It all started with me wanting to learn how to breed Tilapia in our backyard. After spending hours reading about how to grow the fish and how can i make them multiply in our small vacant lot, I remember in one website, somebody asked about Aquaponics. I've never heard the word before. Curious as always, I feverishly Googled for answers. The idea of growing plants without soil was intriguing. The thought of growing fish and plants together was even more exciting! So how does it work? In Aquaculture, you grow fish, feed them, the fish produce waste, you get rid of the waste by discarding the water or using a filter. In Hydroponics, you grow plants without soil. The plants are placed in other growing media such as rockwool, clay pellets, foam, recycled foam, gravel, peat, sawdust, or coconut fibres, then fed a nutrient solution to make them grow. However, water is also discarded. In Aquaponics which is the combination of Hydroponics and Aquaculture, instead of
discarding the water from the fish, you give it to the plants, they like it because of the nutrients abundant in fish waste. The beneficial bacteria on the grow bed of the plants basically cleans the water for the fish to use again. Saves a lot of water, time, space and let me also add that almost everything is self-sufficient and natural (almost - because you still need to provide food for your fish).Just like a lot of people who get enthusi
astic about Aquaponics, I've always wanted to build my own system, and just like most people who like Aquaponics, I just can't seem to find the time.I continued to read and read and read. I watched countless videos, experimented with auto-siphons and talked about Aquaponics to almost every person I meet. I was lucky that my ever-supportive girlfriend encouraged me to "just do it" one day, otherwise, I would just still be talking about it. Living here in the Philippines, I do have some advantages. Being in the tropics, temperature for the fish won't be a problem and I can easily acquire fish and seeds for the plants.
Finding materials for our very first Aquaponic system was no easy
task. It's very easy to feel like giving up since some materials used in the systems I've seen are very hard to find here ( fiberglass fish tanks and grow beds, expanded clay pellets, etc.) It's nice that in other countries, they do sell kits. After scouring to different hardware and DIY shops, I was ready to build using local materials. I decided to try using Shubunkin Goldfish (Php 10.00 each) for the fishtank as they're hardy and easy to care for. For the plants, I tried directly planting seeds of corn, mustard, pechay (chinese chard), okra (lady's fingers) in the grow bed. I also added 2 young basil plants. Seeds started to germinate after 3 days. I planted the same type and number of seeds in the soil for me to be able to compare the rate of their growth.
Shubunkin Goldfish
seeds germinating after 3-4 days
after 2 weeksIt has been 2 weeks now since the first Aquaponic system went operational. So far, I'm very happy with the progress. I spend at least 15 minutes a day checking it, some minor tweaking and making sure that the grow bed floods and drains correctly. My girlfriend also took the liberty of adding some more fish and one day caught her "playing" with them(with that guilty smile on her face, saying "I'm just feeding them"). Water is crystal clear, which is a good sign. It will take several more days or weeks for the plants to mature, but I am already thinking of building another one with a bigger FT and bigger grow bed so I can plant more edible vegetables and grow edible fish.
Okra after 2 weeks
Corn after a weekHappy planting!
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