Commercial

The Aquaponic Solution system design approach, utilising our unique SYMBIOPONICS™ methodology was developed in Australia, but is applicable to nearly all global situations. Many fish species are exacting in their requirements when it comes to water quality, so our aquaponic system design approach was developed with this in mind. Because of this basic fish requirement for good water quality, Aquaponic Solutions have found that our SYMBIOPONICS™ design approach now adapts well to almost any method of hydroponic plant production and therefore, our aquaponic system designs can be utilised world wide.

Aquaponic Solutions has developed an in depth approach to providing consulting services related to commercial scale aquaponic systems. We provide commercial system design and management information for three main areas:

• New, fully integrated aquaponic systems (Classic aquaponic systems)

• Retrofits to existing aquaculture systems (addition of a hydroponic component)

• Retrofits to existing hydroponic systems (adition of a fish culture component)

Fully Integrated Systems

Fully integrated aquaponic systems are designed using "classic" aquaponic system configurations. The system is design and managed in a way whereby the entire fish holding volume of water is treated with the hydroponic component. In this configuration, all of the nutrients that arise from the dissolved fish waste are used to feed the plants, meaning the system is in complete balance and therefore, all of the advantages of aquaponics are gained (ie: zero environmental impact, zero water replacement, multiple water use, full use of the feed input source). These systems maximise plant production because this configuration matches the fish waste nutrient production with the plant nutrient uptake.

Retrofits To Existing Aquaculture Systems

Retrofits to existing aquaculture systems allow existing recirculating fish farmers to "add on" or "bolt on" a hydroponic plant growing component. For small aquaculture systems, the add on may be of a size that treats the entire system volume (as for the fully integrated systems above). For large aquaculture systems, treating the entire holding volume is often impractical, because the size of the hydroponic component is either too large or the land area required is not available. Retrofits to large aquaculture systems are usually configured to treat the normal waste stream of water that exits the aquaculture system on a daily basis. Treating the "waste" water arising from the aquaculture system with a hydroponic plant production component removes the majority of the nutrients in the water, and therefore the water can then be recycled back to the fish system for use as clean, daily "make-up" water. This allows the existing fish farmer to lower the amount of water that needs to be disposed of (because it is cleaned in the hydroponics and recycled back into the aquaculture system) and therefore lower the chances of environmental impacts, lower the requirement for new and clean daily make up water (thus making the aquaculture operation more water efficient) and produces an additional, saleable crop (the plants).

Retrofits To Existing Hydroponic Systems

Retrofits to existing hydroponic systems allow existing hydroponic farmers to "add on" or "bolt on" an aquaculture fish production component. This allows existing hydroponic farmers to access the nutrients required to grow their plants from the fish waste nutrients, instead of purchasing inorganic salts. For small hydroponic systems, the add on fish production component may be designed so that all the nutrient requirements for the plants are met by the fish waste production (as for the fully integrated systems above). For large hydroponic systems, integration of a fish production unit generally consists of using the existing water use regime of the hydroponic system (ie: the fish production component is designed to fit in between the existing water source and the hydroponic system, and to utilise the existing daily water use volume of the hydroponic system).

Whilst this area of our services is well developed, at present we recommend that interested customers contact us directly about this aspect of aquaponics.

Current Consulting Jobs

Our current aquaponic system design and management consulting jobs include:

• A new aquaponic system for pilot-scale commercial production in New Zealand - Aquaponic Ventures Limited

• A new semi-commercial aquaponic system at CERES Community Environment Park - CERES