A Synopsis on

Development of fish-plant symbiotic

aquaponics farming
Submitted To

Department of Biotechnology
Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology
Meerut, U.P.

Under the guidance of

Mr. Sandeep Sirohi

Associate Professor
Department of Biotechnology
Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology
Meerut, U.P.

Submitted By
AKHILESH GUPTA (1306854006)
MANISH KUNWAR (1306854033)
B.TECH. Biotechnology
MIET, MEERUT

Introduction
The term aquaponics is derived from the aqua in aquaculture and ponics in
hydroponics. Aquaculture is fish farming, where fishes are grown in a controlled
environment. A disadvantage of aquaculture is that the water must be treated to
control ammonia, which is released in fish waste, in order for the fish to survive. In
hydroponics, plants grow in water, but nutrients must be added to the water in order to
feed the plants. Aquaponics uses the fish waste in aquaculture (nutrients such as
nitrogen-containing ammonia) as the food for plants grown in water (hydroponics).
The fish excreta having ammonia is converted to nitrites by the help of Nitrosomonas
bacteria and with the help of Nitrobacter bacteria nitrites are converted into nitrates,
which is the nutritional requirement of the plants. This process is the same as that
occurring in nature, such as in a river or a lake basin, where plants and fishes live
together.
Aquaponics is the closed-loop re-circulating water system that mimics the natural
process in rivers and lakes. Compared to soil-based systems, aquaponics offers a more
sustainable method to grow vegetative food for human consumption and uses much
less water. The only water that is lost is due to evaporation and transpiration from the
plants. In aquaponics systems the greens salad, strawberries, black mustard, tomatoes
etc, are mostly cultivated plants. It is also capable of enduring tree cultures like
Banana or crops like broccoli but require solid support as in Grow bed aquaponics
system.
This culture system ensures tremendous growth of both fishes and plants in harmony
but requires keen observation and care like any other culture system. It includes risk
to crop damage if the environment of the system is not optimized, for which standards
of few parameters like humidity, air supply, pH, etc, are to be maintained.
The initial amount of capital and labor is very low as compared to unpredictable
quantity of same that might be required as the system grows. Although the field of
aquaponics is growing world-wide, the capital and operational costs of producing the
plants and fishes is not yet quantified intensively in the peer-reviewed literature.

Objectives
To study the growth of aquaponics culture in monsoon influenced humid subtropical
climate of Meerut city and to optimize the process for domestic and commercial use.

Review of Literature
The earliest integrated system for fishes and vegetables appears to have been
documented in the 1980s. The first article, published by Watten and Busch (1984)
described aquaponics as a re-circulating water system for plants and fishes. This work
was performed at the University of Virgin Islands (UVI). James Rakocy, a prolific
author of aquaponics research (Rakocy, et al. 2006; Rakocy, 2012), continued the
work at UVI and developed the deep-water aquaponics system (also called floating
raft system). Also during the 1980s, aquaponics was being developed by the New
Alchemy Institute and reported by Zweig (1986). During the latter part of the 1980s,
Mark McMurty at North Carolina State University developed the Integrated AquaVegiculture System (IAVS) (McMurtry, et al., 1990; McMurtry, 1992), in which water
flows through a hydroponic bed of growing media such as gravel or sand. The deepwater and IAVS are the two dominant systems for modern aquaponics.
In 2006, Rakocy et al. reported production and sales data for different crops from a
UVI aquaponics system at the Crop Diversification Centre South in Alberta, Canada.
These data did not include the capital, operating, and marketing costs, which are
considerable according to Rakocy. Addressing these extra costs, Goodman (2011)
conducted a study of small and medium scale aquaponics systems (750 gal and two3750 gal systems) at Growing Power in Milwaukee to determine if any of their
systems were profitable. She found that three out of the four aquaponics systems
analyzed were not profitable based on fish and vegetable sales alone. However,
changes to the business model may make the systems profitable. For example, adding
an aquaponics unit to an existing business (such as a restaurant) would eliminate
incorporation costs, some capital costs (land and equipment), and would use
downtime of existing employees. In Goodmans (2011) study, she included capital and
operational costs (electricity, heat, fish food, and labor), which were estimated by
owners and operators at Growing Power and also outside sources. She did not
measure the exact amount of operational inputs over time, which is a limitation of her
study and exposes a major research void that is prevalent in the aquaponics literature.
Inaccurate estimates of operational inputs can determine to a large extent whether an
aquaponics system breaks even or is profitable.

