Aquaponic Gardening Inside - A Basic Guide for Tropical Fish Keepers

Aquaponics gardens provide a paradigm shift in the ability to grow a family's food requirements in a small space. The same technology that has been used in commercial aquaponics and backyard aquaponics gardens can be transferred to improve the water in a home tropical fish aquarium. This book provides a basic guide explaining the differences between commercial aquaponics systems, backyard gardens and migrating the technology into the home freshwater aquarist's display aquarium. The focus is mainly on integrating the aquaponic garden inside the home's walls in an aquarium. The fish and other inhabitants in a home display aquarium create nitrate that standard aquarium filters are unable to remove. The fish produce ammonia and solid wastes which are also broken into ammonia. Bacteria reduce ammonia to nitrite and then finally nitrate, which continues to concentrate over time. It can cause problems in the habitat if not removed Applying aquaponic techniques is a safe and natural way to turn nitrate from a toxic poison in the fish tank into a useful fertilizer for growing organic plants. Employing the concepts of soil less gardening for the tropical fish keeper has not been exploited previously. The transfer of classic aquaponic systems into the home has the potential to change the way freshwater display aquariums are filtered. A display aquarium with an integrated aquaponic nitrate filter becomes a symbiotic system. The fish live in better conditions with less maintenance and reduced complexities to the home display aquarium. When considering aquaponics systems for the home aquarium, the focus shifts from the commercial interest in growing plants to the activity in the fish tank.