Aquaponics Nugget #33: Flow Rate In Aquaponics Systems (Part 2)

How To Scale A System Larger Or Smaller If you want to build a system that is smaller or larger than an existing system that is working well, simply multiply the amounts and system numbers up or down proportionately, remembering that the styrofoam sheets for the rafts in a DWC system come in 4-foot by 8-foot sizes. The only exception to this is the water flow rate into each trough, which doesnt need to vary from short trough to longer troughs. How did we discover this? We used the information UVI gave us in the 2007 short course about scaling systems. They showed us how to scale the pump up or down in size depending on how many square feet of trough area you had in a system. They taught us that bigger systems needed bigger pumps because they had more trough area, right? Well, we scaled a system down to 64 square feet, using the following: UVI has a 2,400 square foot system with a 80-gallon per minute pump. We wanted to build a 64 square foot system, which is 0.02667 times smaller than their system, so we multiplied their 80 gpm pump by 0.02667 and came up with a 2.133 gpm pump, bought and installed a 2 gpm pump in a system with a 4foot wide, 10-inch deep, 16-foot long trough (SAME depth and width as all our other systems). It was only after wed operated this system for awhile, and had seen how incredibly prolific it was, that we realized what wed done: without even thinking about it, we had created our FIRST experiment in water flow rate in aquaponics systems. Heres why: the speed the water flows past the plant roots in a trough is determined by how fast the water flows into the trough, NOT by how long the trough happens to be. We had systems with 20 gallons per minute going into the trough, and this system with 2 gallons per minute going into the trough, and they were both growing the same vegetables at the same speed, even though one had ten times the flow rate over the plant roots that the other had! We had a successful experiment, and new information to redesign our aquaponics systems with to save energy! What does this mean? Although our flow rate experiments have indicated that 5gpm is a safe minimum, theres a nice little 2 gpm pump that we recommend Micro System 64 and 128 builders use, and has worked fine in those systems. Were being a little more conservative with our Family System and suggesting a pump with a 5 gpm flow rate. Were being even more conservative with our 1,024 square foot Commercial Systems and suggesting a pump with a 10 gpm flow rate. IMPORTANT! These systems all have a single set of series-plumbed troughs, so the flow rate through the trough is 2 gpm for the Micro System, 5 gpm for the Family System, and 10 gpm for the 1,024 square foot Commercial System. Were pretty certain the little 2 gpm pump would work for all these systems, if you didnt let it get clogged. Heres the specifications for the Micro System 64: Pounds of fish in rearing tank 20 Rearing tank, depth 20" of water min. Rearing Tank gallons 150-300 Troughs, area in square feet 64 Troughs, gallons 400 Water Flow Rate GPM 2 Troughs, depth (inches) 8-10 Air Pump size 0.5 cfm @ 40" H2O Total system water 550-700 REALLY IMPORTANT! When you change system proportions you will need to find fish tanks, air pumps and blowers (or air pump) that fit the rescaled system's requirements, based on these approximate ratios: A. 0.3 pounds of fish per square foot of raft, and

B. 4 gallons of fish tank water per pound of fish in the tank. C. 1.5 cfm of air @ 40 H2O per 100 pounds of fish in the system. D. 1.5 cfm of air @ 10 H2O per 100 lineal feet of trough 4 feet wide. E. 5 gpm minimum water flow rate into each trough circuit. Lets do a sample system design from these numbers. Lets say we want a system that has 8,000 square feet of raft area. The first number we find is the amount of fish required to power the system: 8,000 X 0.3 is 2,400 pounds. We need a fish tank that has 4 gallons of water for each pound of fish, or 4 times 2,400, which is a 9,600 gallon tank. A 20-foot circular tank is a little small at 8,500 gallons, so well use a 24-foot diameter circular tank that holds about 11,800 gallons. We need 1.5 cfm of air @ 40 H2O for each 100 pounds of fish, so we need 24 times 1.5, or 36 cfm of air @ 40 H2O. We divide our 8,000 square feet of trough by a width of 4 to find out we have 2,000 lineal feet of trough, and we need 1.5 cfm of air @ 10 H2O for each 100 feet of this, or 1.5 times 20, which is 30 cfm @ 10 H2O. Now, you just need to go to your catalog or supplier and find equipment that will meet these specifications. (Next week: "Nutrient and pH Levels In Organic Aquaponics Systems" Part 1, with information on this interesting topic).