Aquaponics System Engineering

Fish Species Selection

What does the market want? Culture species will influence both fish and plant systems Considerations Temperature match plant requirement? Cost? Feed protein level Density Water quality Availability

Aquaponics System Engineering

Plant Selection
What does the market want? Bulk product - lettuce Heirloom or specialty Considerations Value Temperature Growth cycle Density Nutrient requirement Post harvest handling

Aquaponics System Engineering

Fish System
How many tanks Size of the tanks Filtration Aeration Temperature control

Aquaponics System Engineering

Plant Systems whats right for you situation?
Deep Bed/floating Raft Media bed NFT Hybrid

Aquaponics System Engineering

System
Site evaluation Dynamic and static head Pump selection Aeration Blower and diffuser selection Filtration
solids biological mineralization Sterilization

Split System Redundancy Back-up Power

Aquaponics System Engineering

Site Evaluation
Is the site level? Can an elevation difference be created to facilitate system flow? Can fish be held in an existing pond? (species dependant restrictions) Is the ground water usable? Drainage

Aquaponics System Engineering

Head Calculations
Total Dynamic Head Calculator C Based on Hazen-Williams friction loss formula: Where, F = 0.2083 x (100 / C )1.852 x ( Q1.852 / d 4.8655 ) F= Q= d= C= Section ID Section A 8 PVC Type Water Velocity (ft/sec) 900 Sched. 40 5.83 Section Total Section B 6 PVC Type Water Velocity (ft/sec) tee, branch run sudden contraction, 3/4 700 elbow, 45-degree Sched. 40 sudden expansion, 3/4 7.86 straight pipe 1 1 3 1 25 Section Total 6 6 6 6 6 33.0 3.5 7.7 3.5 1.0 0.48 0.33 0.04 0.23 0.04 0.25 0.88 3.544 Friction Head (ft) Elevation Head (ft) Total Dynamic Head (ft) (in) 3.12 3.82 3.0 6.8 82 1.478 0.70 GPM Length or Number 1 1 friction loss (ft) gpm inside pipe diameter (inches) pipe roughness coefficient Equivalent Length 43.0 4.5 C= 135 Relative Head Loss = 1.22 Total Friction Total Friction Equivalent Loss/100' Loss 0.43 0.05 150 140 130 Relative head loss for a given Q 1.00 1.14 1.30

Pipe & Pipe Fittings tee, branch run sudden expansion, 3/4

Diameter 8 8

Aquaponics System Engineering

Pumps

Aquaponics System Engineering

Aeration
Regenerative blowers are best suited for aquaponics systems Separate blowers for fish and plant system

Air diffusers are available in a variety of styles and sizes Bonded silica medium pore diffusers give the best performance and are easy to clean

Aquaponics System Engineering

Filtration
Solids
Settling tanks or basins, radial settler Mechanical screens, bags, pads, media

Aquaponics System Engineering

Filtration
Biological
Fluidized or moving bed, high density mat Packed column, trickle

Aquaponics System Engineering

Filtration
Mineralization collection and decomposition of effluent to release nutrients. Sterilization UV between fish and plant systems Chemical addition/injection manual or automatic? Water quality testing and monitoring

Aquaponics System Engineering

Split System
Fish and plant systems have separate circulations Effluent from fish system is collected and decomposed to release nutrients Nutrients are added to plant system manually as needed Isolated system allow different operating parameters

Aquaponics System Engineering

Redundancy - Back-up Power
2 pumps are better than one cost, size, wiring Multiple pumps allows incremental operation If one pump fails other pump(s) maintain some flow

Consider back-up power for critical components

Manual or automatic generator Gas powered pump Battery/solar