Thursday, April 9, 2015

Interesting And Enlightening Facts About Aquaponics

*Aquaponics uses only 2% of the water as is required by conventional agriculture to grow the same vegetable harvest. Plus you get fish.

*A well designed Aquaponics system uses far less energy than conventional farming.

*Properly designed and managed Aquaponics systems have zero waste, discharge and environmental impact as all wastes are converted to useable products.

*Aquaponics can be done indoors in abandoned industrial and commercial buildings.

*Aquaponics can be done in small spaces.

*Root crops like carrots and beets have been successfully raised using Aquaponics.

*While first used thousands of years ago by the ancient Aztecs and 5,000 years ago in Asia, modern Aquaponics is  attributed to the New Alchemy Institute and Dr. Mark McMurtry et al. at North Carolina State University.

*What kind of plants can you grow? From Wikipedia:

"Most green leaf vegetables grow well in the hydroponic subsystem, although most profitable are varieties of chinese cabbage, lettuce, basil, roses, tomatoes, okra, cantaloupe and bell peppers.[23] Other species of vegetables that grow well in an aquaponic system include beans, peas, kohlrabi, watercress, taro, radishes, strawberries, melons, onions, turnips, parsnips, sweet potato and herbs.[citation needed] Since plants at different growth stages require different amounts of minerals and nutrients, plant harvesting is staggered with seedings growing at the same time as mature plants. This ensures stable nutrient content in the water because of continuous symbiotic cleansing of toxins from the water.[25]"

*What kinds of fish can you raise? Again, from Wikipedia:

"Freshwater fish are the most common aquatic animal raised using aquaponics, although freshwater crayfish and prawns are also sometimes used.[26] In practice, tilapia are the most popular fish for home and commercial projects that are intended to raise edible fish, although barramundi, silver perch, eel-tailed catfish or tandanus catfish, jade perch and Murray cod are also used.[23] For temperate climates when there isn't ability or desire to maintain water temperature, bluegill and catfish are suitable fish species for home systems. Koi and goldfish may also be used, if the fish in the system need not be edible."

*Some experiments with raising salt water fish and seafood with Kelp are also being done in some Aquaponics operations.

*Aquaponics facilities can be placed closer to actual markets than conventional farms and can actually be placed right in the neighborhoods they serve reducing the need for transportation, storage and refrigeration.

*Aquaponics is always organic.

*The use of Aquaponics gives us better control over our food supply.

*85% of the fish and seafood sold in the USA is imported. Some countries that export fish to the United States raise their fish on a diet of manure or in sewers. While our government may consider such practices safe we at Bessemer Aquaponics believe we can and will do better.

*How does Aquaponics compare to traditional agriculture?

 “It grows six times as much food as a traditional farm would in the same amount the space, but it’s using less than a tenth of the amount of water,” -- Kevin Jones, science instructor at Randolph Community College.

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