Microcosm Aquaponics 2016

44 Pages·2016·19.13 MB·English

Microcosm Aquaponics 2016
AQUAPONICS Processes & Operations Descriptions
Version 7.3
Aquaponics (no financial data)
Nutraceuticals
Beyond Organics
2016.
v_6.2
featuring ecoGROW Farms produce & products
Our Mission
NATURAL pollenation
ecoGROW, Inc. develops
sustainable “Beyond
Organic” state-of-the-art
“To stimulate economic growth and development on the
Aquaponic fresh food
community level through creation of state-of-the-art organic facilities to provide safe
and healthy produce for
foods husbandry and cultivation where the entire food chain
communities.
is organic and insulated in an air-conditioned, temperature and
ecoGROW uses its
humidity controlled, cocooned environment, insulated from own and some licensed
seasonal weather fluctuations, radiation, plus air and water borne enlightened technologies.
toxins or pathogens.” ecoGROW works in
conjuction with and
in collaboration with
hydroponic industry
leader HydroNov Inc.,
developer of the deep
water raft horticulture
method and with Harnois
Industries, designer of
the building structures,
and several exclusive
proprietary features that
the ecoGROW system
incorporates.
(www.hydronov.com)
The DIFFERENCE is that
the ecoGROW Organic
Food system uses natural
fish nutrients in lieu of
chemical fertilizers and all
aspects of the system are
derived from nature with
no artificial additives.
ecoGROW is licensed by
the Province of Alberta
Ministry of Agriculture
Crop Diversification
Research Centre to utilize
the aquaponic designs
and expertise from their
long running, all natural
processes.
ecoGROW INC: Designers • Developers • Technologists • Managers
Ph.#: 604-755-9363
Fax#: [phone]
www.ecogrow.ca
page ii
Factory farming now accounts for more than 99
percent of all farmed animals raised and slaughtered
in North America, (Virtually all seafood comes to us by
way of unsustainable industrial fishing or factory fish
farms, where in many cases the aquatic creatures are
fed on pellet foods with inorganic fillers and no organic
Pest predators, not bee
content, often augmented with estuarine small species
killing insecticides
marine or anadromous fry and fingerlings that are not
replaced.)
rai·son d’ê·tre

ˌrāzôn ˈdetrə/
noun
“the most important
reason or purpose for
someone or something’s
existence.”
The ecoGROW “reason
to be” is to replace
the coarse and brutal
methods of factory
farming with refined
and humane procedures
that are derived from the
understanding that even
the simplest sentient
creature deserves care
and respect.
AHIMSA
Farming Forward: Ending Factory Farming
g
Factory farms, also known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) or IFAP (Industrial Farm
Animal Production) facilities can house more than 125,000 animals under one roof and are designed to
produce the highest possible output at the lowest possible cost to the operator. These farms and their
associated industrial slaughterhouses produce “cheap” meat, eggs, and dairy by externalizing their
costs. The costs to the public from the ecological damage and health problems created by factory farms
are not considered any more than the law requires, and companies have often found it less expensive to
pay fines than to alter their methods. For this reason, the true cost of meat is never reflected in the price
page iii
consumers pay. Animal suffering is given no meaningful consideration except in a few idiosyncratic cases.
Preface & Document Outline
This document describes ecoGROW’s unique version of Aquaponics.
The business is in the floating raft horticulture and flood-drain media
types of high yield greenhouse (natural nutrient aquaponic fresh
produce), including indoor, land-based food fish & crustacean aquaculture
sectors.
ecoGROW Corporation Inc. is the developer of the project.
The project operating company is Fraser Valley Aquaponics Inc,
Management, training and technologies will be provided by ecoGROW and
its affiliates.
