Aquaponics systems have become more popular over the last ten years because they are simple to run, sustainable, and they solve the increasing food demand!
They are the ideal relationship between three symbiotic organisms: fish, plants, and nitrifying bacteria.
If you’re planning to explore aquaponics as a hobby or as an agribusiness, the first step is to design the system.
So, how do you design an aquaponic system?
Before we get to the details of the design, we need to know the basic components of every aquaponic system.
What Are the Essential Components That Make an Aquaponics System?
There are a number of aquaponics system designs that you can utilize to grow fish and vegetables at home or commercially. These designs include:
- the media bed system
- nutrient film technique
- deep water culture system
Regardless of your design there are important elements that make the system whole, and omitting any elements may cause problems for the system.
The components are:
- Fish Tank
- Water Pump
- Air Pump
- Grow Bed
- Sump Tank (optional)
- Siphon
- Solid Filter
- Bio Filter
- Lighting
- Heating
- Fish
- Plants
- Nitrifying Bacteria
- Water
- Security
- Growing Trays
- Grow Media
- Nets and Cups
- Pipes and Fittings
- Water Quality Test Kit
- Monitoring Device
- Fish Food
Designing and building an aquaponics system does not have to be expensive.
You can make the do it yourself (DIY) components from plastic barrels, old bathtubs, and livestock water troughs laying around your house.
Of course not everyone is technically oriented and many people will want to purchase their aquaponics essentials from an aquaponics essentials dealer in their area.
What Conditions Have to Be Maintained to Design and Run an Aquaponics System Successfully?
Before we can get into designing your aquaponics system, let’s consider some conditions of growth with which we don’t have room for error for your system to work.
If one or more of these parameters is out of line or missing entirely, you will negatively impact your fish, likely causing you to stress them or even worse kill them.
Plants also use these, so if their environmental needs are ignored, yield can suffer as well.
These parameters include:
- Oxygen
- Temperature
- Light
- PH.
Oxygen Levels
Fish gotta have some oxygen to survive.
A perfect aquaponics system should have enough oxygen in the water so the fish aren’t stressed or killed.
Deep water cultures may need to be seeded with air to have the oxygen the fish require, and keep the cycle going.
An aeration system, sometimes called an air pump, helps with this.
Temperature
Temperature is a huge factor in how happy the fish and bacteria are inside the aquaponics system.
The majority of nitrifying bacteria thrive and are most productive between 26 and 36 degrees Celsius.
Conversely, fish are most productive between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius.
Finding tolerance between which temperature is best for each is important, to optimize production for both.
One last thought: Don’t put the system in a spot in direct sunlight that would cause temperature spikes and drops.
Light
Light is necessary for photosynthesis.
The fish will also benefit from a few hours of light for optimal growth, but too much light will stress them to the point where they won’t eat their food.
So, it’s very important to take into account the lighting prior to designing your aquaponics.
If you are going with an outdoor system, you’ll need to also decide how you’ll regulate the light, and if you are going with an indoor system, you need to spend on quality artificial light.
pH
Managing the acidity or alkalinity of the water in aquaponics is essential to the plants, fish, and bacteria.
Each of the three organisms depends on an optimum pH so good management is required to maintain the water pH.
For the system to be appropriate for all three organisms, it is best to maintain a pH between 6.8 and 7.2.
All three organisms need good, suitable water quality, so regular water quality testing with a reliable test kit is important to ensure all parameters are suitable for the three organisms.
Factors to Consider Before Designing an Aquaponics System
The design of aquaponics depends on whether or not you are doing it for fun or business.
If you’re in it for business, you have to design a system as cost-effective, efficient and productive as possible so you can keep your costs manageable.
On the other hand, a small aquaponics system in your backyard is not going to require a lot of financial investment.
The below factors should affect your aquaponics system design.
Your Gardening Goals
Let’s say you’re thinking about getting an aquaponics system, for the fun of it or just trying out a couple fish and a few plants.
You’ll want to use a straightforward and probably basic aquaponics design like a media bed.
On the flipside, to do some serious commercial projects you’ll need to make structures that are complex like the Nutrient film or floating deep water culture design beds.
Types of Plants You Plan to Grow
Small plants such as leafy vegetables, strawberries, etc., don’t need complex aquaponics systems and can grow on basic media beds and shallow nutrient film systems.
Technical Know-how
Certain systems need close observation and upkeep but will be rewarding.
DWC systems and hybrid systems (two or more aquaponics systems, i.e., vertical grow beds and raft) would include these.
If you’re someone who wants to build and manage their system yourself, these could be perfect for you.
If you don’t enjoy working with technical issues, consider simple systems that need little monitoring and maintenance.
Location
Location plays an important role in designing an aquaponic system.
So be inventive! Decide on a convenient and accessible location where you monitor the fish and plants or provide a custom maintenance schedule.
Space
Regardless of your aquaponic design, size is determined by the available space.
Basic media beds and NFT designs are suitable for limited areas.
If you plan to develop a large commercial aqua-ponics system, you may want to utilize a deep water culture type aquaponic design.
How to Design an Aquaponics System
Designing an aquaponics system is not a complicated process with the right parts and materials.
Follow these steps to prepare an aquaponics of your choice.
Assemble the Fish Tank
You can either buy a ready-to-go fish tank or even make one out of old water barrels.
The size of your fish tank will depend on the type and quantity of fish you want to raise.
As a rule of thumb, you should have a fish tank twice the size of the grow bed so that you will have enough water in the tank, taxes water in the horse pipes, and water in the grow bed while in circulation.
Add the pump, either a submersible or an inline pump based upon the size of the system and design.
Make sure you have the right setup:
- piping
- fittings
- siphon
- solid filters
- biofilters
Put in chlorinated water, and let it run for 4 to 6 weeks before adding the fish.
The quarantine period allows you to check the fish for infectious diseases and allows the good bacteria to grow in numbers.
Construct the Media Bed
Make the media bed above (or near) the fish tank.
Set up the growth media and position it in the media bed.
Growth media are baked clay, river rocks, gravel, etc.
Introduce the Fish to the Fish Tanks
Once the redox cycling period ends you can introduce the fish.
Some common aquaponics fish are:
- Tilapia
- Barramundi
- Goldfish
- Catfish
- Perch
- Pacu
- Koi
- Carp
Add Your Plants
Add your preferred species of plants, or whatever the capacity and strength of the aquaponics system can tolerate.
You can simply pot your preferred seedlings from a nursery into the media bed.
Monitor Your Aquaponics System
After you’ve got the fish and plants in place, you can watch fish and/or plant health by monitoring their optimum growth standards: temperature, pH, and light.
Conclusion
The first step to growing fish and plants in a sustainable system is designing the aquaponics system.
The final design you will end up with depends on how you want to garden, what crops you want to grow, what space you have, how much you can do for yourself (DIY), and what part of your house you are going to put it in.
Once you are prepared to design your aquaponics system, it is as easy as setting up the fish tank, building the media bed, adding the fish, and adding the plants.