Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Any site in mind? How far from Freetown? Pump power, going solar or a hybred?
Looking forward to the pic's of the pond system.

i am a landscaper in perth, and have built 1 system and almost finished my second. I'm good with tools and have hired and fired my share of staff.

can i come too?

No exact details on the Sierre Leone site yet but in all probability it will be in the vicinity of one of the two state hatcheries (there's on in the South and one in the North of the country).

The two other enquiries that I am busy collecting information on, are Qatar and Iraq. Iraq? Yep, Iraq. After the troops leave (and yes my US buddies, they will leave) a massive rebuilding exercise is planned and Aquaculture is right up there at the top of the "preferred" industries, all paid for thanks to Uncle Sam. We have put feelers out for Aquaponics and the reply has been, "let's see what you've got to offer."

Qatar has experimental Hydroponics (about 40 HA under greenhouse) and some Aquaculture research by the University of Qatar. The challenge here will be cooling.

Angie (my research assistant)? Let's have some information on these two countries.

Qatar would be an excellent environment for the radiant cooling method that DanD posted the other day.

Do you have a link? I didn't see it.

is it just me or does synapto look a bit like schumaker

Michael Schumaker
Born : 03/01/1969
Height : 1.74 m
Weight : 74.50 kg
German
Claim to fame : Multiple Formula 1 World Champion

Synaptoman
Born :04/07/1960
Height : 1.80 m
Weight : 74.0 kg
South African
Claim to fame : Hooked on Aquaponics.

naaaggh, I don't think so.

Here's the link:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3376&hilit=zero+energy

The general census on the forum is that calcium carbonate is the preferred pH buffer for AP, not only for safety reasons but pH swings. Sources of calcium carbonate, CaCO3, are egg shells, sea shells, cuttlebone (from cuttlefish), coral, animal bones, limestone (chalk), and marble. PH ranges from 8.7-10, again depending on source. I would suggest boiling any animal bones, not only to remove any remaining meat but to kill any potential germs from human siliva. Also, if we bring hydrocholric acid or sulfuric acid, we can test on-site for potential mineral sites- when calcium carbonate is mixed with either of these acids, the carbonate boils like alkaseltser.
Also I would not totally rule out potash usage, even if it is difficult to handle- potassium as well as iron are scarce in AP systems, unlike growing in dirt where both of these are common.
I also have a couple of other suggestions to throw out there- first of all, if the system must be run on human manpower only, I would suggest hybrid gravel growbeds, perhaps coir mixed in to retain some moisture in between waterings. People are people around the world and let's face it, people are lazy. Even if an entire village is mananging this system, I can't see the system being pumped every hour, on the hour, to maintain the bacteria colonies and we all know that if they dry out, there goes our biofilter.
The second thing that I have run across are cultural differences- I hope that we will receive some training from local UN so that we will not insult the very people we are trying to help. Case in point, I read that in Seirra Leone, that water is considered sacred and it is the first thing that a host would offer their guest. Also we will need an interpreter for areas that don't speak the languages of our team.
The other thing I would suggest is visual aids that we can leave with the locals, once we are gone- something like pictures of plants with nutritional deficiences so they have something to go by and know how to treat if it shows up in their plants.
West African diet consists of rice, black-eyed peas, brown beans, peanuts, peppers, chilis, mint, root vegetables, green peas, onions, tomatoes, pumpkin, spinach, coriander (cilantro), egg plant, parsley, okra, cabbage. I'm sure there are others but this is just a preliminary list. Most of these will grow well in our system, with the exception of root vegetables, rice and peanuts. One of the things that we can do is any vegetables that do grow in our system will make room for more plants that won't be appropriate, also there is a stretch of time from July to Sept that the hunger factor goes up, because it is in between the traditionally grown crops.
With the slash and burn technique, they fallow the spent ground until the nutrients build back up. These areas should be fairly level and would be a good place to place our system as they would already be close to a water source and land would not be in use. We still need to size the system for 200 people. Come on, help me out. I don't want to be the only one giving out suggestions.
Give me some time to research Qatar and Iraq.

In regards to cooling, I was going to use solar powered refrigeration in the second phase of my prototype- so I could maintain constant temperatures year round and be able to introduce trout. Obviously since the first phase of the protoype has not been completed, this is still an unproven theory for me.
Here is the link to the technology I was planning to use.

http://www.solarhaven.org/AmmoniaAbsorptionIcemaker.pdf

It seems fairly straight-foward and it could easily be adapted to remove excess humidity in greenhouses (sweaty coke can on a warm day) and recapture the distilled water. I think this would be very adaptable to desert climates but could be used anywhere to refrigerate food.
I was also going to do some experiementation with different materials than quoted- aluminum foil instead of mylar, copper pipe instead of black pipe- to see if costs or operational ability would be affected.
I was also interested in using parabolic mirrors to see if I could get the AP system off grid for electricity as well but that was further into operations. I sometimes travel by Luz solar plant, the commercial parabolic collectors that they use to generate electricity located in the Mojave desert. I can't remember the name of the town right now- for decades, it was known as Four Corners because there were four stops signs and a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It's been built up a little since then- they now have two gas stations as well.
I would be interested to know- has anyone here ever used parabolic mirrors?

