My First Aquaponic Project

Today is the first day of my aquaponic project at home. It is not a real big project anyway, just a new hobby because the idea is really interesting. The idea is to breed aquatic animals in aquaculture system, and recycling the water waste to the plants in the hydroponic system. Before this, I have no idea about the existence of aquaponic. Previously, I got to learn only about hydroponic. So, what is aquaponic in general? Aquaponic is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponic system. This means that aquatic animals and plants are grown in an integrated system, creating a symbiotic relationship between them. The waste produced by the aquatics animals becomes nutrient to the plants, and the plants in turn become a 'filter' to purify the waste water and giving clean water for the aquatic animals to live in. The recirculation of this system is continuous, thus benefits the growth of the plants and aquatic animals with minimal consumption of water and fertilizers. Also, the plants are organic because the system removes the dependency of pesticides.

Aquaponic lobsters breeding caught my interest when my husband and I saw it in the television advertisement promoting government's National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) day which was held from 23 May to 24 May 2015 in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). My husband is more interested in how to breed the freshwater lobsters at home, while I am more interested and curious how the system can be utilized for my plants. So we went to the exhibition and we met the owner of this aquaponic lobsters breeder, Mr. Effendy Halily. Mr. Effendy started his project in year 2011 and he has won two innovation awards for this system of breeding freshwater lobsters using aquaponic concept. This system is also called 'Container Lobster at Work' (CLAW). As we can see, the set up does not require expensive equipments. He only uses normal storage boxes to breed the lobsters.Very cost effective!

This is the simple aquaponic setup for breeding lobsters

We got a lot of information from him and in the end, my husband and I decided to attend his training in Alor Gajah, and we purchased the starter kit from him.  In fact, what excites me the most is that now my hubby can breed lobsters at home, and at the same time I have alternative way to plant my vegetables! Oh, did I mention that I am already dreaming to cook the lobsters when they are mature? This shall be our first aquaponic project at home, or probably I should say the first hobby which both of us can do together at home :) We definitely have a lot more to learn about understanding the system and taking care of the lobster.