What is Hydroponics?
The word hydroponics technically means working with water, stemming from the Latin words "hydro" meaning water, and "ponos" meaning labor. In Hydroponics plant grows in water without using soil. As Plants grow through a process called photosynthesis, in which they use light and chlorophyll to convert carbon dioxide (a gas in the air) and water into glucose (a type of sugar) and oxygen. There's no mention of "soil" anywhere in there—and that's all the proof you need that plants can grow without it. What they do need is water and nutrients, both easily obtained from soil. But if they can get these things somewhere else—say, by standing with their roots in a nutrient-rich solution—they can do without soil altogether. That's the basic principle behind hydroponics. In theory, the word "hydroponics" means growing plants in water (from two Greek words meaning "water" and "toil"), but because you can grow plants without actually standing them in water, most people define the word to mean growing plants without using soil.
The nutrients used in hydroponic systems can come from an array of different sources; these can include, but are not limited to, by product from fish waste, duck manure, or purchased chemical fertilisers.