Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Aquaponics system using a large, 1-acre pond?

I have a 1 acre clay bottom pond stocked with LMB, BG, RES. I'd like to set up some aquaponic grow beds and I'm wondering if it's possible (or advisable) to just pump water directly in and out of my pond instead of using separate tanks for the fish.

Has anyone else done this? Would water from a stocked 1-acre pond have enough nutrients to feed my plants? Any other possible problems or considerations I should be aware of?

That's the biggest problem. I seriously doubt it.

Keith? Cecil? Anybody else?

Anyone else want to weigh in? Is there some test I can do on the pond water to see if it has enough nutrients? Or is it so unlikely to work that I shouldn't even bother?

The aquatic plants/algae's in your pond are taking up the bulk of the nutrient already. In an Aquaponic system, the only plants are in your grow beds, which essentially create a "pond ecosystem" in very simple terms. The pond water would be awesome for watering plants in a greenhouse, but you would need to fertilize whatever vegetation you decide to grow in order to get good plant production.

Rainman is right on the money. However running the water into a conventional garden would be fine.

It's the nitrates that is the main nutrient powering an aquaponics system. Like Rainman says the plants and algae and some natural denitrification is using up the nitrates in a typical pond and keeps them low. And if you had the density of fish per cubic foot in your pond to produce enough nitrates to fuel domestic plant growth chances, are you would have other serious issues to deal with or you plant and algae growth woukd explode.

I look at it as the algae locks up the nutrients as opposed to "using them up" in any case the nutrients arent available to be used hydroponically without conversion. But that is why using pond water on your soil garden or lawn can be so productive because the algae can get broken back down into nutrients in the soil. And it's effectively removing nutrients from your pond (if that is your goal)

if i was going to try something like this, i might base the design of of mark mcmurtry IAVS system which uses sand based grow beds. The sand can filter particulates (algae and solids) from the water and get broken down then provide some nutrients. Not really the designed application but i bet it would work.

Makes sense Brian. You have more experience with aquaponics than I do. Just know testing the water in the ponds typically shows zilch for nitrates.

On a similar note. Murray Hallam has a calculation involving the popular "ill use my swimming pool" to hold my fish in an aquaponics system. The square footage of grow beds to make the calculations work out was ridiculous unless you were a commercial operation.

Murry is a interesting topic on the board I frequent.