Extend your aquaponics system with pots

by | Dec 26, 2018 | Aquaponics systems, articles | 0 comments

Is aquaponics compatible with pots planting?

When we grow food in an aquaponics grow bed, the diversity of minerals available to the plants is limited to the elements we present in the system. We generally add minerals and chelated iron on top of the daily fish food, and it works very well for the most crop.

Certain plants need particular conditions to grow (temperature, pH, and potassium) and we like having them grow without necessarily changing the parameters of the whole ecosystem. There is a method to add modules to your existing aquaponics system.

How does it work?

Incorporate automatically watered pots with the water from your aquaponics system. As for the classic aquaponics systems, the only water consumption is due to the plant’s use and evaporation. The main difference is that the water in contact of the plant roots never goes back into the system. This can allow any treatment or spray even if I don’t recommend it.

What type of substrate are we using?

One can use the substrate of their choice. We generally use excellent compost, but it depends on the type of crop you want to grow.

How do we set this in an existing setup?

Well, the modules work with gravity, so you merely need a reserve of water higher than the pots. You can drill a hole to your fish tank and plug a connection or plug the module to a bucket that you will regularly top up with water from your aquaponics setup.

What do I use aquaponics pots for?

It’s well adapted to fruits plants with high mineral needs. It can as well save you a lot of space if you like to grow large plants or climbing plants. I think it’s a fantastic option to increase the size of an existing system.

Welcome here! If you are new, you will probably be interested to discover Jonathan’s six steps to build and manage an Aquaponics system. Click here to access for free!  Thanks and good reading 🙂