Quick Key Facts
- The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the surface of the planet.
- The deep sea makes up 90 percent of the total marine environment and is the largest biome on Earth.
- More than 5,000 marine species live in the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a focus area of deep-sea mining.
- Several countries — including Canada, France and New Zealand — have called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
- Deep-sea mining is not necessary to obtain the critical minerals needed for the renewable energy transition.
- Demand for critical minerals can be reduced by 58 percent by 2050 through the use of new technologies, circular economy strategies and increased recycling.
- 90% of electronic waste is dumped or illegally traded.
What Is ‘Deep-Sea Mining’?
Deep-sea mining is the process of retrieving mineral deposits from the ocean floor using destructive methods such as dredging, drilling and hydraulic pumps. These methods disrupt and harm marine life and their ecosystems.
The seabed is a largely unexplored world of unidentified species and mystery. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone — a 1.7 million square mile area of the Pacific Ocean — is a focal point of deep-sea mining for its polymetallic nodules rich in minerals such as copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt, rare earth elements and other precious metals used in the making of zero-carbon technology components. This abundant expanse is the subject of 17 exploration contracts with a total area of roughly 621,371 square miles — approximately the size of Ethiopia. But it is also home to more than 5,000 recently discovered marine species.
The sought-after nodules embedded in the ocean floor are about the size of a potato and take millions of years to form, along with mineral-rich crusts and sulfides surrounding hydrothermal vents. Due to recent technological advancements, mining these ecologically sensitive areas is achievable by razing the surface of the seabed, sweeping away layers of biodiverse sediment and pumping displaced and often destroyed organic materials back into the water.
Brief History of Deep-Sea Mining
Some small-scale exploratory mining has already taken place to test deep-sea mining equipment, but no commercial mining of the seabed has yet occurred. However, some mining companies and national governments have plans to start doing so as soon as they can — possibly in the next few years. Whether that happens or not will mostly depend on how the International Seabed Authority (ISA) chooses to regulate deep-sea mining.
In 2021, Nauru — a tiny Pacific Island nation in Micronesia — gave the ISA notice that it planned to start mining in international waters. This triggered the “two-year rule,” a controversial provision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The rule mandates that the ISA must “consider” and “provisionally approve” deep-sea mining applications, whether or not there has been a finalized set of regulations.
The two years was completed for the Nauru application in July of 2023, but the ISA meeting that followed concluded without a final rule being agreed upon. The 168-member ISA Assembly has been working on establishing the rules for deep-sea mining. ISA’s Council — made up of 36 Assembly-elected members — has a goal of adopting finalized regulations by 2025.
As of July of last year, several nations — including Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Palau and New Zealand — had called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, before regulations are adopted, the ISA must address how the impacts of mining will be monitored and addressed, what level of harm is allowed and how compliance with the regulations will be enforced.
Currently, contractors like corporations or individuals are only permitted to extract seabed minerals if they are sponsored by a UNCLOS state party and have obtained an exploitation contract from the ISA.
Contractors are required to use best environmental practices and a precautionary approach in order to control or prevent hazards like pollution of the marine environment. In addition, they must develop programs for evaluating and monitoring impacts in conjunction with the ISA. Consultation between stakeholders is also mandated at crucial junctures of the exploration stage — a period that can take years.
While they wait for an international waters code of conduct, countries can still proceed with mining projects inside domestically controlled waters, or “exclusive economic zones” (EEZs).
In January of 2024, Norway started the process of opening its waters to deep-sea mining exploration, which would likely begin in the 2030s.
Most mineral deposits that are sought after by mining operations are located outside EEZs on the vast abyssal plains of international waters, such as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
Arguments for Deep-Sea Mining
Those in favor of deep-sea mining say it will help meet the growing need for critical minerals used in the global decarbonization process. As we rely more on solar and wind energy, electric vehicles and other green technologies, the demand for some of these minerals could increase by four to six times. However, studies have shown that there are plenty of land-based sources for critical minerals.
Some proponents of deep-sea mining view it as a way to avoid some of the environmental hazards of mining on land, like pollution of freshwater by mining runoff and deforestation. But the destruction of marine life and ecosystems wrought by deep-sea mining means it would not be a better alternative for biodiversity or the planet.
