In this post, I want to talk about something called aquaponics which is a way that you can eliminate the need to change the water or clean the gravel in your fish tank.
The biggest barrier that a lot of people run into when they say they want a fish tank is the amount of maintenance that’s required to keep your fish healthy and your tank from looking dirty.
Typically people need to clean the gravel and change the water in their fish tank, at least once every 2-4 weeks if you want to keep your fish alive for a long time and keep them happy.
How to keep water level in aquaponics fish tank stable?
I’ve had running 40-gallon fish tank for over a year now, and I have not had to change the water once and it’s very clean. I just had my water tested and my ammonia level was 0, nitrites were 0, nitrates were 10 which is in the low acceptable range, and my pH was 7.2.
I have 5 pretty large goldfish in my tank, and to have water that’s that perfect without any water changes, it’s pretty amazing and I want to explain to you how I do this so you can build your own aquaponics fish tank.
Aquaponics fish tank DIY
In my tank, I have a water pump that pumps water up above the tank into a grow bed. In which I have a bunch of plants growing. And the way this works is, the fish produce waste in the water like they normally do.
And then, the water is pumped up into grow bed on top of my tank and the plants use this as fertilizer. There’s no soil in here, this is actually a soil substitute called hydroton which is clay pellets. So the plants use this waste from the fish, and this removes it from the water, and essentially eliminates nitrates from the water.
So it’s only containing an ecosystem, and I do not have to change the water in my tank. I do have to add water every couple of weeks to the tank just to keep the water level up. But I don’t need to use any kind of gravel vacuum. I don’t have to really scrub too much any algae of the sides of the tank, fish tend to eat that.
My tank looks very clean, and probably the biggest perk is I actually am able to grow vegetables in my apartment.
So you should look into this if you’re interested in having a low-maintenance fish tank and having a source of vegetables that you can grow indoors all year round.
Hi, my name is Sean, and I’m the primary writer on the site. I’m blogging mostly about freshwater and saltwater aquariums, fish, invertebrates, and plants. I’m experienced in the fishkeeping hobby for many years. Over the years I have kept many tanks, and have recently begun getting more serious in wanting to become a professional aquarist. All my knowledge comes from experience and reading forums and a lot of informative sites. In pursuit of becoming a professional, I also want to inspire as many people as I can to pick up this hobby and keep the public interest growing.
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