Episode 073: Growing Your Own Fish For Meat

What is aquaponics? It’s a combination of aquaculture (raising fish or other aquatic animals for food) and hydroponics (growing plants by pumping nutrient-rich water past the roots). Both of these systems come with their own set of challenges. What do we do with all of the waste from the fish? Where do we get all the fertilizer for the plants? What do we do with the contaminated water once it’s been used? Aquaponics largely solves all of these problems by simulating the system we see in nature. The fish provide the nutrients for the plants, and the plants provide the filtration for the fish. We get to raise both plants and fish in this system for our own consumption. In this episode, we launch our own aquaponics project. We talk about different setups, some of the pros and cons of each, and how to design a system that will meet your needs. In upcoming episodes, we will cover the actual construction of the system, getting it up and running, adding plants, adding fish, and harvesting from the system.