This Guide Details How to Build a Sustainable Smart Aquaponic Garden

The dirt all over the planet, and what you plant your outdoor garden in, isn’t just inert, inorganic powdered rock. It’s packed full of organic nutrients that plants need to survive, and when those nutrients are expended you can’t grow anything but the heartiest weeds. That’s why farmers rotate crops, and why you likely need to buy soil for your garden. Another solution is an aquaponic garden, and Kijani Grows has a tutorial on how to build your own.

The beauty of an aquaponic garden like this is that it simulates a self-sustaining ecosystem that continuously rejuvenates the “soil” that the plants are grown in. In actuality, the plants take root in a bed of small rocks, and soil isn’t used at all. Instead, that rock bed is pumped with water from a fish tank. The fish waste provides nutrients for the plants, and then the water is filtered back down into the tank. Aquaponics if far more efficient than traditional gardening, and a setup like this can be placed anywhere. But, it does require some automation, which is where this guide comes in.

This build is based on Kijani Grows’ own V2 Smart Controller, which costs $98 and provides all of the automation for your aquaponic garden. The difficult part of this project is creating the bed container and waterproofing, but you could always use a plastic container if you’re not concerned about aesthetics. From there, it’s just a matter of setting up the fish tank, pumps, and sensors and connecting them to the V2 Smart Controller.

Kijani Grows provides the code and detailed instructions on how to set it up, and that should get your new aquaponic garden running in time to have fresh veggies for Thanksgiving!