If you go What The Aquaponic Source grand opening When 2-5 p.m. Saturday Where 1860 Lefthand Circle, Longmont Cost free Info theaquaponicsource.com

Note: This story has been corrected. The Aquaponic Source’s lowest price system is $795.

Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see chicken coops dotting the backyards of houses along the front range. If Sylvia Bernstein has her way, in a few years local folks will be eating home-grown fish the way they now eat backyard eggs — with the bonus that they’ll have their own vegetables from the same system.

That’s the promise of aquaponics, an agriculture method that raises fish in tanks and circulates the water through a soil-less planting bed that grows vegetables using fish waste as nutrients. The tanks and beds can be installed in greenhouses and even in the basement — as long as there are grow lights for the plants.

“It really is starting to take off,” says Bernstein, who has just opened a retail aquaponics store in Longmont, called The Aquaponic Source. The store will hold a grand opening Saturday, which will feature tours of the warehouse, a discount coupon and information on aquaponics.

Bernstein, an alum of Aerogrow, the Boulder company that makes indoor planting systems for home gardeners, became interested in aquaponics while she worked there. After she left her job, she started an aquaponics system in the greenhouse in her Boulder backyard. She began teaching local classes, wrote a book on the subject and worked to create her current company. The Longmont space is her first venture into retail with the business, which currently sells 99 percent of its inventory direct to consumer and to wholesalers.

The store sells ready-made aquaponics systems, along with all types of aquaponics supplies for those designing their own systems and organic fish food. The lowest price system is made from recycled IBC Totes and costs $795. That system can produce as many as 50 fish a year, as well as vegetables, with the yields depending on what you choose to grow. Vegetables such as greens tend to grow faster with aquaponics systems. Since the water is recycled between plants and fish, the plants require much less water than in soil gardens.

The new store has classrooms for aquaponics workshops. Bernstein is also devoting time and space to research and development. For example, the company is working on reliable batteries and solar systems to power the pumps through power outages or so they can operate off the grid.

Sustainability is a priority in other ways as well. The company sells organic fish food made from plants, rather than fish meal. That allows fish to be grown without using ocean resources.

“They managed to get the same lipid profile (with plant sources),” Bernstein says of the company that supplies the food.

In addition, The Aquaponic Source is continuing to research organic pest control methods for aquaponics greenhouses, such as planting marigolds and calendula and introducing Lacewing wasps to eat aphids. Certain organic standbys, such as neem oil, are not tolerated by the fish.

Avery Ellis is a customer of The Aquaponic Source, buying plumbing supplies and other items for the systems he creates from reclaimed materials. He has an aquaponics system in a 200-square-foot geodesic dome built from electric conduit in his backyard in Gunbarrel.

Currently he has about 20 tilapia, some koi and some crawfish in his various systems. But he says the fish are not the main product.

“I supply a lot of vegetables for myself and my friends,” he says.

Ellis, who has a business designing aquaponics systems and other types of vegetable gardens, says he likes aquaponics because it is a closed-loop system.

“You are able to build it once and let it do its thing,” he says. “It’s a low maintenance, but high yielding system that really maintains itself. It uses 90 percent less water than conventional gardening. It has no chemical inputs. It’s organic and self-sustaining.”

It’s a little more complex, however, than just putting seeds into the ground and adding water. That’s why Bernstein wrote a book about the subject, offers classes and maintains a blog. The store will also talk with people about problems they may be having. For example, if the fish are constantly coming to the surface for air, it means the water isn’t being sufficiently oxygenated. If the plants have yellow leaves, something may be amiss in the amount of tank water being circulated.

“Like so much (in life), it’s all about balance,” Bernstein says.

She believes that aquaponics is the next step for the same people who grow their own vegetables and raise chickens. For urban dwellers, it offers the advantage of not requiring a yard or much space. The company is working on designing more attractive systems in the form of fountains, for example.

“As interest grows, we want to grow with it,” Bernstein says. “We will develop new products, keep thinking and moving forward. (The industry) is evolving quickly.”