Joe with www.TXUSFarms.com has provided us with a wealth of information about aquaponics. Instead of overwhelming our site members with all of the information at once, we are going to break it down into multiple sections.
Cycling your aquaponic system:
Once your aquaponic system is up and running it must be cycled which means you have to allow enough time for the 2 types of bacteria to colonize and grow in numbers to consume all of the ammonia created by the fish. Ammonia is toxic to fish in concentrations above 3 to 5 parts per million. Alongside ammonia, there are nitrites, which are also very toxic to the fish and should never exceed 2 to 5 parts per million. These both must be monitored daily to keep the health of the fish.
How to cycle your system:
There are 2 common ways to cycle your aquaponic system.
First way to cycle your aquaponic system is to have a few fish in the system to slowly build up the ammonia(NH4) until the bacteria have had time to colonize and grow in numbers to consume the ammonia. Then the ammonia will have been oxidized into nitrites(NO2). The aquaponic system will also need time for another bacteria to colonize and grow in numbers to consume all of the nitrites turning them into nitrates(NO3). Nitrates are much less toxic to the fish and are available for the plants to use. Once nitrates are in the system your bacteria are building in numbers, colonizing your system. At this point you can start slowly adding more fish. Cycling your aquaponic system normally takes 6 to 8 weeks, sometimes longer, depending on temperatures.
Second way of cycling your aquaponic system is to use household ammonia in a bottle with no scents or added additives, as these could endanger your fish and plants once they are added. This way no fish is needed to cycle the system. This allows you to not have to worry about the fish while cycling the system while the bacteria are growing their colony. You will need to test the water for nitrites and then nitrates.(see test kits and water management tools on how to test these parameters).
Once nitrates are in the system your bacteria are building in numbers. As soon as the ammonia and nitrite levels are below 0.125 parts per million, then and only then, the fish can be added to the system along with the plants you have chosen. If you are cycling a large system you might want to add a few of the fish at a time after the original cycling is done to ensure there is not a spike of ammonia and nitrites under the increased fish load. Cycling your aquaponic system normally takes 6 to 8 weeks, sometimes longer, depending on temperatures.
There are ways to speed up the cycling process, but are on average very expensive and have no guarantee on time reduction. Using cycled media is one way. Meaning the media has already been in another system and is mature, but make sure you are not bringing in diseases, parasites or invasive species with the used media.
Growing Options:
System types
Flood and drain
NFT (Nutrient Film Technique)
vertical
DWC (Deepwater culture)
Dutch Buckets
flood to drain
aeroponics
media beds
fog
decoupled aquaponics using a mineralizer.
These different type of systems can be an individual system or can be grouped together into one aquaponic system. Daily maintenance is required to operate an aquaponic system. This is mainly dependent on which type of system you are going to build. Our NFT aquaponic system takes minutes a day, but can not be left alone for more than 3 days. Whereas a DWC can be left alone for weeks as long as precautions have been taken care of such as automated top offs of the water. My basic rule is 3 = 1. This rule is about back ups. What if a pump quits working? Do you want to wait until one is shipped to you? Do you want to pay twice as much at a brick and mortar to replace the pump? Absolutely not. The fish and plants do not have the time to wait, but in a DWC if the pump goes out you can have days before adverse effects happen and in a NFT style system you have minutes to fix the problem before disaster happens. Ask as many questions as you can, there is a huge learning curve to water chemistry, not to mention the fish and plants. Advantages and disadvantages to each type of system Flood and drain - This style of system can be used with media or no media. The advantage is that the water level is constantly going up and down which pulls oxygen into the root systems.
NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) - My favorite system of all. Easy to use and very easy to harvest and has a low cost of start up but is more advanced in operation. This system uses a small film of water that runs through a channel along the plant roots and allows the plants to basically have their roots in contact with oxygen and nutrient rich fish water at all times. A NFT system has very little overhead cost to operate. NFT has several disadvantages. First is that NFT channels heats up and cools off like a radiator causing large swings in temperature if not addressed correctly. A largersump tank and fish tank can help buffer temperature swings but only to a point. Insulating channelsis a giant plus but not always necessary. You canuse chillers and heaters to counter the effect of the temperature swings but with a cost of electricity and equipment. If your pump goes out you only have a small amount of time before the roots of the plant dry out causing damage to the plant. Back ups are your friend with this style system. Electric generators, water pumps, air pumps, This style system can not last long if a problem occurred.
