Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Mini-Aquaponics Setup

Aquaponics production is a way for us to efficiently produce both fish and vegetables together in a "closed loop" system. We can do this at home to grow our own food with less work, maintenance, less pesticide and fertilizer than conventional agriculture/gardening involves.

Here is an idea that we came up with. We have started up three systems, establishing fish on their side and nitrifying bacteria in the grow media side. One system is run off our main air line at the fish facility and is growing trout fingerlings outside. One system is in our greenhouse running off air from that setup, but staying warm and growing bluegill under a bug light. See the pics. I have one other system setup on by backporch connected to an OWS windmill and I plan to back it up with a small air compressor. Once the systems have cycled for at least a month then we are planning to plant tomatoes and other vegetables and herbs in this grow media. These are prototype systems made from used bead filters and using beads and river rock as grow media. The system is powered with an air lift, 1-3cfm. Can be powered with a windmill and small compressor in unison or with compressor as backup.

These are prototypes, but if they work well then we may start selling the setups, as we have plenty of used bead filters. Also check youtube for a wealth of knowledge about aquaponics and the future potential for food shortages.

Sweet!

I am putting together what is called deep water hydroponics that consists of a 1 1/2" x 4x8' blue board with 32 2" holes in it that will hold mesh pots and neoprene collars to support my cutting plants which will be water cress that can be bought in the store produce section. Nutrients in the water will hopefully nourish the plants. The cuttings will root and grow. The roots will hang down below the blue board in the water. Lettuce should grow in this also along with the water cress but the heat in the middle of summer might be a problem. If so a slat shading roof might help extend the summer growth. The island will just float around in the pond until time to harvest.

I may try a mini (2ft x 4ft) raft system for chili peppers and cherry tomatoes once the test RAS is set up. I have plenty of I/O left over from the Slave Control to run it.

Good topic!

Todd:

If I may digress a little. I remember last year that you posted a video or picture of your swimming poos with a bunch of Tilapia in it. What did you use for a filtrtion system? IIRC, you were using a boiler to heat the water, so I'm assuming that it was a closes system.

Yes that is a closed or semiclosed system where I was planning to add aquaponics. I have 1500lbs fish there so could go big with aquaponics, but have determined that my well water may be too salty and has a high sodium hazard. In that system i have two solids clarifiers and a large baptismal (700gal baptism tank) that is packed with corrugated biomedia and aerated before returned to fish.

PB has several articles on the subject and Mark Cornwell (fisheries phd and PB writer)has a large scale system/program going at SUNY. Also some threads here. Maybe we should gather some and make an archive.

i'll be following this, so keep us informed! i'm interested in your stocking densities in regards to the volume of your filtration..

If you do a Google search on "wvu reymann aquaculture" you will find a lot of research information on what is being done just down the road from me.

Thanks Todd!

An archive is a great idea, EWEST, my feeling is that there will soon be an aquaponics boom, both commercial and small scale systems.

there's a video called 'Aquaponics Made Easy' for anyone who wants to do a bit of research. It's done by an Australian and quite straight forward (the video I mean). Also for any of you DIY's you can check out some patterns here: http://www.fastonline.org/content/category/4/15/29/ (under barrelponics) for former food barrels.

www.aquaponicscommunity.com is a US site that has lots of info and nice people. Namely me

I have been on the site Chi. Nice place with plenty of info.

An archive would be nice there EWEST.

My approach to Aquaponics is to get the fish system up to snuff where you are producing the numbers/quality you need. Then add Aquaponics as a bonus. That is a win/win scenario, at least how I think.

Not only will my fish be able to send me text updates and emails, but the plants can do it too!

I have thousands of 1 inch bio-balls, not doing anything!

If I get bigger pot's, these may work for media???

May have to retain them somehow, because they are somewhat buoyant.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Of course, this would be a raft system.

I also have a couple hundred pounds of Virgin HDPE Beads. IIRC about 2-3mm diameter. I bought this from a local injection molding co., at a pretty decent price. Was going to do some experiments, but decided it would be a waste of time. Anyway, I still got em.

You can use them in a sand filter like setup.They would have lots of surface area for nitrifying bacteria.

yup.. for a raft system use them kinda like a mbf before your water goes into the dwc beds.. you'll want solids removed before it gets to the troughs or you'll have root problems.. plan on adding airstones in your troughs as well..
airlifts might be a low energy option if you've got some level ground for the system and not much height difference between tank/troughs

I have seen an explosion of my ebay sales of tilapia for aquaponics.

Rex, see PM I sent you !!

I will be next year when I get stuff set up in the new house!

This link will take you to 508 aqua phonic videos from all over the world. No since reinventing the wheel.
http://aquaponicscommunity.com/video
One guy in the Philippines has experimented with the floating raft system in a pond with poor results. The roots being in an unfiltered pond environment collect the solids and turn blackish and slow or stop the growth. In a side by side experiment he used the same pond filtered water to grow lettuce on an identical floating raft and the lettuce was many times bigger and robust compared to the unfiltered raft with only 50% even survived. So filtering is the key I think. Looking at the Aztecs floating grow gardens and some Asian floating raft grow gardens I have not found any that had root growing directly in the water but the grow medium was built up on the rafts. So I am guessing that some of the grow medium in these raft gardens was partly in the water allowing a capillary movement of water with nutrients upward to the root while filtering the water of solids. So my thinking is a system like the picture below only bigger with a grow medium perhaps of a bale of sphagnum moss and maybe mixed with vermiculite for water retention. A few inches of medium under water and 8 inches on top.


Below is an impressive system in India
http://aquaponicscommunity.com/video/urban-food-garden-update-dec