Threats Posed by Deep-Sea Mining
Harms Marine Life and Ecosystems
The largest biome on the planet — 90 percent of the total marine environment — the deep sea is home to vast biodiversity that is being threatened by deep-sea mining. It is highly likely that the heavy equipment used to mine the seabed would kill less mobile deep-sea creatures.
Many deep-sea species make their homes in the polymetallic nodules that are the harvest of deep-sea mining operations. The nodules develop over millions of years, so the recovery of the ecosystems they support would be extremely slow if possible at all. The removal and destruction of these important habitats would almost surely result in the extinction of some species.
Releases Stored Carbon
Not only is the ocean floor home to an unknown wealth of species, it plays an essential role in the regulation of our planetary systems by absorbing and storing enormous amounts of the carbon dioxide humans emit through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial enterprises, agriculture and other activities.
Approximately 25 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans is absorbed and sequestered by the ocean’s deep-sea microscopic organisms. The ocean is Earth’s biggest carbon sink, storing approximately 38,000 gigatons of the greenhouse gas.
Mining the seafloor can cause the release of carbon sequestered in sediments and reduce deep-sea biodiversity, impacting the ocean’s carbon cycle and exacerbating the climate crisis.
For each kilometer of the seabed that is mined annually, 190.2 tons of carbon could be released through sediment plumes. These plumes can block sunlight, reducing the photosynthetic abilities of marine organisms who help mitigate temperature increases worldwide by absorbing carbon for energy.
Releases Toxic Sediment Plumes
There are many detrimental impacts to marine life and ecosystems by the release of sediment plumes during the deep-sea mining process. Among the most direct and devastating is that the plumes can suffocate and smother organisms who make their home on the seafloor. Some of these creatures are not as mobile and may be killed by the mining equipment itself.
Clouds of sediment have the potential to choke midwater marine ecosystems. The plumes can interfere with the reproduction and feeding of species through the introduction of heavy metals like cadmium and copper into the natural food chain. These metals can also be released in toxic concentrations when seafloor sediments are disturbed, polluting the water column. The metals can have deadly effects on filter feeders and organisms who are unable to move freely, like sessile suspension fauna.
The discharge of mining wastewater can also create underwater dust storms that pollute and confuse marine organisms, preventing them from navigating through the water, feeding and reproducing.
Light Pollution
Marine organisms are used to an environment that is quiet, dark and peaceful. In addition to the direct harm caused by the process of mining the ocean floor, longer ecosystem and species disruptions can result from mining activities, such as light pollution interfering with reproduction and feeding.
Noise Pollution
Sound pollution from deep-sea mining can impact large whales, narwhals, dolphins and other marine mammals who rely on echolocation — or biological sonar — to hunt, navigate and locate one another. These species are already threatened by human activities like fishing and boating, as well as human-caused climate change.
Leaves Behind Waste Materials That Poison Marine Life and Impact Fisheries and Food Security
Mining wastewater is warm and filled with chemicals, which can kill marine animals by overheating and suffocating them. The chemicals also pollute the ocean floor and water column, making the seawater toxic, as well as altering its pH and oxygen content, all of which are harmful to marine life.
Waste discharge can diffuse across large distances, posing a threat to fish and invertebrates who live in the open ocean. These marine species are essential to the fisheries and economies of small island developing nations like Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
Economic and Social Risks of Deep-Sea Mining
Deep-sea mining is conducted offshore in the depths of the ocean, but the industry would still need to build facilities onshore to process and ship materials. This would require the acquisition and development of land, which leads to habitat loss and impacts on coastal communities who rely on marine resources for their food and livelihoods.
Minerals extracted from the high seas have been designated by the UN as “the common heritage of [hu]mankind” for the benefit of all nations. However, the current ISA regulatory regime seems to support the flow of profits to mining company shareholders and developed nations, instead of to developing countries.
Why Deep-Sea Mining Is Not Necessary for Renewable Energy
Deep-sea mining is not necessary to obtain the critical minerals needed for zero-carbon technologies. In order to supply the rare earth elements needed to meet the demands of the growing renewable energy sector, mining and processing of land-based mineral reserves must be increased responsibly to minimize negative environmental and social impacts.
