The

Aquaponics Guidebook

Aquaponics is proven worldwide as the most efficient and

sustainable way to grow food, on any scale.

Now, you can do it, starting today. Bevan Suits

Packed with web

links that take

you to the coolest

aquaponics sites on

the globe! Access

to hardware too!

Now selling

worldwide!

VOLUME 1

2nd EDITION

INTERACTIVE PDF EDITION!

Access to Personal Agriculture

“Somewhere between a multiversity textbook and DIY magic carpet”

Sequatchie Valley Institute

“All of us who value developing

workable solutions for a

sustainable future should read

this book.”Natural Life Network

“Hours of reading and learning are guaranteed!”

Aquaponics Europe

“The ultimate inspiration for

anyone interested by the idea

of producing vegetables and

raising fish on a micro-scale

and in a sustainable way”The Ecologist Magazine, London

Contents

Dedication

About This Book

Good Reasons for Aquaponics

Aquaponics Gallery

Introducing Aquaponics 1

Aquaponics Models 5 Nitrogen Cycle 6 A Basic Drip System 7 The Ebb & Flow System 8 The Hydroponic Raft System 9 The UVI System 10

Equipment / Media 11 Container Gallery 12 Pump 13 DO = Aeration 14 Heater 15 Plumbing 16 Lights 17 Water, Testing for Quality 18 Roots, Grow Media 19 Bacteria Rule 20 Growing Fish 21 An Affinity for Fish 22 Choosing Tilapia 24 Other Species 25 Tilapia Wellness 26 Food, Growth 27 A Home-built System 28 Getting Started 29 System Start-up 30 System Balance 31

Personal Agribusiness 32 Plant Farming 33 Thinking Production 34 Planning, Education, Finance 35 Grow Sell Eat Local 36

Scaling Up 37 Sheltering the System 38 Outside the Box 39 Technology, Community 40

Culturing the System 41

Resources 45 Interactive, North America 46 Interactive, Australia, Africa 47 Research Links 48

The Last Page 49

Picture Credits 50

Click to advance to selected page.

FAST, South Carolina

FAST, South Carolina

FAST, Kenya University of the Virgin Islands

Red Heeler, AustraliaGrowing Power, Milwaukee Growing Power, Milwaukee

Sustainable Design Group, Atlanta Nelson & Pade, Montello, WI Murray Hallam, Queensland, Australia

Aquaponics Gallery Aquaponics is growing fish and plants in one system, with fish waste feeding the plants. It works in many variations of scale and form, though the basic concept does not change: Fish, bacteria and plants working together in a recirculating, soil-less system. It resembles a living organism, with a heart (the pump) and lungs (aeration). The bacteria remove waste like the kidneys and the liver. It will teach you a lot about food and this ecosystem we call home.

Build a small system. Then you will want to build a larger one., because it’s simple and it works.

Click on images to visit websites.

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Contents

Replace an aquarium filter with a pot of gravel. Put a plant in the pot. Let it drain back into the aquarium. That’s aquaponics, boiled down to its simplest form.

Now, consider it on a bigger scale: An above-ground swimming pool with 3000 gallons of water. 4-foot wide grow bed trenches and lined with rubber, stretching 100 feet. Out of this system a staggering amount of vegetables and fish protein can be produced, to be consumed, traded or sold. Inputs are fish food, electricity and a modest amount of maintenance.

Or how about this: Water from a fish pond is pumped up hill and filtered down through gravel grow beds. The clean water trickles back into the pond. Nothing is wasted. The excess nutrients provide a valuable crop.

Aquaponics is simple and it works.

It’s also curious that it hasn’t caught on in a bigger way, for all the clear and imme-diate benefits it provides.

Consider the Benefits:

Aquaponics is a highly efficient organic food growing system that produces a com-plete diet and requires no expensive or complex equipment.

With a clear understanding of how the components fit together, you can start putting a system together quickly.

It begins to deliver produce in just a few short weeks.

Only a modest amount of fresh water is needed, as the water for the plants is continuously circulated. Only water lost to evaporation is replaced. You can provide your own fish food supply in the form of worms, insects and aquatic duckweed (for tilapia).

