Aquaponics at Home: A Modern Farmer Review of Turnkey Aquaponics Systems for All Levels
Aquaponics at Home: A Modern Farmer Review of Turnkey Aquaponics Systems for All Levels
By Brian Barth on July 18, 2017
Back to the Root's "Water Garden" kit makes a great entry to kitchen aquaponics.
Aquaponics—an environmentally-friendly mash-up of aquaculture and hydroponics—is just beginning to take off at a commercial level. But for homesteaders and hobbyists, it’s more feasible than ever to raise catfish and tomatoes together, whether in your garden, greenhouse, or a sunny window. Poopy fish water provides irrigation and nutrients to the produce, which in turn filter the water for the fish. What could be better?
I once built my own backyard aquaculture system, a semi-disaster which I detailed in a previous post. I wasn’t even attempting the hydroponics part, but just building a self-sustaining system to raise tilapia was a months-long slog of equipment failures and fish kills. I was trying to save money by going the DIY route, but in retrospect I would have been better off with a pre-fab model, one where professional engineers have worked out the kinks in the design.
There weren’t many on the market seven years ago when I started tinkering in my garage with visions of fish tacos dancing in my head. Today, though, there are a plethora. Some are suited for raising nothing more than a couple goldfish and a bouquet of herbs in your kitchen. Others are big enough to supplement a market gardener’s income with sales of hydroponic produce and organically grown fish. Here’s a brief rundown of the options.
Water Garden 2.0 by Back to the Roots, $99
Back to the Roots, a self proclaimed urban homesteading company based in Oakland, California, offers goods ranging from stoneground corn flakes to organic mushroom kits. They now also offer a cute little tabletop aquaponics kit that contains everything you need to raise sprouts, herbs and a single (inedible) fish (minus the actual fish) in your kitchen window. The kit includes a 3-gallon tank, filter, pump, hydroponic growing medium, fertilizer, fish food, and a coupon for a free betta fish, a fancy-looking aquarium fish also known as a Siamese fighting fish. Educational materials are included for classroom use.