MANUAL

Calculation of the dimensions of an aquaponic system

In aquaponics, it is very important that the input and output of nutrients are balanced over the entire
growing period. This balance can be controlled using two different approaches:

Existing recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) Desired plant and fish production and
with desired fish production and corresponding corresponding dimensioning of the RAS part.
dimensioning of the plant part.
Plants Plants

Fish tank Fish tank

Pump Pump

Radial flow settler Biofilter Radial flow settler Biofilter

Biofilter

The aim of dimensioning the RAS part of an aquaponic system is to dimension the different purification
stages in order to have good water quality for the fish and sufficient nutrient supply for the plants. It is
always an advantage if the system is as unaffected as possible by seasonal fluctuations (fish biomass,
temperature, dissolved oxygen, ammonium, nitrite and nitrate). In general, a large water volume and low
stocking densities make systems more stable. It is important that the whole year is planned and that the
differences in fish and plant species as well as the growth stages of all species are taken into account.
The model PlanningExerciseAquaponic TOOL was created and implemented in an Excel spreadsheet in
order to support this planning process (Copyright by NC State University 1998, further developed by F.
Tschudi 2018 for teaching purposes) from step 1 to step 8. This tool was designed to carry out a first rough
planning for a low-tech system, which should work in terms of mass flows. First, the nutrient demand of
planned crop cultivation must first be specified in the model (Sheet 1 - Nutrient Uptake by Plants). By
dividing the nutrient demand by the nutrient excretion per kg feed digested, the daily feed quantity is
calculated. Due to the higher N than P content in fish feed, in aquaponics it is always necessary to decide
whether the system should be designed according to the N requirement and P added in the form of fertiliser
to the system or whether the system should be designed according to the P requirement and superfluous
N removed by water exchange. For this reason, the Excel spreadsheet sheet 2 can be used to dimension
the RAS based on the nitrogen demand, while sheet 3 can be used based on phosphorus demand. The
following components have to be calculated: Tank size and biomass, total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) mass
balance, biofilter sizing, solids mass balance and oxygen mass balance. Subsequently the components
solids removal, biofilter, pipe and pump system can be planned. Finally, the feeding, power supply and
heating and cooling system as well as the emergency system and extras for intensive systems (UV
disinfection, pure oxygen) can be planned accordingly.

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
Procedure 13 steps:
Spreadsheet 1 Plant Nutrient Uptake – Overview:
1. Define area of cultivation B5
2. Define the plant-specific nutrient uptake or use the guideline value (for nitrogen B8 and phosphorus
demand B9)
Thus, the estimated nutrient uptake by the plants in the aquaponics system is calculated (for
nitrogen B11 and phosphorus demand B12)
Due to the higher N than P content in fish feed, in aquaponics it is always necessary to decide whether
the system should be designed according to the N requirement and P added in the form of fertiliser, or
whether the system should be designed according to the P requirement and N removed by water
exchange. This can mainly be controlled by adjusting the stocking density and feeding rate.

Spreadsheet 2 & 3 Sample Flow Calculation – Overview:

3. Define fish species B10 and heating B11
4. Choose fish tanks B14 – B16, production volume B17 – B19 and desired fish keeping and system
parameters B26 – B32, B45 – B48, B59 – B62, B70 – B73
5. Choose technologies (tanks, filters, pumps, air supply, pipes) that should be used, and draw a flow
chart of the system
6. Calculate circulation rate needed to sustain sufficient ammonium removal B38 – B39, solids
removal B65 – B66, and oxygen supply B78 – B79
7. Dimension the radial flow settler (RFS): Use the highest calculated flow rate (B40, B67 or B80).
8. Dimension the biofilter B53 – B56
9. Dimension the extras (only for intensive fish farming systems)
10. Dimension the pipe and pump system including head loss and pumping height
11. Plan the feeding
12. Plan the power supply and energy balance (heating, cooling, room climate, etc.)
13. Plan the emergency system

