Take care of your aquaponic pond for the fall

It's such a great opportunity to be outside enjoying the perfect weather, even the most mundane jobs can be fun this season. Today I'm going to show you a few things you can do to keep your pond or water garden looking great and your aquaponics system productive.

What is aquaponics?

As a reminder, Aquaponics puts the fish to work. It turns out that the work of these fish (eating and producing waste) is the perfect fertilizer for growing plants. Fish can grow a lot of plants when they get down to business!

One of the coolest things about aquaponics is that it mimics a natural ecosystem. Aquaponics represents the relationship between water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient and plant dynamics growing together in waterways around the world.

Inspired by nature, aquaponics harnesses the bio-integrating power of these individual components: turning fish waste into food for bacteria. Just like Mother Nature does in all aquatic ecosystems.

If you have tropical water lilies and flowering aquatic plants, they will really appreciate extra fertilization allowing them to even continue blooming well into winter. The water lilies are dormant for the winter.

If you are raising Baramundi or even Tilapia outdoors during the summer and you are in a climate where the water temperature starts to drop below 22 degrees, you will need to consider heating the water or the limit, if you have your water point sheltered under a greenhouse, this will do.

Baramundi is a great fish to eat and what could be healthier and better than raising it yourself.

Aquaponics in autumn

It's time to start removing damaged summer vegetables, leaves, dead branches and insects such as slugs, snails and the like. If you keep trout, you need to take the time now to do all the cleaning and maintenance that your aquaponics system might need.

Clean the pond, check and clean the pump, check that the pipes are not clogged. Make sure the water is flowing properly and if you're using an air pump, also make sure the lines are clear and the stones are clean and free of algae.

If you have a pond and have been thinking about doing aquaponics, well, it might be a cool idea to have a floating vegetable garden that you can grow from seeds or seedlings. For example, you can grow a range of leafy vegetables, which would be perfect for the coming season.

Tie the floating garden away from the edge but with enough slack to allow some movement in the water, this will allow water to circulate around the roots of the plants and although it will not deter flying insects, land pests like slugs, snails and spiders will be denied access because they simply cannot swim across the water to reach your plants. If you don't want to grow anything for a while, you're traveling and don't want to get into it, just take them out of the pond and put them away for later, this is a great project for the pond owners and part-time employed gardener. If you want some good advice for your aquaponic garden, come and have a look at foudebassin.com, you will be welcomed there beyond your expectations!