Aquaponics Education Center

Traditional farming is starting to lose ground in favor of new ways of growing plants. Most people have directed their attention to hydroponic farming. This type of farming enables them to grow vegetables in their own house or their garage. All you need is water and some specially designed pots.

Aquaponics is a new way of approaching farming. With traditional agriculture, you need plants to grow vegetables. However, with aquaponics, you need water and fish to have healthy food on your table each day. Aquaponics relies on the interdependence between fish and plants.

Planting seeds in your aquaponic garden is much easier than putting them in the ground. You just have to put them on a netting pot and … this is it! Then you just have to wait for them to start vegetating and grow. However, there is one little aspect you must know before placing the seeds and that is – the ideal moment when the seeds should be planted.

Adding the Fish

Many people purchase the fish, place them in the tank and in the same day they also place the seeds in the pots. This is by far the worst way of approaching aquaponics as the seeds, even though will grow and develop up to a certain point, they will die in a matter of days after they finish their own supplies if there are no nutrients in the water on which they can feed.

Placing the Seeds

The perfect moment to place the seeds in the pots is when the fish excrements have turned into nutrients. The process through which you can obtain nutrients for your plants is quite simple. After you place the fish into the tanks, they will start freeing excrements into the water. Because the excrements contain ammonia, they are highly toxic for the fish. However, do not worry about that, as this issue is solved by nature itself. There are bacteria which transform the ammonia into nitrites and then into nitrates. In order for your plants to grow you need nitrates, so once the process of decomposing and transforming ammonia is over, the water will be ready to support the plant seeds.

Duration of the Process

The entire process can take up to 3 months, time in which you should not place any type of seeds in the pots as they will certainly die. There are also ways to speed up the process by inserting nitrates into the water before the fish excrements can transform. However, many people do not like to interfere in nature’s way. However, no matter what way you choose, it is recommended to monitor the amount of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates from the water, so that you can always know the quality of your water for both your fish and your vegetables.

Planting the seeds at the right time is essential if you want good crops and healthy fish, so monitor the quality of your water permanently, before and after planting. It is the only way through which you can obtain good crops.

Aquaponics is a specific form of hydroponics. Hydroponic grow systems can be very tricky if you are new.  Even some advanced gardeners will have problems now and then.  Trying to replicate an outdoor environment for your plants to thrive in hydroponic grow systems is not difficult if you do it right from the very beginning. Read More