In the coming 15 to 20 years, recycling of minerals will hopefully become a feasible alternative to mining. According to World Bank estimates, the significant increase of end-of-life battery recycling rates by mid-century could reduce the necessity of newly mined minerals by roughly 25 percent for nickel, lithium and copper, and approximately 15 percent for cobalt. Unfortunately, there will not be an adequate supply of these minerals circulating for recycling to be a workable approach by 2030.
Improved recycling methods in established channels — electrical and electronics, for instance — could lessen some of the shorter-term pressure on supply while preparing a secondary supply chain to tackle future end-of-life carbon-neutral energy products.
Research is also being done on obtaining critical minerals from hard rock mine tailings and coal waste, rather than mining undisturbed land.
The evolution of battery technologies may also make mineral deposits found in the deep seabed obsolete for renewable products. An example is the shift from those that use nickel manganese oxides toward lithium iron phosphate batteries. While the nodules that are the focus of deep-sea mining operations are rich in cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese and rare earth elements, they do not contain an abundance of lithium and iron.
Sodium-ion batteries could also change the EV battery market, replacing cobalt and lithium with alternatives that are more abundant and less expensive.
What We Can Do to Help Stop Deep-Sea Mining
Apply the ‘Three Rs’ to Electronic Products
The more we do to ensure mining for minerals is avoided, the better it will be for the environment. One of the best ways to do this is to apply the “three Rs” — reducing, reusing and recycling — to batteries, cell phones, computers and even renewable energy products like solar panels.
Choose Sustainable Alternatives
A shift away from traditional lithium-ion and nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries to those made with lithium iron phosphate, which do not need cobalt or nickel — raw materials sought through deep-sea mining — could help lessen the pressure to find as many critical minerals.
Other alternatives being developed include sodium-ion batteries — a more abundant and less expensive choice — which could replace cobalt and lithium.
Do Away With Electronic Waste
The vast majority of electronic waste — 90 percent — is dumped or illegally traded. More copper and cobalt is discarded each year in e-waste than could be supplied by deep-sea mining in the central Pacific Ocean for a decade.
To cut down on e-waste, we can encourage governments to pass “right to repair” legislation, as they have in Portland, Oregon. These laws ban disposable electronics, make fixing products easier and develop standards for helping consumers identify longer-lasting products.
Reduce Overconsumption
One of the best ways to reduce electronic waste is to not buy electronics you don’t really need in the first place. When you do decide to spring for a new electronic device, donate or sell your old one online or bring it to a local electronic collection center.
Another way to reduce overconsumption and e-waste is to buy quality products that will last and won’t need to be replaced quickly. You can also purchase gadgets with repair services and extended warranties. It’s always a good idea to check a product’s lifespan before purchasing it.
Avoid electronics that are trendy and will go out of style. Some products will try and tempt you with the latest upgrade when it really isn’t that different from earlier models. Avoiding the urge to stay “up to date” can mean creating a lot less e-waste. You can also support companies that use sustainable manufacturing practices.
Build a Circular Economy
A 2022 report by SINTEF found that we can reduce critical mineral demand by 58 percent by 2050 by using circular economic strategies, new technologies and increased recycling.
One option is to use the minerals we already have access to through urban mining. Another is to develop improved designs and technologies so that we can recover minerals from products that are no longer being used.
Takeaway
There are many environmental reasons not to pursue deep-sea mining — its impacts on marine animals and the environment, as well as its ecological implications.
As we stand on the cusp of a full transition away from fossil fuels to a world powered by green energy and a circular economy, it is essential that we focus our energies on sourcing minerals in a way that doesn’t decimate habitats and ecosystems. To do this, we must prioritize increased critical minerals recycling, ethical land-based mining practices and improved product designs so that they can be used and reused longer without needing to be replaced, thereby reducing demand for these elements.
The post Deep-Sea Mining 101: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on EcoWatch.
https://www.ecowatch.com/deep-sea-mining-facts-ecowatch.html
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 — 56 years ago — and, goodness, how the world has changed since then. We’ve come a long way since the days of burning our trash and pumping our gas guzzlers with leaded gasoline. In honor of those 56 years, here are 56 important changes and milestones since the first Earth Day.
