Angry Aquaponics

Aquaponics is growing plants and fish together. The theory is the waste the fish produce is fertiliser for the plants, who return the favour by keeping the water clean. I’ve seen this work on a large scale on a recent course I attended on all things ending ‘ponics. There I saw tilapia (a fast breeding and growing freshwater fish) being farmed in tandem with various Asian green veg. Lacking a room I could turn into a pond, I thought I’d have a go on a much, much smaller scale, learn from mistakes and adapt.

So, where to start? I went to specialist aquariums stores, explained the idea and got lots of blank faces. Next stop, Google. I found a Taiwanese company on Etsy selling a simple little tank with a piece of string that acts like a candle wick, sucking the water from the tank into a small shelf for plants. That's not really aquaponics. Out came the tool kit, as the gallery below (with trusty ‘chief product taster’, my dog, Ranulph) on standby, ready to lend a paw.

The fish is a Siamese fighting fish, or Betta splendens. Deliberately chosen for its hardy nature (no filters, or oxygination in this basic first experiment). Being from Siam (Thailand) it seemed only fair that I grow Thai eggplant. The gallery below walks through the principles of aquaponics I’m testing in this experiment.

It’s only week one, but I already have one significant challenge. No, it’s not that growing that many plants in one small tank (I’ll separate out as they progress). It’s balancing the elements [link to that post], in particular how to give the plants enough light without: a) boiling poor Yingluck (named after the ousted Thai prime minister), or b) encouraging too much algae growth in the tank. Sun here comes in one mode: HOT.

I’ll keep you posted…