INTRODUCTION

Aquaponics is a food production method that combines the, now,

traditional hydroponic and aquaculture to form a closed-loop system that,
through symbiosis, re-circulates all the water and nutrients in order to grow
terrestrial plants and aquatic life. To study the possibilities of aquaponics at
northern latitude, a small scale aquaponics system was constructed in
Jämtland, a county in the Mid Sweden region (latitude 63°) and studied while
running over a nine month period, August 2012 to April 2013. The underlying
cause for this experiment adheres to the clear and present fact how humans,
on a global scale, are in a constant need of growing crops and feeding our
families. Regarding how the ways to do so is constantly being commercialized
and streamlined from the traders’ point of view to the consumers. Commercial
trading in the grand scope, as it is today, is not on a sustainable path. It is
sooner on a trail to which there is no gain without a continuous diminishing
of natural resources and no way of closing the circle. While the ideas
concerning ecological farming, locally produced crops, and so on, are on a
slight rise, these ideas are not without problems of their own. As such;
opinions from those who look to secure their own cash-flow, flowing through
conventional ways of procuring food, act as spanners in the works for any
new, improved or else changed approach. As with almost every other tiding of
innovative conduct they start off climbing a wall of antagonistic opinions,
purposive or not. Nevertheless; through this report I intended to convey an
idea concerning an unconventional way of producing food in a small scale and
to compare results to the related, currently conventional, way. For this a small
scale aquaponics system was constructed.

There has been widespread debate about the true origin of the aquaponics
system. The earliest forms of aquaponics systems were traced back to the
ancient Aztec people who lived in central Mexico at about 1000 AD. The saying
'necessity is the mother of invention' couldn't be more apt as in the case of
development of aquaponics systems by the Aztec people. They did not have
places to grow their food because they inhabited land that was on the shores
of Lake Tenochtitlan; a fresh water lake surrounded by marshes and rising
hills. To solve this problem, they designed rafts made out of reeds
'chinampas', covered them with soil and planted vegetable crops on them.
These 'floating islands' or chinampas are perhaps the earliest forms of
aquaponics systems designed for agricultural use where plants were
cultivated in shallow lakes and wastes emitted from these chinampa canals.
Introduction of fish farming to aquaponics systems on the other hand, is
attributed to people from South China and Thailand who reared fish alongside
rice in paddy fields.

General

Ancient Chinese Aquaponics

Rice paddies have been a staple of Chinese agriculture since 11000BC- much
longer than recorded history. Unsurprisingly, the rice farmers experimented
and refined their techniques over thousands of years. This culminated in the
6th Century, in which ducks, fish, and rice plants were used to create an early
aquaponics system.

The system has a beautifully simple elegance. Peking ducks kept in the rice
paddies would eat insects, pests, and small fish. The nutrient rich duck waste
would be eaten by the fish (most commonly oriental loach and/or swamp eel).
The fish waste would be broken down by nitrifying bacteria, and the rice
plants would clean this nutrient ‘waste’ and thrive as a result.

As well as free fertilizer, the farmers got free fish food from the ducks, and free
duck food from the insects attracted by the rice paddies. Although this was
by no means a closed-loop system (meaning it was influenced by external
factors), the farmers had great control over this aquaponics system, even
creating stepped terraces to create micro-climates and control the evaporation
and flow of water.

Aztec Aquaponics

The Aztecs’ use of aquaponics came about rather differently, thousands of

years later. Whilst the Chinese farmers freely experimented to improve their
crops out of choice, the Aztecs were forced into aquaponics by necessity. The
capital- Tenochtitlan- was surrounded by swamp land. This land- which was
useless for normal farming, forced the Aztecs to improvise and adapt.

Their solution was to build large, artificial floating islands using mud,
decaying plant matter, and woven reeds. These islands, or chinampas, could
be fixed in place, or movable. Crops such as maize, beans, and squash were
planted on these chinampas, and thus large areas of previously useless lake
and swamp land could now grow vast quantities of food.

In the chinampa system, the islands were built in already flourishing

ecosystems, in places with thriving fish populations (and therefore nutrient
rich water). The planted crops would benefit from the nitrates in the water
and grow rapidly. This is in contrast to the Chinese rice paddy systems, in
which the farmers had much greater control over the components, and often
introduced fish and other wildlife artificially.

The New Alchemy Institute

Despite its arcane title, the New Alchemy Institute (NAI) was simply a
foundation aimed at creating sustainable human support systems. Founded
in 1969 by John Todd, Nancy Todd, and William McLarney, the NAI conducted
research into food, water, energy, and shelter, on behalf of the people and the
planet. The founders built huge bioshelters known as ‘The Arks’ in Canada
and the United States. These were entire self-contained ecosystems, and the
animals, insects, plants, and even the soils were carefully planned to minimize
the need for external input. The NAI use of aquaponics came, not as a way to
maximize food growth, but as a way to improve water conditions for fish. The
quality of water in The Arks’ fish tanks would deteriorate quickly, and
required regular cleaning and replacement. Plants were added to this system
just to clean the water for the fish. This was the first modern mainstream
example of aquaponics.

