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LATEST DISRUPTIVE AGRI-TECHNOLOGY

AQUAPONICS

(Grow Fish and Vegetables – Save, Space, Time and Money)

16 October 2014 By: Mohammed Abdulkhader, CEO CoreValue Industrial and Business Consultants Pvt Ltd-Hyderabad

(ex-Banker-Corporate/Industrial ) Member-FAPCCI Industrial Development Committee email: mak@corevalue.in

Introduction:

Very few might have heard about this new portable farming technology called

Aquaponics. In simple words it is a combined process of Fishing and soil-less

farming integration and gives significantly high yields with minimum inputs and

NO LOSS OF WATER. In a further simple explanation: Grow plants with roots in

water, circulating water via a fish tank. Fish creates waste, water circulates and

creates rich plant feed, which then goes to the plant. The process can be coined

as high-performance agriculture. Some predict Aquaponics will be the future of

Organic farming. The output is pure, clean, natural and 100% organic. The

process is sustainable, doable at a localized level, compact, easily manageable

with limited means and can give output for daily use of a 5 member family.

Aquaponics can be set up in any climate, any season, and any location and in any

environment. It can be done indoors, backyard, building rooftop, terrace, balcony

space, kitchen garden, large window space and corridors, even with less than an

hour involvement. On a commercial scale (in acres and hectors) Aquaponics is

already giving impressive results. This is a technology that represents a small

managed “ecosystem” comprising a highly productive balance of fish, bacteria and

plants. Productivity can be year-round. Once will not be surprised to see the

Aquaponics growth in future, similar to what it has been to the poultry. Poultry is

now a mechanical production industry, same like a factory product.

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This interesting development happening in the world of Organic Farming by

integrating the use of latest knowledge/technology in in-house farming combining

Aquaculture and Hydroponics. The absence of soil completely eliminates soil

organisms and weeds. Comparatively Aquaculture is a bit complex when

compared with Hydroponics but the overall yield, results and achievements are

encouraging in Aquaponics, especially no waste and fish produce as the second

source of revenue. Research data so far available says that the Aquaponics

produce can be 8 to 10 times higher than traditional farming in the same space,

time and with lesser per capita crop costs.

Aquaponics is the combination of Aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as

snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) and Hydroponics (growing plants in water

or soil-less environment), in a carefully designed, hyper-productive closed-loop

system and symbiotic environment. In the 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 filtered out by the plants as vital

nutrients, after which the cleansed water is recirculated back to the fish pond.

The process is easy to understand, simple to learn and to operate successfully.

Due to widespread interest in local sustainable food initiatives, and growing

awareness that Aquaponics may allow for the production of both vegetables and

fish in water-deficient or soil-deficient zones competitively, its future is bright and

we could expect high growth in future with major commercial Aquaponics plants.

Aquaponics processes are scalable to meet and fit any investment size – from

table-top size to large-scale hitech on a number of acres and involving a number

of technical and non-technical staff.

There is no pesticide, no fungicide, no fertilizer, no watering the garden, no

bending down to weed the garden, and you produce food year round, no matter

how the climate or soil conditions. This can also work great in the Sahara Desert

or in Antarctica. In India also it is now gradually being adopted by farmers and

entrepreneurs given its benefits in terms of space, resources, organic quality,

quick payback period and RoI and overall benefits.

Aquaponics systems come in a wide variety of forms, ranging from a simple fish

tank set below a gravel filled vegetable bed (which also serves as a simple

biofilter), with water from the fish tank pumped up and through the grow bed; to

highly sophisticated systems incorporating multiple fish tanks, solid waste removal

systems, aerobic and anaerobic biofilters, intensive aeration systems for both

plants and fish, and sophisticated water quality monitoring and backup.

Aquaponics systems can be built in various sizes, applying economies of scale,

from small indoor/outdoor units to large commercial units, using the same

processes and technology. The systems usually contain fresh water, but salt

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water systems are plausible depending on the type of aquatic animal and which

plants or fish to be produced.

Technicals:

How Aquaponics work?”. It’s actually all quite simple. The below diagram shows its simplest form of Aquaponics process and the Nitrogen cycle.

http://homeaquaponicssystem.com/

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http://aquaponichowto.com

Step by Step Process:

Aquaponics involves worms, bacteria, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia. With the help of

nitrogen-fixing bacteria and worms it will breakdown the fish waste (faeces) into

nitrates and nitrites that can be absorbed by the plants as natural nutrients. The

resulting and residue clean water is then recirculated into the aquaculture tank.

The nitrogen cycle is what powers Aquaponics. There are several key players in the

overall nitrogen cycle, but the ones who tie it all together are nitrifying bacteria. Fish

food is the primary source of nitrogen input in an Aquaponics system, In other

words, the fish are fed food to produce ammonia rich waste, which accumulates in

the water (which is Ammonia waste) and is the plant nutrient.

