Aquaponics Done Right. A new Commercial System in Pretoria with Rainbow Trout. The build!!!

Hey everyone one of my biggest passions in life is Aquaponics, it is the synergy between growing fish and vegetables in a closed system. I have done many posts previously on Aquaponics. This one will be my first in ages and I plan to up the tempo again as it really is an integral part of our future survival I believe.

Years ago I met a chap that used to buy lettuce seedlings from me when I had my commercial system, we remained in contact for years. I have sadly been out of the game for a while now but plan to get back in when the time is right and as soon as I can. The money one can make is potentially good if done right, however I would love to get involved again for the passion, I was blessed enough to be born with green fingers and fish I have always loved. No better way to grow food exists.

This is my mates new system and as can be seen in the pics still under construction, he tells me it will all be done and dusted and full operation in around 6-8 weeks I will be making regular visits to him and updating you all on this exciting natural food growing technique..

This first pic I took we have 2 x 10 000 Litre Trout tanks as well as a 'swirl filter' which helps to oxygenate the water (very necessary for trout) as well as filter and extract solids from the water.

I took this pic from inside the tank at the top, the inlet pipe serves to oxygenate the water as well as move it in a circular motion, Trout are very active swimmers and veracious feeders so this is a necessity.

These tanks will house around 100kgs of Trout each. The fingerlings will be around 300 grams to start with and will grow to around 700 grams in between 6-9 months. The unit at the top is a skimmer which assists in keeping all the oil off the water, Trout water needs to be extremely pure, clean and full of oxygen, it is an extremely pedantic fish to keep in captivity so demands ideal conditions to thrive but is one of the most exciting interesting and tasty fish to keep as well.

Check out one of my older posts here where I made mini aquaponics systems https://steemit.com/hydroponics/@craigcryptoking/mini-aquaponics-systems-my-first-builds

Here we have a biological filter which assists in removing ammonia from the system as well as other unwanted waste product/organisms keeping the water as clean as possible!

There are primarily 3 mains Aquaponics techniques NFT, DWC, Traditional growbeds, a few others are used such as vertical tower growing but there are the main ones.

NFT or Nutrient Film Technique as per wikipedia more info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_film_technique

DWC or Deep Water Culture Technique as per wikipedia more info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_water_culture

More about aquaponics, the science behind it, and the grow bed technique check out wikipedia here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Here we have the build half way through of the hot house and DWC system. Here he has built all the pools with brick and mortar and lined it with pond liners for maximum cost saving.

Here we have another biological filter for each 10 000 litre trout pond will be coupled to a bio-filter.

A close up of one of the many DWC grow beds with the plumbing going in and water testing for leaks, these units are made custom to have the water volume easily adjustable for maximum optimization of plant and fish growth!

The construction of the deep water culture pools commences as well as more work on the hot house. In the beginning the top of the hothouses will be closed with a 30% shade cloth and possibly later with plastic depending on plant growth rates and water temps keeping in mind trout water needs to be very cold and hot houses tend to heat water up considerably so possibly just shade cloth permanently depending on how the initial tests go.

More plumbing work to be done here, very hard to believe this will all be done dusted and running in 6-8 weeks but I will certainly be keeping you up to date.

I shall be posting 'part 2' of of the build of this system and then in two months odd plants growing, fish in and system fully up running and operational be sure to stay tuned for that..

Cheer$;)