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
Example:
Steps 1 and 2: Define plant area and nutrient uptake
1. Planted area = 7 m2
2. Nutrient uptake by plants:
I. Nitrogen: 0.2 g/m2/d * 7m2 = 1.4 g/d N → Nitrogen demand of the plants is covered and P
has to be added separately)
II. Phosphorus: 0.1 g/m2/d * 7m2 = 0.7 g/d P → Phosphorus demand of the plants is covered
and the superfluous N must be transformed)
As this example is a small, low-tech system, fertiliser should not have to be added constantly. Therefore,
the right amount of phosphorus is added by the fish feed and it is accepted that the plants cannot use
all nitrogen. The nitrogen can be removed from the system by water exchange if needed.
For this reason, the dimensioning of this example system is done using phosphorus demand
coverage.

Steps 3 and 4: Define the fish species, production volume and keeping conditions
I. Fish species = carp (needs warm in summer and cold in winter)
Heating: no
It is very important to consider from the very beginning of the planning whether a heating
and cooling system has to be installed respectively whether an energy balance has to be
calculated in a first step.
II. Fish tanks: 2 x 800 l
III. Stocking density: maximum of 10 kg/m3
For the calculation based on the coverage of the N requirement: If necessary, reduce the
stocking density or feeding rate to avoid having too much N available.
IV. Annual production: 43 kg/a (fillet yield 37%; approximately 20 times 800 g fish filet per year
for a family of 5 persons)
V. Feed rate: 1% feed per kg body weight per day
The feeding rate can be adjusted to meet nutrient needs. However, care must be taken that
the feeding rates for the fish species and the growth stage of the fish will not be too high or
too low. However, it is necessary to be aware of the interactions in the system, which are
shown in Figure 1.

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
 70

challenging
technically
high-tech system
60

Stocking density (kg/m3)

50

40

30

20
technically

10 small fish: middle-size fish: big fish:

simple

low growth, good growth, much growth,

low-tech system
0 high metabolism good FCR bad FCR
5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4
Feed rate (% of body weight)

Figure 1: Overview of low- and high-tech systems with stocking density and feed
rate (in % of body weight)

Step 5: Draw a flow chart

Figure 2: Low-tech aquaponic system with obligatory and optional air supply

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
 Step 6: Calculate circulation rates
To control the water quality in the fish tank, waste products can only be removed by water exchange.
Therefore, sufficient flow rate is needed to keep waste concentrations (ammonium and suspended solids)
on low limits:
𝑁𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 = (𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 – 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤) ∗ 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
Same is valid for oxygen input:
𝑁𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 = (𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 – 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤) ∗ 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
To insure control of all parameters (ammonium, solids and oxygen), the highest volume flow rate needs to
be chosen.

• For the ammonium removal:

• For solids removal:

• For oxygen supply:

→ Take the highest of these three values to have a security margin: 89709 l/day = 3.7 m3/h

Step 7: Dimensioning the solids removal

• Choose a radial flow settler
• Approx. 50 - 100 l/m2/min charge:
• 62 l/min → 0.62 m2 surface

2
surface = 0.62 m

Figure 3: Dimensioned Solid Removal Unit - Radial Flow Settler (RFS)

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
Step 8: Dimensioning the biofilter according to the Excel spreadsheet
Depending on the size of the system, the Leca bed can also be taken as a biofilter. However, if the plants
are grown in hydroculture, a separate biofilter is needed. In case you want to calculate your Leca filter as
a fixed bed filter, simply change surface area to 500m2/m3 (Lekang & Kleppe, 2000), media depth to 100%
and half of estimated nitrification rate compared to a moving bed reactor. The fixed-bed reactor has no
ventilation, so the oxygen input must be planned at a different system point.