Legislation
The U.S. government has led much of the environmental charge, starting with the implementation of the EPA (1) in July 1970. Later that year, the Clean Air Act (2) targeted air pollutants, followed by the Clean Water Act (3) in 1972 and the Endangered Species Act (4) in 1973.
Some lesser-known national laws included the Safe Water Drinking Act (5) in 1974, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (6) in 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act (7) in 1976, the National Energy Act (8) in 1978, and the Medical Waste Tracking Act (9) in 1988.
In some cases, states have led the charge. Oregon passed the first bottle bill (10) in 1971, Minnesota’s Clean Indoor Air Act (11) was the first law to restrict smoking in public places (1975), and Massachusetts required low-flush toilets (12) for construction and remodeling in 1988.
Green Innovations: The Early Years
In order to comply with all the laws from the 1970s, we needed new technology to ensure consumers could adhere to the new standards. Consider:
- The “Crying Indian” PSA debuts in 1971 (13)
- Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) gets banned in 1972 (14)
- The energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb launches in 1973 (15)
- Cars begin displaying fuel economy labels in the mid-1970s (16)
- In 1975, all cars are manufactured with catalytic converters to limit exhaust emissions (17)
- Chlorofluorocarbons are banned from aerosol cans starting in 1978 (18)
- The first curbside recycling program begins in New Jersey in 1980 (19)
- In 1986, McDonald’s switches from foam to paper food containers (20)
- Mercury is removed from latex paint in 1990, providing a viable alternative to banned lead paint (21)
- Earth911 launches the first U.S. recycling directory in 1991 (22)
- Energy Star certification debuts in 1992 for appliances and electronics (23)
- The U.S. Green Building Council begins in 1993 (24)
The Political Movement
The Green Party (25) launched in 1984, which was just the beginning of green issues entering the mainstream. One Percent for the Planet (26) was founded in 2002 to challenge businesses to donate to environmental causes, and the ISO 14001 standard (27) established environmental management. Companies are now facing pressure to allow employee telecommuting (28).
Things really developed after the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (29) in 2006. NBC debuted Green Week (30) in 2007. Carbon offsets (31) alleviated corporate green guilt. Bisphenol A (32) made us all question plastic purchases. Hybrid vehicles (33) generated tax credits and gas savings. Plastic bag bans gave rise to a reusable bag (34) craze. Fracking (35) and the Dakota Access Pipeline (36) were two of the most hotly contested news stories of the decade, at least until the 2016 election.
Green Tech: The Next Wave
In the past 10 years, emerging green tech has made eco-friendly a way of life, including:
- LED light bulbs (37)
- Portable solar panels on backpacks and watches (38)
- Plant-based plastics (39)
- Motion sensor lighting (40)
- Faucets with automatic shut-off (41)
- Low volatile organic compound (VOC) paint (42)
- Recycled plastic clothing (43)
- Ride-sharing mobile applications (44)
- Natural cleaning products (45)
- Biodiesel engine vehicles (46)
- Food waste composting (47)
- Portable air purifiers (48)
- Europe’s Green Deal introduced global recyclables shipping regulations to reduce pollution in low-income nations (49)
- Corporate borrowers headed toward $500 billion in bond financings for the renewables transition (50)
- President Biden rejoins the Paris Climate Accord on his first day in office. (51)
The Latest Five: 2022–2026
The pace of innovation has not slowed. Five more milestones have reshaped the environmental landscape since that 51st Earth Day:
- The Inflation Reduction Act (52), signed into law in August 2022, became the largest climate investment in U.S. history, directing roughly $370 billion toward clean energy tax credits, EV incentives, methane reduction, and domestic clean manufacturing. Analysts projected it will drive more than $4 trillion in cumulative capital investment over a decade and put the U.S. on track for a 40% emissions reduction by 2030. Sadly, many of its key provisions have been defunded or eliminated by the Trump Administration.
- The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (53), adopted by 188 governments in December 2022, set the most ambitious biodiversity protection commitment in history. Its headline “30×30” target calls for conserving 30% of the planet’s land, freshwater, and ocean areas by 2030, a goal that would require doubling current protected land coverage and quadrupling marine protections.
