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?
