23 replies to this topic

[hobbitmeadow]

Is there anyone out there using aquaponics, as this is something we have been looking in to.
We are looking at setting up 2 large polly-tunnels using this method.
could you please drop us a line as we have a few questions.

Thank you

Mark and Bev

[Cornish Gems]

Mark and Bev, have you looked at Sterling University site, Aquaponics UK this might prove usefull to you with info on government grants etc.

CG

[hobbitmeadow]

Thank you CG this is most helpful, we are looking at setting up 2 systems this year one with Brown Trout for food and one with Koi for the leisure market.
This is something we have been looking in to for a while now and having seen the crop growth rate with a hydroponic system we like the idea of being able to produce eating fish as well as fast growing crops all in the same system.

At the end of this month we are going on our travels in the caravan with the two dogs for a month traveling round looking for some new land as we have finally sold up here in Norfolk, so we are in the hope of finding our new dream at a decent price as we will be cash buyers, so looks like a good few viewings and a few auctions.

It would be so nice to start the new season in a new location NO KIDS (both gone to Uni, WOOOO HOOOOOOOOO) just us and our 2 dogs, cash in the bank and the dream.

Ohhhhhh did i mention no Teenagers (a dream in its self)

[surreydodger]

Life's moments of glee !!!

[Offgrid Tim]

Hi Mark and Bev,
I have some land I am v keen to get others involved in. I am inviting a CSA in to borrow some acres, and it could be suitable for your plans for aquaponics.. Could be temp accomodation also if you want to build a barn for me. Flat plot near stream mains water on site nicely tucked away in Sussex. All my neighbouring farmers are slightly off the wall so you could fit in!
Let me know if you want to chat.
Tim B

[hobbitmeadow]

Thanks for the offer Tim but we will be going for the buy option, as the Aquaponic systems are only a small part of our plans, and the land we are looking for has to have many attributes to cover these, we have a massive tick list that has to be fulfilled, this is why we are hitting the road in the caravan for a month just viewing.
Very nice of you to come forward with your offer, just that due to the many problems we see coming ahead , we feel owning our land outright cuts out 3rd party's in our up and coming fight.

Mark and Bev

[Saleh]

Thanks for the offer Tim but we will be going for the buy option, as the Aquaponic systems are only a small part of our plans, and the land we are looking for has to have many attributes to cover these, we have a massive tick list that has to be fulfilled, this is why we are hitting the road in the caravan for a month just viewing.
Very nice of you to come forward with your offer, just that due to the many problems we see coming ahead , we feel owning our land outright cuts out 3rd party's in our up and coming fight.

Mark and Bev

Really interested in seeing the aquaponics system in operation. What would be the start-up costs and is there any literature/plans I could read up-on. I saw a system in operation in a shop in London (Google:Dalston:farm) and it looks viable.

[hobbitmeadow]

We are looking at 42'x18' polly-tunnels with 35'x6' beds on 3 levels working on a gravity system plus 4 vertical strawberry tubes each capable of growing around 40 plants with a foot print of only 3' two these will be fed by 2 5000 gal fish tanks, this will all be run on solar and wind the cost of start up will be around 8-10k per units.
hoping to get these up and running within the next 3-4 month so watch this space.

[micky1]

I like the sound of the deep bed system. What other fish / shell fish can be grown in fresh water? I'd like lobster and water cress!

[hobbitmeadow]

You could really use any fish in the system, as long as you can produce a good living environment for them and keep them healthy, there are other considerations to the choice of live stock, as in will you need heating for certain fish or will you go pure cold water. The whole principal is, if the fish are healthy and producing waste the rest of the system should just follow along.
We have decide to video every step of the construction from start to finish, and if anyone wants updates just drop us a line.
In the future we are hoping to be running courses of the running systems and the construction. the system we are working on will be a totally closed loop system, as in fish will feed the plants the plant waste will feed large worm beds and the worms will feed the fish, as well as producing excellent compost.

If we get it right we will have a self maintaining system that produces a product at every stage 1. Fish for food and leisure market 2. fruit and vegetables ( Organic )
3. Worms for re-sale and compost.

All this with the added advantage of more plants per SqFt due to the 3 tier bed system. and only around 3% water usage compared to traditional growing methods.

Have a look at this video gives an idea of what can be done

Mark

[Cornish Gems]

Mark and Bev - well done! You seem to have hit upon an excellent way of proving the functional need. We will be very interested in reading all about it including how you set it up, etc. Tell us what to do step by step and we just might follow in your footsteps!

[hobbitmeadow]

Just what we have been thinking CG we are going to be working on the line of this being a totally closed system, and the fact that all fish tanks are Over stocked to produce more waste it has to be monitored, also we are thinking of trying this initially on a smaller land mass of say 6-8 acres with the argument that we can produce far more produce per acre as we have a tier system running. but keeping a few quid aside in case we have to buy more land.

