The best type of aquaponics is when we look after the fish. With anything, there are good apples and bad apples. Candy has formal training within aquaculture and aquatic husbandry, her ethics and integrity is based on animal welfare. This means to teach you how to be ethical with your aquatic husbandry. To not over stock or crowd your fish, but find the balance needed to maintain your aquaponics systems, in a healthy way for the fish.

Aquaponics is the most sustainable way we have of gardening these days. Our soil is depleted and often contaminated and needed rest and rejuvenation, gardening adds to its stress. With many areas experiencing water restrictions, droughts, weather extremes that the soil cannot manage, aquaponics is closed loop and not impacting the environment. It helps to remove the stresses. Aquaponics is a man-made (or woman-made) ecosystem, replicating nature. Not to be confused with hydroponics, which is an artificial setup using synthetic nutrients to grow veggies. No fish or no ecosystem.

Being a closed loop system, water is constantly flowing through each section of the aquaponics system, and not running down a drain. The only times you need to top up your aquaponics system, is for water loss due to evapouration and the water used by the plants. No more wasting water. Recycled and filled with fertiliser from the fish waste that the veggies use.

Almost any type of veggies can be grown within aquaponics, including root crops and even small fruit trees. You need to build your aquaponics system to cater for these veggies and fruit trees, but it is possible. From broccoli to turnips with everything in between. While you CAN grow almost anything, a pearl of wisdom for you ~ don't grow anything from the mint family. It is more invasive within aquaponics than it is the soil, and will clog your plumbing.

Absolutely! Everything we do in life, is a learned skill. That includes caring for fish. We learn how to do it. Starting off small, with fish that are cheaper is a good way to start if you are nervous, and within time you will start shooting for the stars with your desire for relaxation with your fish.

The hard question to answer ~ but also the exciting one. You aquaponics system can be as big or small as you like. With the fundamentals in place, you can build something for your desk or kitchen bench, a feature for your loungeroom, fill up your entire spare bedroom, your courtyard area, or build it to feed your family and the neighbours too! You build it to the space you have, and the size you want to give it. You are not offered a kit, you are taught here how to work out the size that will work for you, and how to adapt parts to your space.

Keeping aquaponics simple, easy and broken down is my desire for you. Keeping aquaponics simple is the easiest thing you can do. Stay in the flow, and the the ecosystem do the work. Many people tend to complicate aquaponics by altering layouts, adding extra bits, which is fine (I do this too), but it tends to complicate it more. Aquaponics at its roots (pardon the pun), can be extremely simple to build and simpler to run. Especially when you start small and learn how it works.

The main ongoing cost is the water pump, especially for smaller systems. The larger the system, the larger the pump which will increase the cost. The small Courtyard Aquaponics System water pump costs me $10 per year to run. You can check a watts calculator to see what it will cost. Costs of seeds, fish food, and fish if you plan to eat your fish. However, if they are your 'friends', then a one off fish cost is it.

The smaller size system that you start with, the cheaper it will be. You can also use recycled materials to be more sustainable and eco-conscious, as well as save money. If this reason, it is hard to give a price as we don't sell kits. It is DIY so you can choose the parts you want, with some guidance. Every aquaponics system I have ever built (15 years worth), have paid for itself so many times over that I've lost count, and I usually have veggies spare for the neighbours.

Aquaponics is a freshwater ecosystem, so you need to use freshwater fish. If you have your aquaponics system outside, choose a fish that is local to your area, otherwise they may be affected by temperature issues. If inside, then there are so many options. With the ornamental fish, there are so many options available from guppies to crayfish.