For many years there has been a general debate about the efficiency of aquaponic systems. The more traditional supporters of hydroponics believe that hydroponics is sufficient for producing quality vegetables and fruits. I'm not debating the fact that hydroponics has served its purpose well. But as with all agricultural technologies, hydroponics has its own limitations.
The first limitation is that you have to continually add nutrients to the water to sustain the hydroponic plants. The second limitation involves the water used in the system itself. One of the downsides of hydroponics is that you have to drain some of the water on a regular basis in order to keep the water clean.
Then we have traditional pond aquaculture. People can harvest fish, but the vegetation growing on top of the pond is usually inedible. Aquaponics combines the best facets of pond aquaculture and hydroponics to produce something truly unique: a system that produces almost zero waste and utilizes animal waste and food waste to nourish vegetables and fruits.
Additional filtration systems can be added to an existing aquaponic system to remove excess waste in the water. An aquaponic system can also be expanded again and again to support multiple grow beds.
A single holding tank with about seventy fish can support up to eight individual grow beds with different vegetables planted in the grow bed media. Aquaponics is so efficient that even commercial producers in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world are using this technology to produce both edible fish and fresh plant produce.
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