iAVs, or Integrated Aqua-Vegeculture System, is a sustainable farming system that combines raising fish (aquaculture) with growing plants (horticulture) in a closed-loop ecosystem. It utilizes sand as a biofilter and growing medium. In iAVs, fish waste provides nutrients for plants, and plants help to clean the water for the fish. The system works by cycling water from the fish tank through sand-filled grow beds where plants are rooted. Beneficial microbes in the sand break down fish waste into plant-available nutrients. The plants absorb these nutrients, effectively cleaning the water, which then flows back to the fish tank. This symbiotic relationship minimizes water usage and waste, making iAVs a highly efficient and environmentally friendly method of food production.
iAVs is often mistakenly referred to as “Sandponics” due to social media trends and a lack of thorough literature reviews but they are not the same.
iAVs was the first ever successful closed-loop system integrating aquaculture with horticulture and today’s flood-and-drain systems, as favoured by backyard practitioners, are based on inferior copies of iAVs which deliberately differed in design so that other people could sell the kits for profit. Under it’s current accepted definition, iAVs is different from aquaponics, but even so, Dr. McMurtry is acknowledged as the originator of aquaponics.
When built and run according to the instructions, the pH stabilizes after about 5 weeks and does not need adjusting. Also, an iAVs does not require any supplementation, and the water pump only runs for 2 hours a day.
There is no bell syphon and no external filters. It is very easy to manage and is 90% horticulture.
Developed in the 1980s by Dr. Mark McMurtry and Professor Doug Sanders, iAVs is the only system of its kind that has been rigorously supported by peer-reviewed research. Its development involved interdisciplinary collaboration across multiple scientific disciplines. This scientific validation underscores iAVs as a pioneering approach to sustainable agriculture.
The IAVS research and findings confirmed much of the background science that underpins aquaponics, the research at North Carolina State University was discontinued because it was ready for commercial application and usage.