Closed-Loop Aquaponics

These ideas were further developed by people like Dr McMurty and

Professor Sanders of North Carolina State University in the 1980s. Their
research introduced the idea of separate growbeds (they used sand as their
growth media), and popularized the use of tilapia, which is still the most
widely used fish in aquaponics today. This was the most probably the first
closed-loop aquaponics system: meaning that it did not rely on external
factors to function (although technically fish food was required). During the
1990s, Tom and Paula Speraneo developed the design which is the basis for
most aquaponics systems today. By replacing the sand with gravel, and
further manipulating the water cycle with an automated flood and drain
siphon, the Speraneos have been integral to the extrapolation of aquaponics
since the turn of the century. These models were improved by pioneers such
as Dr. James Rakocy in the Virgin Islands, and the members of The
Freshwater Institute in West Virginia, and would become the basis of
contemporary aquaponics.

Modern Era

After that, aquaponics took of as both a hobby and a commercial force.

Australia was the real hotbed of innovation, with websites such as Backyard
Aquaponics allowing for sharing of ideas and research through its open
forums. The fire quickly spread to the United States, where similar websites
and communities formed and began to share and develop ideas together.
Since the mid 2000s aquaponics has spread all over the world, and is widely
considered (along with vertical farming techniques) to be the future of food
production. Sustainable food projects all over the world are currently engaged
in creating a better future for families and communities in developing
countries, and- at the other end of the spectrum- millions of dollars are made
every year through commercial aquaponics.

Background

The aquaponics concept

Before going into the details of this work I will begin with explaining what is
meant by an Aquaponics so that there will be no misconceptions about this
further on as much of this work is based on just that. Aquaponics is a food
production method that combines the, now, traditional hydroponic with
aquaculture in a symbiotic relationship that facilitates a sustainable system
with little input necessary as all the water and nutrients within are re-
circulated in order to grow terrestrial plants and aquatic life. Aquaponics is,
in a 2009 article in "World Aquaculture", defined as "The integration of two
separate, established farming technologies - recirculating fish farming and
hydroponic plant farming." (Wilson Lennard, 2009). Similarly, the Oxford
English Dictionary defines Aquaponics as "a system of aquaculture in which
the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the
nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water"
(Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). As these preceding definitions shows, the word
"Aquaponic" rather clearly denotes a combination of the words "aquaculture"
and "hydroponic". The term "Aquaponic" is still a bit prospective and has only
just recently, as of September 2012, been brought into the Oxford English
Dictionary (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). Even though it states how the word
originated from the 1930's a few years ago it was not searchable here. The
word "Aquaponics" does also appear as an entry on Wikipedia, and did so
much earlier than the dictionaries, demonstrating that this concept has
moved into the public domain and suggests how interest surrounding it is on
a rise. As of March 25, 2013, this open source repository of knowledge online
encyclopedia, whose knowledge evolve with time as information is updated by
its users, defined Aquaponics as:
Even though plant growth in an aquaponic is visually and systematically
vastly different from a conventional growth, in farms and the likes, the same
natural requirements is in place. And although the actual science of
Aquaponics is still in the early stages of its development, the biochemical cycle
within it, cycling within the system, is quite well understood. The most
important is the nitrogen cycle which in an aquaponic is the key element cycle
as it symbiotically provides fertility to plants as well as cleans the water for
the fish, removing the toxicity they'd be subject to otherwise. The nitrogen
cycle here occurs as the water flow through from fish tanks to biological filters
containing bacteria situated on surface areas, to plants or a growbed and back
again. The major input into this nitrogen cycle – except for electricity which
here is required for the pump to circulate the water – is fish food which is
either in the shape of commercial fish feed or aquatic plants, depending on
the type of fish and plants in a given situation. After the fish eats the food
they produce waste. This fish waste, as well as any uneaten fish food, starts
to break down and, from this, the majority of the nitrogen content form
ammonia (NH3). This ammonia is then, thereafter as it flows through the
biological filter where Nitrosomonas bacteria is situated, converted to nitrite
(NO2) after which a second type of bacteria, Nitrobactor, converts nitrite into
nitrate (NO3) (Manahan, 2010). It is this nitrate that then, as it flows through
the growbed, serves as a fertilizer for the plants therein. As such the plants,
in this hydroponic component of the system, take up the nitrate - that helps
them grow by removing it from the water and as such purifies it as it circulates
back to the fish tank returning clean, fresh water for the fish to thrive in.

Aquaponics in the Philippines

Amazed by aquaponics systems shared in the internet from all over the world,
like Hawaii, Australia, Canada, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Greece, Trinidad
and Tobago, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Uganda and many more, we (Aquaponics PH enthusiasts) have been in search
for success stories particularly in the Philippines that would spark inspiration
among those who are contemplating on making big in Philippine aquaponics.

