Aquaponics Done Right. A new Commercial System in Pretoria with Rainbow Trout. The build!!! PART 2

craigcryptoking (69)in #homesteading • 6 years ago

Hey everyone, part 2 of the Aquaponics build I posted last week continues now be sure to check out the first post here where I featured most of the current build of the inside of the system both the fish farm as well as the hot houses. This time will be focused on the outside build and the seedlings.

https://steemit.com/homesteading/@craigcryptoking/aquaponics-done-right-a-new-commercial-system-in-pretoria-with-rainbowtrout-the-build

Here is the beginning of one of the many hot houses which will be built to house the plants, hot houses are generally better for hydroponics as well as aquaponics for a plethora of reasons but mainly to keep the elements out, protect the plants against adverse weather as well as to keep the insect levels (which generally love all the vegetables we do) lower. Hot houses generally have higher humidity's which assist in the faster plant growth rates and generally result in ideal vegetable growing conditions!

This pic I took at the back of the trout farm which will be closed up at the top and then half way up the walls the initial plan is just to close up with shade cloth. After a few weeks of temperature testing a re-look at what material will be used here long term will made. Ideally whatever material will be used it is important to be good for insulation especially in summer as Rainbow Trout need the coldest water possible!

Here I took a pic inside one of the swirl filters. Swirl filters are simple cheap and extremely effective filters which use a vortex action to filter out solids from the main tanks. Here is a quick video on youtube illustrating the workings of a vortex filter

The filter in my pic however will accumulate many times more the 'garbage' at many times the pace of the one in the above video. Another great use of the vortex filter is it contributes to the DO (Dissolved Oxygen) in the system. The higher the levels of Dissolved oxygen in the system the better healthier plants and fish you will achieve.

Here we have two inlet and two outlet pipes. It is vital to always have larger size outlet pipes than the inlet pipes as generally the water from inlet pipes in under pressure and 'forced' into a system. Larger outlet pipes will insure that the system will never overflow which would be a CATASTROPHE and probably result in the literal death of all the fish and possibly plants too!

Here right at the bottom of the system is what we call a 'sump tank' the main use of this system is to help correctly control the water levels in the system.. More info here as per aquaponiclynx.com http://www.aquaponiclynx.com/sump-tank

Another view from the back of the fish farm a little closer in .

Here I took a picture of the front of the one hot house as well as the fish farm on the right to give a better idea as to how close the two are together. Water circulates through the fish tanks to take up all the nutrients produced by the fish and then pumped into the hot houses grow beds where the vegetables are housed, feeding the plants!

This is where the seedlings are germinated. This is a hot house which is totally closed up with plastic so the heat and humidity levels get up to 55 degrees celcius and humidity levels can reach over 100 % depending on the time of year as well as the climate and water volumes inside the hot house. Seeds all germinate at different times and temp or humidity levels these naturally need to be ascertained beforehand and dependent on which vegetable you plan to grow. Many facets of aquaponics are predominantly 'trial and error' as many of us know experience really is the best teacher, so one generally learns these things as one goes and grows ;)

The sprayers above the vegetables in this case chives which are very popular in Woolworths in South Africa whom these are to be grown for.

Close up of the seedlings, here we have polystyrene pods to house the chives initially before they are transplanted into the system. The grow medium can vary but needs to be 'inert' as not to pollute the water poison the fish or de-stabilize the general biology of the system!

Another pic of the inside of the fish farm here we have one of the tanks which will house the rainbow trout as well as the swirl filter situated next to the pond. There will be 2 Ponds to 1 Swirl filter maximizing efficiency, energy consumption as well as waste extraction.