7 Easy Steps In Making An Aquaponics System And Its Mechanism

The mechanism of an improvised aquaponic system involves 6 simple steps-to-follow such as: gather all needed materials, set up the tank, work on the grow beds, hook the submersible pump, fill in the tank, and start growing plants.

Aquaponics involves two things; fish culturing and soil less planting. Both live and work together to have a balanced environment. Here is a simple list of procedures in setting up your own tank.

1. How to Set Up the System

An improvised system doesn't have to involve complicated procedures. To start with, you just have to secure all the basic materials, so that you can create your simple, yet effective aquaponics. Kindly see the simple steps-to-follow below.

2. Gather All Needed Materials

Be ready with all the necessary materials, so that you can finish the set up in no time. You need tank, filter, pump, gravel, water, plants, and fish.

3. Set Up the Tank

Once you have everything, you are now ready to start with the set up, which is as simple as setting up an aquarium. Place the filter inside the tank and connect it to the tubes. The amount of water should depend on the size of the fish with a ratio of 1 gallon per 1 inch of fish.

4. Work on the Grow Beds

Small holes must be created at the bottom of the grow beds to allow water to drain towards the tank and another at the back where the tube for water pump can be inserted. Pour in the gravel slowly, but make sure that these are already thoroughly washed to remove dirt and residues.

5. Hook the Submersible Pump

Submerge the pump into the tank and connect tubes to their respective holes; one takes up water from the tank to the grow beds while, the second is vice versa. Allow the tube to extend at least 3/4 the height of the grow bed.

6. Fill In the Tank

Gradually fill in the tank with water and switch on to see if water is pump into the grow beds. Make sure that air pump produces bubbles for enough oxygenation. Wait for several hours before you add fish in your tank to ensure that chlorine is completely removed. The fish of choice for smaller and more confined space are the gold fish, koi, and janitor fish. However, if you are planning to make a larger one, Tipalia is the best choice since they can stand any water type. Regularly check the pH, so that both the fish and plants can survive.

7. Start Growing Plants

Ideally, growing plants should start after 4 weeks where the system is already suitable for farming. The ideal plants that are able to thrive with this set-up are the leafy ones such as lettuce and herbs; however, tomatoes, squash, and peppers also respond well to this type of farming.

How Does the System Work

The water coming from the tank is being pumped through small pipes into the grow beds to supply the plants. After it has been evenly distributed, the rough stones and gravel serve as filters, so that when water goes back to the tank it is now clean and ready to be utilized again by the fish. Due to evaporation, you need to regularly add small amount of water to replenish whatever is lost. The fish waste serves as the source of food for the plants while, the plants provide oxygen for the fish at the same time get rid of water impurities. This produces a cycle, which is the basic mechanism of alternative farming.

To preserve an ecologically-balanced environment, the use of chemicals when growing plants must be avoided. Learning how to use alternatives is a better step to take for a healthier atmosphere.

Reference: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/6-Easy-Steps-In-Making-An-Aquaponics-System-And-Its-Mechanism

Aquaponics Design

I need to figure out what kind of Aquaponics system design suitable for me, so I've google'd quite a few of them and saved those for future references. Some are really inspiring and ingenious designs that are worth sharing with u guys.

This somewhat the simple design that I was looking for; 2 growbeds, 1 fish tank, and a pump. But I wanted an aquaponics system using hydroponic (or deep water raft) system for my vegetables.

Realization of the above design. Somebody must have build up this system according to that design and made it work. Nice looking system, but still too big for me to try, unfortunately.

Now this is almost perfect, except that its for indoor system rather than outdoor. It could be done without the lighting if it's to be set-up outside tho. Quite an impressive design.

The system from University of Virgin Island. One of the first systems I encountered back in 2006. Used as a learning field for Aquaponics study. Too big for me of course, just wanted to share it with u guys.

This would be how that system looks like under the raft. Remember that this is a deep water raft system much like the one I tend to adopt in my trial system at home.

Great design to accommodate the vege raft on the fish tank itself. Thus saving space for a more bigger fish population. But having too big fish to vegetable ratio will be problem for this setup I reckon.

A bigger aquaponics design set-up, which I assume is for commercial purposes. The interior would probably looks like:

Which is fine if I'm running a commercial-based aquaponics. But I'm trying to find something I can work with; get my hobby started, get to do the trials & errors (hopefully few errors).

Having seen all the design I could search in the net, this one of the smallest and simplest of aquaponics design I've came upon. Suitable in urban area where space is tight while still having all the features of an aquaponics system.