The main input in an Aquaponics system is 1)fish food 2) power for running of

electric pumps that recirculate the water as needed. Water requirement is only 2 to

5% of traditional cultivation. Any loss, mainly from transpiration by plants and

evaporation is nominal and can be replenished. Waste disposal is very minimum and

organic. No issues with its disposal. Average fish feed ratio is said to be 1% of fish

weight i.e. 10 KG live fish needs 100 gr fish feed per day.

There is no such thing as a self-balanced Aquaponics system. Maintaining a healthy,

productive Aquaponics system requires closer monitoring, making adjustments when

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necessary and routinely checking your system's water temperature, pH, and

ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.

The bacteria that is cultured in the grow beds helps to break down impurities and as

a result, nitrogen remains, which is an essential nutrient for plants. The plant roots

filter the water which now contains nutrients for the fishes, and is pumped back

down to the fishes. The cycle then repeats itself.

Fish waste being a general organic fertilizer, a variety of plants can be grown

together in Aquaponics. In a well-established system, the different components such

as fish, worms, plants and various bacteria form a great, natural ecosystem that

resists diseases and the need to use any fertilizer.

One of the most important principles of Aquaponics systems is their reliance on

beneficial bacteria. You might want to learn how these bacteria function in the

conversion of ammonia to nitrate via the nitrogen cycle. Unfortunately, the mention

of “bacteria” often conjures up thoughts of “germs,” so we need to distinguish

between helpful microbes and the pathogens that can harm us. Both in nature and

in aquaculture, fish excrete ammonia from their gills as part of their waste-

elimination metabolism. The ammonia is then converted into nitrite and then to

nitrate by beneficial bacteria (such as Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter species). When

plant roots find nitrate in the solution around their roots, it is taken up by plants and

converted into amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

In contrast to the beneficial bacteria that help turn fish waste products into plant

food, zoonoses are diseases of animals, caused by bacteria and other organisms

that can be transmitted to humans. Zoonotic pathogens represent a health risk to

people contacting the water used in an Aquaponics system or to people consuming

food that has zoonotic pathogens on them. If the water you are using contains E.

coli, salmonella, or other pathogens, one must take immediate steps to address

potential contamination issues. These are minor risks and rare examples but

necessary precautionary measures must be taken for overall safety of produce,

plants, fish and the staff operating the system.

It is a best practice to source Aquaponics production water only from potable

sources. It is absolutely fine and advisable to flush “used” or excess fish effluent

water can be pumped into soil to irrigate and fertilize grassy areas, landscape

plants, or crops such as papaya and banana.

Being the more sustainable and profitable system of food generation, Aquaponics is

the future of alternative agriculture. Even though the initial cost of setting up a

complete system is higher, once established, it runs like clockwork with minimal

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recurring inputs –the only regular raw material purchase here is fish feed. Fish

fingerlings are to be sourced through reliable source.

Imbalances in an Aquaponics system are rectified by adding either more fish to

meet additional demand for nutrients, or more plants for enhanced process of

cleaning the water. Thorough understanding of the symbiotic relationship between

all the components is necessary to take appropriate decisions.

It is important to keep warm-blooded animals (birds, dogs, cats, rats, sheep, goats,

ducks, cattle, pigs, etc.) away from your commercial produce, because they may

contain pathogens harmful to humans. Placing netting over your produce operation

will reduce animal-to-plant contact. Keeping your production tanks off the ground

will also limit access by animals.

The level of research for Aquaponics processes is in mediocre stages and

Aquaponics farmers and entrepreneurs are learning new techniques thru trial and

error while experimenting new challenges. Some large-scale farms, e.g. one in UAE

(the largest Aquaponics farm in the world!) and in other western countries have

adopted various advanced techniques employing highly qualified agricultural

experts.

For Aquaponics, well known Consultants are must for atleast first year, then training

can be arranged for inhouse staff. Aquaponics is a bit technical thing and must have

relatively qualified agriculture graduates to supervise.

ITEMS THAT CAN BE GROWN in AQUAPONICS

You can grow nearly all edible vegetables as well as fruits with:

• No chemicals

• No pesticides

• 100% organic

A few items already tried and tested in different locations are the following.

However, Aquaponics Consultants can guide for further produce or varieties:

Tomato

Watermelon

Brinjal

Lettuce (used in Salad)

Cabbage

Capsicum

Cucumber

Carrots & Root Vegetables

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Sprouts

Strawberry.

Leafy Greens

Legumes

Melons and Squashes

Berries

Herbs of various kinds

Peppers

Some tropical fruit trees

One of the quickest-yield vegetables you can get out of an Aquaponics system is

lettuce. Reaching peak maturity at around 28 days, lettuce grows ideally in

floating beds. The consumption of salads and lettuce is rapidly increasing in

modern India.

