Aquaponics is a system of cultivation that is starting to become much better known, both in terms of commercial agricultural production and the smaller scale of the permaculture gardener. It is appealing to both because it is a system that requires very little input in order to function well, and produces two types of food product – plants and fish.
Aquaponics uses a linked system of fish tanks and vegetables beds. The only inputs needed are food for the fish and a method to pump water around the system (gravity can be used one way in some circumstances, but even then a pump will be required to complete the cycle). The basic system involves pumping the water from the fish tank, complete with the droppings of the fish, into the vegetable beds. The plants use the nutrients from the droppings that are in the water, and in doing so filter the water so that it is clean enough to go back into the fish tank. There are three major forms of aquaponics systems. MORE: http://www.jbbardot.com/gardening-aquaponics-systems/