Myself, with an aquaculture background & prior dabbling in AP, I wanted to do another AP setup.
Peter, the property owner, had a keen & growing interest in setting up a system.
Our mutual and instant merge of interests, individual life's knowledge & skill base has set the path for our DIY AP System Adventure.
The property is fairly steep with the bottom 2 acres being a flat creek flood plain. Peter has done well establishing food, health & fruit trees arranged through out the property.
We have great run off feeding 3 dams totaling 450-500,000ltrs storage, water is not a huge issue here, though you can never have enough.
One of our main goals was to use as much recycled & cheap DIY materials as we could including mixing and matching any 'left about bits-n-pieces' we had between us... we were lucky to have quite a fair bit, including most of the fish equipment needs.
After a lot of research combined with heaps of theory, custom design, layout, & config sessions... requiring much brain lubrication of the brewed nature... we came up with the conclusion we will build in stages.
We will alter & scale up various aspects when fish growth require, combined with ongoing landscape, materials needs & construction time.. whilst trying to keep a realistic DIY budget.
PVA Final System Specs will be -
Fish & Filter Systems
2 x 5000ltr (5mtr x 1w x 1.2h) fiberglass fish tanks
4 x 650ltr rearing tanks
gravity fed in order...
1 x 150ltr sieve solids filter into
1 x 1500ltr swirl pond into a dropping series of
4 x 200ltr reverse flow, top drain moving bed bio ball filters into
1 x 2000ltr sump
Air will be added through various points in fish tanks & filters @ 15,000ltrs p/h
Water is pumped from sump @ 16,000 ltrs per hour into a series of -
Crops Growing Systems
6 x 700ltr f&d media grow beds @ 3.5 x 1 x 200mm deep
2 x 1100ltr f&d media grow beds @ 3.5 x 1 x 400mm deep
1 x 15mtr hydro style tube system @ 100 holes
1 x 72mtr hydro style tube system @ 400 holes
8 x 45ltr f&d seed rearing trays
All water leaving crop growing systems is gravity fed back into fish tanks.
Fish tanks water volume turnover 1.6 times per hour.
11,300ltrs fish tanks
2450ltrs filtration
2000ltr sump
Total Fish System = 15,750ltrs
Total Crop System = 6,760ltrs media beds + 500 hole hydro style tube system
System will be powered completely off grid via DIY 1.8kw solar panel array including sun tracking unit, 20kw battery barrage & 6kw-240v power inverter system.
Excess power produced will be used for swimming pool pump, night lights, shed lights, power tools & computers and the most important piece of equipment in any serious AP system - the beer fridge.
Obviously even the best of plans get changed from time to time.. but those are the plans.
... producing fresh organic fruits , vegetables, fish, crayfish & energy - In our backyard.
Welcome to our adventure ...
Aquaponics is a natural eco-system, which organically produces vegetables, fish & crayfish. It is the integration of fish cultivation, aquaculture, with hydroponic plant production.
Fish wastes are 'filtered' by natural bacteria producing a rich nutrient source for the plants. The plants utilize these nutrients for growth, thus purifying the water to then be returned to the fish. This continuous cycle is what happens in a nature.
Aquaponics has many advantages including, requiring much less space than traditional farming methods, highly efficient food productive method - potentially higher than hydoponics, with zero environmental impact.
- No chemical fertiliser's, pesticides, insecticides or soil conditioners are used.
- Zero water waste. All water is constantly purified by the plants and recirculated back to the fish.
- 100% of all nutrients are used, creating two crops from one nutrient source - the fish food.
- 100% of wastes generated are utilized on site through filters that feed the plants. Worm composts & Black Soldier Fly's are utilized for all vegetable off cuts and house hold waste's, creating natural healthy fish food source's. Worm & BSF castings being used for enhancing soil condition.
- As a source of protein, fish are the most efficient convertors out of all our farmed animals, achieving feed to flesh conversion efficiency close to 100%.
Aquaponics is a 100% natural eco-system.
PVA has also incorporated a totally off grid solar power installation, supplying power for the system, work shed and computers.
