World Wisdom: Aquaponics vs. Hydroponics

When it comes to modern farming, the hydroponics system is very popular nowadays. People of all ages use this system. It is fairly easy to use as it doesn’t require much space and the maintenance is a short and easy thing to manage, and besides all of that, the system gives pleasing results. But (there is always a “but” somewhere) there is one thing that is not as good. The thing is that you need to supply the water in which the plants are with sufficient nutrients, and usually these nutrients are of chemical nature and thus the crops are not as tasty as people would expect. That can be a real problem for people who are used to organic food and are now switching to these hydroponically-created plants with all these chemicals in them. Fortunately for them, and for all other gardeners for that matter, there is a new way for producing organic food. That new way is called aquaponics and it will also help you grow food in the comfort of your own home.

What is aquaponics?

It is a system that combines elements of two types of farming. It uses aquaculture as it has fish in some special tanks and it uses hydroponics as it has plants growing in water using nutrients. Well what’s the difference, you might say? The difference is in the fish, since their role here changes the system altogether, making it different from hydroponics. To make it simple in order for everyone to understand (I am not implying that you are not intelligent, only that I want to make it easy for understanding), the fish excrements have some substances in them that turn into nutrients which the plants need in order to grow and develop and thus enabling you to harvest them in the end. Because the fish give the plants what they need, it will no longer be required of you to supply the plants with what they need and thus, no longer will they develop under the influence of some chemicals. It will all be very natural.

All in all, when you look at it, the aquaponics system is an improved version of the hydroponics system. Or you can look at it as a new system altogether! No matter how you look at it, the fact remains that this new system is something that everyone should use if they want to have healthy, organic and very tasty food on their plates every day. So, the plants are better than the ones in hydroponics, the whole process is much easier and the food is completely organic unlike the one created in the hydroponics system! What more do you need?

Another benefit is that no longer will you need to feed the plants each and every day, which can be a tiresome job and quite boring for most of the time. You will only need to spend a little time on keeping the fish to make sure they are fed and that everything is all right with them, and you are good to go. 

All of this will have wonderful results for you. By including the fish in the development of your plants you will change the whole system altogether. And that will give several wonderful benefits, all of which you do not have in hydroponics, which makes this new system much better than the hydroponic one. First of all, the taste of your plants will change, and not for the worse as you might have guessed, but it will taste much better because you are no longer using chemicals. You will get some very tasty vegetables or crops, or whatever plants you want to use and they will be completely organic and thus much healthier. 

But wait, another thing, or better, another benefit arises from this system! The fish will not be there just to supply the plants with their necessities, but you can use them for other purposes as well. You can use them for decorations or you can use them for food as well. The fish are edible as well. Just kidding, you already know that of course. Prepare another wonderful meal for your family, why not...

Author Bio:

Ivan Dimitrijevic is a blogger who writes about a wide variety of topics, but has a particular interest in health topics like the organic food production. He has had many articles published all over the Internet. Ivan is aware of the unhealthy modern lifestyles that people like bloggers lead and likes to educate the public on healthy alternatives.