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Aquaponics in a Re-Circulation System
This is the aquaponics set up in the greenhouse. The purpose of this system is to grow fish and plants. Let us walk through this aquaponics system step by step so that we can better understand how it functions.

 
This is birds eye view of the aquaponics set up in the greenhouse. The purpose of this system is to grow fish and plants. Let us walk through this aquaponics system step by step so that we can better understand how it functions.
Fig 1 Shows the start of the water cycle in our re-circulation system. Water is pumped from this water tank into the four fish farms. Each fish farm tank holds 2000 gallons of water and 600 fish. The water chemistry is monitored every day by the farmers. They check dissolved oxygen, pH (potential hydrogen), temperature, ammonia levels, and nitrate levels.The weight of the fish is checked once a week so that the amount of food that the fish require remains accurate.
Fig 2 Shows the water flow moving into what are called settling tanks. The Settling tanks allow the solid fish waste to settle in the bottom of the tanks so that it can be removed from the system. If the solid fish waste were to build up in the system and go unchecked nitrate levels would rise and change creating poisons ammonia levels which would make the fish sick or kill the fish off completely.
Fig 3 Shows the next phase of the system which is the water flow into the mineralization tanks. Netting traps the solid waste still flowing through the system. Anaerobic bacteria convert solid waste which was not trapped in the settling tanks into a more soluble form.
Fig 4 Shows the de-gassing tank. Here air is pumped into the water to help release the trapped gases like methane, nitrogen, and CO2.
Fig 5 Shows the water flowing from the de-gassing tank into the plant tanks. The water flowing down from the fish farms is rich with nutrients which the plants need to live and thrive. Thirteen of the of the sixteen nutrients needed by plants are in the fish farm water. Some additional nutrients are added to the water in order to give the plants 100% of what they need. After this the water flows back to tank 1 and starts the cycle over again.