Materials and Methods

A small aquaponics unit (approx. 4 x 3 sq. m) to be installed in the area, rather than a
large commercial unit for the following reasons:

It costs lower than a commercial unit, thus is in the budget of residents, small
workplaces, and researchers.

It would be easier to control it in an experimental study.

It could be housed in the unused portion of a house or of a small business, such as

a restaurant.

Scaling small units upward, i.e. increasing the number of units vertically, appears
to be easier than scaling down a large unit that typically has water tanks with
capacity of 10,000 L.

If any major problem occurs with multiple small units, such as water or biological
contamination, then finding the source of the problem could be done within one or
two units without shutting down the entire system. With a commercial system that
has large tanks, the entire system needs a check for which it is to be shut down to
fix the problem.

The proposed small aquaponics system is presented in this section. This system uses
three types of methods:
1. Floating Raft Method (Deep Water System)
2. Media Bed method (Grow Bed System)
3. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)

Fig1: The Floating Raft System (right) & the Media Bed System (left)

Fig2: The Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) System

1. Floating Raft Method (Deep Water System)

In a Floating raft system, the plants sit on a Styrofoam board that floats on water. The
roots hang down into the water, where the roots absorb the nutrients. There is
continuous flow of water and air to facilitate nutrients supply and gaseous exchange.
2. Media Bed Method (Grow Bed System)
In a Media bed system, an empty space is fully fledged with media or gravel. They
provide support to the plants and also hold the nutrients for uptake. The space is
facilitated with a special mechanical tool called Bell-siphon; the one used in this
system is U-shaped and has the feature of timed draining of water. When the water
reaches a certain level, the tool gets activated and drains out all the water in one go
while the water supply is continuous but slow. This gap of water shortage allows
gaseous exchange. One can sow seeds or grown the juvenile plants.
3. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
In a Nutrient film technique (NFT) system, vertical arrangement of multiple plastic
pipes is used with each having an inlet and outlet for water flow. Several circular
holes are made on the pipes in a line where net pots are placed. These pots hold the
plants while the plant roots hung into the pipe where the water flow is continuous and
faster than other two systems. Hence, it is useful to grow plants with higher nitrate
uptake like tomatoes and strawberries.
All the systems are connected to a common Sump tank where the water from all
systems and water from fish tank after purification and treatment is collected. This
Sump tank is aided with a water pump which supplies water from Sump to all tanks.
The fish tank has two inlets, one from the Sump tank and other from fresh water
source and one outlet which leads to sequential arrangement of filter, they are:
1. Particle Filter
2. Bio Filter
3. Clear-Flow Filter
1. Particle Filter
The very first filter, it helps in separation of particulate matter like left-out feed,
granules, etc, by blocking the flow of such particles further. This is done by vertically

upward flow of water coming from the fish tank. Only the suspension free water
flows to the next filter.
2. Bio Filter
The most vital filter, it is where the microbial culture is grown beforehand on media
balls or sponge pieces. Here, ammonia is converted to nitrites by the help of
Nitrosomonas bacteria and Nitrobacter bacteria convert these nitrites into nitrates,
which is the nutritional requirement of the plants. It also has vertically upwards flow
of water.
3. Clear-Flow Filter
This filter has a collection of sponge layers which completely blocks the impurities
and only the clear nutrient water flows to the Sump tank.
The small aquaponics unit will have the following components:
Fish Tank: 1,000L water tank to store and cultivate the fishes. It is to be opaque and
must have 2 vital openings i.e. one inlet opening for adding the fishes and observing
their behavior in addition to the water supply from Sump tank and core water supply,
other opening is the outlet for the water containing fish excreta which leads to the
filter system. Maximum fish density is 0.05 kg/ L (0.4 lbs / gal) or 50 kg of fish per
1,000L.
Filter System: A sequential combination of three filters described above is to be
placed just next to the Fish tank in which the water containing excreta is to be filtered
and treated by microbes for the plant use. This water will reach the Sump tank.
Sump Tank: A 500L water tank where the water from all systems will be collected
and redistributed. It will be attached to a 0.5 Hp water pump that lifts the water and
supplies it to all other systems including the Fish tank. The recirculation ensures
addition of nutrients to the water from the filter system and also the use of nutrients
by the plants via plant systems.

