Aquaponics Upgrade: Designing and Building

Max Hornick, Jennifer Lyon, Collin Cronin, Amy Kobylarz, Sean Westley

Design Goal:

●  Create a durable, low maintenance, highly efficient, low energy/resource usage, and adaptable aquaponics system that can demonstrate outdoor and commercial potential

Building:

●  Alternative hydroponic systems

○  Vertical grow towers and deep water culture (DWC)

●  LED grow lights

●  Filtration

○  Radial flow separator/settler (RFS) and sand gravel-filled particulate biofilter

●  FIsh tank viewing window

Vertical Grow Towers

●  Grow plants in towers with water running down them

●  Optimizes space

●  Cost efficient

●  Performs nitrification, solids filtration, and mineralization

Deep Water Culture

●  In deep water culture systems, plants grow in rafts floating over a pool of water

●  Does not clog with solids

●  Inexpensive

●  Durable

●  Easy to clean and sanitize

●  High success rate in past years

LED Grow Lights

●  Blue lights for vegetative growth

●  Red lights for flowering and fruiting of plants

●  Energy efficient

Radial Flow Separator/Settler (RFS)

●  Mechanical filtration by redirecting water flow and using gravity to filter heavy waste solids

●  Captures solids better than swirl/vortex filters

●  Materials are easily accessed and relatively inexpensive

Sand and Gravel filled Particulate Gravel Filter ●  Use slow flow rate and high surface area of gravel and sand to create ideal

conditions for bacteria growth that converts ammonia into nitrate

●  Materials are easily accessed and relatively inexpensive

●  Superior biofiltration

Fish Tank Viewing Window

●  Allows people to easily observe the fish

●  Yellow Perch

○  Native to Michigan

○  Tolerate poor water quality

○  Reproductive reliability

○  Require less heat energy

○  Known to be successful in outdoor aquaponic systems