Meg Stout - The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Aquaponic Gardening

Aquaponic
Gardening

by Meg Stout

A member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To my daughters and husband, who inspire me every day

ALPHA BOOKS

Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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Copyright 2013 by Meg Stout

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ISBN: 978-1-61564-333-2
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2012951749

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An aquaponic garden allows a gardener to avoid chemical fertilizers by using fish to provide nutrients for the plants. The plants grow in a soil-free environment, and the roots clean the water for the fish. Together, the fish and plants work together so the water can be recycled indefinitely. You only need to replace water that has evaporated, reducing your water bill.

Aquaponic gardens produce food naturally with much less water than a conventional garden. Aquaponics is becoming popular among people concerned about nutrition, avoiding artificial additives, and protecting the environment.

You can create an aquaponic garden almost anywhere you can bring together light and space using a footprint as small as a single square foot. And aquaponics is easy. Once youve created your system, you wont need to water or weed it, or even bend over. You will be able to grow more plants in less space than in a traditional garden, and your plants will grow faster and larger.

Im an engineer/physicist, and I love elegant systems. I discovered aquaponics in the spring of 2010 while surfing the web. I tumbled upon Britta Rileys Windowfarms, small hydroponic gardens grown in a tower of recycled bottles hanging in a window.

I loved the idea of these small gardens, but I didnt fancy the idea of bottles of chemical nutrients in my home. Dumping the nutrient solution every couple of weeks as recommended was something I knew I would forget to do. The search for better plant nutrients led me to aquaponics: the idea of using a fish tank as my nutrient reservoir. Within days I had created my aquaponic Windowfarm.

I loved my two aquaponic Windowfarms made out of their recycled bottles. Fun as they were, though, they werent much more than edible conversation pieces.

When fall arrived, I decided to create a bigger aquaponic garden in my basement with 50- and 100-gallon stock tanks, heavy duty shelving, and fluorescent grow lights. With a bit more web research, I realized I could move my fish and plants outside.

Aquaponic gardening gives you a chance to reduce your carbon footprint because your food doesnt have to travel hundreds of miles to get to your house. It reduces your water footprint because it recycles its own water. Aquaponics is also good for the environment because you arent adding fertilizer and chemicals that can pollute local water.

Even if you dont care about going green and reducing your footprint, aquaponics is a great way to grow food. Economic and health concerns are excellent reasons to adopt aquaponics.

In this book youll see a lot of DIY plans, but you can always decide that your time is worth more than the additional cost to buy a pre-made system. As aquaponics becomes more popular, I expect it will become possible to buy more and more components locally without having to pay for shipping. In the meantime, this book gives you enough information to create a system in a weekend using materials from local hardware and pet supply stores, if you want to.