Tilapia are the preferred aquaculture species worldwide. They taste great, grow fast, are very hardy and tolerate crowding. They grow from tiny fingerlings to one-pounders in about 8 months. A 500 gallon tank can produce 250 pounds of live fish, which go for about $5 per pound, retail.

Greens such as basil and lettuce will grow from seedlings to harvest in about 6 weeks. In a southern, 6 month growing season, that’s about 4 easy harvests. Basil wholesales for about $10 per pound.

If you add a greenhouse or other indoor growing environment with supplemental grow lights, you can grow year-round.

Introducing Aquaponics

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Personal agriculture

is very important for

shaping our future

economy and environ-

ment. We used to have

an economy based on

food production.

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A Basic Drip SystemEach component of an aquaponic system can be grouped as a:

• Container Fish Tank, Grow Bed

• Connector Tubing, Valves, Pumps, Filters, Bulkheads

• Medium Water, Gravel (for plants & bacteria)

• Organism People, Plants, Fish, Bacteria

• Nutrient Fish Food, Fish Waste, Nitrogen, Oxygen, CO2

ORGANISMCONNECTOR

CONNECTOR

NUTRIENT

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

MEDIUM

CONNECTOR

MEDIUM

NUTRIENT

ORGANISM

ORGANISM NUTRIENT

ORGANISM

You could add Heat and Light asENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS andElectricity as POWER SOURCE.

This system is basic drip irrigation, with 1/8” holes drilled into the tube. . A mesh pump bag will help prevent clogging.Alternately you can add emitters, which are valves on a stick, that bring the water to each plant.

Plant

Grow tray

Gravel

Valve & Bulkhead

Water

Air

Fish Waste Fish Tank Pump

Tubing You

Bacteria

Fish Food

PUMP

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The Heart of Your System

Aquaponics relies on a pump. If the pump fails, the fish could die quickly, so plan to have a battery-powered backup aerator at all times (shown on page 14). The aerator will help to oxidize the ammonia until the power returns. The need for this increases as your system grows.

You need to move a certain amount of water through your tank each hour. Pumps are measured according to their GPH (Gallons per Hour) or GPM (Gallons per Minute). The pressure they produce at certain height above the pump is the “head”. The higher the water is pumped, the lower the pressure. Head pressure is measured in PSI (Pounds per Square Inch).

Pump types include submersible, (at the bottom of the tank), or in-line which sits outside the tank, the water line coming in and going out.

Water Pump Performance Curves

Pump

A submersible pump sits on the bottom of your tank. The screen prevents small fish from getting stuck to the inlet and dying.

TOTA

L H

EAD

GALLONS PER HOUR (GPH)

An in-line pump connects to the tubing between the fish tank and the grow bed. It is more powerful but costs more money.

A pump performace chart tells you how much water you can pump to what height. This chart compares three different pumps. The height of the outlet is called ‘head’.With the outlet at 12 feet, this

pump can move 0 gallons of waterper hour. 12 feet is the limit of this pump.

With the outlet at the same level as the pump (a total head of 0), this pump will move about 1350 gallons per hour.

With the outlet at 10 feet, this pump will move about 600 gal-lons of water per hour.

1’

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

2’

3’

4’

5’

6’

7’

8’

9’

10’

11’

12’

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Roots Grow Media

Extending from roots are root hairs. This micro-environment is where everything comes together, the

biochemical soup converting into plant flesh. The roots benefit from the large amount of air and nutrients that

flow through a soilless system. This enables greens such as basil and lettuce grow from seedling to harvest in as

little as 4 weeks.

Actual Size

Actual Size

Actual Size

Kaldnes, from Norway, is designed for wastewater treatment as an ideal environment for bacteria. It is an excellent biomedia for your biofilter. Though somewhat expensive, it provides maximum surface area for microbial growth while still allowing space for air and water to flow. At the same time, bacteria is protected from abrasive action as the plastic pieces are circulated in water.

A good mix of grow media allows nitrification to take place, where the ammonia from fish waste is converted by bacteria into useful nitrogen.