I have kept show Koi for many years and feel more than confident in the research we have done that this could be a winning system not only for possible need but also for profit for the small scale farmer/smallholder.

As the system does not need a large foot print of land, it will still leave us plenty of space for Bev's Pigs as if it was not for her dream of having pigs all this would have never been started, and I would still be in IT and Bev would still be a Mid Wife both just ships in the night due to long shifts. Cant wait to get on the road now.

Mark & Bev

[bramblebasher]

Mark and Bev this operation reeks of functional need.

How far have you considered what you'd do if there was no wind or not enough sun to keep your pumps flowing? Consider working in a small combined heat and power system as a just in case but add an extra £6000 minimum on budget to get this in place.

I think you would have too much invested in the operation to give fossil fuel the big heave, if you had a massive stretch of minus 10 celcius you could lose the lot if you had the perfect perfect storm of no sun, no wind and freaky freezing air. If you have the grid then no worries.

Sounds like a great project though!

6-8 acres? Holy cow I reckon you could do it and make a good living from half an acre. I run flood and drain hydroponic tables which produce insane amounts of leaf salad, growth rate in these systems is incredible.

Could you grow your own fish food? Find out what goes into the recipe of commercial stuff and then produce as much as what is practical yourself if it's economically worth it?

Very exciting stuff, I wish you well in your effort.

B unit.

[hobbitmeadow]

Hi Bramble
yes you can grow your own fish food this is the 3rd part of the system to make it a fully closed system
THE WORM BEDS All the waste from the filters and crop waste are put in to worm beds as well as manure from live stock.

So the fish feed the plants, the plant waste feeds the worms, the worms feed the fish.
Don'
t get me wrong it will take time to get the whole system self sufficient but it can be done. it will be trial and error getting every thing in proportion, but it is more than possible to get a system that all you need to add is only seeds an the odd top up of water due to evaporation. everything else hopefully will be on a continuous cycle one feeding the other.

We are looking at different forms of heating to make the system as efficient as possible all beds and tanks will be insulated in the build process.
If any one has any suggestions to things that may improve what we are trying to do all comments are welcome.

As this is a big learning curve a lot of trial and error and hopefully an untapped functional need.

[bramblebasher]

Hey,

Wow sounds very cool. I have to wonder at the idea of a totally closed system, I see how that can be the case if you are not exporting calories and nutrients out of the system in the form of salad crops or whatever, so if you were just being self sufficient and then the human waste would go back into the closed loop-via the worms. But if you are selling stuff your gonna need to fill the void created by the exported calories and nutrients.

To what extent this void can be filled with the growth of nitrogen fixing plants is a very interesting question indeed, is this something you have considered? If it can be filled with farm grown inputs you have a completely sustainable system and it would be truly brilliant.

You could plant a whacking swathe of willow and burn that in a biomass boiler for your winter water heating, in which case I'd be looking at having a big thermal water store and using the calories from that to heat exchange with the water from your tanks, rather than direct exchanging.

However if you went with a 5 kw diesel generator for example, you could reclaim virtually all the waste heat from the exhaust as well as the engines coolant heat. If you ran in for three hours a day you would have 15 kw hours of electric, 15 kilowatts of heat from waste engine heat and 15 from the exhaust. Pick a good genny ie perkins, kubota, isuzu etc and you have something that will last about 20 odd years and give you all of the above guaranteed. No I don't sell this stuff

Interesting subject, you are not wrong about the learning curve! I hope to do a similar project in the future so I am keen to see how other people go about it, good on you

Ps, a low tech way of keeping polytunnel fish tanks cool can be done using coils of water pipe buried in ground and then circulating coolant via a heat exchanger in the tank, electric nutrient chillers suck down a fair bit of power I think so this is a decent alternative.

B

[Cornish Gems]

And the beauty about it would appear to be that it does not matter what one uses one's polytunnels for - so you can have your fish tanks inside them! But woe betide you if you decide to make a pond and put your fish in there!!

[hobbitmeadow]

As you say CG if you try to just build a fish pond, everyone would be on your case. but the argument for having a tank full of fish is

A: They are feeding your plants
B: You are not adding chemicals to your plants
C: They are a food source once they out grow the tank.

No different form pigs or chickens they all produce manure for crops and end up as food.

so my thought is if they allow a coop for chickens but not a water tank for fish when they both do the same job.
This will be a case of Animal racism LOL

[hobbitmeadow]

Here is a manual for making a system out of an IBC loads of good info here, hope it will help anyone interested

http://www.backyarda...Aquaponics1.pdf


This is the barrel version

http://www.backyarda...nics-Manual.PDF

[Cornish Gems]

Thanks for the very interesting pdf files they are inspiring from there we viewed the video it is also very enlightening.

[hobbitmeadow]

Really good video CG , anyone thinking of trying this method I would suggest using BLACK IBC's as water in white IBC will turn green as sunlight gets in and encourages algae.