Plant Systems: There are three plant systems as described above which will receive
nutrient water supply from the Sump tank and act as site of plant growth. The used up
water will then be sent back to the Sump tank for recirculation.
Air Pump: A multiple supply air pump will be used for continues air supply to the
fishes and plants. One supply will be given to each tank including Fish tank, Biofilter, Floating Raft System, and the Sump tank.
Miscellaneous: These include the plumbing pipes, various joints and tools, electrical
supply for the pumps, Fish food, medicines and disinfectants, Net pots, Polystyrene
sheet, air stones, Gravel stones, Bio-balls, Epsom salt, Liquid sea weed extract, Water
testing kit and dynamic pH meter.

Importance of project and expected outcomes

A small aquaponics system presents opportunities for engineering designing and
analysis development. The diverse aspects of aquaponics components can be tailored
to specific engineering departments or interdisciplinary teams. There is great
opportunity for design in these projects, which may satisfy the design requirements
for accreditation.
In addition to the benefits to engineering pedagogy, aquaponics is a topic that has
broad interest among many young people because of its benefits to more sustainable
societies. According to Howe and Strauss (2007), the millennial generation (born
1982 to 2005), favours community building and civic-minded projects. One societal
benefit of aquaponics is that some families would be able to grow their own protein
and vegetables, thereby reducing their food costs and possibly increasing their
standard of living.

References
Articles
1. Diver, S. and Rinehart, L. (originally published 2006; updated 2010). AquaponicsIntegration of Hydroponics with Aquaculture. A publication of the National
Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA), 28 pp.
2. Howe, N., and Strauss, W. (July-August, 2007). The next 20 years: How customer
and workforce attitudes will evolve. Harvard Business Review, pp. 41-52.
3. McMurtry, M.R., Nelson, P.V., Sanders, D.C., and Hodges, L. (Fall, 1990). Sand
culture of vegetables using recirculating aquacultural effluents. Applied
Agricultural Research, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 280-284.
4. Rakocy, J.E., Masser, M.P., and Losordo, T.M. (2006). Recirculatiang Aquaculture
Tank Production Systems: Aquaponics- Integrating Fish and Plant Culture.
Southern Regional Aquaculture Center, SRAC Publication, No. 454, 14 pp.
5. Watten, B. J. and Busch, R.L. (Oct., 1984). Tropical production of tilapia
(Sarotherodon aurea) and tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) in a small-scale
recirculating water system. Aquaculture, Vol. 41, Issue 3, pp. 271-283.
6. Wilson, Geoff (4th qtr, 2005). Greenhouse aquaponics proves superior to inorganic
hydroponics. Aquaponics Journal, Issue 39, pp. 4-8.
Chapters in Books
Rakocy, J.E. (2012). Aquaponics Integrating Fish and Plant Culture. Chapter in
Aquaculture Production Systems, First edition, edited by J. Tidwell. John Wiley &
Sons.
Theses and Dissertations
1. Goodman, E.R. (2011). Aquaponics: Community and Economic Development.
Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. UMI, Ann Arbor, MI, 100 pp.
2. McMurtry, M.R. (1992). Integrated aquaculture-olericulture system as influenced
by component ratio. Dissertation, North Carolina State U. UMI, Ann Arbor, MI,
78 pp.