aquaponics, a system of agriculture that

combines aquaculture and hydroponics to cul vate both plants and aqua c animals.
Aquaponics setups cycle nutrients through a closed circuit of bacteria, fish, and crop plants.
The system uses nitrifying bacteria to convert fish waste into nitrates for plants, which in
turn purify the water for the fish.

History

Some consider ancient agricultural prac ces by the Maya and Aztecs to be early examples of
aquaponics. The Aztecs built floa ng gardens called chinampas atop freshwater lakes, and
nitrogen cycling within the water bodies supplied nutrients to the plants. Other early
predecessors of aquaponics emerged in Far Eastern regions, where farmers have long
grown rice in paddies rife with aqua c life in order to fer lize their crops.

Discover aquaponics, a combina on of aquaculture and hydroponics used to produce fish and
plants more sustainablyLearn about aquaponics, which combines aquaculture and
hydroponics to produce fish and plants.(more)

Modern aquaponics systems arose in the 1970s and ’80s, when aquaculture research was on
the rise. The New Alchemy Ins tute, a research center founded in 1969, designed a structure
in partnership with Solsearch Architects called the “Ark” that incorporated fish and vegetable
cul va on into a residen al home on Prince Edward Island. Scien sts from North Carolina
State University constructed the first successful closed-loop aquaponics circuit in the 1980s,
and the first commercial aquaponics facility appeared that same decade in Amherst,
Massachuse s. In the early 21st century the concept con nued to gain popularity, especially
in Australia and Canada, and both commercial systems and backyard aquaponics kits became
more available. Aquaponic systems can also be stacked into ver cal layers for use in ver cal
farming opera ons.

Setup

Aquaponics systemBasil and goldfish in an aquaponics system on display at a trade fair in

Rome. The fish provide nutrients that bacteria convert into a usable form for the plants. The
plants, in turn, maintain the water quality for the fish.(more)

Aquaponics systems rely on the interplay between fish, plants, and bacteria. The system
imitates the natural cycles of aqua c ecosystems and their nutrient exchanges, albeit in a
simplified form. A common aquaponics setup houses fish in a tank that is connected to crop
beds through a pump. The pH value of the water in the system must be in the neutral range,
between about 6.8 and 7.2. At improper pH values, the fish face the risk of death, and the
plants cannot successfully integrate nutrients. Common varie es of fish used for freshwater
aquaponics include carp, ca ish, and lapia. The fish consume feed, which contains nitrogen,
and excrete waste that is rich in the chemical compound ammonia. Water from the fish tank,
which is laden with waste ma er, ammonia, and uneaten fish feed, flows into biofiltra on
structures containing nitrifying bacteria. O en, the biofilters are incorporated directly into the
media used to grow the plants, though some setups rely on addi onal pumps and filters.
Various kinds of nitrifying bacteria convert the ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate, the
form of nitrogen that plants can consume, and thus the water nourishes the crops.

The newly nitrate-rich water travels to the soilless plant beds, which can take a number of
forms depending on the plants and the size of the setup. Small leafy vegetables such
as le uce, spinach, and kale lend themselves well to aquaponics, as do many herbs. In the
popular deep water culture or ra system of aquaponics, a thin buoyant sheet sits across a
tank of water, and plants stretch their roots through the material. This method involves
constant circula on of the water between the fish tank and the separate plant chambers.
Other arrangements, such as ebb and flow systems, vary the amount of water available at a
me and provide different substrates on which the plants can anchor themselves. In all setups,
as water flows through the channel, plants absorb nitrate as fer lizer, and the purified water
travels back to the fish tank. Because of this cyclical design, an aquaponics system reuses
between 95 and 99 percent of the water it ini ally receives, with small losses occurring as a
result of evapora on from the tanks and transpira on by the plants.

Saltwater aquaponics, a less common variant of the technique, func ons similarly to
freshwater aquaponics but relies on fish and plants that thrive in a more saline environment.

Advantages and disadvantages

Aquaponics has a number of environmental advantages over its

progenitors, hydroponics and aquaculture, as well as over tradi onal agriculture. Aquaculture
systems o en crowd fish into densely packed pools that yield a significant amount of waste-
contaminated water. Aquaponics systems recycle and filter the water, and thus wastewater
treatment and disposal is not necessary. While hydroponics systems require costly nitrogen
fer lizers to sustain plants, aquaponics systems obtain these nutrients from fish. Finally,
inefficient irriga on in conven onal agriculture is a major source of water waste, with
significant amounts of precious fresh water being lost to evapora on or runoff before
reaching crop roots. In contrast, closed aquaponics systems have li le water loss and can grow
crops efficiently with li le water waste. Other advantages of aquaponics systems include their
ability to produce fish and plants year-round and their minimal need for herbicides and
pes cides. Aquaponics systems can be cer fied organic, which can increase the market value
of the crops and fish they produce.

One of the major disadvantages of aquaponics is the cost. Expense has been a major barrier
to commercial aquaponics endeavors, with both ini al investment and later opera ng costs—
such as fish feed and electricity for the pump—being prohibi ve for some farmers. Systems
are also labor intensive, requiring daily maintenance and a knowledge of both fish and plant
cul va on. Research has suggested that aquaponics systems are not as profitable as
tradi onal agriculture, though some proponents of aquaponics counter that such findings
were based on nascent aquaponics setups that had not yet achieved profitability and argue
that aquaponics can be profitable when housed in large enough facili es.