This is the third part of the Bio-organic Planting series. If you want to read the second part please click here.
The medium that we grow our plants in is our next area of concern. Since the system constantly floods and flushes itself the space between the medium should be substantially high and it should let the water pass through easily.
The ideal choice would be clay pebbles as they help maintain a minimum safe level of moisture and is easy to maintain. One can also used broken pieces of clay pots, small pebbles or stones. The general idea is to avoid mud or sand or any medium that might clog the system or flow out through the siphon and into the fish tank.What I used for my prototype is a layer of broken clay tiles and then a very thin layer of granite stones over it. The clay tile pieces help maintain the moisture at lower levels.
Another important point is the level up to which one should fill the medium. This depends on how we set the siphon. When the medium is flooded the water level should remain 1 to 2 cm below the surface of the medium, this is to prevent the formation of algae or other such matter over the growth medium. The ideal height of the growth medium fill is 30cm. This is required for proper root formation and stability of the plants.
The pump is a crucial part of the whole system, much like our heart. If the pump stops the whole system fails and both the plants and the fishes die. Fishes die of ammonia build up in the water and lack of oxygen and the plants die of dry roots. So when we select the pump we should keep in mind that it should be capable of running 24x7 all 365 days. Well, we sometimes use timers to control some large output pumps but generally they work all the time. So the general aspects on deciding the pump would be:
Larger areas require larger pumps. If a small pump is used in larger areas water takes a long time to fill and this can cause root rot, so we use higher output pumps. Some systems incorporate timers or sensors to control the pumps. Timers switch the pumps on and off as per the predefined time schedule. Generally the frequency increases surrounding the mid day as the temperature is higher and the frequency is drastically reduced at night. In a sensor based system the pump switches off when the water floods the medium and switches on again at the minimum level. The sensor based system however is not very common. Power consumption is another area of concern.
This is directly proportional to the area that we plant or the crop/fish output. So smaller the area the smaller should be the power consumption. Low power pumps do not have a large head, i.e they can not pump high, so the growth medium should be kept as close to the tank as possible [above the tank]. The pumps can either be AC or DC powered. If you use power from solar panels a DC powered pump would be ideal. Inlet side of the pump will have a suction relative to the power of the pump and most pumps come with an inlet filter. The filter prevents the intake of large particles or small fish into the impeller of the pump. Ensure that the filter is kept clean as this affects the output and the life of the pump. For the prototype I used a small 6.6Watt AC pump. The unit has been set up at a head of approx 30 cm from the bottom of the pump to the top of the output. I have incorporated a system that is similar to sprinkler/drip irrigation to maintain surface moisture.
In the next concluding part we will look at adding the fish and planting and aftercare.
Index:
Bio-organic Planting [ Part-1 ]
The medium that we grow our plants in is our next area of concern. Since the system constantly floods and flushes itself the space between the medium should be substantially high and it should let the water pass through easily.
The ideal choice would be clay pebbles as they help maintain a minimum safe level of moisture and is easy to maintain. One can also used broken pieces of clay pots, small pebbles or stones. The general idea is to avoid mud or sand or any medium that might clog the system or flow out through the siphon and into the fish tank.What I used for my prototype is a layer of broken clay tiles and then a very thin layer of granite stones over it. The clay tile pieces help maintain the moisture at lower levels.
The pump is a crucial part of the whole system, much like our heart. If the pump stops the whole system fails and both the plants and the fishes die. Fishes die of ammonia build up in the water and lack of oxygen and the plants die of dry roots. So when we select the pump we should keep in mind that it should be capable of running 24x7 all 365 days. Well, we sometimes use timers to control some large output pumps but generally they work all the time. So the general aspects on deciding the pump would be:
- How much water is to be pumped and circulated?
- What is the time interval to be maintained?
- How much power consumption are we looking at?
- What is the head/height of delivery?
- What is the available power source ?
Larger areas require larger pumps. If a small pump is used in larger areas water takes a long time to fill and this can cause root rot, so we use higher output pumps. Some systems incorporate timers or sensors to control the pumps. Timers switch the pumps on and off as per the predefined time schedule. Generally the frequency increases surrounding the mid day as the temperature is higher and the frequency is drastically reduced at night. In a sensor based system the pump switches off when the water floods the medium and switches on again at the minimum level. The sensor based system however is not very common. Power consumption is another area of concern.
This is directly proportional to the area that we plant or the crop/fish output. So smaller the area the smaller should be the power consumption. Low power pumps do not have a large head, i.e they can not pump high, so the growth medium should be kept as close to the tank as possible [above the tank]. The pumps can either be AC or DC powered. If you use power from solar panels a DC powered pump would be ideal. Inlet side of the pump will have a suction relative to the power of the pump and most pumps come with an inlet filter. The filter prevents the intake of large particles or small fish into the impeller of the pump. Ensure that the filter is kept clean as this affects the output and the life of the pump. For the prototype I used a small 6.6Watt AC pump. The unit has been set up at a head of approx 30 cm from the bottom of the pump to the top of the output. I have incorporated a system that is similar to sprinkler/drip irrigation to maintain surface moisture.
In the next concluding part we will look at adding the fish and planting and aftercare.
Index:
Bio-organic Planting [ Part-1 ]
Nice and quite informative post. I really look forward to your other posts.
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