Aquaponics

Aquaponics [[Image:{{{picture}}}|200px]] What: creating a sustainable garden with aquaponics Tagline: we want you to build the garden of eden! Maintainer(s): Tom, Lucas

What is Aquaponics

Aquaponics (pronunciation: /ˈækwəˈpɒnɨks/), or pisciponics, is a sustainable food production system that combines conventional aquaculture, (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks), with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In aquaculture, effluents accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity for the fish. This water is led to a hydroponic system where the by-products from the aquaculture are broken down by nitrogen fixing bacteria, then filtered out by the plants as nutrients, after which the cleaned water is recirculated back to the animals. As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all aquaponics systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponics system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics)

Picture from opensourceecology.org

Goals

Goal is to make a modular, low cost aquaponics setup that's accessible for everyone that has one (or more) square meter space.

• Cultivate edible fish.
• Cultivate vegetables and fruit all year long.

• Work out a good local growing calendar for indoor (artificial light, forced seasons) and outdoor (sun, real seasons).
• Work out a pest control plan proactively.
• Work out good fish feed program and how to make your own fish food.

• Keep the water at a certain temperature, by heating with a compost heap, or cooling with rainwater. Automated.
• Make a fish feeder.

Stuff to take into account

Energy consumption

• Water flow pump (for circuit between fish tank and grow bed)
• Water flow pump (for circuit between fish tank and compost heap)
• Running Raspberry Pi for continuous measurement of water level, temperature, ph, etc

Keeping water at temperature

To keep our water at a fixed temperature, we build a compost heap next to the greenhouse. We measure the temperature of the water with an arduino and start a small water pump when the water is too low. This water circuit gets water out of our fish tank and runs through the compost heap, which is around 60°C. The heated water gets back into the fish tank. This continues until a certain temperature is achieved. Getting heat out of the compost (and methane) is called the 'jean pain method'. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Pain#Jean_Pain_Composting & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVCaczil4W4

See http://hackerspace.be/compost

Other Aquaponics projects

Aquaponics at Mediamatic

See http://www.mediamatic.net/251284/nl/wat-is-aquaponics

Research materials

• Aquaponics on wikipedia.org
• Aquaponics on opensourceecology.org
• Composting, the Jean Pain method
• Open source ecology: A stirling engine
• Youtube aquaponics video
• Noisebridge Bioboard wiki page
• Long-day control of flowering in everbearing strawberries
• The effect of red and blue light component on the growth and development of frigo strawberries
• Microbial solar cells: applying photosynthetic and electrochemically active organisms