Aquaponics - Combined fish and vegetable farming

1. Aquaponics – An Urban Friendly Farming

2. Aquaponics Defined
The integration of:
Aquaculture – Growing fish in a re-circulating system
Ponos – The Greek word for growing plants with or without
media

3. The world faces a number of crisis today:
 Increasing population
 High fuel consumption
 Food shortage
 Global warming
 Inorganic food Consumption
 Water shortage
The best alternative for this is AQUAPONICS

4. How Aquaponics Works
1. Fish are raised in a tank
2. Water from the fish tank is pumped to the plants
3. Bacteria convert ammonia and nitrite to nitrate
4. Plants absorb the nutrient rich water
5. Filtered water is returned to the fish tank
Fish are Happy!
Plants are Happy!
We get more to eat!

5. What is Aquaponics ?
Aquaponics is the farming of fish and plants in a single
recirculating system. The waste from the fish becomes the nutrients for
the plants, and the plants in turn remove these nutrients from the water,
purifying it for the fish.
Types of Aquaponics System:
1.Gravel Bed Culture
2.Deep Water Culture
3.Nutrient Film Technique

6. AQUAPONICS CYCLE

7. Gravel Bed Culture
 In this the plants are rooted in coarse gravel or aggregate media.
 Bacteria grow on the media and convert the ammonia excreted by the fish to nitrate.
 Plants within the grow beds remove the nitrate from the water, which then returns to the
fish in a clean and healthy form .
 No mechanical or biological filtration is required as the gravel beds suit both purposes.

8. Deep Water CultureDeep Water Culture
 The water from the fish tank is filtered
mechanically and biologically to remove the solids
from suspension and convert the toxic ammonia to
nitrate.
 This clean water then travels down the length of a
tank of water in which polystyrene rafts are floated.
 Plants are rooted through the holes in the
polystyrene sheets and into the water below, where
the roots take up nutrients from the water.
 DWC is most suited to leafy crops and there is some
discharge of water during the filtration process.

9. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
 As with DWC the water is filtered prior to going to the plants, but in this case the plants are
rooted through holes in pipes.
 The tip of the root touches the bottom surface of the pipe and absorbs nutrients from a thin
film of water trickling down the length of the pipe.
 This method also results in the loss of water and nutrients during filter cleaning, and is also
best suited to leafy crops.

10. Why Aquaponics ?
Aquaponics is not only a most enjoyable way of producing high
quality, wholesome crops as a business or for own use, but it also has
several distinct advantages over both aquaculture and hydroponics.
.

11. ADVANTAGES OF AQUAPONICS
 Fish waste is utilised as plant feed rather than being wasted
 Excellent crop quality - both in terms of taste and appearance
 Provides a truly organic form of nutrients for the plants
 Produces an organic product (no fertilizer or herbicides used)
 No soil-borne disease as there is no soil & no water is wasted or consumed by
weeds
 Low electrical usage - commercial system (300m2) runs on <1kW of power !
 No crop rotation needed & No weeds to pull out

12.  Crop harvesting is quick and easy, regardless of the weather outside
 Crops can be grown all year-round.
 Higher yields than conventional farming
 Faster growth to market size due to optimal conditions being maintained
 Root temperature is very stable resulting in fewer disease issues than
hydroponics

13. Why do Plants like Aquaponics?
Nutrients are constantly provided
Don’t have to search for water or food
Less effort needed in putting out roots
All the energy goes into growing UP not DOWN
No weed competition

14. THANK YOU…