Aquaponics Anywhere

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From stock tank and garden systems, to layered naturalized ponds, there are as many ways to set up a successful aquaponics system as there are people who create them.

Outdoor systems require climate appropriate crops and livestock, and they can either be operated as a seasonal system which is stocked in the spring, and harvested in the fall, or as a self-sustaining system with consideration for breeding and hatching.

Whatever your goal, the system can be built in stages, so it is more affordable, and so the work is spread out over time, but also so that you can work out the most effective management for each new element that is added.

The real advantage of outdoor systems is that they are typically less limited than indoor systems where space is concerned, and that gives you far more options for types of fish and crustaceans, and many more options for types of plants that are combined - and naturalized systems can take advantage of more aquatic plants.

 

Aquaponics systems can be scaled down to a small tank and a small plant tray, with a simple pump to cycle the water, or even with floating plant trays if you choose the right plants.

Once you scale down to a certain size, it really is no longer practical to use aquaponics systems for raising food fish, but they can still be developed using ornamental fish in a small tank. Generally, 100 gallons or more is preferred for raising food, but it can be done to a minor degree in a 55 gallon tank.

Indoor systems may need additional support tanks for raising algae, brine shrimp, or freshwater shrimp, to use as food, if you want to develop a closed loop system - whereas a closed loop system can be done in a larger environment with sufficient productivity, it does not scale down easily, and multiple tanks makes management of smaller systems more sustainable.

Large or small, greenhouses are a good choice for culture of warmer climate fish and plants. With the right combinations, the greenhouse can be in use year-round, and you can even develop a closed loop system within a greenhouse.

Many people set up very artificial systems within a greenhouse, and that is fine, if that is what you can build, but it is also possible to set up something much more natural and self-sustaining if you wished.

Greenhouses can be effectively used without heat, or with passive heat, and if you have the resources and something really worth doing, you can put in some kind of fueled heat - but I would not do so unless I knew that it would more than pay for itself. Energy is just too expensive to throw around, when a little creativity can avoid it.

For a Greenhouse system, TEMPERATURE is the big issue.

In the summer the greenhouse WILL OVERHEAT if it does not have both SHADE, and COOLING. Cooling is generally done by fans, and the shade should be OUTSIDE, not INSIDE, which means, a shad cover thrown over and tied down is more effective than a shade cover fastened INSIDE the greenhouse. Shade is more effective if applied BEFORE the heat magnifies.

In the winter, even a well insulated greenhouse can freeze overnight. It is good at GENERATING heat in the daytime, but it is not good at RETAINING heat overnight. So winter extremes may be BOTH too cold, and too hot, for some kinds of aquatic life.

Fish and plants tend to be either WARM CLIMATE, or COOL CLIMATE, and they are RARELY a thing that can handle extremes of temperatures.

The greenhouse environment is best when maintained for the winter, and removed for the summer, and that's a royal pain. In the far north, a greenhouse can operate all year for temperate livestock.

Water mass is a good passive heat reservoir, and it can serve as a heat sink. All this means is that for temperature regulation, large amounts of water work better than small ones.

Closed loop systems are self-sufficient systems that produce their own food, and still have room to harvest fish and crops for you. The goal of a closed loop system is, primarily, to not have to BUY anything to keep them functioning.

A Closed loop system may involve harvesting and feeding by the owner, from crops or livestock grown in separate tanks maintained for that purpose, or it may be something that allows a balance of feed crops and harvestable crops and livestock. The degree to which the system self-maintains can vary depending on the elements in place. Ideally though, there is no cleaning required, and no feeding required, though water levels always require monitoring, and water must be added as needed due to evaporation and consumption by the plants. A good closed loop system will function like a natural lake or pond, with fresh water coming in from the output end of the plant tray, and dirty water exiting through the pump to enter the intake end of the plant tray. The tank is cleaned through a combination of algae eating fish and crustaceans, scavengers, and the plant filtration.

Closed loop systems typically require layering - algae and plants in the water, herbivore fish or crustaceans which serve as cleaner fish and feeder fish, omnivore fish which may partially serve as feeder fish, but also provide a small pan fish, and carnivore fish which are top level predators and will eat anything small enough to fit in their mouth, but which provide you with a larger harvestable fish. The plant systems on the top may be similarly layered, with the plant trays organized so the plants do their job more efficiently, based on the type of plant and tolerances.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Water in closed loop systems MUST be free of Chlorine, Chloramine, and other additives. If it is put in to kill bacteria, it will KILL FISH. If it does not kill them, it can inhibit growth, and it ALWAYS inhibits growth of algae, which is necessary for a closed loop system.

Use a filter, and then heat the water to tank temp (it is a BAD idea to run hot water, or even warm water, through a faucet filter, it causes various problems with the filter that shorten the life of either the cartridge, or the filter itself).

Alternately, you can boil faucet water for 10-15 minutes, and then cool it to tank temp.

A closed loop system maintains a pretty delicate balance, and chemicals in the water that interfere with growth of either FOOD SOURCES (Algae, plant, diatom, fish eggs, fish fry, shrimp larvae, etc), or the harvestable fish and crops, will either cause the system to collapse, or they will keep you from ever being able to harvest anything, or even from being able to stabilize the system.

 

 

 

Aquaponics Anywhere is located in the United States.


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