Week 2 Discussion Presentation to the Class of an Aquaculture Facility – REsponses

So aquaculture is known as fish farming. It is the practice of cultivating aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans. It involves various techniques to enhance production and ensure the sustainability of aquatic species. Aquaculture is important because it provides things like food security, economic benefits, environmental benefits, and also assists in the research and conversation sorry conservation of the farmed species. Different type of systems include flow through, recirculating or RAS, net pens, leases, pond cultures, or in this case, what I’m going to talk about is the RAS aquaponics.

So aquaponics is an integrated system that combines conventional aquaculture with hydroponics in a symbiotic environment, and the system water from the aquaculture section is cycled to the hydroponic section, where plants utilize the nutrients from fish waste as fertilizer, and in turn, the plants help filter and clean the water before it is recirculated back to the aquaculture tanks. You can see in the diagram here how that works.

So the benefits of aquaponics include. Efficient resource use with water conservation and space utilization. It is a sustainable production. It’s chemical free, usually, and it lessens environmental impact.

It provides a diversified income, allowing for the production of fish and plants at the same time, and it allows for year round production. It also has an enhanced productivity because they’re faster, faster growth rates because of the symbiotic relationship between the fish and the plants, and has a high yield. This improves food security because it allows for local production and reduces dependency on imported food and allows for fresh produce. As an educational tool, and can provide a sort of community engagement by encouraging involvement and awareness about sustainable food.

So the example I’m using is the aquaponics system that uses paddlefish at the State University of New York, Morrisville.

So they use two different types of aquaponics. They use the nutrient film technique, the NFT, which is where the plants sit above the water, and the nutrient rich water from the fish continuously flows over the roots and allows the plants to access the nutrients, water and oxygen that they need to promote rapid growth.

The other type of system they use is called a raft system. This one is where the plants sit directly on top of the water on rafts, and the roots are submerged into the water. This is the one that you see more typically with fish as opposed to the NFT. NFT You don’t necessarily need to use fish in this type of system. You can just pump the nutrients in the water. The raft system fish are more typically used, and that symbiotic relationship allows for nutrients to go back and forth between the fish and the plants. So the type of filtration that SUNY uses is a sump. And, um, what this does is it’s basically just a tank that pulls water from the system. And as the water sits and it’s flowing through this tank, it goes through a filter which catches all the uneaten or solid waste before the water is recirculated back into the system.

This aquaculture center is located in Morrisville, New York and it is a living laboratory for SUNY Morrisville students. It acts as a training center for both students and professionals in raising paddlefish, as well as teaching techniques in aquaponic and hydroponics. This facility includes the 4000 gallon aquaponics system, which can produce up to 22,000 heads of lettuce and 1,700 lbs of fish per year. This facility also hosts a hydroponic tomato, cucumber and pepper system for vine production. Other features for this facility include a 30 foot by 60 foot greenhouse, which you can see in the photos listed below. A cold water species hatchery, um solar power, marine aquaculture lab, a public aquaria and NFT and Ref systems.

Now, the type of aquaculture system being used is a recirculating system. This simply means all water will be recirculated through filters and used again instead of being discarded for new water. The system is a type of intensive aquaculture, as it uses artificial structures such as fish tanks, versus and natural environment. Um. This facility is using RAS to practice aquaponics, which is a farming technique that uses a combination of hydroponics and recirculating systems to grow plants and fish together in a closed ecosystem. Within the recirculating aquaponics system here there are two types of growing techniques being used. The first one being an NFT system which suspends plant roots in a tray or tube above the fish tank. The water is pumped from the tank through a water filter into the plant channels, creating a shallow stream of nutrient rich water for the plants to absorb. The other growing technique used in this uh facility is a raft system, which is a type of deep water culture technique. This technique actually suspends the plants directly on top of the water, using the form of a floating raft bed. Within the floating rafts or holes for the plants to be able to sit above while the roots are fully submerged in the water. As the plants float on top, the roots are able to absorb the nutrient rich water directly instead of through a channel or tube like the other. While each techniques are slightly different from one another, both use the nitrates from fish waste to act as the main nutrients for plant growth. And as for the filtration system here, a sump is being used to remove any unclean or solid waste, keeping the water clean as it continuously recirculate through these tanks. Sump tanks are actually very important in aquaponic systems as they improve water management, increase nutrient availability, boost oxygenation, and help the overall enhancement of the system stability and reduce pump stress. In the middle of the slide, you can see the actual pump filter or excuse me, sump filter being used at this facility. And then to the right is the actual raft system. And you can see the heads of lettuce submerged on top of the um, paddlefish tank. And then to the left is their NFT system.