What is Aquaponics

Aquaponics (pronunciation: /ˈækwəˈpɒnɨks/), or pisciponics, is a sustainable food production system that combines conventional aquaculture, (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks), with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In aquaculture, effluents accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity for the fish. This water is led to a hydroponic system where the by-products from the aquaculture are broken down by nitrogen fixing bacteria, then filtered out by the plants as nutrients, after which the cleaned water is recirculated back to the animals. As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all aquaponics systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponics system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics)

Picture from opensourceecology.org

Goals

Cultivate vegetables and fruit all year long.
Work out good fish feed program and how to make your own fish food.
Make a automatic fish feeder.
Build a command and control center.

Fish

For the moment we have about 10 small guppies and 10 goldfish.

Command and Control

For absolute awesome-sauce, we automate the whole aquaponics process. Many things are monitored, and we have one command and control center that manages everything.

See 1 for more info on this.

Stuff to take into account

Energy consumption

Water flow pump (for circuit between fish tank and filter tank).
Water flow pump (for circuit between filter tank and NFT system).
Germinator, runs 5 minutes each 2 hours to keep the germs humid.
Light fishtank.
Light NFT system.
Running Raspberry Pi for continuous measurement of water level, temperature, ph, etc.