How to Do Nutrient Film Technique with Fish

A lot of hydroponic growers are just starting to learn about the idea that you can take your hydroponic garden and add fish or other sea creatures. Aquaponics has a very strong appeal to people because of that the results that you get -- you get your fresh green produce, and you also raise seafood.

But how do you do this kind of garden? Well, some of the strategies for aquaponics rely on some of the more general ideas in regular hydro, that can also allow plants and fish to coexist in small areas. One of them is Nutrient Film Technique. Here are some tips using a NFT approach with aquaponics.

Provide Channels for Plants

In the NFT method, plants are grown in long tunnels or channels. Thin films of water come through these channels to get the plant roots, delivering water and nutrients, as well as oxygen. Lots of growers make these sorts of trays out of aluminum or other light metals, or PVC, composite or plastics.

Install A Bio Filter

Because there's not a large amount of water in the channels to allow beneficial bacteria to thrive, an additional bio filter can be useful in this sort of gardening. Take a look at what’s commonly used and what fits your space.

Design the Reservoir

Down below the plant trays, you keep your reservoir of water. This water routinely gets pumped up and run through the channels in films. When it's not up in the channels, it's down in the reservoir. This is where you're going to grow the fish, so think about how much space you'll need for the number of fish you want to grow. Provide everything in the reservoir for the fish. And think about how the lifecycles for fish and plants are going to benefit each other. You may need to fine-tune your nutrient plan to fit the needs of both the plants above and the sea life below.

Protect Your Irrigation Systems From Clogging

One of the hardest parts of designing an NFT system with aquaponics is that waste material or other solids from the fish can get into small lines or pipes above and clog them. So in addition to a bio filter, you may need another additional type of filter to make sure that solids in the reservoir don't end up doing damage to the systems above.

These are just some powerful starter points for using an NFT approach and allowing gardeners to branch out into sustainable culture as well as aquaponics - the possibilities are endless -- you can find all sorts of helpful articles and resources as your guide. Dealzer sells equipment to help growers out to get success with these sorts of innovative solutions.