Aquaponics 101: Growing plants and fish in a closed, recirculating system

8/8/2019 Aquaponics 101: Growing plants and fish in a closed, recirculating system

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Aquaponics 101Aquaponics 101

Growing plants and fishGrowing plants and fishin a closed, recirculatingin a closed, recirculating

system.system.

photo joel Malcolm & BYAP


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A few things...

I'm not an expert. I'm new at this too.

What I want to do is introduce the concept, andprovide pointers to better sources of information

There are as many ways to do aquaponics asthere are people who do it.

This is what I did. Please experiment!

Organic I mean vaguely natural. The FDA definition of

organic is very specific.


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The components:

Fish

Water

Bacteria

Gravel (growing substrate)

Plants

The hardware


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Fish!Fish!

Photo Joel Malcolm & BYAP


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Fish!

A critter that lives in water that producesammonia or other source of nutrient. Common:

Tilapia

Perch catfish

Cool!

snails (be careful of the pump)

Crawdads/crayfish/yabbies/redclaw Shrimp, mussels, eels, other.

Ornamentals

koi, tropical fish

Photo BYAP


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Fish considerations

Ease of care

What do they eat?

What temperature water do they require?

Are there special water requirements?

pH, salinity, hardness

Rate of growth / efficiency of food -> growth

conversion Are they tasty, my precious?

Do you enjoy them?


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Most people start with goldfish cheap, hard to

kill, eat anything. Once you get a feel for the system and how it

works, expand to a fish more suitable to yourconditions.

Do you want to heat a tank all winter?

Do you want to grow fish out to eating size in 9months?

Are they legal in your state? (tilapia are illegal insome southern states).

Native, local fish are often a good choice.


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Be prepared to become aBe prepared to become aserial fish killerserial fish killer



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Water (well, duh...) AP is very efficient the water recirculates, so

the only loss is through evaporation ortranspiration (and leaks!)

Heat (most fish like

warm water) Tank heaters, water

heaters, solarheaters etc.

There are cold waterfish trout, arcticchar, etc.

Photo Michael Ferrini & BYAP


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Water, cont...

Clean (chemicals, goo, old food)

Chlorine/chloramines/other chemicals

This is familiar territory to aquarium keepers,

and there is a huge array of expensive thingsyou can buy at the fish store to fiddle with thewater.

In most cases, letting the water sit for a day or

two will render it usable. Aerating it helps. But some things won't leave.


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Water, cont...

Oxygenated (both fish and roots gotta breathe!) Fish O2 needs vary.



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Water - some common issues

Chlorine/chloramine

In most municipal water. Chlorine will evaporate,chloramine generally won't. Needs treatment.

Do you have copper pipes? Copper is deadly tocrustaceans. Pipes will be discussed later.

Do you have access to good rain water?

Often well water has extreme pH/hardness Get to know your water!


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Bacteria

The secret engine of aquaponics!

The only chemistry I'll mention:

Ammonia -> Nitrites -> Nitrates

NH4

-> NO2

-> NO3

Fish produce ammonia, plants use nitrates.

Two types of bacteria make the chemical changes,

and both are necessary for this system to work.

The bacteria live everywhere in the system.


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Bacteria, cont...

Where does the bacteria come from?

They're everywhere, and will show up in the systemeventually without any outside input.

Can speed the process by adding gravel or waterfrom a mature system

Squeeze the filter from a mature aquarium into theAP system

Add water from a healthy pond.

Buy it.


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Bacteria, cont...

The process of establishing the bacteria iscalled cycling the system.

Buy a test kit to test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate

add a small source of ammonia a few sacrificial fish

Pure ammonia (bottled, careful!)

humanure

other sources

Cycling can take weeks.

Be patient.


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Plants!Plants!



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Plants!

This is an intensive planting system, like SPINgardening or squarefoot gardening.

The plants are getting the maximum nutrients

they need. More important is providing space for

developmental size, air flow, etc.


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As in all gardening, plant according to yourconditions.

Most things have been successfully grown, but

what your system will produce will depend onhow you're set up.

Some people can't get spinach to grow, butothers have spinach that looks like it came from

Little shop of Horrors.

Plants, cont...


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Some can't get cucumbers, some have evengrown potatoes, which is hard in such a moistenvironment.

I'm currently growing mostly low-light plants:lettuce mixes, water cress, miner's lettuce,asian greens, parsley.

Can adjust the various factors to match thecrops you want to grow for instance theenvironment can be made wetter or dryer.

Plants, cont...


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Balance!

The trick with AP is this: it's a closed system. Things build up.

Anything you add will affect everything else.

herbicides will kill your bacteria and maybe yourfish.

fish medications will kill your bacteria

Some fertilizers will kill your fish. Some are fine.

Extreme care must be taken, and most systemsare mostly organic.


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Gravel (growing substrate)

Provides growing medium for plants

Provides surface area for the bacterial to live

Acts as a physical filter for the system

possible source of micro-nutrients.


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Gravel alternatives

Limited to your imagination Don't you hate when presentations say that?

Expanded clay pellets (hydroton)

light, easy to handle, expensive Coir, perlite, vermiculite, etc.

The main consideration here is the pump andkeeping it unclogged.

Can effect the water quality, can get too soggy

People are trying it, though. It may provesuccessful!


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No growing substrate

More like hydroponics

Floating rafts

water plants

a gazillion other options.

(nutrient film technique, deep water culture)


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Hardware

Things to consider Materials

Ease of acquirement

Metal use brass or stainless steel. Avoidcopper.

PVC is cheap and easy to use, and mostlyconsidered safe. It's also toxic to make, and

there is mounting evidence that it's evil. PEX? Other new plastics.

What local materials can be used? Bamboo?


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TanksTanks

Photo Travis Hugley and Barrelponics


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Tanks

55 gal drums

IBCs (pallet tanks)

swimming pools / ponds

pond liner

5 gal buckets

Be careful of galvanized tanks Anything that can hold water, and is safe to eat

from.


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BarrelponicsBarrelponics

Photo Travis Hugley and Barrelponics


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Barrelponics

Created by Travis Hugley

Designed to be easy to build, using easy to getcomponents, and is a solid learning system.

Free, clear step-by-step directions

It's very reliable.

Uses a dump tank, which allows it to utilize very

low-volume pumps,

Flood and Drain

Oxygenate the water fish and roots


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Commercially available systems

Backyard aquaponics and Joel Malcom

US suppliers aquaculture sources

Photos Joel Malcolm & BYAP


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aquaponics.com

Koi and lettucesharing a tank. Thelettuce is grown on afloat on the surface ofthe water

A 500 gallon tankfeeding NFT channels

in which fancy lettuceand herbs are grown

Photos aquaponics.com


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Photo rblaster85 & BYAP


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Photo synaptoman & BYAP


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Resources

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum

the backyard aquaponics booklet

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/barrelponic

http://www.aquaponicshq.com/

Lots of great videos on Youtube

[email protected]
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forumhttp://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/barrelponics/http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/barrelponics/http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum

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Aquaponics 101: Growing plants and fish in a closed, recirculating system