/aquaponics.html   Where to Put Your Aquaponics System

Fish and plants, which ones are best for aquaponics farming

Aquaponic farming offers you great harvests of tasty, cheap vegetables as well as healthy fish all year round. But, I know you have questions about the best plants and fish to consider for your aquaponics system. Well, here are a few suggestions:

This is a review site. Click here to visit the official “Aquapoincs 4 You” website

Fish

As you can see by now, the fish you select for your aquaponic system play a major role in the success of your vegetables. This is why, you need to take good care of them and at the same time pay attention to what type of fish you choose. Basically all types of fish are suitable for an aquaponic system, but there are states in which different species of fish are not allowed to be grown inside the house. So, before populating your tank with fish, please make sure that you are allowed to grow the type of fish that you desire.

The species of fish which are recommended for an aquaponic system are Small mouth Bass, Crappie, Chinese Catfish, Tilapia, Koi, Large mouth and Bluegill. However this list is not an exhaustive one and according to the area and state in which you live, you can always try different types of fish. As long as you take good care of them and your fish are happy, your chances for success with your new aquaponic farm will be greatly increased.

Plants

Nowadays traditional farming is starting to lose ground in favor of the new ways of growing plants. Most people have directed their attention towards hydroponic farming which enables them to grow vegetables in their own house or their garage just using water and some specially designed pots. Yet, the drawback of hydroponic farming is the fact that you will need to use chemical substances to feed the plants and make them grow normally. This significantly affects the taste and the quality of your crops. With a aquaponics system this does not happen. As you have learned, aquaponics relies on the symbiosis between plants and fish. Because of this, you will rarely need to use any type of chemical substance, resulting in tastier and healthier crops.

I am sure that you are wondering what type of vegetables you are able to grow using an aquaponic system. Well, to be honest, almost any plant you can think of, excluding, those plants whose fruits grow inside the ground: Like potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and so on. (Depending on the depth of your grow bed and the depth of pot you use, you can try radishes, green onions, small carrots and the like). I think that some folks even use a barrel method for a grow bed to be able to grow the standard varieties of these tasty tubers and the like. Now, fruity vegetables like cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, squash, okra, peppers, melon; herbs like basil and oregano; different types of beans and peas as well as green leafy vegetables grow very well in this type of system. So you really do have a lot of choices that will work just fine.

Keeping It All Organic

What will amaze you even more is the great taste your veggies and legumes will have. You won’t believe that something so good can be grown at home. They have a far better taste than the veggies you buy from the market because they are all natural, organic and have no other chemical “improvements” to them. Your meals will be healthier and tastier! Also, I suggest that you use only organic seeds, so that you know that your crops are 100% organic. What can be better than that?

This is a review site. Click here to visit the official “Aquapoincs 4 You” website

Some green for a greenhouse - Wellsville Daily Reporter

A $25,000 grant will help teach Belfast students about agriculture and bring more fresh foods to the school cafeteria.
A grant from the fall 2010 round of Pepsi Refresh Everything Grants helped pay for a new greenhouse at the school, according to industrial arts teacher Tom Larson.
“It is the perfect experiment,” said Hazelton. “It hasn’t cost the taxpayers anything. It provides fresh produce to the school and gives students life lessons in how to grow their own food and it would not have been possible without the Pepsi grant. A $25,000 project to build a greenhouse would have been a difficult sell to the administration in these economic times.”
In the waning days of April students in the Junior/Senior Environmental Science class at Belfast Central School along with their teacher Josh Hazelton and Principal Mike Roche, ILarson and parent volunteer Josh Enders put down the foundation and erected a solar greenhouse. The greenhouse will allow the Aquaponics Program to expand providing more fish and vegetables to be used in the school cafeteria throughout the year. The greenhouse which operates with no gas or utilities will add 1,000 square feet of growing area to the project and allow it the class to provide a wider variety of fresh vegetables during the winter months.
“The greenhouse is made in such a way that it will keep the temperature above freezing and in the 40 to 50-degree range in the winter,” Hazelton said.
Hazelton said he would like to expand the program to his other classes and keep it going throughout the summer by students who will be coming into the program in the fall. He also believes the project can cross curriculums once production expands and expects to be able to donate fresh produce to the local food pantry during the summer months as part of the Community Shared Agriculture Program.
“The students are learning an important life skill. It’s something where kids can take ownership of their own food and learn where its coming from and maybe learn to eat healthier,” he said.
Hazelton started the Aquaponic program six years ago as a demonstration project. The students have grown lettuce and fish each year. With the new system, Hazelton expects to harvest 10 to 15 heads of lettuce a week, and grow about 100 pounds of fish as well as tomatoes peppers and peas and spinach.
The Pepsi Refresh Everything Grant program gives away millions each month to fund ideas which are proposed and accepted to the program in one of four categories — Arts and Music, Education, Communities and the Pepsi Challenge. A total of 60 awards in amounts of $5,000 - $10,000 - $25,000 or $50,000 are given away based on public voting during each of the eight grant rounds per year.