Diameter = 0.31 m
Volume = 0.10 m2
Free board = 0.40 m
Air flow needed = 0.51 m3/h
Figure 4: Calculation of the biofilter dimension

Step 9: Dimensioning the extras: Only for intensive farming systems

• Due to the low individual density, the use of a UV system is not necessary.
• Due to the low individual density, the use of pure oxygen system is not needed.

Step 10: Dimensioning the pipe and pump system

• Plan the pipe system: calculate the pressure loss
As soon as it is known how high the water flow must be in the system, the pipe diameters and the
associated pressure losses can be determined on the basis of the desired flow velocity. Figure 6
shows the labelled different pipe sections. Based on this drawing, Table 1 can be filled in using the
diagram pressure drop (bar/100 m) and velocity in PE, PEH or PVC pipes (Figure 5) and the
information below to calculate the head loss in the system to be pumped through. The system
pump must be able to overcome both the geodetic (H geodetic) and the friction loss (H friction loss)
differences of the pipelines. H geodetic or H potential is the pressure loss between the highest and lowest
water level in the system. H friction loss is the pressure loss in the piping where the water must be
pumped from the lowest to the highest point in the system.
As a rule of thumb, it is necessary to overcome a height difference of 1-3 m in RAS.
In this example, a water flow of 62 l/min (calculated in step 6) is needed, which corresponds to
about 1 l/s.

The pump supplies as much energy as the pipe network offers resistance (energy equilibrium). The
pipe network must be designed accordingly. Theoretically ideal would be a network without friction
loss, i.e. with an infinitely large cross-section.
- In reality, the flow rate should be 1-2 m/s:
<1 m/s: Danger of deposits
> 2 m/s: Unnecessary friction loss (energy)
- In principle, a raw flow velocity of 50 - 100 cm/s is recommended, whereby a flow velocity of
80 cm/sec is most suitable for smaller pipes.
- angles lead to an additional pressure loss, but are not further considered in this exercise.
- for the current example we assume the media bed lead to a head loss of 3 cm/m medium flowing
through.

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
 ∆ H friction loss
∆ H total
∆ H geodetic

Figure 6: Low-tech aquaponic system with planned pipeline sections

Helpful calculation tool for pressure losses (homepage available in German):

https://www.schweizer-fn.de/berechnung/stroemung/strang/strang_start.php
The following steps show how the calculation can be carried out using a diagram (so it is not
essential to use the homepage).

2-7
1,8-10

Figure 5: Diagram pressure drop (bar/100 m) and velocy in PE, PEH or PVC pipes
(Engineering ToolBox, 2003)

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
Table 1: Pipeline sections with planned velocity, diameter and headloss and total system height difference

Pipe Start End Flow Velocity Inside Major friction loss Length Head
capacity diameter loss
[l/s] [m/s] [mm] [bar/100 m] [m] [m]
1 bar =10 m / 100 m
1 14 1 1 0.8 40 0.2 20 0.4
2 1 2 0.5 0.8 30 0.3 2 0.06
3 1 3 0.5 0.8 30 0.3 4 0.12
4 3 4 0.5 0.8 30 0.3 2 0.06
5 5 6 0.5 0.8 30 0.3 1 0.03
6 6 8 0.5 0.8 30 0.3 4 0.12
7 7 8 0.5 0.8 30 0.3 1 0.03
8 8 9 1 0.8 40 0.2 5 0.1
9 10 11 1 0.8 40 0.2 8 0.16
10 11 12 - - - 0.3 10 0.30
11 12 13 1 0.8 40 0.2 3 0.06

Table 2: Pipeline sections with planned pressure losses

Type Pipe strand Pipe Start End Pressure loss
[m]
1 1,2 14 2 0.46
H geodetic
2 1,3,4 14 4 0.58
3 5,6,8 5 9 0.25
4 7,8 7 9 0.13
H friction loss 5 9 10 11 0.16
6 Media bed HP inflow HP outflow 0.30
7 11 12 13 0.06
Total head loss in the system 1.35

• For this example system a pump has to be found which moves 3720 l/h B79 *60 at 1.35 m head.
H
2.0

Pump curve
H
1.5

3
Pumping height [m]

Operating point Optimum

0.5 1.0

System characteristic curve

Ha
0

0 25 50 75 100
Delivery volume [l/min] Q

Figure 7: Pump characteristic curve for a delivery volume of 62 l/min and pumping height of 1.35 m.

