Aquaponic Production

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • What is aquaponics
   • History of aquaponics
   • Why aquaponics
   • World food
   • Urban farming
   • Cost benefit analysis
   • Is aquaponics organic
   • The aquaponics system
   • Can it be used with salt water
   • Types of Systems:constant flow closed reciprocating, open, deep water, floating raft
   • Outdoor or indoor systems
   • Barrel ponics, wick, NFT, etc
   • Advantages and disadvantages of aquaponics
   • Scale of operation
2. Aquaponic System Options
   • Recirculating systems
   • Non recirculating (open loop systems or micropnics)
   • Components of commercial fish rearing systems
   • Aquaponic sub systems
   • Deep water culture (DWC)
   • Intermittent flow (Ebb and flow)
   • Nutrient film technique (NFT)
   • Gravel bed systems
   • Barrel ponics systems
   • Equipment: commercial and backyard
   • System components
   • Tanks
   • Aeration devices
   • Solids removal: clarifiers, solids tanks, filters,screens
   • Biofilters
   • Sump and pH adjustment tank
   • Water heaters and chillers
   • Greenhouse houses and fish rearing facilities
   • Alarm and back up systems
   • Hydroponic grow beds and types of media
   • Maintenance, water monitoring and adjustment
   • Organic vs non organic
   • Combining worms with growing beds
3. The Science of Animal and Plant Growth
   • Plant growth factors
   • How plants grow
   • Plant structure: roots, stems, leaves, reproductive parts
   • Biochemistry and aquaponics
   • Biochemical processes in a cell
   • Photosynthesis
   • Mechanisms of nutrient uptake
   • Plant nutrients
   • Role of pH in plant growth
   • Animal science
   • Bony fish (Osteichthyes) and their biology
   • Crustaceans: crabs, lobsters, shrimp and prawns
4. Nutrition and Controlling Growth
   • Water soluble chemical compounds: ions
   • Less water soluble chemicals
   • Complex chemical compounds
   • Understanding nutrient formulae
   • Hydroponic nutrient formulae
   • Atoms, elements and compounds
   • How are chemical names written
   • What does a plant need
   • Calculating formulae
   • Mixing nutrients
   • Case study
   • Symptoms of nutrient deficiency
   • Nutrients in aquaponics
   • Variables in aquaponics: conductivity, ph control, oxygenation, beneficial bacteria in aquaponics
5. Selecting and Managing Animal Production; Fish and Crustaceans
   • Choosing what to farm
   • Climate
   • Water
   • Finance
   • Scale of operation
   • Other resources
   • Market
   • Availability of animals
   • Risk considerations
   • Overview of main species to grow: in Asia, South Africa, Australia, U.K., Europe, North America, South America
   • Trout: Rainbow, Brown
   • Bass
   • Tilapia
   • Catfish
   • Barramundi
   • Carp
   • Mullet
   • Sunfish
   • Eels
   • Marron
   • Other species: ornamental fish, crustaceans and molluscs, lgae
   • Sourcing fish and crustaceans
   • Fish food
   • Which type of fish food to use: pellets, live food, daphnia, brine shrimp, tubifex worms, earthworms, oil meals
   • Other food
   • Fish food production: beef heart, legumes, seafood and vegetable mix,
   • Earthworms: setting up, adding worms
   • Compost: understanding, making, conditions for compost production
   • Fish health
   • Common pests and diseases in aquaponics
   • Penaeid shrimp diseases
   • Fish diseases
   • Salinity and system health
6. Setting up an Aquaculture System
   • Choosing the right sized system
   • Selecting the right components
   • Setting up the system
   • Getting started
   • Threats to the system
   • Using a greenhouse
   • Greenhouses: passive systems, active systems
   • Active solar heating
   • Greenhouse management
   • Controlling the growing environment
   • Light control
   • Air temperature control
   • Root temperature control
   • Relative humidity and vapour pressure deficit
   • Controlling humidity
   • Carbon dioxide and oxygen
   • Computer controls
7. Aquaponic Plant Culture
   • Selecting media for aquaponic plant culture
   • Types of media Growing seedlings
   • Seed sources
   • Sowing seed
   • Seed propagating media
   • Sowing seed direct
   • Vegetables in aquaponics
   • Herbs
   • Successional planting
   • Flow charting a crop
   • Controlling plant growth: stopping, spacing, disbudding, trimming, training
   • Pollination
   • Pest, disease and other crop problems: overview, identification
   • Pest, disease and disorder control in aquaponics
8. Applications and Opportunities
   • Aquaponics for profit
   • Economic thresholds
   • Harvest and post harvest management of fish
   • Harvest and post harvest management of vegetables and herbs
   • Harvested crop physiology: fruit ripening, respiration, when to harvest
   • How to prepare salad mixes from harvested vegetables: chlorine levels in water for washing produce, preventing bruising and rots, packaging
   • CA and MA storage
   • Chilling damage and storage temperature
   • Harvesting and grading vegetables
   • Fruit grading systems
   • Marketing
9. Managing an Aquaponics Venture -including a PBL
   • Case study: University of the Virgin Islands system
   • Case study: North Carolina State University system
   • Case study: Speraneo system
   • What is an aquaponic trial?
   • Running an aquaponic trial
   • Research methodology
   • PBL Project: Create and present a plan with specific strategies for improving the crop production of an aquaponics system in terms of amount and quality of produce harvested based on a clear understanding of the system’s requirements and its location (greenhouse or open air; temperate, subtropical, or tropical climate)
10. Troubleshooting
    • Water supply problems
    • pH problems
    • Algae growth
    • Dirty, cloudy water
    • Water imbalances; high levels of ammonia or nitrite
    • Imbalances in gases
    • Fish troubleshooting
    • Controlling salinity and nutrients without damaging fish
    • Plant troubleshooting
    • Diseases
    • Pythium in aquaponics
    • Pests
    • Environmental physiological disorders
    • Nutrition problems in aquaponics
    • Deficiency symptoms
    • Correcting nutrient problems in aquaponics
    • Fruit set management: pollination, floral initiation, fruit growth
    • Flower and fruit development problems
    • Fish eating plant roots
    • Power losses
    • Clogging with sediment
    • Fish to plant imbalances
    • Pathogenic contamination issues

