The

Aquaponics Guidebook

Aquaponics is proven worldwide as the most efficient and

sustainable way to grow food, on any scale.

Now, you can do it, starting today. Bevan Suits

Packed with web

links that take

you to the coolest

aquaponics sites on

the globe! Access

to hardware too!

Now selling

worldwide!

VOLUME 1

3rd EDITION

INTERACTIVE PDF EDITION!

Access to Personal Agriculture

“Somewhere between a multiversity textbook and DIY magic carpet”

Sequatchie Valley Institute

“All of us who value developing

workable solutions for a

sustainable future should read

this book.”Natural Life Network

“Hours of reading and learning are guaranteed!”

Aquaponics Europe

“The ultimate inspiration for

anyone interested by the idea

of producing vegetables and

raising fish on a micro-scale

and in a sustainable way”The Ecologist Magazine, London

Contents

Dedication

About This Book

Good Reasons for Aquaponics

Aquaponics Gallery

Introducing Aquaponics 1

Aquaponics Models 5 Nitrogen Cycle 6 A Basic Drip System 7 The Ebb & Flow System 8 The Hydroponic Raft System 9 The UVI System 10

Equipment / Media 11 Container Gallery 12 Pump 13 DO = Aeration 14 Heater 15 Plumbing 16 Lights 17 Water, Testing for Quality 18 Roots, Grow Media 19 Bacteria Rule 20 Growing Fish 21 An Affinity for Fish 22 Choosing Tilapia 24 Other Species 25 Tilapia Wellness 26 Food, Growth 27 A Home-built System 28 Getting Started 29 System Start-up 30 System Balance 31

Personal Agribusiness 32 Plant Farming 33 Thinking Production 34 Planning, Education, Finance 35 Grow Sell Eat Local 36

Scaling Up 37 Sheltering the System 38 Outside the Box 39 Technology, Community 40

Culturing the System 41

Resources 45 Interactive, North America 46 Interactive, Australia, Africa 47 Research Links 48

The Last Page 49

Picture Credits 50

Click to advance to selected page.

FAST, South Carolina

FAST, South Carolina

FAST, Kenya University of the Virgin Islands

Red Heeler, AustraliaGrowing Power, Milwaukee Growing Power, Milwaukee

Sustainable Design Group, Atlanta Sweet Water Organics, Milwaukee Murray Hallam, Queensland, Australia

Aquaponics Gallery Aquaponics is growing fish and plants in one system, with fish waste feeding the plants. It works in many variations of scale and form, though the basic concept does not change: Fish, bacteria and plants working together in a recirculating, soil-less system. It resembles a living organism, with a heart (the pump) and lungs (aeration). The bacteria remove waste like the kidneys and the liver. It will teach you a lot about food and this ecosystem we call home.

Build a small system. Then you will want to build a larger one., because it’s simple and it works.

Click on images to visit websites.

TheAquaponicsGuidebook

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Contents

Replace an aquarium filter with a pot of gravel. Put a plant in the pot. Let it drain back into the aquarium. That’s aquaponics, boiled down to its simplest form.

Now, consider it on a bigger scale: An above-ground swimming pool with 3000 gallons of water. 4-foot wide grow bed trenches and lined with rubber, stretching 100 feet. Out of this system a staggering amount of vegetables and fish protein can be produced, to be consumed, traded or sold. Inputs are fish food, electricity and a modest amount of maintenance.

Or how about this: Water from a fish pond is pumped up hill and filtered down through gravel grow beds. The clean water trickles back into the pond. Nothing is wasted. The excess nutrients provide a valuable crop.

Aquaponics is simple and it works.

It’s also curious that it hasn’t caught on in a bigger way, for all the clear and imme-diate benefits it provides.

Consider the Benefits:

Aquaponics is a highly efficient organic food growing system that produces a com-plete diet and requires no expensive or complex equipment.

With a clear understanding of how the components fit together, you can start putting a system together quickly.

It begins to deliver produce in just a few short weeks.

Only a modest amount of fresh water is needed, as the water for the plants is continuously circulated. Only water lost to evaporation is replaced. You can provide your own fish food supply in the form of worms, insects and aquatic duckweed (for tilapia).

Tilapia are the preferred aquaculture species worldwide. They taste great, grow fast, are very hardy and tolerate crowding. They grow from tiny fingerlings to one-pounders in about 8 months. A 500 gallon tank can produce 250 pounds of live fish, which go for about $5 per pound, retail.

Greens such as basil and lettuce will grow from seedlings to harvest in about 6 weeks. In a southern, 6 month growing season, that’s about 4 easy harvests. Basil wholesales for about $10 per pound.

If you add a greenhouse or other indoor growing environment with supplemental grow lights, you can grow year-round.

Introducing Aquaponics

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•

•

•

•

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Personal agriculture

is very important for

shaping our future

economy and environ-

ment. We used to have

an economy based on

food production.

TheAquaponicsGuidebook

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Contents

Nitrogen Cycle

How Things Grow

If you think of aquaponics as a system of fish and plants, you’re leaving out the most important group: bacteria. Without bacteria there is no connection be-tween the fish and the plants. The ammonia from the fish would kill the plants.

All of life on earth depends on bacteria converting waste matter to nutrient matter. This is called the nitrogen cycle or nitrification. Growing “organically” means to strengthen and support this natural process, without using anything synthetic or man-made.

What makes aquaponics so unique is that it contains bacteria and uses nitrifica-tion in the system. This is the field of Bioprocess Engineering.

New Perspective on the Ecosystem

Growingwithaquaponicscanhelpyourealizehowtheinvisiblequadrillionsofbacteriaexistall

aroundus,makinggrowthpossible.Itcanchangeyourperspectiveoftheworld.Yourplants’rapidgrowthistangibleevidenceoftheseorganisms.

Eventhoughwecan’tseethemwithoutahigh-poweredmicroscope,itcanbelikediscoveringa

newuniverseinyouryard,underyourfeet,onyourhandsandinyournose.

AmmoniaFish secrete ammonia from their

gills and in their waste.

This model is very simple for a process that is actually

very complex.

NitrificationA range of bacteria species consumes ammonia, convertingit first to nitrites (NO2) and then to nitrates (NO3).

Nitrate ConsumptionPlants thrive on nitrates.

TheAquaponicsGuidebook

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Contents

A Basic Drip SystemEach component of an aquaponic system can be grouped as a:

• Container Fish Tank, Grow Bed

• Connector Tubing, Valves, Pumps, Filters, Bulkheads

• Medium Water, Gravel (for plants & bacteria)

• Organism People, Plants, Fish, Bacteria

• Nutrient Fish Food, Fish Waste, Nitrogen, Oxygen, CO2

ORGANISMCONNECTOR

CONNECTOR

NUTRIENT

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

MEDIUM

CONNECTOR

MEDIUM

NUTRIENT

ORGANISM

ORGANISM NUTRIENT

ORGANISM

You could add Heat and Light asENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS andElectricity as POWER SOURCE.

This system is basic drip irrigation, with 1/8” holes drilled into the tube. . A mesh pump bag will help prevent clogging.Alternately you can add emitters, which are valves on a stick, that bring the water to each plant.

Plant

Grow tray

Gravel

Valve & Bulkhead

Water

Air

Fish Waste Fish Tank Pump

Tubing You

Bacteria

Fish Food

PUMP