Aquaponics

Need assistance with wildlife and fish management on your ranch, backyard, or pond? Simply call your local County Extension Agent.

Aquaponic systems are recirculating aquaculture systems that incorporate the production of plants without soil. Recirculating systems are designed to raise large quantities of fish in relatively small volumes of water by treating the water to remove toxic waste products and then reusing it. In the process of reusing the water  many times, non-toxic nutrients and organic matter accumulate. These metabolic by-products need not be wasted if they are channeled into secondary crops that have economic  value or in some way benefit the primary fish production system. Systems that grow additional crops by utilizing by-products from the production of the primary species are referred to as integrated systems. If the secondary crops are aquatic or terrestrial plants grown in conjunction with fish, this integrated system is referred to as an aquaponic system.

-SRAC Publication No. 454, Recirculation Aquaculture Tank Production Systems – Aquaponics – Integrating Fish and Plant Culture