Is Aquaponics Worth The Effort?

Hi murray just wondering how to get started.

It is and is not. It depends on your needs and what your resources and skills are. It does not take much to buy a shovel and start in on gardening. The more equipment you buy the less time and effort it will take to manage. From a simple shovel and a handful of seeds to a shed of landscaping equipment it is a buy as you go affair. Aquaponics however is an expensive upfront cost with a long term pay out. You can manage the cost by DIY but really it is a labor that requires the question is it worth it to me.

For someone growing for food independence the answer is yes. But you are going to want to go big or go home. If you start too small and upgrade latter you will find that you could have saved yourself a whole lot of trouble and money just going for it at the start. That being said if you start small with the idea of possibly growing big and planing for integrating it into larger system you may find it easier. The fact that you can control conditions no matter the season or weather really gives you security in your food supply.( a water heater can make a greenhouse warm all winter long. Just as tinted windows, sunscreens and dehumidifiers can keep the heat down in hot summers.)

For food growth there is nothing more effecient than an aquaponics system. The cost of fertilizer is tied in with the feed cost so you get the plants and you get the meat in one input. If you grow your own feed through vermaculture you can lower the growth costs even more. The only other constants in cost are power and water bills. Now If you really want to grow your own food the square footage needed is not that big. If you make shelves and tall tanks you can really get things cooking even in the smallest yards. And every farm should have an entire green house devoted to aquaponics for the family's food security. Especially if they mono culture.(Why depend on a good harvest for your family's grocery bill when you have plenty of space to make that fear disappear)

For non food growers the answer is no. You can make an aquaponics system but it is more of a novelty and a conversation piece. Ponds and fish tanks have plenty of information on plants, water treatments and filters that can make life easier and more pretty than your average DIY project.

My main disappointment with Aquaponic gardening is that there are limitations in the plants that seem to grow well - i like my lebanese cucumbers, purple king beans, silver beet, bok choi and other green leaf plants ( although some of these are bitter( from I presume the high nitrates). Surprisingly I have a great passion fruit vine - quite productive but quite a few other flowering veges are not so productive- even when I add K every week. Incidentally the roses I grow seem to last longer in the vase than the ones from soil garden.
Great for some herbs which can take over the grow bed- esp mint and basil..
Would like to hear less of how to build a system and more about the plants that can be productive ( and tasty). Which plants have worked well for you ?

I enjoy it as a great hobby that gives back . I like my catfish and you cant believe how good an aquaponic fish tastes . Picking fresh greens in the worst part of winter is great. I feel that it has added to my family's quality of life as well as my own.

I have actually done the research on Nutrient Density. Fed a diet of Duckweed (with resident zooplankton), Soldier Fly Larva, and Red Earthworms, as mine are, the fish are significantly higher in Omega 3 Oils. Because this diet essentially becomes the nutrient bath of the plants, such dynamic fertilizer really does result in greater nutrient density. Example: It took fourteen grams of chard grown in my test garden to equal the density of that grown in my A.P. System just twenty feet away. My original soil is was very depleted and I have spent five years creating the finest garden soil in the county. Nevertheless, because of the diet I feed my fish, my A.P. veggies are much higher, and more diverse in nutrient content. It's difficult to argue with the facts.

Here in Egypt...the inverse... The Aquaponics is expensive food then it just to reach and the cost to build one is very high and classic farms not care to the water bcz the others have almost water to the Tourist resorts.i try to build my Owen but thy said on me ..that crazy and failed... just a few Pearson.s had success with it but they in desert ...in village no no and i try

Hi Murry and other aquaponics enthusiasts.

I just completed a Life Cycle Assessment thesis study of an aquaponics system in Bangkok Thailand at the end of last year. One of the obligations I needed to meet involved publishing in a scientific journal. It is a very short summary of the Thesis work. I have made it available to the internet for those interested. If anyone has interest in the larger LCA work, please contact me to receive the PDF.

https://www.academia.edu/11758227/Environmental_Sustainability_Assessment_of_a_Media_Based_Aquaponics_System_In_Thailand_-_Mark_Hindelang_-_JGSEE

4-S'
S=Food Safety
S=Food Security
S=Food Sustainability
And in my opinion the most important!
S=Food Sovereignty

sov·er·eign·ty
supreme power or authority.
synonyms: jurisdiction, rule, supremacy, dominion, power, ascendancy, suzerainty, hegemony, domination, authority, control, influence, autonomy, independence, self-government, self-rule, home rule, self-determination, freedom

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Murray,
We have been having fish meals with veges all grown in the system. The fish (Jade Perch) are
absolutely beautiful and extremely high in Omega 3.
Our sliver beet is SOOO crisp that you hear it tearing as you pull it apart. Wundabar!!

Les

I made aquaponics for independence. I´d rather eat what I grow, and sell the rest, making a living out of it.