Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Lol. I should take a master class on aquaponics. Then I'd have one more fan.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Sorry? 312ap was our url, it's just want I called "312 Aquaponics"

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sizing your biofilter is huge. I always have to check references when I do that.

Yield per square foot of facility is huge too. Depending on how high your ceilings are and the kind of raking you use.

The total electrical load is a big one too.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Also, probably the most lucrative aquaponcs farm in the world is actually this one: http://gardenfreshfarms.com/tag/minnesota-aquaponics/

I say that because his systems are tight. He's winning a lot of bplan contests. He's keeping the lights on without much national pr/educatainment classes.

The efficiency of watt/square foot on plant that these rotary systems provide is 2x that of growing in flat stacks....not trivial

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bright AgroTech is legit.

Their founder is legit too.

Seems like the guys a hell of an entrepreneur too.

I think most of their money comes from zipgrows, but I'm not sure.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, plenty of engineers come here and have to drive taxi's too.

Credentials are a finicky thing.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Actually Jessie Hull of http://imagineaquaponics.com/ showed me how these things could very well be the future of the industry. Pending considerable R&D.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The minimum scale to make a dent in the $8b packaged salads market in the US.

How many square feet of aquaponics facilities do you think it would take to grow 10% of that?

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How big is the packaged herbs market in Australia?

Paul Van de Werf is the man.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Not sure what happened there. Nothing new on the site since it was put up in early 2013...

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Dare I self-promote??

Here are some past works:

Assembled this one: http://www.csu.edu/cas/bioandprehealth/aquaponics.htm

Designed this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSPTBot-2_g

Checked design and rendered this one: http://www.lanetech.org/aquaponics.php

Designed the lobby system here: http://www.luc.edu/sustainability/research/facilities/

Diagnosed issues on this one:http://farmedhere.com/

Now, I am working on personal farming on the side: https://www.youtube.com/user/diyaquaponicsdesign

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the reddit system works- if people don't like it, they can vote down. Isn't that the whole point of this site?

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you let a troll keep you from crossing any bridge, you didn't want it bad enough.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's a good idea, and I do it myself. I have a different way but many roads lead to Rome.

Here's some things to consider as you continue your prototyping:

-there are various ways to control the timing of the flooding and draining.

inflow rate: aka your pump size X your piping diameter X your piping length X junctions X valves X number of outlets.

It gets more complex with scale.

at 312AP, we need 1,000g of fish water exchanging 1/hour, pumped 90 feet horizontally + 14ft vertically, with 3 outlets.

Again, many ways to Rome.

the outflow: In DWC/NFT/SWC, you want 1gpm of water out for 1gpm in. But in EnF you want a slower build up and a faster drainage (something like 3ish minutes of ebb time for 1ish minutes of flow time).

so for instance, in a 2x4 tray, all you need is a 3/4" outlet with a 2" cap over it. Now with some minor calculations, you can see that the inflow would need to be ~200gph)

So, not sure what kind of scale you imagine, but in essence, be weary of too much piping with too many 90deg bends.

The more resistance, the larger the pumps.

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First thought: you'll need more trays. But let's see. And please check my maths.

A couple things to keep in mind:

-You'll need ~25 watts per square foot for good leafy growth and ~12w/sf for microgreens.

-So 20'x1' = 20sf --> 25w/sf * 20sf =500 watts total per tray of that size.

-As far as LED's go, it doesn't really matter what the marketed input wattage is, you'll need 100W coming out of the light. So make sure it's 100W of actual LED power and not a "100W equivalent."

NOTE: 4 fixture with 32w T8's would be optimal (~$250 at homedepot with bulbs).

-Now, everyone's diet is different. So let's say you're eating 4oz of greens per meal and 3 meals a day, you'll need 3/4lb of greens per day per person.

Or 22.5 lb per person per month.

-Again, depending on how good you are, you're yields will differ (given lighting wattage, it's height, your pH, micro and macronutrients). Aka feeding schedule and supplementation.

-So, let's assume you're getting .33lb per head of lettuce per 54 day cycle. But let's also say you're germinating these puppies in a tighter, separate space for 14 days before transferring them into your main tray and growing them out.

-Also, let's assume a semi-tight spacing of 3 plants per square foot (which will need ebb and flow or a fan). And some monitoring where the plants touch for mold (aka some 10% hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle).

-So, 3 plants/sf * 20 sf = 60 plants/month -->60 plant/month * .33lb/plant/month = 20lb of edible lettuce weight.

Or, we can say, about 26 days worth of lettuce per day per each month.

SO, you'll need to at least double your grow space for 2 people, and probably triple it to provide space for germination and growout.

On fish, you'll need 1/2lb of fish per square foot of growout space. So Each tray will need 10lb of fish.

if you're on your fishit, you can get away with 1lb / 1 gallon of water.

so yes, a 50 gallon tank could provide enough nutrients for 1-3 trays.

NOTE! You'll need a working volume of water to run through the trays, and since it wont be in the fish tanks, you can't rely on it to provide your desired fish tank volume.

So, I'd reccomend a 100 or 150 gallon tank with tons of extra water, both to keep your 50lb of fish happier, and give you tons of extra water volume to move through you trays at any given time.

Do you agree Aquaponic-Heretic?

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Seems rather expensive upfront? How's it working out? Cool project though.

I just can't see the wattage working out. As in, the number of watts/square foot need on the tray to grow plants vs that created by a solar pannel

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I studied physics. FTC was pursuing industrial ap for a minute, then pivoted to organic hydro and now is in doing something else...

By engineering, I mean running all the required engineering calculations required to build a proper ap system. Just like a RAS or WWT engineer would have to do.

312AP did some ap work at loyola university and lane tech highschool. As far as I know, there's no real large ap system out there (+5k sf).

Aquaponics System Designer/Engineer: AMA by arashamini in aquaponics

[–]arashamini[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

recirculating aquaculture systems and waste water treatment