In Aquaponics vegetables grows atleast 2 times faster and you can plant quickly

compared to conventional methods, and maintaining the populated area of the

grow-beds.

One can get full size lettuce leaves in 24 days.

One can get cabbage large size in 5 weeks.

It means that 1 square meter of Aquaponics is the equivalent of 7 to 8 square

meters of land. It uses very little electricity. Plans to build an Aquaponics system

are available on the web. You could build it with local material from India or any

country in the world. There are Consultants in Western India, Calcutta and Kerala

as far as the information available on the Internet.

Tomatoes are well worth the wait, taking around three months to reach peak

maturity depending on the strain and variety. Like beans, they grow best in a

media bed at a temperature of 20-35 Centigrade. In order to ensure the highest

yield from your tomato plants, be sure to trim off all shoots, leaving just the main

vine. This will ensure that the bulk of the plant’s nutrients are delivered to the

tomatoes once they begin to form.

In about 65 days, you can have a full harvest of delicious carrots. They have a

very well defined optimal growing temperature, at between 59 and 64 degrees

Fahrenheit, although they are capable of growing in extreme temperatures in

both directions. Wicking beds provide the perfect growing environment for carrots

and other root vegetables. Such beds can also be horizontal upto 10-12 feet.

With an Aquaponics system, your ability to grow edible plants is limited only by

your own desire to do so. The system does most of the labour that would be

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required of you in an ordinary in-ground growing operation, so you can spend

your time on more pressing issues like scheduling harvests and finding new and

interesting applications for your crops. When done correctly, you should be able

to maintain a constantly rotating supply of organic, pesticide-free vegetables that

can carry on indefinitely in a properly maintained system.

Fish varieties: Since the process involves fish and vegetables side by side within the cycle, following

known Fish varieties have been tested and tried in Aquaponics:

1) Tilapia

Recommended To Eat: Yes

Easy to bread

Fast Growing

Can withstand very poor water conditions

Require warm water

2) Trout

Recommended To Eat: Yes

Great for cool temperatures (10°C -20°C)

Very fast growth rate

Excellent food conversion ratio

3) Goldfish

Recommended To Eat: No

Aquarium fish

4) Carp

Recommended To Eat: Yes

Good reproductive capabilities

Can adapt easily in various environments

5) Catfish Recommended To Eat: Yes

Need to be skinned because they don’t have scales

Fast growing

Good food conversion ratio

6) Koi Recommended To Eat: No

Can thrive in an Aquaponics system

Long life span

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Great resistance against common parasite

popular for ornamental purposes and for aquariums

7) Largemouth Bass

Recommended To Eat: Yes

Very varied diet

Small largemouth bass tastier in low temperature water.

Catla, Murrel and Rohu are most expensive and profitable for economic activity.

So far Tilapia is tested and tried mostly. The writer is not an expert in Fisheries

but data accumulation on fish is from data research.

The Commercials:

Aquaponics is in commercial terms, capitalization of a natural process for overall

benefit, product-wise, health-wise, money-wise.There is no hard and fast rule in

investing such ventures. Since Aquaponics flourished from a backyard farming

hobby and then moved on to commercial scale, there is no cap on capital

investment. The Consultants in India are running commercial Aquaponics for

profit and also same time arranging for training sessions for new aspirants.

In US and other Western Countries, people have taken it as hobby and spend

good time in building the complete Aquaponics system from scratch.

There are few instances of commercial operations in India. As a hobby that will

help meet household needs, a potential farmer can plan for a 500 kg of fish

output in a pond with 10,000 litres of water in about half a cent in the backyard.

(1 cent = 435 sq ft.) The investment will be within Rs 1 Lakh. For commercial

operations, a minimum of 4 cents is suggested by an expert from Kerala for 5,000

kg of fish output, using about 50,000 litres of water and an investment of Rs 3 to

4 Lakhs, depending on land cost/payments. The Consultants says the investment

can be recovered within a year from the fish and vegetable harvests, depending

upon prices during the harvest period. These estimates are indicative only, while

a serious business plan must be made to estimate actual cost of fittings, input

costs and a broad estimate of output (in case it is a commercial venture). If this is

a hobby-like activity, there should not be a cost consideration for doing a hobby,

but only look at one own budget.

For a commercial project, there are many qualified and experienced consultants

available in India and abroad who can guide for a project of varying size,

depending upon investors capabilities.

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Critical Success Factors

Regular knowledge update.

Potential Partnership with similar Growers, Research labs, Government

bodies.

Maintain consultancy of the right people for atleast 2 to 3 seasons/cycles.

Regular Cleaning and maintaining of grow-beds

Maintain Water PH levels. Water Chemistry knowledge is must.

