Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Any point in an AP system? With the 'ground' so permeable I imagine bugs would be more motile and hence less need for such trivia or have I got it all wrong? As with my soil garden I am absolutely hopeless at sticking to a plan and just pop seeds in wherever I see a hole...

Whilst companion planting has a basis of insect/bug attraction/repellent....

It's primary foundation, like crop rotation... is to mitigate against the trace element depletion of any element by one plant over another...

As aquaponics is continually replenishing the nutrients and trace elements.. there's not the need as such for either technique...

Any deficiencies within a system... are going to be generic in effect... effecting all plants....

Many members still adopt crop rotation and/or companion planting techniques though... especially in terms of beneficial insect attraction....

Crop rotation play an important role in "Disease and pest prevention" it helps to break the cycle of pest and fungus.

You may want to plan your crop rotation on the basis of plant families rather than on nutrient needs. This can help in your overall program of avoiding diseases and pests, because crops in the same botanical family tend to suffer from the same pest and disease problems.
For example, Colorado potato beetles like to eat potato plants, but they also enjoy feasting on tomato leaves and eggplant foliage. Since these beetles overwinter in the soil, if you plant eggplant in a spot where you grew potatoes the year before, you could be inviting a beetle problem for your eggplants from the day they're planted.

Likewise, several serious bacterial and fungal diseases overwinter in plant debris in the soil.

Lengthy rotations are sometimes necessary to control chronic soilborne problems. Bean anthracnose fungus can persist in soil for up to three years, so a four-year rotation is needed to keep the disease at bay. The same holds true for such fungal diseases as Fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt. A few problems, such as club root, persist in the soil for even longer, so rotation is less useful for controlling them.

Very true... for soil... but can the same be said for an aquaponics system.. even a media based system??

IMO media bed system can harbour just anything like soil.
There are still pros in a pebble media system.... worst case scenario you can always flush it with some acid/disinfectant/fungicide and start again with the same media, and this is something you will never be able to do in a soil based system....unless you nuke the area!

It might indeed, but it may not harbour/host the full range of detrimental organisms that soil might...

Similarly, media based aquaponics might not be completely comparable to hydroponics...

But in the end.. all three might/do resort to "nuking"... to deal with severe problems... in one form or another...

Such is nature... pests and pathogens abound... everywhere...

sterilise and start again? Nah, would rather eat a couple of holes...