Aquaponics Technologies
page IV
page IV
Aquaponics Beyond Organic Microcosm Fresh Food Production System
Document Contents
Topic Page
ecoGROW Corporate Mission Economic growth through advancements ii
Farming Forward: ecoGROW "raison d'etre" Seeking a better concept of food production iii
Preface & document outline ecoGROW's unque version of aquaponics iv
Document contents (this page) v
Brooks Alberta Crop Diversification Centre The home of cold climate tropical Aquaponics vi
ecoGROW Technologies comprise BOFC "Beyond OrganicFood Circle"in a Microcosm vii
Construction of raceway tanks 5000 years old aquaponics: Inle Lake, Myanmar viii
Renewable energy for Aquaponics Creating a tropical high growth climate indoors 1
All natural Aquaponics description The ecoGROW Organic Food Circle: how it works 2 & 3
The essential Vermiculture & plant nutrients Aerobic micro-defenders and inoculent worm tea 4
Growing environments: micro climates Air, light and water technologies in the microcosm 5
The Science of Aquaponics balancing and expoiting symbiotic ecologies 7 & 8
Agriculture Alberta: years of Aquaponics research A brilliant team with outstanding results 8 & 9
Flood-drain pebble pot aquaponics Both trough and Bato bucket examples 10
Flood-drain pebble pot aquaponics Renewable Energy savings 11
Proven high-tech double skinned greenhouses 30 years successful, hot air insulated units and why 12 & 13
Diverse species aquaculture Chosen types of food fish and crustacea 14 to 17
Hatchery & nursery technologies at ecoGROW Plankton bioreactors & juveniles care 18 to 20
Yabbies (crayfish-freshwater lobster) Types of giant river prawns & yabbies 21
Species-specific lighting LED spectra for aquaculture & horticulture 22 & 23
Short crop greens and other DWR production Deep water, floating raft horticulture & harvesting 24 to 29
Herbs,microgreens and nutraceuticals Herbs types possible, grown on rafts or in Bato pots 30 & 31
Tall plant (vine crops) Flood-drain systems Trough & Bato Bucket vine crops horticulture 32 to 35
ecoGROW Nitrogen Cycle Diagram ecoGROW contact info 36
Macrobrachium rosenbergii
Giant Malaysian River Prawn
prepared and revised by ecoGROW Inc.. 2001-2016
page V
page V © The logos, images, technical data and motifs are the property, intellectual and actual, of
C. Victor Hall, ecoGROW Inc, HydroNov Inc. and Dr Nick Savidov: all rights reserved.
This document was created on behalf of the Project by cvh.
inset photo:
Dr. Nick Savidov
pioneered cold
climate tropical
Aquaponics
systems in
Alberta.
BROOKS CROP DIVERSIFICATION CENTRE
T
he Alberta Government’s Brooks (southern AB) and Edmonton (northern AB) Crop Diversification Centres are
considered by many to be the most technologically advanced greenhouses in North America. Each features a
production greenhouse, a technologically advanced header house and a research greenhouse.
page VI
The research wing of the Brooks facility features containment laboratories that required strict control of construction
page VI
procedures so they met functional standards.
The Technologies
e
coGROW Aquaponics is a proprietary system,using the “Beyond Organic Food Circle” propagation
technologies devised, designed and developed by C. Victor Hall for ecoTGROW Inc. The symbiotic
combination of fish and codependent plant production predates the advent of chemical fertilizers and
genetically modified fish food by thousands of years, but it was in the 1970s that the University of the British
Virgin Islands scientifically studied the flora-fauna symbioses to develop an Aquaponics system that did not
have to rely on expensive chemical fertilizers, poisonous pesticides and yet be self-sustaining.
The wealth of data garnered was taken by a team member, Dr. Nick Savidov, home to Alberta, with a view to
developing an indoor year-round crop production system, not affected by seasonal changes in the weather.
Budget allocations by the Province of Alberta Crop Diversification Centre enabled the establishment of a
small research greenhouse facility to study Aquaponics. Concurrently, Hall was seeking an ecological use
for the by-produced heat and carbon dioxide emissions for ecoTECH’s ecoPHASER Thermal Energy Power
System.
ecoGROW began working with CDC Alberta in 2003, sharing scientific and operational knowledge. In this
process, ecoGROW began to study the superior hydroponic operational technologies developed by class-
leader HydroNov, Mirabel, Quebec since 1986. Although HydroNov uses chemical feeds and enhancements
with chemical pesticides, there was no doubt that the commercial success of their operations gave them
the edge in the hydroponics sector. However, research results proved to ecoGROW that the sustainable
all- natural systems at CDC produced much stronger growth in plants, cropping earlier and with far more
flavour than chemically induced methods, with NO pollution or the poisonous run-off associated with agri-
chemical overuse.