Following is a compilation of various aquaponics from small, medium, to large

setups that we came across:

1. Aquaponics in a condo veranda in Taguig. This is where test planting

is done for various vegetables and herbs and the favorite plant of all
– Basil. Why favorite? It repels plant pests like ants and aphids.
Under a balanced system, test result shows that a one feet by two
feet growbed will approximately provide your family 600+ grams of
basil harvest every 15 days. And what’s amazing is that after cutting
one stem, another two sprouts from the cut stem after three days.

2. Aquaponics in an unused car garage in Cavite. 600L fish tank with

four growbeds in cycling stage. It’s another test setup for data
gathering. Since the garage roof is covered with thick green
 polycarbonate, the sunlight can’t fully pass thru to aid in plant’s
photosynthesis. Plants are leggy in appearance showing sunlight
deficiency.

3. Aquaponics in Bulakan, Bulacan. Newly setup system owned by

Arnold and Anna Liza Salvador. The original idea was to produce
tilanggit (tilapia processed like danggit), but when the couple found
out about aquaponics, they thought of setting up a better and
sustainable system in their backyard. Hence a semi-commercial
aquaponics system that will provide fresh fish and vegetable for their
locality was born.

4. Aquaponics in Alabang by Bahay Kubo Organics team – Enzo, Ryan

and Illian. This is an entry to Project Pagsulong in 2012 which we
shared in our previous post here. We have been revisiting this site
and plants are growing better as the system matures.
5. Aquaponics from an orphanage in Alabang. The system produces
organic fish and vegetables for the nine hundred plus children in the
orphanage. Here, one kangkong leaf is equivalent to five kangkong
leaves we normally see in the market – it’s really huge.

6. Aquaponics in Bicol. Test setup by Atty. Rael Bitara and friends in

preparation for a bigger aquaponics dream in the future. You will fall
in love when you see one potential site for their aquaponic system
near Mt. Isarog. Hope to see aquaponics agri-tourism in that
mystical place in the future.
` 7. Aquaponics in Bantayan, Cebu has “Para Sa Aton” (For Us).
Project overlook by Martha Atienza, Jake Atienza, Angelicum Oda with
Aquaponics Bantayan team – Cloyd Anthony Ribo, Ging Alano, Lucille
Alano. This is an art project that uses media campaign to tackle
economic, social and environmental issues. Part of “Para Sa Aton”
project is Community Aquaponics System(CAS) that is implemented
alongside initiatives that provides common ground for the community
to collaborate, exchange ideas, and participate through arts and
culture, community dialogue and livelihood.

8. Aquaponics in Davao City, An engineer from Davao City will launch

a new technology for com-mercial distribution that promises organic
and sus-tainable effects on fish and vegetable production.The
technology called Aquaponics is the combi-nation of aquaculture
(raising fish) and hydropo-nics (the soil-less growing of plants) that
grows fish and plants together in one integrated system. The fish waste
provides an organic food source for the plants, and the plants naturally
filter the water for the fish. Developed by Engi-neer Gerry Antonio,
Aqua-ponics is a beneficial tech-nology because it is an organic way to
produce fish and vegetables.

As aquaponics goes mainstream in the Philippines, It is very

optimistic that the risks brought by climate change, food security,
radiation leak, over fishing of marine life and rising fuel cost used to
produce and transport foods to the consumers will be mitigated with
this technology. Aside from the access to fresh fish and vegetables,
when we learn the symbiotic relationships of plants, fish and bacteria
through an aquaponics ecosystem, also inculcated in the minds is
awareness that all living things on earth are interconnected. Hopefully
it spurs collaboration among our people to protect the environment for
the next generations to still enjoy biodiversity in the Philippines. As the
saying goes “we do not inherit the lands from our ancestors, we just
borrowed it from our children” and what we leave behind for the next
generations is a living and breathing planet with all the beauty of nature
that we see exist in our lifetime.
Objective of the Study
The general objective of this study is to design, install Sand evaluate
the performance of an aquaponics rice hull carbonizer:
  Demonstrate the potential productivity, efficiency, and associated
costs.
 Integrate optimized components into an existing design
 Provide plans for the project's successful implementation

Significance of the study

The result of the study will provide basic information about the
performance evaluation of aquaponics rice hull carbonizer. It is an
improved design that mechanized the previous design of continuous
type of aquaponics. To the researchers, the information and data
gathered from the performance evaluation of a aquaponics will become
the basis in the development of plants. To the farmers and end-users of
this technology, the information about aquaponics will help them
condition to increase agricultural productivity and profit.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study will focus only on the design, installation and

performance evaluation of the aquaponics rice hull carbonizer. The
performance evaluation is limited only in determining the capacity that
can be easily setup and managed by groups. The actual evaluation of
the aquaponics rice hull carbonizing will be conducted on November
2018 Regional Training Center Korea Phillipines Vocational Training
Center Buhisan, Tibungco Davao City.

Operational Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined based on its functional application

in the study to give interpretation and comprehension for the readers:

Carbonized Rice Hull

- It refers to the conversion of rice hull into charcoal.

Water Pump

- used to move water from the water supply to the specified area of
dry land.