Some preliminary info on Qatar- 9th richest country per capita; high standard of living; oil based economy; role model for arabic nations in regards to economic and social transformation based on science, technology, enterpreneurship and higher education; terrorism is almost unknown to them and shocking when it does occur; most of population are foreign and male and there for the oil industry; alcohol drinking is tolerated but usally only in hotel bars and nightclubs; need a liquor permit for purchase of alcohol for personal use; forward thinking on women's rights- voting, business and government positions; Al Zazerra, the arabic news stations, is located here; Arabic is language but Engish is common; corporal punishment is allowed by law but amputations are not- one American received 90 lashes for alleged homosexual activities.
Now for info regarding our system- terrain is flat and sandy, no surprise there but there are extensive salt flats. May- Oct. is extemely hot- June 108 degrees- winter 59 degrees. Humid along coast and minimal rainfall. Manufacture of cement, ammonia, urea, clays, gysum, sand and gravel. Energy, heavy machinery, and steel are also not issues here- government owns majority interest in most of these businesses. Highway infrastructure is modern but there no railways or waterways. Pollution is significant issue. Agriculture is big priority here. Most agricultural soil has already been contaminated with pesticides and fertilizers- land is in danger of desertification (sand blows in and literals cuts vegetation until nothing grows). Agriculture is constrained by lack of fertile soil, low rainfall and lack of under ground water sources. What aquafiers that are in use are expected to run dry soon. They are already treating wastewater for irrigation and trying to increase water supply through desalination.
Problems that I see are sand, water and summer heat- since money and energy are not issues here, I would suggest high tech greenhouses, to control heat and sand and further reduce water loss. Sand infiltrates everything and causes it to break down, this will be a problem with pumps and mechanical operations but replaceable whenever needed. Water is the biggest hurdle here- you either have it or you don't. I would also recommend using some of the same technology that NASA is using- mutiple tiers with lighting, automatic drip systems, nutrient injectors and continous harvesting techniques. Wheat can even be grown this way and might even be practical if done in volume.
Shocking difference between here and Sierra Leone. Anyone here have experience in setting up high tech greenhouses? If not, we can have the government hire some experienced people and we can coordinate with them on our side of the system. They will need to stay in place to manage operations as high tech greenhouses are management intensive, even with computer controls.

What about targeting Dubai? They are working very hard to generate sustainable sources of income.

Doing it in an insane build-heaps-of-huge-stuff-to-attract-tourism kind of way, but we could help to change that?

Wikipedia:

angie, i think you may be a bit out on your ph figures

the calcite form of CaCO3 should buffer to mid sevens

the aragonite form of CaCO3 should buffer to low eights

any higher and there is probably contamination of CaO or Ca(OH)2 (but not in previously living forms)

I'm sure there are others that quote different pH and you are probably right. I do try to look for accurate sources of information. Even this website, which is a mining operation for the mineral, has this disclaimer- Kindly regard all the information and recommendations on this data sheet as a guide and not a specification. They are based on our research, tests and are assumed correct. It does not imply a guarantee. Being a natural mineral calcium carbonate products are subject to the normal variations relating to the deposits from which they are mined.

Calcium carbonate is poorly soluble in pure water, pH 7. However mixed with rain water, (carbon dioxide with water- carbonic acid), you create calcium bicarbonate, which is many times more soluble in water than calcium carbonate- in fact, it exists only in solution, with a pH range of 6.36-10.25. Calcium carbonate is the mineral source but ultimately it is calcium bicarbonate that enters our system. I hope this is not confusing anyone.
My concern is not so much the strength of the pH but the safety and stablity of the chemical for our purposes and if we can access good local sources, as this is an on-going requirement for a healthy system. PH can be adjusted up or down with concentration or dilution.
We are going to be dealing with people who have little or no knowledge of the smaller details of operations so we have to make it as bullet proof as possible. Already, from the two countries, I have researched, there are huge discrepencies in almost everything- a one-size-fits-all system is going to be difficult but we can at least get the science down.

I made a AmmoniaAbsorptionIce maker for camping. It is simple and used a propane bottle and an oxygen cylinder.
-Place larger volume of water in propane cylinder.
-Open needle valve to slowly allow ammonia to move out of oxygen bottle
-Place oxygen bottle in 5 gallon bucket with trash bag and fill with water
-Water in 5 gallon bucket freezes
-Close needle valve open ball valve
-Heat propane bottle on camp fire and watch temp temp nears 100-112F ammonia is removed from water an back in oxygen bottle.
-Close ball valve and let cool
-Do over again.

This could be done with solar heat with little problem.

You can also consider ground cooling using either ground tubes buried to appropriate depth OR 50-100 foot holes hydro drilled into the ground and cased with a caped pipe and a 1 inch pipe inserted to the bottom to circulate water through as a heat exchanger. With spacing of about 6 foot apart you get a transfer of 14.4 BTU for every square foot or area cover. The temp would be the yearly average temp; taking into account highs and lows for each day. Cheap thin wall PVC can be used because the ground does not conduct heat so well anyway making steel pipe unnecessary. Further keeping the area around the tubes moist helps conduct heat into the ground faster; something like a drip tube beside the main line would work.

The roof pond works some by using evaporation but primarily works using black body radiation into the black cold night sky. A 20 degree difference can be achieved in climates with clear night skies and low humidity and water can store a lot of energy. Just aim you infrared thermometer into the night sky and look at the temp it reads.