Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together Kindle Edition

If you’re like me, you read the one-star reviews before buying anything on Amazon. After I read a few of those, I opted use the library instead of Amazon. After I binge-read the first half of my library copy, I bought it. That said, the book is not for everyone, as evidenced by (currently) 3% one-star reviews. These are the issues I think they had, and that others might have:Issue 1: This book is subtitled as a “Step-by-Step Guide” but actually delves into principles rather than being exclusively a guide. If you’re looking for true step-by-step guides, you can find them on YouTube (including very good videos produced by the author) along with many websites. This book might not be for those who already know and understand the principles of aquaponics. For the impatient novice, I’d strongly suggest reading Aquaponic Gardening first so that you know why you’re doing things listed in those step-by-step guides.Issue 2: This information is available for free on the web. True, but the author collected, organized, and summarized it in a way that most people (myself included) would benefit from. I found I appreciated having a conceptual framework from the book before diving into the resources on the web. That said, if you’d rather spend the money on equipment, you can learn the principles yourself by reading and watching, along with trial and error.Issue 3: Ms. Bernstein doesn’t know everything and sometimes oversimplified. Also true, but that’s a fair critique of every author. As a Ph.D. aquaculturist and former science editor for Water Gardening Magazine, I understood the rationale for most simplifications and found few real errors. Undoubtedly, a number of sharp people (many listed in the three pages of acknowledgements) contributed to making the book as good as it is.In summary, if any of the three issues discussed resonate with you, skip this purchase or use the library. But, after doing the latter, I am glad I bought it.

This book is concise and a thorough introduction to aquaponics. It is a little short on specifics in places, but there are plenty of videos on YouTube to fill in the details you may be wondering about.One caution, this book was copyrighted 2011, making it ten years old. This is such a rapidly growing field, it is possible that the latest developments may be omitted. As a newbie to the field it seems complete and very informative to me with some possible shortcomings. As a retired professional mechanical engineer, I immediately started contemplating ways to improve the set-ups depicted in the book and came up with several ideas, especially how to make better use of sump tanks. I wonder if others have already thought of the same thing and already come up with better sump tank designs. I also have different and I think innovative ideas to improve heat management of aquaponic systems in temperate climates that get too cold to grow crops in the winter and wonder if those improvements have already been included as well. But those things seem nitpicking. This book seems to be a great primer. I can't wait to get started.

I've purchased a lot of how-to books in my life, but this is probably the best of the best. Sylvia Bernstein has obviously learned by her mistakes and came up with this fabulous book that explains those mistakes and how to avoid making them yourself. I spent a lot of money building my aquaponics system and used her book as my Bible from Step A to Z. So far, everything appears working to plan. I highly suggest anyone getting into aquaponics read this book cover to cover first.

A lot of valuable details are covered in this book to help get one jump-started in aquaponics. To my surprise, there were even some details I didn’t already know or didn’t realize their importance to the system as a whole.The author addresses a few concerns regarding global warming and food shortages from over-population and how aquaponics is a very practical, beneficial, and profitable solution.

If you want to get involved in aquaponics, this is the book for you. As the author suggested, I read it cover to cover before I began planning my aquaponics set up and I am very glad I did. I can see lots of mistakes that I would have made that would have cost me it’s lots of wasted money and, frankly, I might have given up. But by following the instructions I was able to put together my aquaponics set up and IT WORKS!!!!!One thing I would suggest is don’t be a slave to exactly she suggests using. For example she suggests using 6 inch PVC to make a media guard, but my big box hardware stores don’t carry 6 inch PVC. Instead, I used 4 inch PVC for the media guard and scaled everything else down on the autosiphon to fit inside it and it works like a dream. The important thing is to understand how things work and what needs to happen, and that is where this book really does the job.My Norwegian seaweed extract will arrive today and that will start my cycling so I can add my fish in a couple of weeks.Buy this book if you want to know about aquaponics. It is amazing!!!

I’ve purchased four books on aquaponics systems so far, and by far this book is the best one. I built a 150 gallon system in my basement, and over 90% of the information I used to build my system came from this book! I’d highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about this fascinating way to raise fish and grow plants together.

Being retired we notice more things that we "might" be interested in doing. We have found that by purchasing books that will tell us "all about it" EG: XXXXXX for Dummies let's us know what to expect and what is expected from us. On several occasions we have not gone beyond reading the book. They are worthwhile investments. This method saves an investment which down the road just might disappoint us. Not to mention that if we go forward we have an excellent guide to help us. This book is SUPER helpful and it looks like we will be looking further into this endeavor.

Good book for those thinking about starting aquaponics

ummmm found this book very expensive thinking it was for advanced but it has the same information of the first book that i bought ........suggestion buy one beginner book once you have learned the basics that is all the information you will need if your building a small on or on on a large scale

A very good book not only for beginners, but also for more advanced aquaponics enthusiasts. Many important and technical information, lots of good tips and much more!A must have book for all the 'Green revolutioners' out there.

This is such a good book for the aquaponics beginner or even for someone with a little experience. It contains all the information you could need to get started, and make a successful system. The only reason I havnt given it the full 5 stars is because its very focused on USA and Australia, although it does give some good general advice for other climates it would have been nice to have a little bit extra info specifically for UK readers.

Great book - covers a reasonable amount in an easy to read format and I particularly like the "Rules of Thumb" section and the mistakes part at the end. Would recommend this book