Learning How to Master Aquaponics is Easy, Fun and Very Rewarding.
The process of learning on how to master aquaponics is stimulating and even exciting. It is so much different from growing vegetables in your back yard. There is no backbreaking digging, no weeding, no watering and no spraying for pests. There is no bending involved as the grow beds can be placed at a comfortable height. You can put them at a height that is right for you, depending whether you are tall, small or in between.
It is best not to start too small as it is rather difficult to balance a small system. It is more difficult to balance a small system as with small water volume the temperature will fluctuate and would put the fish under stress. A good size is about 250 gallons, which is roughly 10,000 liters. You can then have growing beds of 250 gallons capacity. A good height for the grow beds is 12 inches (300 mm)
When learning to master aquaponics you need to be aware that there is a need to stagger the planting of your vegetables. If this is not done you could end up not having enough plants to filter the water for the fish. And of course you should plan, so that you can get fresh produce every day.
The fish need to be cared for and they need feeding several times per day. The easiest way is to use an automatic feeder and they are not expensive. You will need a submersible pump to pump the water to the plants. The fish also need oxygen, the movement of the water does help to oxygenate the water, but some air stones are still necessary to help provide enough oxygen. So you will also need a small air pump. Again this is not a very expensive item.
You can grow virtually any type of vegetables from lettuces to corn cobs, also many different kinds of fruit. Some have even grown peanuts. The only limit is the size of your aquaponics system. The size of your operation depends upon your requirements. Although should you produce more than you can use, you could earn extra money by selling your produce and as only completely natural nutrients are used the produce is organic. Organic products fetch a higher price.
Another advantage with this system is that the vegetables grow so much faster than in any other system. The plants are never under any stress as the water and nutrients are provided 24/7. Sometimes there may not be enough nutrients in the water as the fish may be too small to provide enough. You then simply put some liquid manure such as made from seaweed into the water. This will not harm the fish, but will keep your plants thriving. Sometimes there may be too many nutrients provided and the plants cannot filter the water enough. This will happen when your fish are growing too big. The fish do not grow at the same rate and so you start harvesting the bigger ones. Before the fish numbers get too low, you can put a division in your fish tank and start growing the next lot of fingerlings. When they have grown to the size that they won't be eaten by the bigger ones you can remove the division. These are just a few tips as you are learning how to master aquaponics
There are things one needs to know when starting to learn to master aquaponics. It is not rocket science and it is by far the easiest and simplest and cheapest and most fun way of growing fresh produce as well as fresh fish. There may be too much rain or not enough and prices skyrocket in the shops. When you have your own supply in your own backyard these things will not affect you and you will be saving yourself a lot of hard earned cash. On my website, http://www.aquaponicsblog.org/aquaponics-how-to.htm there is the A-Z Beginners Guide, which is at a very reasonable price and you will find in it all that you need to know on how to operate your very own aquaponics system.
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