Hi Everyone! Welcome to my review of Aquaponics4You – a DIY Aquaponics System guide.
Before I discuss Aquaponics 4 You, I’m going to give a brief overview of Aquaponics. If you’re already familiar with how Aquaponics work, then simply skip down to my Aquoponics4You Review part way down the page.
Just to be clear, I haven’t tried setting up an Aquaponics system myself, although I have seen them and have read the Aquoponics4You ebook about 4 times.
My first exposure to Aquaponics was at Epcot in DisneyWorld on EPCOT’s Living With The Land ride (pic at left taken by me). Disney has an impressive display, but during the ride they don’t explain in detail how the system works.
What is Aquaponics?
Aquaponics is a way of growing vegetables hydroponically and organically with the help of Fish. It looks complicated at first, but if you know what you’re doing then setting up an Aquaponics system is actually pretty easy.
Aquaponics is a (mostly) closed-loop gardening system. The fish live in a water tank generally below the vegetables, and the plants (veggies) sit in a tank above the fish.
A pump is used to bring water from the fish tank up to the plant layer where the plants clean the water and use the natural fertilizer to grow, and then clean water is sent back down to the fish and aerated on the way down completing the loop.
The only thing you need to add to the system is fish food – everything else is taken care of!
Why Aquaponics?
These are the 8 best reasons why I think Aquoponics is a good choice:
- You can grow far more vegetables in half the time and less than half the space as in a conventional garden.
- All plants are grown organically with no need for fertilizer or pesticides – in fact you can’t use either or you’ll kill your fish!
- The operation is very simple to run – and you won’t spend any time doing back-breaking weeding, hoeing, rototilling, or any conventional gardening tasks
- Setup and maintenance are straightforward
- You can run your Aquaponics system year round and harvest fresh vegetables at any time!
- With the money you save by growing your own organic produce the system will pay for itself quickly
- The system uses such a small amount of power that it can be run with a solar setup – so you can grow your veggies off the grid.
- You also get to periodically harvest your own fresh fish – cool!
My Aquaponics4You Review
Aquoponincs4You is designed to teach you how to setup your first aquoponics system – even if you’re a complete newcomer to hydroponics or aquaponics.
The book is short at 28 pages of content, however those pages are packed full of information. Inside Aquaponics4you you’ll learn:
- How to build your own Aquaponics system including where to source the parts and how much such a system should cost.
- An overview of the Chemistry you’ll need to understand to keep your system running
- What kind of fish work the best in an Aquoponics system and how to find them locally
- How to grow veggies hydroponically, and what material makes the best ‘float’ for your veggies
- Other important steps to consider while building, setting up, and maintaining your system
As I said above, the ebook consists of 28 pages of actual content. This is partly why I was able to read the book 4 times quickly – however I think the author does a good job of squeezing lots of content into 28 pages.
That said, I was left wanting more detail and more information on a number of different areas. For example:
- The author doesn’t discuss fish harvesting at all. I was curious how often the fish should be rotated or if you’re better off to keep them a long time.
- There’s not a lot of information on growing your seedlings. This may not seem like a big deal, but growing hydroponically is different from conventional, and I think this deserves a page
- I would have liked to have seen more diagrams – and more thorough diagrams or pictures of a completed aquaponics setup
- The construction section is a bit vague. The author does give you a complete materials list and decent instructions, but this section is written for people who have built things in the past – and if you’re new to plumbing with PVC piping then this section may be confusing for you.
Auquoponics Pros:
- You’ll learn how to grow your own veggies without all the work of a conventional garden
- Hydroponically grown vegetables grow much faster than conventional veggies so you’ll be harvesting in a matter of weeks
- Aquaponics4You gives you great step-by-step directions so you successfully grow and harvest your own vegetables and don’t waste time and money
- You can setup an Aquaponics system in a greenhouse, garage, or even in your living room so you can grow veggies year-round
Cons:
- The program could use more information in several areas
- More diagrams and pictures would be nice
- The up-front costs are significant – unless you already own a 100 gallon fish tank
My Take
If you’re new to gardening then I wouldn’t recommend starting with Aquaponics4You as the upfront costs of building an Aquaponics system are notable. You’ll need a large fish tank, pump, tubing, grow bed and the fish themselves. Also this guide assumes a certain level of ability in gardening, raising fish, and construction.
If, however, you’re a fairly experienced gardener that wants to learn how to grow more organic vegetables faster, or you want the ability to grow lots of fresh veggies year round quickly and in a small space then Aquaponics4You is a great next step.
I recommend you take a look at the Aquaponics4You by clicking the button below to learn more.
