Growing vegetables can be hard work. All that weeding, watering and pest control can put busy urban dwellers off from even trying. However a system that sustains itself, that is green, clean and can even double as an aquarium could make growing your own food attainable and fun. According to Lettuce Evolve, aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. Combining the two systems creates a system that is symbiotic, as the “Plants filter the water by using the fish waste as fertilizer”, and then return clean water back to the fish”.
The base holds 50 gallons of water, including the fish. The fish waste is pumped up to the planter where they fertilize the plants. However, the system need not accommodate fish – a nutrient solution can be added to the tank to act as the fertilizer, which, as Murphy from Lettuce Evolve says “can be purchased at garden and hydroponic stores”. There are many ways to set up an Aquaponics Planter, however using fish makes an elegant nutrient cycle that is green, relatively easy to manage, and provides the owner with an interesting aquarium to play with.