Mother Nature's ecosystems have developed the best methods for life to flourish on this planet. Mankind however, pushes Mother Nature to deliver more than she possibly can. Rather than trying to move away from the original design, as many agricultural practices do, Ecoponics® is an attempt to build a simple ecosystem based on Mother Nature's billion year old design. By attempting to isolate some of these processes, the system's operation can be made much more predictable and more easily managed.
Hydroponic concepts have been incorporated into the design of the system for many reasons. They allow a much faster flow of water, introducing more oxygen and speeding the natural ecological processes within the system. They also use very little space, can be put almost anywhere (including bench height), and never require the use of a shovel. Because the fish and yabbies are constantly contributing nutrients within the system, no hydroponic nutrients are ever added.
Any unison of aquaculture and hydroponics is usually called aquaponics. Aquaponics is any system where the nutrient-rich effluent from aquaculture tanks is used to feed hydroponic plants. Hydroponic nutrients can be added to the effluent or directly to the fish tanks whenever desired, and the effluent does not necessarily recirculate back into the fish tanks. In aquaponics, the plants do not necessarily help to keep the water clean for the fish.
In Ecoponics®, the plants filter the water for the fish, and the fish fertilise the water for the plants. Therefore, the system must recirculate water back and forth from the fish to the plants, and rely on the fish and yabbies to provide the nutrients for plant growth.
