One of the first questions every aquaponics farmer has to wrestle with is where is this system going to go? Good Fish Aquaponics offers a complete system, but there are some options which we’d love to talk with you about. This article will give you a starting place if you are wondering about the best way to house a system.

Aquaponics is a controlled environment growing system designed for year-round production. This means one requirement is a house for the system – a greenhouse. On the surface the easy answer is to run everything in a single greenhouse, and many people do so successfully. However, we have to come back to this question: How important are the fish? If you want to run the minimal number of fish to feed your plants, and you are only raising the fish because you enjoy watching them, or think the fish are cool, or a great marketing gimmick, then all that is necessary is a fairly small tank and an extremely simple filtration system. We aren’t against these kinds of systems. But we got involved with aquaponics because we really loved the idea of raising fish. So even though doing so in a productive and marketable way takes a little more time, money, and initial system set up, it ends up creating a system with a much higher capacity for fish production, as well as providing some additional management and food safety tools.

If you want to seriously raise fish, then the ideal environment is to have a fish house. This is essentially an appropriately scaled shop space to house the fish tanks, filter system, heating system, and digester system. Housing these systems in an insulated shop provides the advantages of better insulation and climate control for the fish, better light management, reduces algae issues, and provides a healthier environment for these systems which can greatly increase their longevity. In addition, it frees up greenhouse space for additional grow beds, thus better utilizing the greenhouse for the ideal purpose it was intended for.

Having said this, we realize two buildings can be an additional expense, as well as demanding some additional space. There are a couple of other potential options. If you are working with a single greenhouse structure you can ideally place the fish on the north end of the structure where they won’t interfere with the light coming into the greenhouse. You can rig shade clothes to cover the fish to avoid the problems associated with excessive direct sunlight in your fish tanks. It is even possible to cover a portion of the structure with a solid and insulated fabric covering, and even to create an internal wall or curtain to separate the two systems if you so desire. Remember, this is not a requirement. Our experimental system which we are constantly changing, tweaking, and trying new things with is all housed in a single plastic covered greenhouse framework, and it works great! Having the system working properly together is more important than the environment structure.

If you have the option, creating a fish house connected to a greenhouse is the most efficient way to manage a system. It may cost a bit more upfront, but it will give you the best long term management options, and cost efficiency which we believe in the end is worth it.

Get in touch with us. We’d love to discuss your aquaponics possibilities.