In this video we will review Huy’s system. Be ready for a beginner’s aquaponics overview! Huy is a Melbourne Aquaponics follower who built his first Aquaponics system. In the first part of this article we will have a general overview of the system. In the second part of the video we will see that he has a very interesting way of feeding the fish. He grows his own homemade fish food to feed his aquaponics fish.
A fish tank, a mechanic filter, a biofilter and 3 growbeds compose the setup. The mechanical filter in place here is a radial filter. The water pump raise the water from the fish tank to the radial filter. Then, it arrives into a larger pipe section where the water speed decrease. The water is then going down into the drum. Here the water speed is significantly decreased. The organic particles slowly fall down to the bottom of the tank. There, they remain until the user opens a valve and allows a “clean up”. The clear water raises towards the evacuation pipe which is at the surface of the system. It then goes to the next step of the system which is the biological filter.
Double biological filtration
There, the water is in contact with plastic pearls colonised with aerobic bacteria. As a result, the bacteria transform the ammonia into nitrite and the nitrite into nitrate.
The water then falls into the grow-beds. There, a second biological treatment will take place. Finally, the plants will consume the nitrate. The media seems to be clay balls and volcanic rocks. Indeed, both offer a large surface area to the bacteria. From a technical point of view the system seems ok but the grow-bed surface is extremely limited. Hence, the quantity of vegetables present is very low. I would recommend to test the nitrate regularly and make sure they remain below 50 ppm. If over, I would use some water from the Aquaponics setup to water the classic garden. Then, add new water into the system. This will dilute the nitrate concentration. It will allow to maintain the nitrate at an acceptable level.
Increasing the grow-bed surface…
On the video the plants don’t seem to grow well, I am not sure if they got enough light. I will give a first improvement recommendation. I would increase the grow-bed surface to allow more vegetables production. The setup is very dense. It contains many parts on a very limited surface. Also, pipes are running everywhere so it gives it an intense look but apart from that it all makes sense. So congratulations to Huy for his first system.
You will probably be interested to discover my six steps to build and manage an Aquaponics system. Click here to access for free! Thanks and good reading 🙂