Further, there were gaps in the HydroNov science, which certainly was not organic, although it produces
consistent profitable results with over 20 operations worldwide.... Hall’s 25+ years of environmental
remediation work came into play to develop the ecoGROW design, which takes the best mechanical and
operational features of HydroNov’s cold climate building structures and mechanical/commercial food crop
production plus the best of academia’s organic sustainable growth and food health research. ecoGROW had
developed aerobic bacteria strains that solved e-coli and salmonella potential risks in manure management
and a full microcosm design that encompasses the best of the previous two systems, whilst incorporating
several proprietary features and designs developed from our own multi-year research programs.
ecoGROW Proprietary Technologies: These include the integration of organically nurtured and bedded
Vermiculture & Entomophagy;, a proprietary stay fresh natural packaging enhancement, an air filtration
All natural -
and gas splitting unit to feed only oxygen to the fish and the rhizome matrix of the plant roots enhanced by
the action of our lacto bacilli to break down organic plant nutrient, a natural ant-disease plant inoculant,
all organic
a unique water recycling and regeneration system, plus our own organic fish feed at the start of the cycle.
fresh foods + We make our own, proprietary blends of organic feed at less cost than commercial GMO based feed and
we know exactly what goes into our fish and therefore via fish waste nutrients -our plants, we know exactly
Nutraceuticals
what the atmosphere is inside each of the micro-climates we create in our 16+ acre microcosm cocoon,
exactly what the temperature, pH and light wavelength and lumen exposure is of each species in the various
micro-climate zones of each building.
There are so many enhancements in our system over conventional food production methods and those
of the most advanced collaborators with whom we work, that it is impossible to describe them in a short
essay. We collaborate with HydroNov and Harnois, who design our buildings and some of the operational
equipment, plus we have a research licencing agreement with the CDC Research arm of the Alberta Ministry
of Agriculture. In short, the ecoGROW Beyond Organic Food Circle is the way to avoid radiation, poisonous
possible pollution, genetic tampering mistakes, weather calamities and systemic hormone transfer that is
an unfortunate modern agricultural ingredient in our foods. Saturating non-organic agricultural soils with
animal and fowl hormones, plus overused and destructive pesticides and chemical “fertilizers” poisons us.
ecoGROW systems are heated and powered by local off-grid sources of solar, wind biomass thermal energy
systems. There is always at least 10 million gallons of water flowing through the heat circuit. It is a massive
heat sink and climate zone stabilizer, so no short term outage could damage the crops.
page VII
page VII For the best possible foods, we have tried to take the goodness of pre-Industrial Revolution circumstances
and bottle them in our microcosm cocoon. Enjoy!
Inspired by the ancient
Burmese Floating Gardens,
Deep Water Raft and
the more advanced
blending of fresh fish and
vegetable co-cultivation
evolved into the asian
practice of aquaponics,
which in turn is now to be
replaced by the science of
microcosm aquaponics,
heavily influenced by
such bold experiments
as the eco-domes. In the
ongoing progression to
exclude pollution, man
made contaminants that
manifest in pesticides and
chemical fertilizers, bad
The image above is of a “raceway” type of fish tank air, radiation and systemic
where an alternating (once daily) clockwise and hormone invasion of our
anti-clockwise current is induced by the recirculation aqua resources are the
problems that society now
pumps, to induce muscle growth in fish that would
has to face and resolve.
otherwise be soft and fat in standard aquaculture
tanks. The unique OctaformTM framing can be The original Aquaponic Garden
seen, providing a permanent inner and outer vinyl
shell which, airtight on the inner seams to prevent
unwanted fungi etc, provides a fish-safe wall that
stops damage to the fish. The poured wall core is
pollution-free Blue World Crete®, (not Portland
cement), which is made from natural components.
Inle Lake, Myanmar, floating
raft tomato garden
page VIII
the ecoPHASER biomass
fuelled CHP system runs on Introduction to renewable energy sources
a variety of fuels.
