Geek Definition: Aquaponics is a method of farming that combines hydroponics (growing plants in a water medium) with aquaculture (rearing of fish). The fish poop becomes food for the plants, whereas the plants clean the water for the fish making their living conditions comfortable.

What is Aquaponics?

In very simple terms, aquaponics is the growing of plants in a soilless media, while also rearing fish within the same self-sustaining setup.

The plants clean up the water that has the fish wastes(poop), while the fish produce the waste products (including ammonia) that the plants need as food. Depending on what you grow in this setup, the plants may also be food for the fish.

An extended version of this set up is the aquaponics poultry where you grow plant, rear fish and keep poultry, all in the same set up. In this setting, the plants provide the food for the poultry. The poultry waste is food for the fish, and the fish waste becomes the food for the plants. A 100% self-sustaining set up where no outside input is required.

Why Aquaponics?

Land in modern times has become scarce, more and more expensive, and the size of land you can get for farming is also small. This means that if you want to set up a commercially viable farming project, you need to come up with ingenious ways of using the small space that you have. This is where hydroponics and aquaponics come in.

Aquaponics produces high yields in very small spaces. It also produces pure organic food items that are perfect for your health. Further, aquaponics is easy to manage (mostly automated) and can be managed by anyone regardless of age or education status.

Due to the controlled nature of the aquaponics system, the plants, fish and even the poultry grow and mature faster than if they were on a normal conventional farming system. This means quicker profits and faster returns on investment for you.

If you are looking for a way to carry out smart farming that is highly profitable, easy to manage and easy to set up even in a very small space, then aquaponics is what you need. Whether you are on your own farm, or in a rented residential house, aquaponics can be set up where you are, both for personal food production and/or commercial production.

How does it work?

The fish live in water. In this water, they deposit their waste products (urea/ammonia). If allowed to stay in there and accumulate, this would be poisonous for them and they would die. So, you pump this water out on a daily basis to the plants’ troughs.

The fish waste (call it poop and urine) is food for the plants. They convert the ammonia to nitrites which they use to grow. This water flows across the system and by the time it reaches the other end of the system where it flows back into the fish trough, the water is well cleaned out.

While at it, as the water drips back into the fish trough, it creates bubbles that incorporate more air (oxygen) into the water for the fish to use.

Again, depending on the kind of plants you have grown, and the type of fish in your setup, the fish can also feed on these plants as part of their diet. But you will need to supplement the fish food with some commercially made foods from the local agro-vets.

If you further incorporate chicken or other poultry into this setup, you even get to eliminate the need to supplement the fish feed because the fish can feed on chicken poop. The entire system now becomes self-sustaining.

What can you grow?

There are numerous varieties of plants that one can grow. From strawberries to lettuce, kales, bok choy, purple cabbage, tomatoes, spinach, coriander, flax seeds, barley, wheat, and even sweet potatoes, among many other options.

The choice of items to plant depends on the goal of your aquaponics setup. If you are going for a commercial set up, look around your area and see what is marketable. Spinach, bok choy, strawberries, and kales can be great for a commercial venture. However, if you need a for-home-use setup, you can grow other items that you can consume yourself and your family or ones that your other farm animals can consume (like barley and wheat).

What types of fish can you rear?

This setup is best for mudfish (catfish) and tilapia as they grow fast and can survive fairly harsh living conditions.

However, you can also have trout fish and other aesthetic fish types like goldfish, etc. Again, just like with the plants, the kind of fish you rear depends on the goal of your setup.

Further, depending on your location, some fish may thrive there while others may not. We can advise you on this if you want to set up this modern farming method in your small space.

Cost implications

The cost of setting up an aquaponics structure can vary greatly owing to many factors that can come in to play. However, below are some guidelines:

A simple hobby setup can be very affordable. But for the minimal commercially viable setup, you need a budget of at least $1500 (Kshs 150,000).

This budget caters to everything apart from the space which you provide; from the fish fingerlings to the plant seedlings, the structure building and everything in between. This set up can be done on a small space of even 10m x 5m.

However, due to the variations in various space sizes, water, and electricity source distances, as well as locations (construction materials cost differently in different areas), it’s best that we have a site visit so that we can give a more accurate quote for you.

Again, if you need to set this up in a greenhouse, the costs may be significantly higher. But if you are doing it on a larger scale, the economies of scale also apply, making it even more affordable.

While at it, we can also help set the system up using solar-powered systems to ensure that your electricity cost is at its bare minimum. This also means that if you are in a no-electricity area, this structure can also be set up in your space.

SideNote: Would you like to learn how to build an aquaponics structure yourself? Take the lessons here

Final Words

All said, regardless of the capital input into this project, on average, the set up pays for itself within the first 7 months. From then hence, it’s purely profits.

We take you through how to run and manage the system on a day to day basis to ensure its success, teach you the expected challenges and how to overcome them, and advise you on how to keep the system at its optimum functionality regardless of power fluctuations and water shortages.

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