Check and Improve Fish to Plant Ratio for ammonia balance.

Commitment to spend reasonable time to look after the living beings.

Industry Analysis

Aquaponics industry is in early stage of wider recognition and passing through

new revelations and new experiences. Barriers to entering this industry are low in

terms of finance, economies of scale. The only suppliers that have bargaining

power in this industry are fingerling suppliers. On the buyers’ side, there is good

and growing market, so no bargaining power of buyers. There is absolutely no

rivalry among the industry players. In fact, they have to work closely together to

improve operational excellence by sharing knowledge and experience. There can

be threat from similar process research in the industry but the output out of this

process is enormously acceptable to the consumer industry. In the nutshell,

prospects are extremely bright for Aquaponics. I will not be surprised, one day

most of the fish aquariums will run on Aquaponics. In the US, a company already

sells inhouse Aquarium sets that run on Aquaponics.

Overall, the potential for Aquaponics can be comparable with poultry industry.

Aquaponics might become an industry in future, same like what happened to

poultry and chicken production. Backyard gardening, balcony vegetables, parking

side fruits may be a reality once the word spreads.

Market Size/Competition

The products or output from Aquaponics farming are organic, high-quality

and free from any pesticides use. Organic products have special market

and prices are much higher than the traditional product range, be it

vegetables, herb or fruit. Therefore financial gains are expected to be

encouraging vs traditional products.

The mantra these days is “be wealthy but with health”, otherwise what is

the use of wealth if no health to enjoy. In fact, health itself is a very

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valuable wealth, realized only when someone gets ill. So, the search for

Organic and pesticide-free goods are on the rise. Consumers are willing to

pay higher for such type of products. Size of the market is difficult to be

quantified but the bigger market is in urban areas.

Competition for Organic produce is relatively low. Therefore, more and

more farmers can switch to Aquaponics – but utilizing the best operational

systems to reduce any losses in the output.

The Challenges and Risks:

Though the Aquaponics have a history of over 25 years, it has mostly been a

hobby and backyard activity. In recent years this is being adopted at commercial

scale. Some of the points raised here are more related to a commercial venture as

Indians are great innovators, early adopters of technology, shrewd entrepreneurs

and know the tricks of cost management. A reasonable commercial system up

and running profitably, requires hands-on involvement of an experienced

Aquaponics Consultant or Advisor. Some challenges are noted below:

Hardly any support from any state or central government is currently

available for Aquaponics. No encouragement at all.

Sourcing and availability of quality seeds and fish fingerlings all year

around.

Costs related to project’s finance/operations, electricity costs and labour

costs are major challenges. The farmer has to carefully monitor these for

better financial gains.

Determine Fish to Plant Ratio – currently mostly, randomly done with little

research on it. Both Fish and Plants require certain levels of feed and

nitrates. Any shortfall will result in lower growth – both plants and Fish.

Determine average plant density.

Maintain water warm year around - circulating

Prepare for air-borne diseases combat

Synchronization of fish waste, clean water levels and nitrates quantity in

line with plant/fish needs.

Heat and Pump use on Solar energy – goodbye to power cuts.

Lower the wattage requirements to the minimum and build PV system.

Food Certification (wherever required) to prove the claims of organic

process and other local certifications.

Select the best plants to grow year around that will yield the highest profit.

Professional “Go to Market” strategy for best financial results from the yield.

Fast handling, storage and distribution of perishable products.

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Data and knowledge sharing with similar farmers.

Financing for large-scale operations by investors/government bodies.

Trained agricultural engineers/staff.

Finally, a major challenge that I can think of is growing shrimps profitably

in Aquaponics.

By following some simple, basic sanitation procedures, the farmers can

significantly minimize this risk. Key areas of consideration include human

sanitation harvesting produce safely managing warm-blooded animal faeces water

sources for fish and produce zoonoses prevention disposing of the system’s waste

water.

Next Steps:

Interested hobbyists, entrepreneurs, farmers, land owners, farm owners,

large house owners, apartment owners, please accumulate reasonable

amount of information to evaluate the proposal in terms of overall benefits.

They can form working groups or societies for such collective ventures.

Knowledge and experience sharing is a must for such ventures.

Visit a nearby operating Aquaponics farm. In India there are many

operating plants of different scale; such as a newest commercial scale

Aquaponics farm just started operating on 6 acres of land - only 65 KMs

away from Hyderabad.

Anyone can install a backyard version of one of these Aquaponics Systems

in their backyard/rooftop/patio and grow with more abundance. It is time

to solve issues such as, arrest vegetable prices, grow our own food items,

and consume healthy products. Anyone can do it, once you learn how. In

conclusion, it will be a service to humanity by way of adopting such a

process and technical knowhow which give us so many benefits, direct and

indirect.