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
 The pump characteristic curve, also known as the performance diagram, shows the ratio of the
delivery volume V (in l/min) to the delivery head H (in m, this is proportional to the pressure
difference Δp) of a pump. The characteristic curve shows whether the capacity of the selected
pump is sufficient to pump the required amount of water to a certain level. In order to use the pump
efficiently, care should always be taken that the operating point is as close as possible to the
optimum.

Step 11 – 13: Finish the planning

• Feed manually or automated feeding systems
• Guarantee power supply
• Plan monitoring system for:
– Oxygen
– Temperature
– SMS Alarm: O2
– Optional: automated feeding

For small aquaponic systems, however, there are also very simple product solutions. For example, GSMS-
One has various product solutions that can be used to monitor temperature or water contact. Data is
transmitted via GSM, i.e. a text message is sent to stored mobile phones via a device with an integrated
SIM card connected to the power supply. A major advantage of these devices is that they also send alarms
if there is a power failure. There are also sensors which are used in combination with an alarm system.
Figure 6 shows an overview of a possible alarm system. The temperature is monitored by the temperature
sensor GSMS-One DRH-3015-WIFI-Digital and an alarm is triggered if the target temperature falls below
or exceeds a certain value. The water detector triggers an alarm as soon as the sensor has water contact.
In order to be able to indirectly monitor the functional status of the water pump, it is advisable to build a
hydraulically slightly over stowed fish tank. If the pump stops working, the water level in the fish tank will
increase due to the water flowing back from the hydroponic part. If the water level reaches the water
sensor, which is located above the normal fish tank water level, an alarm is triggered.

GSM-water
detector: sensor
GSM-One temperature for alarm systems
sensor:
socket with GSM control

Figure 8: Example for a simple and cost-effective monitoring system of a low-tech auqaponic system with GSMS-
One DRH-301-WIFI-Digital sensor for temperature control in the fish tank (left) and GSM-One DRH-WM01 sensor
for alarm systems to control the water level in the fish tank (right). Note: This is not a recommendation.

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions
For high-tech systems involving large sums of money and the associated higher risk, it is recommended
to use a reliable overall solution for system monitoring. Figure 9 shows such a software solution for
monitoring high-tech systems.

Rules. Feeding.
Monitor.

Rules Feedin Monitor

. .
Figure 9: Senect - Example of an Aquaculture Monitoring & Control System. Note: This is not a recommendation.

Conclusion
The simplified and fast planning of an aquaponics system is now complete. This procedure can also be
applied to other aquaponic system designs. It is important that the following points are subsequently
included in the planning of a RAS system:
- Fresh water
- Ventilation
- Energy balance (heating / cooling)
It must also be considered that the fish give off a lot of heat through the metabolism and that the
circulating water also heats up.
Note: For the dimensioning of a real system it is absolutely necessary to consult qualified specialists. We
are dealing with living animals and are responsible for their well-being.
Also take legal conditions into account!

Dimension Tool
Copyright by NC state University (1998); further developed by Tschudi, F. (2018) for teaching purposes.
Planning basis for dimensioning the aquaculture part of an aquaponic system. Wädenswil: Zurich
University of Applied Sciences, Research Group Aquaculture Systems

Literature
Engineering ToolBox, (2003). PE, PEH or PVC Pipes - Pressure Drop Diagram Engineering ToolBox
Lekang, O.-I., & Kleppe, H. (2000). Efficiency of nitrification in trickling filters using different filter media.
Aquacultural Engineering, 21(3), 181–199.

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Week 6 – Aquaponic System Design and Calculation of Dimensions