In theory, just about any clean, inert and loose material can

be a grow media. Shredded tires and

packing peanuts are being studied.

Expanded clay, such as Hydroton, Viastone and other brands, are used in soilless systems for their ability to hold roots and provide a good home for bacteria. The pebbles are porous and light. They allow plenty of water, air and nutrients to reach the roots. A large bag costs about $35, so it is most cost-effective when mixed with less expensive gravel.

Permatil by Stalite is expanded slate. It is used as a

soil additive for gardens but is an excellent grow medium for aquaponics because of its

light weight, high surface area and relatively low cost. Mix it 50/50 with low-cost pea

gravel.

If you use municipal water in your system, remember that it contains

chlorine that kills beneficial bacteria..

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One hundred years ago, growing food was part of our culture. Now you can help bring it back with an aquaponics system. The fish of choice is tilapia.

Aquaponics is eco-technology on a backyard scale, a living, breathing machine with its own heart, lungs, kidneys and liver. It begins and ends with the fish. The fish of choice is tilapia.

Learning to raise fish for food is one of the most sustainable or “green” things we can do, beyond buying a hybrid vehicle, because it represents a cultural shift in the right direction, back to self-reliance and productivity.

Grow system technologies also bring communities together. The abundance of food produced will help open doors in neighborhoods. A garden may have admir-ers, but a growing system will draw a crowd. A fish harvest festival may be the best reward of all.

Once you decide to create a small aquaponics system of 100 fish or less, you can go online and discover vast amounts of information: Hobbyists, breeders, researchers, recipes, equipment dealers, economic statistics, etc. This is because farmed fish, especially tilapia, are a driving force of the world’s food economy. They are easy to raise, grow fast and taste great. You can do it.

There is both art and science to raising fish. The art is in the intuitive nurtur-ing that we know as gardeners, pet owners and parents. There is a lot of creative freedom in putting your system together and making it fit your space, conducting experiments out of curiosity. The fish are beautiful to watch. Seeing plants grow so quickly is encouraging. Hearing the splash of flowing water is relaxing. This is technology that feels right, a model of an ecosystem.

The science is in observing, measuring and controlling the many variables that keep your system in balance. The good news is that in starting small, the critical numbers are fewer and easier to manage. Once you have the feel and experience of a working system, scaling up becomes more feasible.

Before long your system will be in balance and thriving. Young fish need several feedings per day, so you many need an automated fish feeder.

As the fish grow, you will want to divide the fish tank or add extra tanks for differ-ent sized fish to separate the larger ones, giving the smaller stock a chance to grow. Your fish will start to grow quickly and you’ll be planning what to do with them and looking ahead to starting a new batch, learning to stagger their production. Your success will give you confidence.

After you grow succesfully with aquaponics, you may feel like an expert, but it’s

An Affinity for FishFish as Livestock

“Hunger caused

by climate change

may be the defin-

ing human tragedy

of this century.”

- OXFAM

June 2009

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Contents

Too few plants Per volume of fish...

Too much nitrate returns to fish

Not enough ammoniato nourish plants

Too little media Per volume of fish...Too much ammonia

returns to fish

Enough biomediaEnough fish

Enough plants

LESS MEDIA /MANY FISH

BALANCE

FEW PLANTS / MANY FISH

FEW FISH /MANY PLANTS

System Balance

A Balanced SystemHere you have many fish producing a good amount of

ammonia. The biomedia in filter and grow bed is adequate to convert it to nitrates. There are enough plants to absorb all

the nitrates. Water returns clean to the fish tank.

Not Enough Biomedia / Grow MediaHere is the same amount of fish with a small amount of

biomedia to convert ammonia to nitrates. The water is mostly unfiltered, so too much ammonia returns to the tank.

Solution: Add a biofilter or more grow media so the bacteria can do its work. Remember that it takes time for bacteria

culture to develop on new media.

Not Enough PlantsThe same amount of fish with adequte biomedia but too few

plants to take up the nitrates. Too much nitrate returns to the fish tank. Not dangerous but unhealthy.

