Fish add nutrients
Fish and their feed add nutrients to the water.
Aquaponics at Chinampas
Aquaponics is where we started.
Before mushrooms became our main crop, we worked with systems that use fish, plants, water, and biological filtration together.
How it works
The basic aquaponics cycle.
Bacteria do their part
Bacteria in the biofilter change the fish waste into forms the plants can use.
Plants use the nutrients
The roots take nutrients from the water as the plants grow.
The water returns
Pumps move the water back through the system so the cycle can continue.
Inside the system
Our lettuce and floating grow beds.
These photos come from the aquaponics systems we worked with before mushrooms became our main crop.
Aquaponic lettuce
We grew full heads of lettuce with their roots suspended in nutrient-rich water.
The floating grow beds
The white rafts support each plant while water moves beneath the roots and returns through the system.
What we have learned
Aquaponics takes regular attention.
Aquaponics can reuse water and grow more than one kind of food in the same system. It also takes steady work. Climate, fish, crops, feed, energy, and water chemistry all matter.
Working with aquaponics taught us to watch the whole system. That lesson still helps us on the mushroom farm today.