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In aquaponics fish and plants go together for all-around savings
Prue Salasky
When Smithfield octogenarian Mildred Cairo wrote in to suggest that On the Cheap readers recycle the water from their fish tanks to promote the healthy growth of their plants, it sounded like a great idea.
In fact, it's such a good idea that over the past decade a whole industry, called aquaponics, has grown up around the concept. Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (fish cultivation) with hydroponics (soilless culture).
To follow Cairo's suggestion, you simply use the dirty, or "nutrient-rich" in agricultural parlance, water from the fish tank — and anyone who has kept a goldfish in a bowl knows how quickly the water gets dirty — to fertilize soil-grown plants in an all-natural manner. In aquaponics, fish and plants are grown together in one integrated, soilless system; the difference lies in it being a closed, recirculating integrated system. And for the most part the fish are being grown to eat rather than to observe.
In aquaponics the fish waste provides a food source for the growing plants and the plants provide a natural filter for the water the fish live in. In a typical system, the water is pumped into a gravel bed where the plants grow, providing a natural filter, and then it's recirculated. There is no discharge of water and it uses approximately 1/10 the amount of water required for traditional dirt-grown vegetables. It can produce fresh, safe organic fish — tilapia and channel catfish are good candidates — and vegetables, particularly leafy greens, to supplement food supplies.
The closed system is popular with environmentalists as there's no waste product to pollute the ecosystem. It eliminates the need for solid waste disposal from intensive aquaculture operations at the same time as answering the hydroponic grower's need for nutrient-rich water to raise their plants.
Systems range in size from family friendly to commercial operations.
However, if you're not up for a major construction project, or long-term agricultural production, then your plants will still benefit from a dousing from your goldfish bowl or other fish tank. And you'll be saving on fertilizer if not on water.
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