What Is Aquaponics Essay

Introduction
Aquaponics is the sustainable organic solution for agriculture in the urban environment. Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture, the raising of fish, and hydroponics, the growing of plants without soil. With a growing number of people moving to urban areas the demand for healthy organic produce and fish is increasing as the allocation of suitable land and water resources is decreasing. Therefore, new techniques must be found to produce food efficiently while protecting our limited resources (Childress, 2002, p.18). The system is not wasteful; it mimics an ecosystem, and has a low impact on the environment. In this paper I will explore how aquaponics works and what is required in every system for a successful recirculating process. The aquaponics process works by eliminating the dependency on chemical nutrients needed in hydroponic systems and waste control in

There are three main parts of an aquaponics system, fish, plants an microbes. Fish produce ammonia and solid waste, when raising fish in tanks these waste products reach high levels, becoming unhealthy for the fish, therefore they must be removed or the water replaced. In an aquaponics system the fish tank water is fed to grow beds. Grow beds do not use soil but use growing medias like pumice stone, clay pebbles, gravel, or the plants are floated directly on the water surface, using rafts often made of polystyrene for buoyancy. Naturally occurring micro-organisms in the plant beds break down the ammonia, first into nitrite then into nitrate. The plants absorb the nitrate and other nutrients, cleaning the water (Japan Aquaponics, n.d.). Fish breathe oxygen from the water breathing out carbon dioxide, the carbon is absorbed by the plants and the system naturally oxygenates the water which is recycled back to the fish tanks, increasing the water quality. The system mimics an ecosystem creating healthy fish and