The Ultimate Guide to Hydroponics, Aquaponics – What are they and which one is better?

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The Ultimate Guide to Hydroponics, Aquaponics
What are they and which one is better?
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Introduction
Over the years, technology has evolved and
revolutionized in almost every field. Our
perspective towards life as well as the world has
drastically changed with the rise in technology.
This tech-savvy world has almost brought our
resources and tools at fingertips. But that is
not it, technology is not just refrained from
work or games it is much more than that. It is
drastically impacting our lifestyle and
well-being. Hydroponics and Aquaponics is the
latest example of use of technology in an
eco-friendly, natural, organic and sustainable
way. There has been many debates as to which
method of gardening would come out on top in a
battle of hydroponics vs. aquaponics.
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What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponics uses only water and chemical
nutrients to cultivate plants, without the
necessity of soil. Its not only the main
production method of much of the greenhouse
tomato, basil and lettuce grown in North America,
but its also popular among marijuana growers.
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Benefits of Hydroponics

• No soil is necessary.
• Its stable and produces high yields.
• There is no damage from pesticides.
• The controlled system means that no
  nutrition pollution is released into the
  environment.
• Lower nutrient requirements due to control over
  nutrient levels.
• Lower water requirement as water stays in the
  system and can be reused.

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What is Aquaponics?
Aquaponics combines the technique of aquaculture
with hydroponics. Aquaponic is a balanced
ecosystem in which fish and plants are in a
symbiotic relationship that mutually benefits the
plants as well as the fish. Just like,
hydroponics growth media and pumps are used in
this process, but Aquaponics uses organic fish
waste as a nutrient for the plants. Plants
naturally help in cleaning out the water in aqua
tanks, so it requires less cleaning and
maintenance. Aquaponics is widely used across
Australia as an organic method to cultivate so
many plants and crops.
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Benefits of Hydroponics

• No additional nutrients need to be used as it
  uses organic waste produced by the fish as a
  fertilizer.
• The organic fish waste can easily be disposed
  using the drain and can also be used in
  composting.
• The natural system easily balances out and does
  not require much maintenance. Only periodic
  checking of pH, nitrate and ammonia levels is
  required.
• Can be grown all around the year.

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Which one is better?
Hydroponics and aquaponics share a few
similarities. They both use nutrient-rich water
thats highly oxygenated to bathe the plants
roots continuously, and in both systems, plants
see better growth rates in comparison with those
that are grown in soil. Although aquaponics
borrows many techniques from hydroponics such as
their NFT (nutrient film technique) and DWC
(deep-water culture), there are many significant
differences where aquaponics improves upon.
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1.Cost Of Chemical Nutrients In a hydroponics
system, chemical nutrients used to feed plants
are expensive and costs are gradually rising due
to over-mining and scarcity. In an aquaponics
system, fish feed is used instead which is not
only cheaper, but will provide you with bigger as
well as support for plants.
2.Retain Nutrient Solution Certain periods,
water in hydroponic systems needs to be unloaded
because of the build-up of salts and chemicals to
the point where levels become toxic to plants.
Where the waste water is disposed of needs to be
carefully considered, but in an aquaponic system,
theres a natural balance of nitrogen and water
is never replaced, only topped up due to
evaporation.
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3.Productivity It has been shown in several
studies and research that once the aquaponic
biofilter is fully established (after a period of
6 months), an aquaponic gardener will generally
see quicker and more efficient results in terms
of plant growth compared to hydroponics.
4.Ease Of Maintenance An aquaponic system is
much easier to maintain since theres no need to
check the electrical conductivity once everyday
as you would have to in a hydroponic system. The
natural ecosystem in aquaponics means that
elements have a tendency to balance each other
out, and you would only need to check pH and
ammonia levels once a week, and nitrate levels
once a month.
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5.Organic Growth Hydroponics is made up of a
sterile man-made environment while aquaponics is
a replication of a natural ecosystem, thus making
it completely organic. Hydroponic systems use
costly nutrients made up of a mixture of
chemicals and salts to feed plants, but in an
aquaponic system, plant food is made from the
conversion of solid fish waste by bacteria and
composting worms. This natural process results in
better plant growth and lower disease rates.
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info_at_hydroponicxpress.com.au
295 Warton Road Canning Vale WA 6155
https//www.hydroponicxpress.com.au/
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