Teamwork Leads to Penn State’s New Aquaponics Lab

There is something to be said about teamwork!  Foster, a junior Horticulture major with a minor in Wildlife and Fisheries Science has teamed up with greenhouse manager, DiLoreto to develop the first aquaponics system at Penn State.

"She expressed an interest in working with aquaponics from the very beginning,” DiLoreto said.  "She was pretty serious about it. You could tell she had read a lot and had really thought it out. It's uncommon to find someone who is that motivated."

In case you aren’t familiar with aquaponics, here is a quick overview:

Aquaponics is an integrated fish-culture and plant-propagation system that relies on a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. Fish, such as tilapia -- grown for human consumption -- are cultured in tanks.  Those tanks are connected to a hydroponic plant-growing area. The tank water, which becomes rich in fish wastes as the fish grow, flows to the hydroponics system, where the plants take up and utilize the nutrients in the waste to grow.  The fish wastes, especially the nitrogen component, are toxic to fish, so the plants perform a service to the fish by purifying the water. The clean water is then pumped back to the fish tanks -- and the cycle continues.  Aquaponics differs from hydroponics in that it relies on the natural nutrients in fish waste, rather than added nutrient salts.

"Aquaponics is the coupling of two biological systems," DiLoreto explained. "The plants feed off the fish and the fish purify the water for the plants -- so at the end you have two products, fish and plants. It's a much more natural process."

Current plans for the Penn State aquaponics system include using two 300-gallon tanks to grow tilapia, and a large hydroponics area where basil, lettuce, mustard greens and micro-greens will be grown.

Teamwork really can lead to great outcomes – Way to go, Foster and DiLoreto! We think their plan is pretty awesome, what do you think?