commercial aquaponics systems
DESCRIPTION
Commercial Aquaponics systemsTRANSCRIPT
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Commercial Aquaponics
UVI System
Its really the bugs
• Really, it’s the microbes that make thiswork– Fish waste comes in two forms, solids and
soluble– The solids are removed– The soluble are mineralized
Plant growth is related to food
• The amount of food put into the systemdictates the amount of waste generated– Fish density and size dictates amount of
food
Fish
• This system is based on Tilapia– The amount of water/grow area is based
on the amount of fish food
– Could you adapt to other fish?• Suppose you could, but you are going to have
to figure out how much to feed them
System OverviewComponents
• Fish tanks– Can be made of
most anything– Often rubber/plastic
material– Often rigid fiberglass
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Liner with metal frame Tanks
• UVI uses 4 tanks for one “spur”• Fish mature in 24 weeks• Every 6 weeks they harvest a tank and
refill with fingerlings• Takes 6 “spurs” to harvest fish each
week
Tanks
• You could use fewer tanks– But you have mixed ages in the tanks and
you stress them catching only the big ones
Clarifiers
Removing the Solids
• This is the key to successfulaquaponics in this system anyway
• If solids are allowed to settle on theroots of plants you will see root death– The mineralization process uses all the O2
Clarifiers
• We have to removethe solid waste
• Several techniques• This one causes the
water to slow downand forces it under abaffle, the solids staybelow
• Cleaner water goesout a pipe at the top
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Clarifiers• This is a swirl
separator• Water enters from the
fish tank on the bottomat an angle so thewater turns
• The water spinscausing the solids todrop and the cleanwater goes into thewhite pipe on top
• You can see the drainon the bottom image
Solid Waste
• Here is the solidwaste
• The drain needs tobe opened 3X a day
• Wow, lots of waste• How can you use it?• How can you
automate this?
Filter TanksThe Filter Tank
The Filter Tank
• This is where the very small suspendedsolids are mineralized
• Where the ammonium is converted tonitrate
• Bird netting in a tank
Cleaning the Filter
• Cleaning the nettingremoves themicrobes (2x week)– This reduces the
amount of nitrate– But if you don’t
anaerobic conditionsdevelop
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Degassing Tanks Degassing Tanks
Degassing Tanks
• This is an aerated area where gassesformed from the mineralization processor during anaerobic conditions
Grow Beds
Grow BedsGrow Beds
• The UVI model uses 4 grow beds• Water moves from the degassing tanks
to 2 of the beds, at one end• The water moves down the bed to the
end• Then up the other bed back to the sump
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Grow Beds
• Retention time of the water in the bedsis 3 hrs
• Each bed is 3000 gal but it goesthrough 2 beds (6000 gal water)
Sump
The Sump
• This is the lowest part of the system• Holds the pump• Where the base addition happens• Where the addition of water happens
Other Things
• Like oxygen– This system uses 22 air stones in the fish tanks,
144 in the rafts– Must be cleaned weekly so you need a second set– Powered by a 1.5 hp air blower for the fish tanks– 1 hp for the rafts– Blower needs diffuser and can melt plastic pipe
Other Things
• Base addition– Because the process of nitrification releases H+
the pH decreases– Also, the removed solids contain most of the Ca
and K along with Fe– So, you need to add Ca and K bases to raise the
pH– You need to add Fe chelate for iron
Other Things
• Pump– One pump system, 1/2hp
• Low pressure pump
• Blowers– for fish: 1.5hp– for plants 1.0hp
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Other Things
• Backup generator– If the power goes off and the fish have no O2 they
will die in a very short time– Need to have a generator to operate the 3.0 hp of
pumps/blowers
Fish care
• Need dissolved O2 meter• Need ammonium and nitrite testing
equipment
Details UVI
• Total system volume• 29,375 gal of water• Flow rate: 100 gpm• Pump 1/2 hp• Total land area: 1/8 acre
UVI Details
• Fish tanks– 4 per spur
• 3m x 1.2m (10’x4’)= 7800L or 2060gal• Retention time, 1.37 hrs• Flow rate 21 gal/min in each tank• There are 4 tanks so the pump is actually about
100gal/min
• 22 diffusers (14L/min)
UVI Details
• Clarifier– There are 2 filters for 4 tanks– Retention time, 20 min– Flow rate of 21 gal/min
• Gives you a clarifier size of 420 gal• You need 2
UVI Details
• Filter and Degassing Tanks– 6’ x 2.5’ x 2’ deep– 185 gal
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UVI Details - Beds
• The beds are 100’ x 4’ x 16” deep• 3000 gal of water each (math is not
right but you don’t use the whole 16”depth)– Water is about 12” deep
UVI Details
• Fish feed to raft area• 60-100 g of fish food to support 10.76
sqft of grow beds.– Non flowering on the lower end– Tomatoes on the higher end
UVI Fish Details Fish Selection
• Tilapia• Cat fish• Koi• Blue gill
Fish
• Tilapia are king but who are you goingto sell them to?– Tolerate high levels of ammonium– Tolerate low levels of oxygen
Fish
• Catfish are the most popular farmed fishin the US
• Convert feed to weight better than anyother fish (1.5:1)
• Bottom dwellers– Can grow with bluegill
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Fish
• Koi can be sold as pets, to pet stores oronline
• Need decent O2 levels and lowerammonium than tilapia
• Also tolerate cooler conditions thantilapia and catfish which is better for theplants
Plants
• Basil• Lettuce• Tomatoes
– higher fish density and feed rates• Cucumber
Other options - NFT
• You can have 1/4 fewer fish to provideyou with the same amount of produceusing NFT– Nice if you grow koi and just use them as a
food generator• Or, you can grow 4x more plants
Other options - NFT
• NFT needs all the solids removed or thesolids clog up the emitter andaccumulate on the roots causing loss ofO2
• Need a special filter• Or, use aggregate beds to filter out
most of the solids and then pump someto the NFT