Aquaculture is a rapidly expanding industry. Much of it taking place in Asia and South America, especially China who is by far the world leader in fish farming. Countries in North America and Europe have been slow to catch on, but are starting to realize the power of this form of agriculture. It is now one of the fastest growing areas in agriculture in the US. This is in part being fueled by concerns about the quality and cleanliness of farm raised fish imported from Asia. Reports of fish like tilapia being raised in sewer and other unclean environments have people turning to more domestic raised fish. With these concerns and concerns about overfishing wild supplies, there are ever growing opportunities for aquaculture in both North America and Europe.

Some of the concerns about aquaculture involve its environmental impact. There is concern about moving and breeding live aquatic species around the world, in fear that they may be released into the wild and cause ecological harm. There is also concern about genetically modified or different varieties interbreeding with native species. As a result, many species of fish and other aquatic animals have been banned in many parts of the world.

This type of agriculture also produces a lot of water that is contaminated with fish wastes. These also create environmental concerns with ways of disposing of it. Problems have been associated with them being dumped into waterways or leaching into ground water. Fortunately, this problem has a useful solution. The compounds in fish wastes can be broken down by bacteria into useful plant nutrients. Water from fish farms is now being used for watering plant crops. This is a useful way to use both the waste water and the fish wastes in it.

Aquaculture systems are more commonly being converted to aquaponics systems. Aquaponics is a system where the fish water is fed through a hydroponics system to supple water and nutrients directly to the plants without soil. It is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. With this type of system, the water can be fed back to the fish tank since the plant roots filter the water and make it clean enough to provide a healthy environment for the fish. This creates a very efficient system that consumes little water and does not release waste water or fish wastes into the environment. Learn more about aquaponics.

With fish farming, filtering and disposing of the fish wastes have traditionally been an expense. But many innovative fish farmers have learned to put these wastes to work. Sometimes there is more money in the fish wastes than there is in the fish. Fish effluent is an excellent organic plant fertilizer and it is not difficult to put its potential to work for you.

Once you have aquaculture tanks, it is not difficult to convert to an aquaponics system that is very efficient at growing plants. At the same time, the plants will keep the water in your aquaculture tanks clean. This eliminates the need for a mechanical filter and for flushing the system. This is where what was once a liability, becomes a great asset.

Aquaponics works by combining aquaculture with hydroponics. Both systems share the same water that is constantly being recirculated between the two. It creates a complete biological system where fish supply nutrients for the plants, and plants keep the water clean for the fish. Bacteria in the system convert the fish effluent into usable nutrients, and between them and the plants, there is no need for filtering or cleaning your aquaculture tanks. You can use the same water over and over. This eliminates the need for a constant supply of fresh water that is often needed for many aquaculture farms.

Instead of spending time and resources filtering and keeping your aquaculture system clean, and wasting water to flush the system, you can be growing plants that may make a whole lot more profit than the fish. Aquaponics is considered to be organic and it shows in the quality of the plants and the taste of the vegetables it produces. This can help in getting top dollar for plants grown this way. Vegetables are one route but sometimes ornamental plants can be more profitable.

Although it may sound like you will have to take on a whole new job by adding grow beds and plants to the system, it doesn’t have to be that much more work. You have to consider the work and expense that it will save you in eliminating the whole job of keeping your water clean and no longer having a need for large amounts of fresh water and to dispose of the waste water.

This works well for large commercial applications as well as small scale back yard aquaponics systems. Many people are learning that they can set up small systems even in their homes and apartments in front of a sunny window. Not only is this a better way to grow fish, it can also be a better way to grow plants than conventional soil farming

Learn more about aquaponics and how to build an aquaponics system with this aquaponics how to guide.

Livestock like cattle and pigs are impractical and in many cases not legal in urban yards. But fish are a low key animal that can be grown in a small amount of space, without the hassles of farming other animals. There is no worry about them tearing up your yard, or bothering the neighbors by jumping over the fence or making too much noise.

To let you know how practical growing fish from home can be, consider how many people have aquariums or small fish ponds with ornamental fish in their homes and yards. Instead of spending the time and resources to grow fish to look at, why not put those resources into fish that you can eat or sell?

That is just what many people are starting to do. Fish like tilapia and other common food fish are becoming very popular. Tilapia are very hardy and easy to raise, and will eat just about anything organic.

Timing now is great to get into fish farming. With recent major news stories about the dangers of imported farm raised fish, the demand for clean domestic sources of fish continue to rise. For the home fish farmer, this provides the opportunity to supply themselves with a supply of quality fish, without having to pay the high cost for quality fish in the stores. It also provides the ability to capitalize on the growing demand for clean fish and the buy food local trend, by selling the fish within the community.

A secondary payoff from fish farming that many people don’t consider, is the value of the fish wastes as plant fertilizer. Fish release wastes into their water that can eventually build up to concentrations that become toxic to them. This is why many aquaculture tanks are continually flushed. The waste water can be used to water your lawn and garden and can take care of all the organic nutrients that your plants need.