- America’s first commercial direct air capture plant (54), opened by Heirloom Carbon Technologies in Tracy, California in November 2023, marked the arrival of atmospheric carbon removal at commercial scale on U.S. soil. The plant uses limestone to absorb CO₂ directly from the air, with the captured carbon injected into concrete for permanent storage. In May 2024, Climeworks activated the world’s largest direct air capture facility, the Mammoth plant in Iceland, with a design capacity to remove 36,000 tons of CO₂ per year.
- Solid-state batteries (55), a next-generation alternative to conventional lithium-ion technology, moved from laboratory promise toward commercial reality between 2022 and 2026. Unlike liquid-electrolyte batteries, solid-state versions are less flammable, achieve higher energy density, and degrade more slowly. In early 2025, Mercedes-Benz began road-testing a prototype EV powered by a lithium-metal solid-state cell that extended driving range 25% over comparable liquid-battery models. Multiple automakers and cell manufacturers now target commercial production between 2027 and 2030.
- Perovskite and tandem solar cells (56), a new photovoltaic technology that pairs conventional silicon with thin perovskite layers, pushed solar efficiency into territory once considered theoretical. By 2024, tandem cells in laboratory settings exceeded 34% efficiency — well above the roughly 22% ceiling of standard silicon panels only a few years ago. manufacturers in Asia and Europe began scaling pilot production lines. Because perovskite cells can be printed on flexible substrates, they open the door to solar surfaces on buildings, vehicles, and everyday objects that conventional panels cannot reach.
The past 56 years have been huge when it comes to saving the environment. Expect more to come, including a resurgent EV industry, nuclear fusion, regenerative agriculture, restorative forestry, and more, as costs and the cool factor improve.
Editor’s Note: Originally published on April 18, 2018, this article was most recently updated in April 2026.
The post 56 Environmental Innovations in the 56 Years Since Earth Day Began appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/eco-tech/eco-friendly-innovations/
This week’s quotation is from Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States: “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”
Earth911 inspiration posters: Post them and share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image.
The post Earth911 Inspiration: Forests Are the Lungs of Our Land appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/inspire/earth911-inspiration-forests-are-lungs-of-land/
One gallon of water. That’s roughly how much a well-run aquaponics system uses to grow a kilogram of leafy greens. Compare that to the 30 or more gallons required by conventional soil farming, according to a 2024 comparative greenhouse study, and the benefits are inescapable.
That efficiency is why aquaponics — raising fish and growing plants in a closed-loop system — has moved from backyard novelty to subject of serious agricultural research. A 2025 review in Sustainable Environment Research documents how integrating AI, IoT sensors, and automation into aquaponics can significantly enhance system efficiency, increase food production, reduce operational costs, and minimize waste. For home gardeners in 2026, the barrier to entry has never been lower. All-in-one kits start under $100, water quality testing has become more accurate and affordable, and the science behind getting both fish and plants to thrive is well-established.
Nitrification is at the heart of every aquaponics system. Fish produce ammonia-rich waste. Beneficial bacteria convert that ammonia first into nitrite, then into nitrate — a form plants can absorb directly. The plants filter the water. The cleaned water returns to the fish. Once the system cycles, the main inputs are fish food and occasional water top-offs.
This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item through one of these links, we receive a small commission that helps fund our Recycling Directory.
1. Invest in Reliable Equipment
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The core hardware list hasn’t changed much — but what’s available at each price point has improved considerably.
Aquarium or tank. A 100-gallon tank remains the recommended starting point for a serious home system. It gives you flexibility in fish species, plant density, and system stability. Acrylic tanks are lighter and optically clearer; glass tanks are heavier but scratch-resistant. Expect to pay $300–$600 for a quality 100-gallon tank. Search current options on Amazon.
If you’re new to aquaponics, the AquaSprouts Garden Kit is a well-reviewed all-in-one beginner system that fits a standard 10-gallon aquarium. It includes a grow bed, submersible pump, mechanical timer, and light bar mounting system, and costs $75–$90. The aquarium itself is sold separately.
