About Us
We have been working in aquaponics for 10 years specializing in aspects from filtration and system optimization to providing a variety of engineering solutions and offering training and research opportunities
Our Story
Dr. Matthew “Rex” Recsetar has been passionately working with aquaponics systems for 10 years. He acquired his PhD in Biosystems Engineering from the University of Arizona in 2019. He has built, designed and ran various types of aquaponics systems and grown and cultured a wide variety of plants and fish as well as taught and trained individuals to work, build and manage aquaponics systems.
In addition to building aquaponics systems, he has studied nutrient dynamics in aquaponics systems as well as decoupled aquaponics, mineralization, wastewater treatment, system optimization and aquaponic feed alternatives.
Who better to give advice on aquaponics than someone that has studied every aspect of how it works?
From 2012-2016, Dr. Rex worked as an Extension Aquaculture Specialist in Arkansas where he worked with with numerous fish farms throughout the state. One of his responsibilities was taking research-based recommendations from the University and implementing them on commercial fish farms. Many of these recommendations revolved around improving efficiency and yields of operations or implementing new production technologies which resulted in substantial financial gains for stakeholders.
Given a greenhouse to work with in 2012, Rex was also able to build and demonstrate aquaponics systems on a small scale. He put on numerous aquaponics workshops and seminars and consulted many individuals throughout the state of Arkansas regarding small-scale and backyard aquaponics, and to a lesser extent commercial-scale aquaponics. He started Patio Ponics LLC in 2015 with the idea of building custom aquaponics systems for individuals, as there was an increase in local demand. In 2017 Rex developed and began teaching an Aquaponics Design class at the University of Arizona and after attaining his PhD in 2019 developed the first accredited class on Aquaponics Engineering. Through his research and experiences he gained significant expertise and decided to switch gears and begin consulting commercial aquaponics. He began consulting commercial aquaponics businesses in 2020 helping them manage systems and nutrients and aiding them in growing crops from tomatoes and lettuce to hemp and cannabis. It was at this time the business shifted from building systems to consulting and the name was officially changed to Zona Ponics in 2021. He hopes to help commercial growers realize the potential of aquaponics and expand the number of operations utilizing this sustainable production method.