An even more effective way to use fish water and nutrients, is to run it through a hydroponic grow bed. This type of system is called aquaponics, and it is a great way to utilize the nutrients from the fish wastes, and to reuse the same water over and over. This way the water can be used directly by the plants, instead of letting most of it go to waste by dumping it on the ground. And the plants, along with beneficial bacteria in the system, clean up the water so it can be used again by the fish. This dramatically cuts down on water use, and is a very efficient way to grow quality vegetables that are 100% organic, as well as ornamental and other plants.

Learn more about aquaponics and how it can be a great way to farm fish from home.

Marine animals can be grown very efficiently, but one of the major components and jobs with a fish farming tank is keeping the water clean. Removing the compounds that can build up in the water from the animal wastes is vital for their survival. But this chore and expense can be turned into a valuable asset.

Many fish farmers are discovering just how valuable dirty fish water really is,. Many of them make more money growing plants with the fish water than they do growing fish. Using fish water for irrigation is one way to utilize fish water, but that has its limitations. A more efficient way is to use the fish water with a hydroponics system. The water can be pumped into the hydroponic grow beds. The water can be used to nourish the plants, while the plants filter the water to be returned to the fish tank. This process is called aquaponics.

With aquaponics, the water is reused over and over without a need to be replaced, other than that which evaporates and is used by the plants. This can greatly reduce the cost of fish farming, since no mechanical filtration is need and the amount of water consumed is very small. There is also no need to dispose of any waste water.

Not only can you farm fish at a lower cost with this system, you also have the ability to produce large amounts of vegetables and other plants. And with this method, they are all organic. The fish wastes are organic, and chemical fertilizers can’t be used because they would harm the fish. This means you can get a higher price for food you grow this way. Since a fish farming tank already has much of the infrastructure needed for a hydroponics system, converting to aquaponics is very simple and does not involve much more than just adding the grow beds.

Learn more about aquaponics.

Aquaponics is especially good for those who don’t have a lot of space. Because of the way water and nutrients are delivered directly to the plants, they can be grown much closer together. Many people start a home aquaponics system indoors in front of a sunny window. With a small fish tank and grow bed, you can grow a surprising amount of plants.

Indoor aquaponics is great because it allows you to grow food year round. You can control the temperatures inside and avoid freezing and cold temperatures. In the winter, when outside gardening is unavailable, the sun’s low angle can allow more sunlight into a window and can provide better light.

Aquaponics supplies can be bought or built with little money. This makes it easy for most people to add more systems to their homes and add onto existing systems. Eventually many aquaponics growers want to expand to larger outside tanks and grow beds, or in a greenhouse. This allows them to grow more of the larger fish, including food fish like tilapia. Then the indoor tanks can be used for breeding and rearing young fish before they are put outside in the larger tanks.

Aquaponics can be a great way to produce fresh organic vegetables and fish right from your home. You can supplement with a few vegetables or expand to a system that could provide most or all of your food. For small systems, it is common to grow many of the vegetables that are expensive to buy in the store, like fresh basil. And vegetables that are much better when grown organically and vine ripened, like tomatoes. leafy green vegetables like lettuce and spinach are also commonly grown, since they do so well with aquaponics, and because commercially produced greens are often high in pesticides.

Home aquaponics systems can be as simple as a fish bowl with a floating raft, to more complex multi tank multi grow bed operations that can even be computer controlled. Whatever your needs are, you can build a system that is right for you. And you can always scale it up later.

Learn how to set your own home or commercial aquaponics system up with this aquaponics how to guide.

Then we plant plants there that usually don’t belong there and try to nourish them while preventing nature from taking the land back. Without natural systems to nourish the plants, we have to do it ourselves. We add large amounts of water and fertilizer into the ground so the plants can absorb a small fraction of it. Most of it is wasted by leaching into the soil and through evaporation. Then next year we turn the soil upside down and start over again.

This method works just fine, we have been growing food this way for a long time. But it is a lot of work that has to be repeated over and over with a great amount of labor and expense. No till methods and other permaculture methods have been developed as a way to work more with nature, but they are still working against what nature would naturally do with the land, and they too can be labor intensive and often more difficult on a large scale.

Aquaponics is a way to create a controlled environment where a natural system is created and maintained. It eliminates the fight with soil and soil pests and the natural habitat, and allows focus to be put on actually growing fish and plants. When you set up an aquaponics system you start with a blank slate and create an environment that will best serve your crops. Using the technology and knowledge we have, we create a simple but effective biological system. A system that takes care of itself in a lot of ways, the way nature does in the wild.

This allows the ability to create an intensive growing environment where many times more plants can be grown in a smaller space. With aquaponics, when plants are done producing, you don’t have to till everything under and start all over. Instead this is a system where life is continually in balance and new plants are replanted to replace the old ones that have completed their cycle, without disturbing the habitat. Instead of having problems with depleting soil, a well run aquaponics system will become more productive over time as it matures.