Let’s visit a multi-systems aquaponics!
We had the chance to visit Clive’s Aquaponics Systems in the Victorian countryside. Clive and Leslie made a recent life change. They indeed choose to buy lands and be as much self-sufficient as possible. Now raising all sorts of animals such as cheeps, cows, chickens, rabbits… They have a nice garden and built a descent multi-systems aquaponics greenhouse. 4 types of systems constitute the aquaponics setup.
4 x 3000 liters fish tanks contain 750 Silverperch. The water falls by gravity into a large decantation tank. There, the solids separate from the water. Later, they will be used as fertilizer for the garden. The water is then biologically purified (transformation of ammonia in nitrite and nitrite into nitrate) by going through different bacteria media. We note the use of different plastic supports, aquaculture plastic structures and plastic pearls. Some air is injected into the tanks.
Once biologically treated, the water falls into a sump tank composed of 4 IBC’s systems. Then, the water is dispatched into 4 types of Aquaponics systems:
DWC system
Part of the water supply a Deep Water Culture also known as Raft Aquaponics System. An aeration system is present into the 30 to 50cm deep water tanks. Floating polystyrene rafts cover the whole water surface. Also, plant pots sit on the raft. Therefore, the plants roots are in direct contact with the highly nutritive water.
Clive is sharing his experience with different types of floating rafts. He started his system by cutting his own boards from compressed polystyrene. Drilling some holes into the boards. He then found that the surface was very irregular. Therefore, some algae were growing on the boards. Also the cut parts had tendency to loose polystyrene pearls into the system. He is currently testing new DWC raft boards and think the algae growth will be limited thanks to the very smooth surface. Also it will avoid polystyrene pearls to float into the system.
NFT Nutrient Film Technique System
Leslie and Clive enjoy strawberries and built an entire NFT system dedicated to strawberries. Their NFT system is composed of pipes hanging on a metal frame structure above other DWC systems. Each NFT pipe has his own water inlet. Then, a valve allows to regulate the quantity of water coming. Leslie and Clive regularly clean the strawberries plants. They also harvest the fruits and trimm the roots back to avoid them to clog the pipes.
Vertical towers system
The sump tanks are also feeding water through some vertical towers where different types of vegetables can be grown. The towers were not running during our visit but will soon be part of the whole system.
Flood and drain growbeds
Finally, part of the water pumped from the sump tank is going into some flood and drain growbeds where a multitude of vegetables and strawberries are grown on scoria media.
A creative touch added to the multi-systems aquaponics
Leslie and Clive have a very interesting way of adding minerals into the setup. They designed a tank full of sand (triple washed river sand) above the system. When they fill this special tank with water, the water slowly washes the sand. Then, the water loads with useful minerals for the plants. The water slowly gravitate to the bottom of the tank where it is slowly released into the aquaponics system.
Opportunity for improvement:
NFT:
Working with larger pipes or gutters would allow the strawberries to develop their full potential without clogging the pipes.
Filtration:
The filtration of this system is significant and probably over designed. The current quantity of fish is reasonable. Nevertheless it could be beneficial to increase the aeration into the bio filters. Especially into the plastic pearls bio reactor. The pearls may not be aerated enough. Also those plastic pearls are supposed to be in perpetual movement to avoid any organic matters accumulation. The choc between each pearls in movement is keeping them clean. The pearls should not sit without movement. Alternatively, they will eventually clog with organic matters and large bacteria biofilm. Some parts of the filter will turn anaerobic.
Congratulation to Leslie and Clive. They built a very nice and descent size setup with a multi-systems aquaponics. Furthermore, solar panels and batteries power the whole setup which makes it very sustainable. They produce a significant quantity of food. The world need more sustainable growers like them 🙂
You will probably be interested to discover Jonathan’s six steps to build and manage an Aquaponics system. Click here to access for free! Thanks and good reading 🙂
