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Aquaponics is a system in which you grow plants to eat by fertilizing them with waste from fish in a closed system. How to build an aquaponics system is not as difficult as it seems. Aquaponics is really a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. With Aquaponics, fish waste is used as a fertilizer for plants while the plants clean the recirculating water for the fish.
Aquaponics is becoming very popular as many use the aquaponics system to grow to produce organically for daily consumption. There is more interest than ever before on how to build an aquaponics system.
The diagram below is an example showing clearly how to build an aquaponics system.
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To build a simple aquaponics system, these are what you need:
Fish Tank
You need a fish tank; it’s where the fish will live, eat and excrete which will be the nutrients for the plants to grow. You can use any substitute for a fish tank as long as it can serve the purpose. I like to use a medium to the large fish tank to have the possibility of breeding fish to produce a good amount of nutrients for the plants.
Grow Bed
If the fish live in the fish tank, the plants will grow in the grow bed. You can purchase a grow bed or you can use any substitute which will serve the same purpose. However, it must be of reasonable size to accommodate sufficient soil and plants to make growing vegetables a worthwhile venture.
Water Pump
The water pump will be used to push water from the fish tank to the grow bed to keep the cycle going strong. It is imperative that you get a good water pump as it is very important in the entire functioning of the aquaponics system. You can get one from any hardware store.
Click Here To Build Your Own Aquaponics System!
Bell Siphon
Without the grow bed, the aquaponics system will not work; the plants will die. The Bell Siphon lets you fill the grow bed to a certain level, and then it uses air pressure, it drains the grow bed very quickly. This ensures the plants get the water and nutrients but also the air they need to live and grow.
Plumbing
Plumbing comes into question because all the parts have to be put together to make the aquaponics system work. A water feed line and a drain line have to be built as seen in the diagram above. The parts for this are pipes, threads, and valves.
All of these components can be found at your local hardware, gardening, or DIY stores. How to build an aquaponics system is not difficult; however, if you want more guidance, then there are aquaponics products in which you can watch the entire building process on videos.
Aquaponics is a very worthwhile way of growing organic vegetables for your family consumption. There will be a learning curve and some initial cost, which is not much as compared to pre-built ones, but when you have understood how it works and how to build an aquaponics system, the benefits far outweigh the investment you put into it time and cost-wise.