Barrel-ponics

Inspired by an article by Travis W. Hughey, I went to Thomas Town Sunday Market today to find some barrels for starting my backyard aquaponics.

There are a few sellers selling plastic barrels, most are 120L size drums, all with an open lid. Hence I need to innovate and cannot use Travis method directly. The price of the barrels are from AUD15 to 25, reasonable I suppose.

Welcome

From wikipedia,

Aqua(culture) + (hydro)ponics (aquaponics) is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment.

Aquatic animal effluent (for example fish waste) accumulates in water as a byproduct of the keeping them in a closed system or tank (for example a recirculating aquaculture system). The effluent rich water becomes high in plant nutrients but is toxic to the aquatic animal.

Plants are grown in a way (for example a hydroponic system) that utilizes the nutrient rich water. The plants in turn digest the nutrients, reducing or eliminating the waters toxicity for the aquatic animal.

The water, now clean, is returned to the aquatic animal environment and the cycle continues. Aquaponic systems do not discharge or exchange water. The systems rely on the natural relationship between the aquatic animals and the plants to maintain the environment. Water is only added to replace water loss from absorption by the plants or evaporation into the air.

This human-arranged form of symbiosis can benefit environment. This blog is a log book of how I am going to start one in my own backyard in Melbourne Australia.