aquaponic organic

Aquaponics - Setting Up

Aquaponics is the science surrounding the keeping of fish, and plants, and the creating of a symbiotic relationship between the two which is designed from the ground up to provide resources for the table and/or the bank balance.

There are literally 10's of thousands of serious koi breeders around the world, alongside fish farms and hatcheries, all of which have 1 thing in common.

They are already in possession of a bio-reactor capable of generating enough food to feed the entire area surrounding the facility, sustainably, for the foreseeable future.

Most don't, preferring to stick to their core business of farming sustainable fish supplies.

But there is a new breed of fish farmer on the block and people are starting to sit up and take notice of what's fast becoming a sustainable food source which is also profitable.

Aquaponics

At its base level an aquaponics system comprises of just 4 major components, which can be sourced pretty much anywhere.

First of all we have a common or garden hydroponic or aquarium pump for delivering the dirty water to the plants for processing.

On the top of the system, exposed either to natural or artificial light, is the container where the plants will live and grow (the bio-filter).

The growing system used can take many formats, but gutters or trays full of gravel are a popular media, as is the raft technique, where leafy greens such as lettuce grow in polystyrene rafts with the roots dangling free in the water delivered in from the fish tank.

Beneath that in a larger tank is where the fish stock live.

Connecting the two is the all important bell siphon, which is an automatic valve used for first flooding (when closed) and then draining (when open) the plant roots of the by now cleaned fish tank water.

So how does it work?

So the fish are living in the fish tank, where they feed and carry out all those natural bodily processes we try not to think about. But the fact is they take place, and if we want to keep our fish stock happy and healthy in our aquaponic system, we are going to have to deal with it sooner rather than later.

But there's money in that muck. Fish waste is a fantastic naturally occurring, organic plant fertiliser, which we would normally throw away. But not this time.

So a pump delivers effluent containing high levels of ammonia from the fish tank, up to the grow bed situated above.

At this stage the bell siphon valve is in the closed position, so any water pumped in from the fish tank is now going to build up and totally flood the roots of the plants.

As the plants are securely rooted in washed pea gravel or some other heavy aggregate the water doesn't phase them one little bit.

When the water reaches the pre-determined height set by the bell siphon, gravity opens the valve and the water is returned to the fish tank via a series of plumbed 90 degree turns which help aerate the water, and serve to slow the returned water enough for the bell siphon to operate efficiently.

Naturally occurring bacteria colonising the gravel in which the roots of the plants live, have converted all that waste ammonia produced by the fish, into nitrates the plant can use as a fertiliser.

Of course there is an equation which says if you wish to have x amount of fish, you need x amount of plants to filter their water.

But find the happy balance and look forward to years of healthy eating & living from your own aquaponic garden.