The Aquaponics Lab is an innovative learning environment that covers one of the “Earth” aspects of the Earth to Sky Park. Inside the lab, guests and students can learn about an alternative farming method called that combines fish and plants grown without soil. 

Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals like fish) with hydroponics (growing plants without soil).

In this closed-loop ecosystem, fish waste provides natural fertilizer for the plants, and the plants filter the water to keep it clean for the fish.

How the System Works:

The aquaponics cycle relies on a continuous loop of three main elements.

Fish that are raised in tanks and produce nutrient-rich waste, naturally occurring beneficial bacteria that break down the solid fish waste and convert toxic ammonia into nitrates, which act as plant food, and 

plants that are grown in soilless beds that absorb the nitrates to grow, while simultaneously purifying the water.

A closed system of water cycles through from plant beds to large fish tanks, allowing nutrients from the fish waste to feed the plants and oxygen from the plants to help the fish thrive. In the Earth to Sky Park lab you will find Koi and Goldfish.

In addition to demonstrating how farmers can maximize greenhouse space for plant production, the aquaponics lab also illustrates methods that astronauts would use to grow plants on future colonies on Mars!