It is now two years since I first became interested in aquaponics.

I was trying to grow a lot of basil and a friend of mine suggested using my frog pond as a water source to grow the basil hydroponically. I initially discounted the idea as crazy but then started to look into it. And a whole new world opened up to me.

Aquaponics is a merger of hydroponics - growing plants in a soil-less media - and aquaculture - farming aquatic species for food. It is a somewhat balanced system where the fish consume protein, exhale ammonia and naturally occurring bacteria convert the ammonia into nitrites and then the nitrites into nitrates. The nitrates then fuel plant growth.

The bacteria colonise in some form of media which also forms the grow beds for the plants. Leafy green vegetables are an excellent choice for such systems and grow extremely quickly and vigorously.

I will post more information about my aquaponics system and how well it is working. So far it has been a success, although we are yet to harvest any of the fish for eating.