Vertical Aquaponics- has a huge advantage in space needed to grow many plants in a small area. In a typical vertical aquaponic channel you can grow up to 60 plants per square foot of space. The disadvantages are the same as a NFT style of system. Mainly temperature swings are the biggest problem.Back ups are your friendwith this stylesystem. Electric generators, water pumps, air pumps, This style system can not last long if a problem occurred.
DWC (Deep water culture) - Also known as raft beds. This system is probably the most forgiving as a DWC system has more volume of water than any of the other types of systems. The more water you have to a point of course the more buffer you have from PH swings, temperature swings, and nutrient levels. DWC does require a higher nutrient level than other systems and can go for days if the pumps quits or you lose electricity.
Dutch Buckets - This is a very universal system that can grow larger plants such as tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers and so on. Plants that do not grow fast and have large root systems work very well in Dutch buckets. Disadvantages are these buckets need to be cleaned after every crop and maintained so that the water is always flowing.
Flood to drain- This style system is simple and easy. You are watering and fertilizing your plants whether in soil or in soilless media with the nutrient rich fish water being pumped in to flood them for a short amount of time and is then drained out of the system. I highly recommend having this on an automated timer. The main drawback is that every gallon used to water your plants needs to be replaced for the fish and has to be done on a schedule so that the fish water doesn't become toxic with many nutrients.
Aeroponics- This style of system offers the most oxygen to the roots of the plants and can cause massive acceleration in plant growth. Basically plant roots are suspended in the air and are sprayed with a fine mist of nutrient dense fish water. The only problem with this style of system is that if a pump goes out the roots can dry out quickly causing damage to the plants or even death of the plant.
Media beds - these are the most common types of system for small aquaponic systems. Media beds can accommodate almost any type of plant or tree. They are very easy to construct and are very simple in operation and cost. Combined with a bell siphon that allows tons of oxygen to the root system of your plants by filling and draining the media bed with water. Advantages include solid filtration, biological filtration, and ease of set up. The only disadvantage of this style system is if the pump goes out and the media bed is full of sludge the system can go anaerobic pretty quickly causing a spike in nitrites and ammonia, once the pump starts working the toxic water is then pumped back to the fish and can cause problems or even a fish die off. If this style system has a good solid filter these problems rarely occur. The only other disadvantage is the cost of media.
Fogponics- This is one of the best systems to accelerate growth in a plant as the nutrients are made into a fog using a sonic fogger. The main advantage is the small size of the water drop that easily is absorbed by the plant roots. The roots are also suspended in the air which allows massive oxygen to the root zone. Disadvantages are that this is a costly system and has little to no buffer if the pumps go out.
Decoupled aquaponics using a mineralizer - This style of aquaponics takes a great deal of knowledge to run. Basically you are separating the fish and plants from each other. By removing all solids from the fish side of the system and remineralizing them in a separate aerated tank called a mineralizer(aerobic septic tank) you can have more control of each system. This style can use any of the types of growing system in aquaponics and has several advantages. You can maintain higher PH levels in your fish side which they will love and lower the PH in your plant side which they will love. This style of aquaponics can use additives that normally would hurt the fish such as higher potassium, Iron, and phosphorus.
Thank you for joining us! We look forward to discussions and questions you may have about aquaponics. If you have question of any items not listed above, please have patience as the answers maybe coming in a future section.
Part I - Getting Started
Part - II Water Quality and Growing Options
Part - III Water Filtration Options
Part - IV Importance of Oxygenation
Part - V What to Plant
Part - VI Nutrients Cycle
Part - VII Biosecurity
Part - VIII Additional Types of Systems
Part - IX System Controls
Part X - Testing your System and Additives
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