I forgot to describe what an aquaponic filter is. It is basically a filter using terrestrial plants and composting worms (convert organic matter to plant food) to filter our tank water. The technology is in the growbed where the worms and plants are. In the growbed (Ebb +Flow style aquaponics) there is an autosiphon (which is basically a Carlson Surge Device) that allows the water level to fill to capacity and then drain. This causes a surge at the end of every cycle. The importance of this filling and draining is the reoxygenation of the plant's roots with every cycle (as well as the fish tank water).
By maintaining supersaturated oxygen levels in the root zone you fight off Pythium (fungus/ bacteria?) which causes root rot. Root rot is the number 1 problem with submerging terrestrial plant roots for any period of time.
By overcoming this problem aquaponics offers the first complete filtration system that I have yet to come across. All other forms of filtration are incomplete, requiring additional filters, and water changes. I know I'll get responses about reverse daylight photosynthesis, algae turf scrubbers, and live rock. Of course these systems work in removing nitrates but they are also incomplete because they require separate mechanical filtration. AP has biological and mechanical filtration in one.
I know it sounds too good to be true. I thought so too but since I live in Hawaii I decided to build a bunch of aquaponic systems to test the technology. Worse comes to worse, I planned to just switch to aquaculture. Of course I didn't have to because aquaponics works. It works so well that I've even made AP filters for my fish tanks.
Aquaponics opened a whole new world for me beyond fishkeeping. Now I'm a natural organic farmer trying to raise awareness on our countries food security issues which stem from our over-dependance on oil for farming, processing, and shipping.
All you have to know is that it takes 10 calories of oil to produce 1 calorie of food. That's just nuts. Now AP does use alot of plastics which is very oil dependant but the benefits of aquaponics (for me anyway) offsets that like carbon credits. Anyway, you could use earthen ponds lined with horse manure if you wanted (I've seen it done and it's sanitary- go figure).
I also found out that traditional agriculture accounts for 80% of our annual freshwater usage. That's also just plain bonkers.
Aquaponics uses only 5% of the amount of water that traditional Ag uses (as well as 1/4 of the space) to cultivate the same amount of produce.
Of course there are drawbacks:
Initial start up costs are upwards of 4x+ that of traditional Ag.
The most common species used is tilapia which requires the use of pelletized feeds derived from non-sustainable ocean caught sources.
You need electricity to power the pumps.
You need oil to make all the plastic parts (tanks, pipes, liners, etc.)
This is why my focus on AP has been to overcome all these obstacles. Some of my solutions are:
Alternative fish species (giant gourami, pacu, arowana, grass carp, etc.) which is what keeps me coming back to MFK.
By using alternative species I am in the process of using alternative feed sources (grass, veggies, fruits, livebearers, duckweed, aquatic inverts, terrestrial inverts, algae, etc.)
My brother is involved in the photovoltaic industry in Hawaii and I will be setting up solar P.V. power systems as well as exploring other options for power like wind turbines (for power and water circulation), archemeides screws, air lifts, magnetic perpetual motors (all pertaining to water circulation).
As far as oil usage in AP goes aquaponics is just as dependant as every other industry on oil. With new plastics technologies we will be able to make plastic from plants and algae. Of course I won't be doing this but just waiting for the tech to become available. It was actually this aspect of AP that got me into organic natural farming. Can't put all your eggs in one basket.
Anyway, if any of these terms are unfamiliar please 'google' them. If i've made aquaponics confusing please forgive me. There are alot of wonderful aquaponic websites out there with videos and pics (and much better explanations than I can give). And to anyone who finds their way to Aquaponics I wish you the best. I think Aquaponics is to Agriculture what solar power was to oil. It's just a more sensible alternative.
Aloha
