Aquaclay^® in an Aquaponic System

Aquaponics is raising fish and growing plants a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics (growing plants without soil). The plants benefit mainly from the nitrogenous compounds excreted by the fish. The plants take up the fish waste products as nutrient thus continuously cleaning the water for the fish.

Aquarium enthusiasts are already familiar with the nitrogen cycle, for the rest here it is.

Ammonia is the most poisonous of the nitrogenous compounds to the fish, it is also the first to accumulate in the water as a result of fish waste.

As the ammonia level rises during the first few days of operation and given the proper conditions, beneficial aerobic bacteria called nitrosonomas begin to feed on the ammonia converting it into less harmful compound nitrite. Nitrite is still toxic to the fish, but not as toxic as ammonia. Given the appropriate conditions, another species of nitrobacteria colonizes feeding on the nitrite. This reduces nitrite to nitrate the least toxic of these compounds to the fish.

The aerated surface area is known as biofilter, here Aquaclay^®, an integral part of this technique, for this is where the good bacteria colonize. This cycle takes a few days (approx. 2 weeks) to control the degradation of ammonia-nitrite-nitrate. The biofilter need only contain a large surface for well-aerated water flow through – Aquaclay^® !

For this reason most people begin with a few small fish and gradually add more after two weeks, when the biofilter Aquaclay^® is bacterially well balanced.

These three nitrogenous compounds are essentially to the health of your plant, which will suck them out of the water. Aquaponic systems contains all three parts, fish to produce the ammonia, bacteria to break the ammonia down to nitrates and plants to feed on the nitrates to create fishfood to start the cycle all over again.

The fish live in standard fish tank. A foliar feed with this water will green up any plants. By bathing the roots continuously with this water the plants are sponging the nutrients out of the solution hence clearing the water further than the filter.

When the water returns to the aquarium it is heavily aerated, which is of the utmost importance to the health of the populations of beneficial aerobic bacteria. These bacteria not only process nutrients into a plant soluble form and clean the water for the fish, the also inhibit the proliferation of destructive bacteria.