AquaPonics System 101

[Patrick]

AquaPonics Project

Part one. The System itself.


What is Aquaponics? A combination of Hydroponics and Aquaculture.
The fish feed the plants, the plants filter the water for the fish.

That's the easy Explanation.

Fish make poop.
Poop gets broken down into nitrates by bacteria.
Nitrates are used by plants removing them from the water.
Water is returned to fish

The inputs to the system are water and fish food.

Fish food can ge gotten through worm farms in compost if we want or buy it in bulk.

Water is water.



The building supplies for a system:
-Fishpond
-Holding tank
-Plant trays
-Substrate(Like gravel)
-Piping
-Pump
-Fish
-Plants
-Filter or two

A simplified system


A system must do the following things:

*Supply the fish with clean oxygenated water(aeration)
*Have a substrate that bacteria can cling to to convert ammonia to nitrates and

filtering of solids.
*Have plants that use the nitrates in the water.
*Be between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius.
*Be semi automated, creating it's own cycles of flood and recede like clock work.
*Be capable of fully draining the plant trays but allow them to flood to full with no over spill during a flood interval.
*Clean more nitrates out than the fish can make.
*GROW FOOD.


Benefits of an aquaponic system.

#1. Low Water use.
Due to water reclamation after a flood, the total water actually used by the system to grow food is 80-90% less than regular farming.

#2. No Chemical Growth Aids.
The things feeding the plants are the fish. nothing is wasted. There will be no leftover salty toxic sludge like in hydroponics.

#3. The system is Semi-Automated.
Once up and running a single worker can maintain the system and harvest the plants with little effort.

#4. Accelerated growth Compared to conventional farming.
It grows faster due to proper growing conditions.

#5. Year round harvesting.
By spacing planting by intervals and replacing what you harvest with new seedlings fresh food can be harvested year round.
*assuming we keep climate controll.

#6. Premium Prices if sold.
Lack of chemical additives and pesticides means we get GRADE A Organic Produce.
Perfect in everyway...

#7. Location? Anywhere.
You can set this system up anywhere there is water and electricity.

#8. Easy Repairs.
The system itself is simply built and easy to repair.

#9. Wild Life Conservation.

A.Fish are being grown in a self cleaning environment, and eaten. Reducing consumption on wild stocks.

B.We start a re-population effort for depleted stocks.

#10. Lower energy costs.
The only electric part in the system is a motor. Unless using fluorescent lights to go all night/ using climate control.

#11. It Can Be Done Locally.
Lower transportation costs alongside allowing more species of veg that don't transport well long distances. Also tastier veg.




Cost.
To Get the system in place cost wise is to be determined. the following are part of it:

Land,
Greenhouses,
Materials,
Labor,
Design,
Seeds,
Fish,
Maintenance,
Transportation,
Utilities,
Marketing,
Taxes,

Anything else we can think of.

[Patrick]

PLANT Growing.

In a nutshell:

Quicker Growth, Better for you, Tastier, Organic, Green technology, Diverse species of plant.

(That last one is important. Due to the lowered transportation time to the consumer "Anontown" species prone to keel over mid transport can be grown!)




To grow plants, we need some ideas of what were growing them in.

Leafy plants need something for roots to cling to. Thats the substrate.

Root vegetables need something to dig into. Deeper substrate.

Vine plants need something to climb up. Lattices above the plant trays!

Fruit plants (IE tomatoes and strawberries) need support structures. Cages and cups!




To make things Easier lets just say we have a deep substrate with easy to attach accessories.


Now what shall we grow?

Vegetables:

Lettuce, Carrots, Cucumber, Zuchini, Peppers, Radishes, Beets, Beans, Peas, Onions, Garlic, Rhubarb, Squash, Pumpkins, Chives, Eggplants.

Suggestions to add?

Fruit:

Tomato, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Kiwi, Grapes, Watermelon, Honey dew, Cantaloupe, Avocado.

Suggestions?

Herbs:

Mint, Dill, Rosemary, Oregano, parsley, Lemongrass.

Any suggestions?


Reccomended against in Aquaponics: Corn, Wheat, Oats ect.

The stuff is cheap. farmers already do that awsome.




How The Growing cycle would work.

For immediate consumables (Like lettuce) we would plant groups in week intervals. when a group is ready we harvest and replace with a new group.
So we get new produce in that vegetable each week.

For the plants that keep on giving we space them out by 3 week intervals which allows new plants to come in as old ones die out.

Certain plants that live for long times (Grapes and kiwis) we would plant new ones whenever the old ones die or stop producing.