Aquaponics 4 You Scam – My honest opinion

This is a review site. Click here to visit the official “Aquapoincs 4 You” website

It seems like we have come a long way to finally arrive at my concluding review of  “Aquaponics 4 You”. My initial goals for this review were specifically to discover if  “Aquaponics 4 You” has merit and second to determine if it will provide you and me with enough information to get a good start with an aquaponics system, aka ‘The Ultimate Aquaponics Home System’, as designed by the “Aquaponics 4 You” team. Lets start with what you get for your money, an e-book and video.

The Materials: E- Book

The e-book is 33 pages and is organized in a logical fashion from an introduction to aquaponics through the step-by-step construction of the ‘Ultimate Aquaponics Home System’.

Specifically it covers:

Points to ConsiderGetting Ready to Build the System – Sourcing the Components (Vendor links are provided).Building the SystemAdding Water, Fish and PlantsNitrifying BacteriaTesting and OptimizingMaterials List

The guide is easy to read and supported by diagrams to get you a clear picture of how your system needs to be setup. It covers all the major points necessary with enough detail to get your system sourced and built. On the downside, you will find a few typos and that some of the information, for example, plants to use; the issue with root plants is not touched on; is a little on the light side. That is why I have included the preliminary information I have. But all in all the information provided gives you a current; copyright is dated 2011; single guide to use for materials list, vendor sourcing and step-by-step construction guide. I did take the time to verify that all the vendor links are working and that those suppliers do carry the exact products the staff at “Aquaponics 4 You” recommend. So, on this level the guide will be a time-saver for newbies.

This is a review site. Click here to visit the official “Aquapoincs 4 You” website

The Materials: Video

The 15 minute video included with your purchase, details the physical setup of the system as well as connection of all required plumbing through the installation of the floating bed material and prep for netted pots.

I enjoyed this video in some ways, but not so much in others. While it does explicitly detail the exact steps needed to build your aquaponics farming system, please use a little more common sense than the author is shown doing in handling tools. Also, the author is shown gluing pvc piping together in the grow bed. I guess it was a handy location at the time. PLEASE don’t do that. The last thing you want is any leftover residue from the pvc primer or cement left in your grow bed. The fish and plants won’t like it. Instead do this work on a seperate workbench or even the garage floor. Remember we are striving for an ‘Organic’ system all around.

Conclusion

“Aquaponics 4 You” is NO SCAM. The system does provide the information, resources and materials lists to build a good starter aquaponics system that you can build. Remember that aquaponics itself, is a proven method to grow plants and is in use by many people the world over. ‘Aquaponics 4 You’ does not muck around with the science behind the aquaponic method, it simply shows you how you can economically assemble and use your very own aquaponics system and removes some of the mystery about what an aquaponics system is and how it works.

I honestly feel that purchasing “Aquaponics 4 You” will help get you started with your own system with less headaches.  Used for a single source quide, you will glad that you have it as a reference and  it will also prove to be a good foundation to build from.

Additional resources are available online for aquaponics in general. And as funny as it sounds, the “Aquaponics 4 You” website has some additional information as well. Youtube has many good videos detailing aquaponic farms and these are loaded with many tips and suggestions. I wish you the very best in your new hobby and sincerely hope that my review has been of help to you.

This is a review site. Click here to visit the official “Aquapoincs 4 You” website