Empty space in your garden? Hobby to consider: aquaponics

[DCTrue]

[VeggieDog]

I considered doing a small indoor system, but it's a little pricey.

[DCTrue]

Claimed Advantages:

1. Significant reduction in the usage of water (compared to traditional soil methods of growing plants)
2. Growth of plants is significantly faster
3. Aquaponics grown vegetables are bigger and healthier
4. There is no need to use artificial fertilizer
5. There is no need to dispose of fish waste or provide an artificial filtration system
6. Significant reduction in land is required to grow the same crops as traditional soil methods
7. It's easier to setup for year round use compared to traditional gardening methods
8. It's organic
9. Reduced damage from pests and disease
10.No weeding or bending down on the ground required

Claimed Disadvantages:

1. Can be costly to setup as the system requires pumps, tubing, and tanks/beds
2. You need a green house to really have a good aquaponics system
3. Setup requires technical knowledge of aquaponics systems
4. Water needs to be constantly monitored in the first couple of months to make sure the water quality is ok for fish
5. You need to keep a healthy environment for the fish
6. Aquaponics requires electric energy input to maintain and recycle water within the system
7. You can't grow root crops
8. You have to provide fish food

[DCTrue]

I considered doing a small indoor system, but it's a little pricey.

Yes

[DCTrue]

These are some of the most affordable already made kits

[VeggieDog]

These are some of the most affordable already made kits

Probably cheaper and more fun to build a system from scratch.

[VeggieDog]

Claimed Advantages:

1. Significant reduction in the usage of water (compared to traditional soil methods of growing plants)
2. Growth of plants is significantly faster
3. Aquaponics grown vegetables are bigger and healthier
4. There is no need to use artificial fertilizer
5. There is no need to dispose of fish waste or provide an artificial filtration system
6. Significant reduction in land is required to grow the same crops as traditional soil methods
7. It's easier to setup for year round use compared to traditional gardening methods
8. It's organic
9. Reduced damage from pests and disease
10.No weeding or bending down on the ground required

Claimed Disadvantages:

1. Can be costly to setup as the system requires pumps, tubing, and tanks/beds
2. You need a green house to really have a good aquaponics system
3. Setup requires technical knowledge of aquaponics systems
4. Water needs to be constantly monitored in the first couple of months to make sure the water quality is ok for fish
5. You need to keep a healthy environment for the fish
6. Aquaponics requires electric energy input to maintain and recycle water within the system
7. You can't grow root crops
8. You have to provide fish food

Another advantage, you have fish to eat as well as vegetables.

[DCTrue]

Another advantage, you have fish to eat as well as vegetables.

There was a family that was featured on Discovery's Doomsday Preppers who used some sort of algae in their aquaponics. The algae grew very fast and they used it to feed the fish and was also good to eat for people in case of need, next to the fish and other plants. They actually had fish in their diet almost every single day. Solar panels were used so there was basically almost zero input into the system. Were living in some sort of dry area and couldn't make traditional gardening so this came as a good solution. The guy was kind annoying since he was doing stuff like "cheers for the end of the world" as if he would wish something bad would happend and he would have to rely only on his prepper stuff, but his aquaponics system built was still something praiseworthy.

Powered by solar panels these can be great if you have grandparents living in remote areas or for off the grid living since it provides a good degree of self-reliance and relatively few effort after propper installation.