Renewables: solar ,wind and thermal biomass options.
Off-Grid power and water supply independence summary.
The ecoGROW Food Circle System is tropical and semi-tropical
and as such requires heat, water, filtration, water circulation
and the activity of heathy aerobic autotrophic bacteria. As
the start of the food circle is organic fish food, (blended in the
facility), flash frozen and freeze dried to be ground and pelletized
in various species-specific components menues give the healthiest
outcome. Accordingly the facility requires 2 plus megawatts of
electrical energy at today’s state of the art technology level and the
continuous technology improvements in LED lighting and reduced
friction low consumption pumps and controls can allow a
number of permutations of off-grid power and heat generation, plus the
potential of groundwater geothermal in places. all the above. Water heat can
be from passive solar, geothermal or biomass gasification+ combustion, with
the biomass fuelled thermal option available where adequate fuel is strategic
to the site.
All mechanical systems employ energy recovery and thermal insulation to
retain the energy to provide a steady 23oC (minimum) to 34oC (in
some tropical micro-climate zones), in the facility, which are tailored
specifically to natural habitats required by fast growing species.
ecoTECH ecoPHASER brand
Water conservation and replenishment is achieved by capture of
biomass fuelled energy and
the roofs runoff via the gutter connected greenhouse structure to
LED demand-side reduction
technologies are otional. storage tanks. The warm air insulating layer that is continuously
blown between the double skins of the greenhouse walls and
roofs enables immediate snow melt on precipitation to run to
the rainwater storage system and on to the water filtration and
conditioning unit in each greehouse bay. Some sections are interior
clad with black PMMA for the inner wall to absorb heat and the air
is balanced by an electronic, computerized control system, which stores surplus heat
in the rainwater capture storage tanks.
page 1
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Aquaponics,
an all-natural growing system
Aquaponics is a sustainable food production When the two operations are combined, they
system that combines a traditional aquaculture work in a symbiotic relationship to create a natural
(raising aquatic animals such as fish and growing system. The benefits of keeping fish in an
crustacea in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants indoor, pollution and parasite-free aquaponic system,
in water) in a symbiotic environment. In the aquaculture, breathing oxyegen (not 78% nitrogen air), include
effluents accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity maximum efficiency of water and high metabolic rates.
for the fish. This water is led to a hydroponic system
University trials showed that growing plants in an
where the by-products from the aquaculture are
aquaponic system used 90% less water than soil grown
Tilapia
filtered out by the plants as vital nutrients, after which
crops, as the only water lost is through evaporation
the cleansed water is recirculated back to the animals.
and transpiration. In traditional aquaculture water is
The term aquaponics is a portmanteau of the terms
discharged regularly often 10-20% of the total water
aquaculture and hydroponics.
every day.
Aquaponics is based
on the symbiotic relationships found in nature The high percentage of superfluous animal & fowl
and can be loosely described as the combination hormones, water “conditioners” decaying food raw and
of aquaculture and hydroponics. Fish effluent “sanitized” manure etc. in that water is often pumped
from ecoGROW custom aquaculture systems is into open streams where it can pollute, or destroy the
used to fertilize plants in an organically fed water indigenous balance of the chemistry of waterways,
borne horticulture system. endangering wild aquatic populations.
Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS)
e
coGROW recirculating aquaculture systems utilize oval tanks, raceways or rounded rectangles,
each with a perimeter deepwater raceway current that emulates a flowing stream. The water
temperature, salinity, flow rate and dissolved oxygen levels are modulated to be optimal for
each cultured species. Species specific organic diets, area and tank lighting are optimized to give high
“healthy” growth rates with no carried fats, whilst the induced water current
promotes healthy exercise and flesh tone, as in nature.
A central or adjascent “island” houses the pumps, filtration and oxygenation
equipment that maintains the water steam in ideal conditions of “living
energy”. Some tanks (yabby, prawn) have a bundled multi-tube refuge set at
mid water level to allow safe moulting of the soft shelled metecdysis animal. Giant Freshwater Prawn
Red Claw Crayfish
Cherax quadricarinatus
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