The Best Place to Start Aquaponics = education

I have been taking an online course by Sylvia Bernstein.  I wish this course had been available five years ago.  It would have saved me loads of money.

I have studied aquaponics for at least five years.  I ran into information on growing fish and vegetables together on Yahoo! Groups.  Travis Hughey was my original mentor and educator on the subject.  Fortunately for me, his group eventually led me to the fabulous Aquaponics Community Forum.  The rules of thumb that are listed there are awesome!  In fact those rules of thumb got me excited about Sylvia's book,

Aquaponic Gardening: A Step by Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together

The online course is much more hands on and contains current information.  It is based on the book and costs a little more than I originally paid for the book.  

I have used the trial and error method to build many systems with varying degrees of success.  Today I learned how to test my gravel to see if it will work well in an aquaponic system.  I took a sample from my gardens and put it in with some white vinegar.  I knew I had gotten the wrong gravel when the fizzing started.  Turns out, I could have avoided that major mistake if I had had a way to test gravel before.  Another way to test the gravel is to put a sample in distilled water and see if the pH changes any the next day.  

Gardening the traditional way takes some time to learn and so does aquaponic growing.  So what are the benefits of aquaponics and why would you want to switch?  Here are a few ideas:  

No weeds

Less bug problems

Grow anywhere, even in the kitchen

Grow faster than ever

Grow more in a smaller space

Organic produce/You know exactly what is in it

Fresh fish 

Can't wait for tomorrow's lecture.  I will keep you posted.

Scott