Canister filter. For a 100-gallon aquaponics tank, target 500–600 gallons per hour (GPH) of water turnover, well above what the tank volume alone would suggest, because the fish load demands high filtration. The Fluval FX2 (~$269 on Amazon) is consistently top-rated for tanks up to 100 gallons, featuring 4-stage filtration, Smart Pump technology that auto-adjusts flow, and a built-in water change system. A solid budget alternative is the Penn-Plax Cascade 1000 (~$199 on Amazon), which handles up to 100 gallons, recirculating the water more than twice an hour.
Air pump. Dissolved oxygen is critical for fish health and for the beneficial bacteria driving nitrification. A quality air pump — or a canister filter with an integrated spray bar — will keep oxygen levels stable. A 2025 review in Reviews in Aquaculture found that micro-nano bubble (MNB) aeration increased butterhead lettuce yield by 35% compared to conventional diffusers, and raised nitrate concentration in the water. MNB systems are commercially available but not yet mainstream for home setups, so a conventional air pump remains the practical choice for most beginners.
Grow lights (optional, system-dependent). Indoor systems need supplemental lighting. Full-spectrum LED grow lights have dropped substantially in price and energy draw. Look for LED bars with daylight-spectrum output (5000–6500K) sized to your grow bed. Search LED grow lights on Amazon.
Water heater (optional). Tilapia require 70–85°F. If your space runs cooler, a submersible aquarium heater is essential. Search aquarium heaters on Amazon.
2. Choose Your Setup
Three system types work at home scale. The choice depends on available space, target crops, and tolerance for complexity.
Media bed are recommended for beginners. Plants grow in a bed of inert media, such as expanded clay pebbles, gravel, or lava rock, positioned above or beside the fish tank. A pump floods the bed periodically, then drains back. The media supports roots and houses beneficial bacteria. Research from Texas A&M confirmed media beds are the most forgiving system for beginners and support the widest range of crops, including fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers. The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service provides detailed DIY build plans.
A 2025 study found that carbonized rice husks and cocopeat as grow media can yield five times more crop than traditional expanded clay aggregate (LECA), though they decompose over time and require more frequent replacement.
Nutrient film technique (NFT). A thin stream of water flows continuously through PVC tubes past plant roots dangling inside. Excellent for herbs, lettuce, and small greens in tight or vertical spaces; the tubes can be wall-mounted. Vertical aquaponics setups can increase productivity per unit area by up to 160% compared to horizontal systems, based on research with strawberries and basil. NFT kits are available on Amazon for both DIY and complete systems.
Raft (deep water culture). Plants float on foam rafts with roots submerged directly in nutrient-rich water drawn from the fish tank. They produce a higher yield than NFT for leafy greens, but requires more robust filtration because solids aren’t removed by a media bed. More common in semi-commercial operations than small home setups. Check options on Amazon.
A growing range of IoT sensors let you track pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, and temperature continuously from your phone. WiFi pH/EC meters designed for hydroponic and aquaponic systems are now in the $60–$120 range. For beginners, manual weekly testing is fine. For anyone running a system unattended or scaling up, continuous monitoring significantly reduces the risk of a water quality crash.
3. Add the Fish
An aquaponics system will support many species of fish. Several of the most popular options are:
- Tilapia: The most common aquaponics fish for good reason. Tilapia tolerate temperature swings, pH variation, and elevated ammonia better than most species. They grow quickly (typical harvest: 6–8 months), are inexpensive to stock, and provide a dual harvest of vegetables and protein. Best for warm indoor or greenhouse systems (70–85°F).
- Koi: Popular ornamental choice. Koi tolerate poor water quality and are hardy once established, but they’re susceptible to a range of pathogens and aren’t typically harvested for food. Well-suited to media bed systems where water quality is easier to maintain.
- Bluegill, perch, and catfish. Solid edible alternatives to tilapia in cooler climates where tilapia’s warmth requirements are a challenge. Texas A&M’s fish species selection guide covers temperature ranges, feed conversion ratios, and disease susceptibility for home-scale species in detail.
These are great options, but you can also consider carp, perch, largemouth bass, bluegills, guppies, and more. Purchase fish from a reputable aquaculture supplier or local fish hatchery when possible — disease-carrying fish is one of the fastest ways to crash a new system. Pet store fish are not certified disease-free.
4. Add the Plants
Like fish, the options are endless when deciding which vegetables to grow in your aquaponics system. Some popular options include broccoli, celery, cucumbers, and basil.