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• To comprehend the purpose and scope of aquaponics, effectively communicate with aquaponic specialists, create and maintain an aquaponics system, assess issues, and come up with solutions that make sense.
• Describe the characteristics and reach of aquaponic culture.
• Compare a variety of aquaponic setups.
• Provide a scientific explanation of the variables that affect the quantity and quality of plant and animal growth in an aquaponic system.
• Describe how to control the nutrients that are available to the plants and animals in an aquaponic system.
• Choose animal species that are suitable for growth in various aquaponic systems.
• Explain the administration of animals being grown in an aquaponic system.
• Create a system for aquaponics.
• Talk about how to maintain various plant species in an aquaponics system.
• Discuss aquaponic system uses in both professional and home environments.
• Create a management strategy for a certain aquaponics business.
• Determine and assess any issues with an aquaponic system. Find solutions for the highlighted aquaponic issues.

• Water conservation: Because the system is continuously cycled, recirculating aquaponics considerably reduces the amount of water used.
• There is no need for chemical fertilisers since the fish feed the plants, allowing them to develop, and the roots of the plants further filter the water so that the fish may live there.
• Fish waste is employed in the cycle, and filtration cleans the system of ammonia.
• Plants and fish can be grown close together, requiring less area.
• Depending on your local environment and the location of the aquaponics system (inside/outside), you may be able to grow food all year round.
• Faster plant growth: According to a Canadian study, for some crops and herbs, aquaponic plant growth can be up to four times faster than hydroponic plant growth.
• Less disease susceptibility: Because aquaponic plants are grown without soil, they are not susceptible to bacterial diseases that are spread by soil. Moreover, fish in aquaponic systems are less vulnerable to infections found in aquaculture systems.
• reduced impact of crop production on the environment.

Aquaponics disadvantages

• Cost-per-acre is higher than for other types of farming (but remember, being more intensive, what is spent on equipment is to a greater or lesser degree, saved on reduced property costs)
• Technology-intensive — requires more knowledge to operate effectively than conventional farming. You might need to invest more in staff training or in consultants and technical services (such as water analysis and guidance on issues with plant and animal health). On the one hand, you are exerting more control over how quickly plants and animals grow, but because you are robbing nature of that control, you are also removing any natural safeguards against potential issues. A natural system may be more productive than an aquaponics system, but it also carries additional hazards.
• Large-scale operation could cause some natural resources needed to power the system to become depleted. Less valuable animal byproducts are used to make fish or crayfish feed. Overuse of natural resources can be detrimental and could result in higher feed prices. It’s possible that the globe isn’t set up for the rapid growth of aquaculture. It can be required for larger aquaculture operators to produce their own fish or crayfish feed (eg. vermiculture)
• There are many different configuration options available. Aquaponics can draw all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons, like many other novel concepts, but despite their enthusiasm, they are not necessarily well-rounded in their knowledge of the field. As a result of its relative youth, the business lacks sound tried-and-true technologies, and the amount of research supporting it is now significantly below that which might be found in other farming-related fields.

• Support: speak with the staff, which includes knowledgeable and well-respected aquaponic and hydroponic experts, personally. Your satisfaction is our top priority.
• Unique: If your training is unique, you stand out.
• Resources: Since the 1970s, we have been teaching hydroponics, and we have amassed a distinctive group of individuals and intellectual property. “Commercial Hydroponics,” a book about hydroponics and aquaculture written by the school’s principal John Mason, was released by Kangaroo/Simon & Schuster (over 60,000 copies sold). Dr. Lyn Morgan, an international hydroponic and aquaculture consultant for more than 30 years, is one of our other employees.
• More options for how, where, when, and what you study with greater flexibility
• Learning comes first since it alters you for the rest of your life. The rest is just a side issue.
• Superior worth: Compare our hourly rate for studying.
• Being independent and in business since 1979 has allowed us to sidestep the pressures that many other institutions face.