The description of design elaborated in this page. The key unique element is the hanging basket arrangement. This places the design outside of the famous main setups:
- flood-and-drain method
- kratky method
- water-misting or aeroponics
- floating-raft method
Download the PDF _it has all this description in one small pdf file here
These are the features of my aquaponics design and the problems they solve.
This system could be built with no upper frame, but I used inexpensive landscaping beams. This allows us to tie ropes up high and let tomato vines grow larger. Shade Cloth The wood structure gives us a place to add a shade cloth in extremely hi radiation so the plants do not overheat.
The mesh is surrounding the structure to prevent birds from eating the fruit but still allow pollinating insects to come and go. It also allows wind to pollinate the plants, and allows the air to perform evaporative cooling. As a result, my garden continued to grow in mid summer when most gardens are retired in Texas.
The swirl-filter is a simple design, low cost, and does not require replacement of any filter media. How it works – the solid fish waste is pulled into the center, and it is retained in the swirling reservoir while bacteria break it down into plant-available, liquid fertilizer. The circulation filter also reduces energy consumption drastically from a pump that must force water through a filter media.
The entire system can be modified or expanded, but the height of each item is critical. That’s why I made the 3D model of this system (not just for fun) – it solves the requirements for a low-energy pump, gravity-fed water tubes, and pumpless return of the water into the aquarium from the plant bed.
When I visited an aquaponics farm, they told me they shut down the system in mid-summer. This is because the water temperature rises too high. The first solution was to use goldfish, which survive fairly high temperatures, but market-desired fish like tilapia need cooler temperatures. The below-ground aquarium allows the water to remain much cooler. I was successful in raising crappie and catfish, although some died without a clear cause (I need a veterinarian to participate next time).
The aquarium cover is made of wood, with one layer of ½ inch insulation foam. This cover shades the aquarium, suppressing algae and sunlight. It is absolutely necessary for an outdoor system. It also reduces the evaporation rate over the aquarium, and the cost of re-filling with RO (reverse osmosis) water. Cinder block retaining wall Cinder blocks have 3 key advantages over other structures:
- They are cheap and available everywhere
- They cool down the system when they get wet, due to their high porosity and thermal mass
- They allow us to build the system and reconfigure/dismantle it without any fasteners or glue, due to their solid weight
These 5-gallon net cups became popular and available this decade as many backyard growing systems use a media + water reservoir inside of a 5-gallon bucket. They can be replaced by other solutions, but this is the only specialty product in this whole system. The “net” cups allow 360 degrees of water drainage and air cooling, to keep roots cool. The cups also allow roots to hang down lower if they grow very large. Net Cups hanging planks The net cups are suspended by cedar planks, which are weather-resistant and mold resistant compared with other wood. The 5-gallon net cups allow rearranging of plants (required since we use sunlight instead of controlled LED lighting),
Expanded shale is the selected media, and is an innovation when combined with their containers. The media is the most affordable option currently available, and is available in bulk unlike coco-fiber media in hydroponics stores, and compared with expanded clay pellets found in stores. The media does not leach harmful toxins for the plants or fish, like many other stones.
Suspended media method is the name I would like to give to this unique method created here compared with most popular aquaponics solutions. The porous media gives the plants a place to set their roots. The media spreads the water flow (a novel solution compared with DWC (deep water culture) method and eliminates a pump from the Flood-and-drain method, and reduces the number of parts in the system. The media also protects the roots from sunlight compared with omitting root media (per the aeroponics method or gravity-tube method), and the media supports larger plants like tomatoes, compared with the sponge media in the common Floating-Raft method.