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What is “Aquaponics”?

The term aquaponics (AP) is the merging of the words AQUACULTURE (the cultivation of fish) and HYDROPONICS (raising plants in a soil-less environment). Separately, both of these have their individual problems (the fish waste and water needs to be filtered and cleaned, the expensive chemicals and nutrients used for hydroponics needs to be dumped and refilled with new water) but when you put them together it completes a nearly self-sufficient closed loop system that uses a fraction of the water you would normally use on traditional gardening. Coupled with raised bed gardening (less pests and easier on the back), Aquaponics systems by necessity needs to be organic. No expensive hydroponic nutrients to boost the plants are necessary (as that would kill the fish).

Instead the fish waste is converted using a naturally occurring process called nitrifying bacteria. Also known as the nitrogen cycle, nitrifying bacteria exists everywhere. The non-solid fish waste contains ammonia, which some kinds nitrifying bacteria converts into nitrites (NO2). Another kind of nitrifying bacteria then converts the nitrites into nitrates (NO3) which in turn is absorbed by the plants as fertilizer, naturally boosting growth. This takes place in the media of the growbed or in a filter. Growth can be as much as 18 times faster then traditional farming!

A basic aquaponic system consists of a fish tank (FT) and a container to serve as a grow bed (GB). Normally the grow bed is above or on top of the fish tank. A single water pump is used to push effluent rich water up the grow bed. The grow bed is filled with some kind of dirt-less media, such as hydroton, cinder, pebbles, perlite, bauxite, quartz, river rock, or coconut coir in order to hold the plants and to give the nitrifying bacteria a place to work.. As the water fills, a method of draining the water such as a stand pipe or automatic siphon is used, returning the now cleaned water back into the fish tank using gravity.

Using the fish waste can boost the growth of plants in an established aquaponic system by up to 6 times when compared to a traditional garden. Since the growbed is usually off the ground, (please google 'raised bed gardening') there are less pests then traditional gardening also.

Regarding the fish, any kind of freshwater fish can be used, and some crustaceans. Goldfish, comets, carp, guppys, tilapia, trout, catfish, prawns, and crayfish are popular. Some species do not co-exist together well so care must be taken - for example: crayfish are territorial and may eat your fish but koi and tilapia are happy to share the same tank.

Positioning your System

Where you place your system is important. Do you already have a spot in yard or house that you want to install your system?

Important things to consider are:

1) Amount of sunlight it receives.

a. What kind of plants do I want to grow? How much sun do they need?

b. Does it get enough light? Is it too sunny?

c. How much exposure to the elements will there be? (rain and wind)

d. The area should be somewhat level so that your water and fish do not spill out.

Besides in your yard, you can also set up a system indoors (especially if you live in a cold climate area) but you will need to purchase additional lighting for the plants. You could use special lights from the hydroponic store, or you could use a mixture of fluorescents and incandescent lamps.

Assembling a system

Assembling a system will take some time and planning but is fairly simple. Lets say for example, that you choose to start with a barrel system. You would need:

At least two 55 gallon barrels

One bulkhead adapter or DIY PVC bulkhead adapter per half barrel

One pond pump that can do at least 120 gallon per hour.

1" PVC pipes

13” long 2” or 3” PVC pipe with many small holes drilled into it (media guard)

1" PVC "T"

Four or more 1" PVC elbows

PVC Ball gate valves for each barrel

3/4" Pond hose

Air pump with hose and airstone

Lamp timer

Black cinder, hydroton, or other growbed material

55 gallon barrels are fairly easy to get and can be purchased used from between $10 to $50 locally. Make sure you get one that did not contained toxic chemicals and do clean it out well. For a sealed barrel, lay it down horizontally and cut a door into the barrel. I secure the door by drilling a few holes and using zip-ties as hinges. If you want you can also drill a few holes using a small hole saw to make access holes for the airstones or pump hose to pass thru. This barrel will serve as your fish tank (FT).

Next, cut your barrels lengthwise. (It is recommended that you do not cut thru the bung holes or try to use them. Instead turn the barrel slightly so the bung holes are at 7 o'clock and 1 o'clock positions). These will serve as your growbeds (GB). You will need to plumb the system by purchasing bulkheads or making your own with a 1" PVC male and female adapter and a rubber washer. (One end of each screws together - it is recommended you use pvc fittings from the electrical conduit aisle as the ends do not taper and you can get a better fit, and a rubber washer that will sit on the wet side.)

You will need to put the growbeds on some kind of table. You can purchase a table or make your own using cinder blocks and 2x4's. The reason the growbeds need to be elevated is primarily to use gravity to return the water to your growbeds, but with the bonus of a raised bed gardening.

Put the pump into the FT and run the hose to your near above your growbeds. Using the PVC "T" fitting, elbows, pipes, and ball gates, make a splitter and run the in-feed to above each barrel. The other end of the barrel should have your bulkhead adapters. On the outside of the bulkhead, use your PVC pipes and elbows to run a return to your FT. On the inside we will be using a stand pipe to drain the GB. On the inside, run a short length of pipe and a 90’ elbow with a 10” pipe going straight up. With the 10” of pipe in the elbow, drill 2 small holes into the elbow to allow excess drainage. Around this standpipe, place a 12” tall pipe with holes drilled into it to serve as your media guard. This will prevent your media (black cinder, hydroton, etc) from emptying into your fish tank or clogging your standpipe.

Wash your media and fill barrels. It will take approximately 5-6 bags of ¾ cubic foot bags of cinder to fill each ½ barrel. Fill FT with water and aerate with air pump to dechlorinate. Plug your pond pump into your timer and set the timer for desired on and off times. I suggest on for 15 minutes every hour, off for 45 minutes.

Later, as you expand your system, you can move to more advanced siphons to maximize your efficiency.

You can also find detailed step-by-step instructions on how to build a Barrelponics(tm) system by Travis Hughey on the internet for free.

Preparing your system

It is recommended that you do not put fish into the system until the system has cycled, which normally takes as long as 4 weeks. There are ways to hasten this process, however. If you can put water from an existing fish tank, it probably has the nitrifying bacteria in it and will help jump start your system, shortening your cycling time. The reason why you shouldn’t put fish into your system until the system cycles is because it may go thru ammonia or nitrate spikes, which can kill your fish. Cinder from an existing AP system is also useful.

Urea: it helps to start the system with some ammonia. Gardening Urea is one way to do this.

A Freshwater Master Test kit is recommended to accurately measure your pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. As you do tests, you will see that the ammonia will spike (if you have added urea or some throwaway fish), then as the ammonia gets converted into nitrites, you will see that ‘spike’. Lastly the nitrates will go up and then your system will have cycled.

If you do not add urea or fish or any of the other shortcuts, it may take up to 4 weeks to naturally cycle.

It is perfectly fine to plant your veggies at this time. Seeds can be sprinkled right into the growbed media or grown in peat pots and transplanted or you can purchase seedlings from your local garden shop. Simply gently rinse the dirt off the roots and immediately plant into your GB.

Most fertilizers and chemicals cannot be used in AP – what might be good for the plants may kill the fish, and medicines for various fish ailments may make the fish bad to consume.

There are some organic options available however... Emulsified seaweed kelp provides trace elements to the plants and do not harm the fish. There are several brands such as Maxicrop and Seasol. When starting your system it is recommended that you use a little bit of this to help promote root growth. You water will become dark but will clear up as the plants absorb the kelp.

Appendix

Abbreviations:
FT - Fish Tank
GB - Grow Bed
DO - Dissolved Oxygen

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