But because different plants require different conditions, you’ll want to select plants that will thrive in your setup. As Go Green Aquaponics explains, it is important to consider the following:
- System: What type of aquaponics system you will use – plants with no root structure do well in a raft setup, while root vegetables do well in a media bed.
- The optimal temperature and pH level for your fish and your plants – the closer the match, the more successful you’ll be.
- Environment: the amount of light, temperature and – if you’re setting up your system outside – rain the plants will get.
- How much space you have for plants versus how much space the plants need to grow.
- Plant-to-fish ratio: The more fish you plan on having, the more plants you need to absorb the nutrients.
5. Maintain Your System
Keeping healthy plants and fish will require regular maintenance. Some tips include:
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Feed your fish two to three times daily in small amounts. Overfeeding is the most common cause of ammonia spikes in home systems. Uneaten food decomposes rapidly and overwhelms the beneficial bacteria that keep the system in balance.
Test pH weekly. Target range is 6.4–7.4, with most systems running best around 6.8–7.0. The API Freshwater Master Test Kit (~$35 on Amazon) tests pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in one kit — the standard recommendation for aquaponics monitoring. For more serious systems, the LaMotte Aquaponics Water Test Kit (~$85 on Amazon) covers nine parameters including dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide, and comes with a rugged carrying case. To raise pH naturally, dissolve a tablespoon of food-grade potassium carbonate (potash) in a bucket of system water, add it slowly to the tank, and retest after 24 hours before adding more.
Test ammonia and nitrate weekly or biweekly. Ammonia should be below 2 ppm; nitrates should stay under 160 ppm. Elevated ammonia: feed less, increase aeration, or reduce fish density. High nitrates: add more plants or remove some fish.
Mind the cycling period. A new system takes 4–6 weeks to fully cycle and for the bacterial colony to establish and nitrogen conversion to stabilize. Don’t increase fish load or plant density during this period. Ammonia and nitrite readings near zero consistently is your green light.
The following video from Rob Bob’s Aquaponics provides guidance on how to check the pH, ammonia levels, and nitrate levels.
Get Some Fish In Your Garden
Aquaponics is an easy and environmentally conscious way to grow produce and raise fish at the same time. It can be used to grow all your favorite leafy greens, and there are endless varieties of fish that will adapt well to this system. Just keep up with regular maintenance and aquaponics will prove to be a viable and sustainable new way to garden.
The science of aquaponics is advancing quickly. Three developments from recent peer-reviewed literature are worth knowing about, even if most aren’t yet practical for home systems:
Algae co-cultivation. Reviews in Aquaculture reports that introducing macroalgae such as Spirogyra spp. can nearly double plant yields compared to traditional aquaponic systems. Co-cultivating microalgae (Chlorella) with plants in raft systems also controls ammonia at twice the efficacy of non-algal systems. This is emerging research — not yet mainstream for home growers — but a promising direction for anyone looking to push yields further.
Decoupled system design. Research from the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society (2024) documents that decoupled systems, which separate the aquaculture unit from the hydroponic unit, allow optimized conditions in each component, resulting in better nutrient utilization and increased productivity compared to coupled designs. Decoupled systems allow independent pH management for fish and plants, which is otherwise a constant compromise in standard coupled setups. Commercially available decoupled systems are beginning to become available; for DIY builders, it’s a worthwhile design consideration when scaling up.
AI and IoT integration. A 2025 Sustainable Environment Research review emphasizes that monitoring strategies using artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and renewable energy can significantly enhance aquaponic system efficiency. For home growers, this means the WiFi monitoring systems mentioned in Step 2 are part of a broader wave of automation coming to small-scale aquaponics. The good news: prices will continue to drop.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 17, 2021, and updated in April 2026. Feature image of outdoor aquaponics system courtesy of Vasch~nlwiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
About the Author
David Thomas is founder and editor-in-chief of Everything Fishkeeping, a fishkeeping and aquascaping magazine. He has been keeping fish since he was a child and has kept over 12 different setups. His favorite is his freshwater tank with Tetras and Loaches.
The post How To Grow Vegetables With Aquaponics appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/home-garden/grow-vegetables-with-aquaponics/
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