Things that are large and take time to ripen (pumpkins) will be planted every 3 months.








The number of plants would need to be calculated on how much is consumed by the town.

IE if lettuce grows to maturity in 4 weeks then we need 4 groups of lettuce.
Each group when harvested must fill the requirement for lettuce for 200 people for a week.

5 people to a head/day =40 heads of lettuce/ day x 7 = 280 heads of lettuce minimum per week.





Then we want to sell to local towns right?

Well bump production up by 4ish. lets say 1000 heads of lettuce / week.

If we sold 650 heads of lettuce per week at prices of between 2.50$ - 5.00$

(Due to premium organic produce)

per week gross from lettuce = 1625$ to 3250$

Or 6500$ to 13000$ a month in surplus lettuce sales.

And thats only lettuce.




But how much space does it take to grow 4 groups of 1000 lettuce heads?

Assuming they are spaced 6 inches from eachother we can fit 8 accross a 4 1/2

foot tray 50 plants long and have 10 sections of plant tray with thier own little pumps and fish barrels attached.

Then the food trays themselves would take 45 feet wide + 4 feet between them

for working space = 95 feet in one direction in the other direction would take

25 feet plus working space = 40 feet ish.

95 x 40

Methinks it would be better to split it up into 8 smaller greenhouses.

Besides, we dont even know what kind of green houses we will be using.


SEED GERMINATION

We will need a seperate green house for seed germination prior to planting.
Using moist sponges and damp cloths.

Or if just throwing them onto wet substrate works then we replant in proper orders.

[FluffySheepz]

Can I take a shot ad designing something like what you have in mind?

Also have you thought about extending it up and down?

I.E You double stack the filters on one end. Stack 4 high slanted slightly down over a decent distance. Have the fish under the four stacks seeded in the earth on a slant the other way. Cycle the whole system keeping is warm by heating the ground... This won't work for all but a serious of cascading plant trays for certain plants would do wonders. We could even off set it. Have the vine plants on button and work up 4-5 stacks.

I assume, Tilapia would be the main fish?

And a second thought. With the fish tank partially seeded in the ground we could grow massive amounts of mushroom under it with doing nothing at all but getting a small piece of wood with the cultures.....

[Mephisto893]

dude. i love this idea. every food he named is absolutely love.

[anon]

All of this is like a wet, plant filtered, and then recirculated dream.

[MultiAnonymousG]

I assume, Tilapia would be the main fish?

how do they taste? or could they be sold with a good proffit?

[Mephisto893]

I love tilapia. they aren't fishy tasting at all, because they don't have many fish oils. i'm not sure about profit, but i do know they are a fish regularly sold in stores.

[MultiAnonymousG]

I love tilapia. they aren't fishy tasting at all, because they don't have many fish oils. i'm not sure about profit, but i do know they are a fish regularly sold in stores.

well if they taste good we shouldent sell them

[anon]

Rivercat is alright some of the time, I guess, but it is a strong taste, and I can't really see myself enjoying it if it were the only fish day after day.

[AppleCheeks]

This is good hydroponics is mandatory considering the seasons in this place (not ideal for farms).

However we will need lots of electricity and I am certain a utilities companies will fuck us hard so after a while we will need to build a Wind and solar array.

the less reliance on people outside of our town the better.

After we get well settled and the town grows we can start brewing our own beer and raising natural beef.

I want our anons to get skinny and eat well, not that vegetarian and vegan bullshit but a balanced diet of non poisoned non processed food (though we can import that stuff).

[Gravitas]

Aquaponics is definitely the way to go.

Any estimates on how much it would cost to set up a system to feed X amount of people?

[luftwaffle]

Would'nt crop rotation need to be put in affect to stop the soil from diluding from constant lettuce growth?
Also we could grow herbs so minor health issues for headaches and stomach problems.

[throw away account 1]

After we get well settled and the town grows we can start brewing our own beer and raising natural beef.

I want our anons to get skinny and eat well, not that vegetarian and vegan bullshit but a balanced diet of non poisoned non processed food (though we can import that stuff).

Cattle wouldn't be very wise to raise. The land and shelter they require combined with the amount of grazing they do would be a waste. I like beef just as much as the next guy, but it isn't worth raising it.

This aquaponics idea sounds amazing though. I would add Soy beans and/or rice to the list of foods. Rice would be weird to grow in this style, but it seems possible.

[Bman]

I was thinking also if we're serious about maximizing production to possibly set it up inside a hyperbaric chamber as well

[Moxi]

what would that do?

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