Solution: Add more plants to soak up the extra nitrates.

Not Enough Fish or Too Much WaterA small amount of fish, or too much water, with enough

biomedia and enough plants. There is not enough ammonia being produced for the plants to grow well.

Solution: Add more fish or grow fewer plants.

Understanding Key Ratios Helps You to Troubleshoot

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Thinking ProductionWhat if you could make steady income with aquaponics and even finance your equipment?

We have been a consumer culture for so long that most of us have forgotten that growing is a business. If you can deliver a steady volume of quality produce, you can count on selling it, which greatly affects how to think about aquaponics.

On page 10 you can see a spreadsheet for a large-scale operation that brought in a lot of money from a few thousand square feet of growing space. Even if you only have a fraction of that space, you should know what sells, at what price, and at what time of year. Eggplant, for example, wholesales in some markets today for around $18 per bushel. The price is higher in cold months.

In the spreadsheet below you can see that a 10’ x 10’ basil bed has the potential to generate up to $1500 per month, at $10 per pound and ideal growing conditions.

Of course if everyone is growing basil the price starts to drop and you have to find another crop, which is simple agricultural economics. Hobby gardeners tend to forget this because we are conditioned to think of a single five-month growing period, a harvest in September, with dozens of tomatoes and squash eaten, given away or left to rot. With aquaponics you gain so much efficiency over traditional gardening that someone with even a modest amount of growing space can become a reliable supplier to wholesalers, restaurants, groceries and co-ops. There may also be emerging crop markets for (legal) medicinal herbs for Asian communities and other groups. There are likely other valuable markets remaining to be discovered or even created. Who will get there first and cash in?

How to Do It

You don’t need an MBA to become an aquaponics business person. Just find out who wants what, how much they want and what they are willing to pay. You can do it like a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture), recruiting families to subscribe. Or you can talk to owners of high-end restaurants and restaurant chains, grocery stores and wholesale distributors. Make some calls, promote yourself. Being the first one in is very important.

The Word on Organic

The USDA jury is still out on organic certification for hydroponics/aquaponics. If you feed your fish certified organic fish food, duckweed, earthworms, without any antibiotics or hormones, it may be technically organic but you can’t sell it as such until you get the stamp. The links on the right provide more in-depth information. A decision is likely in November of 2009.

Pro Forma Basil Revenue

Crop Pounds per Square Foot

Grow PeriodTypical Wholesale Price per Pound

Net Revenue per 100 Square Ft

Basil 1 - 1.5 4 - 6 weeks $10 $1000 - $1500 Growing Edge Magazine, Basil Stats

Local Harvest Network

USDA Organic 1

USDA Organic 2

Source: Growing Edge Magazine

Your Produce Has a Dollar Value

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Contents

Morning Star Fishermen

Friendly Aquaponics

Auburn ALEARN

Growing Power

Ocean Arks

Freshwater Institute

Nelson & Pade

FAST

UVIS&S Aqua Farm

Acuaponia

Portable Farms

Flying Fish

Kirby Peak

Vancouver Island U

Crop Diversification

Floating Gardens

Grow Foods

Interactive Tour Page

North America

This PDF edition features hyperlinks.By clicking the names, the websites of these featured aquaponics specialists will open in your browser.

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Research Links

USDA Defines Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education

Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

Cooperative State Research, Education & Extension Service

Western Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable Urban Gardens

Denver Urban Gardens

Milwaukee Urban Gardens

Urban Garden Magazine

Growing Edge Magazine

Farmer John’s CSA, Angelic Organics

Atlanta’s Farmer D

Food Inc, The Movie

ALEARN, Auburn University Aquaculture Extension

American Tilapia Association

The Fish Site, Aquaculture Stats on Tilapia

Mississippi State, Stats on Tilapia

Whole Foods Corporate Values

Slow Food Movement

Local Harvest Network

Food Routes, Knowing Where Food Comes From

National Family Farm Coalition

Just Food in New York City

Urban Gardens DC

Philadelphia Urban Gardens

Urban Habitat Chicago

Urban Gardens Los Angeles

Seattle Tilth