The School of Aquaculture and Aquatics Sciences at Kentucky State University is proud to announce the availability of the Aquaponics Production Manual: A Practical Handbook for Growers. This 75 page comprehensive manual covers the biological concepts of aquaponics, types of systems, suitable fish and plant species, systems management, water quality, disease of plants and fish, controlled environments (greenhouse and indoors), marketing and economics, as well information on certification and regulations. It is written at a level to be practical resource for practicing (or potential) aquaponic producers.
Authors: JANELLE HAGER, LEIGH ANNE BRIGHT, JOSH DUSCI, & JAMES TIDWELL
Jonathan, do we have any organic certified farm operations among AA members? I noticed an info on page 51 regarding organic certification and was wondering how Organic Aquaponic farmers deal with a substitute for hydroxide bases and chelated iron. Any advice is highly appreciated.
Hydroxides are not good for aquaponics. I know they have been pushed traditionally but at the expenses of plant growth and mostly based on hydroponic data that does not account for microbes or the importance of silica for plant growth. The ideal ph up combo is potassium silicate and calcium carbonate. It provides a much more rounded nutrient profile and better disease resistance.
Thanks to KSU , thanks Jon for sharing this manual which is an excellent support and help in the control and management of an Aquaponic system. Gyslain
Hydroxides only add 1 plant benificial element, are much easier to accidently over dose, are much more caustic compared to other options, can’t be shipped via air transport, and other issues. Why use an input that only adds one element that helps your plants when you can use better ones that add 2? Hydroxides are a thing of the past that need to stop being taught.
Calcium Carbonate is the best option for Calcium input as it adds both Calcium and Akalinity which is needed by microbes for there own replication and tissue building. Hydroxides do not add alkalinity which is a problem not a benefit this is often mistaught by aquaponic experts coming from a hydroponic background instead of a microbial one.
Potassium Humate is great but also very expensive compared to other options and the product consistency from producer to producer varies extremely widely many contain heavy metals that can fail you in state testing.
Potassium Silicate is the best Potassium input as it adds both potassium and badly needed silica which is often over looked in aquaponics. It increases shelf life of lettuce by up to a week, increases yields, increases disease resistance especially molds and much more.
As far as iron your spot on the Iron Proteinate for organic certified and anything else use DTPA as all the rest have issues ranging from testing to toxicity.
Thanks Jonathan - this is very helpful ! I would love to have a chat with the authors if I can get 15 mins with them? My Instagram audience will be greatly engaged - Aquaponics is picking up in this part of the world. Thank you.
@potentponics - are you saying Silicon is the 19th Element from the Periodic table ? What I understood was that there are a total of 18 elements from the periodic table
So bone meal is not a great addative to aquaponics as it can vector pathogens potentially and is not very bioavalible its much better suited for soil which has time and the right microbes to break it down better.
At a ph of 7.8 things like iron, and other important nutrients are not very available.
I agree with you on hydroxides being useless in aquaponics why add one plant beneficial nutrient when you can add 2 and as basically the only way to regularly add silica reliably.
There is nothing to fear by using LABs as pH down as they are not strict anaerobes and no they don’t slip out of control quickly unless your system is already extremely dirty.
I’m assuming you mean 18 plant essential nutrients. Yes I would whole heartedly argue silicon belongs in the macro nutrient category as it really does need to be in the 50+ ppm range for your plants to truly do well both in terms of flavor but also disease resistance. I think hydro and aquaponics has ignored it for far to long and the science is completely settled on this. There’s hundreds of papers on silica availability and various secondary metabolites and much more in corn, wheat, soy beans and others as well as a ton of documentation on it increase trichome density in a variety of crops. By not using the Calcium Carbonate & Potassium Silicate regimen you are making your plants weaker than they need to be.
In general the woodier the crop the more it needs fungi and other terrestrial microbes to thrive.
Same goes for many rarer marsh crops like osha or wasabi that also have microbial associations they need to survive with specific root moisture levels required.
Many soil microbes have close symbiotic relationships with terrestrial plants and many aquatic microbes increase secondary metabolite production much differently than terrestrial plants. In cannabis its CBD as well as CBGv that are quite dramatically increased in aquaponics as one example.
This is a great manual! I would include info about how low DO can also interfere with plant nutrient uptake. I spent many months trying to diagnose a nutrient problem in my system, only to realize that the issue was with poor root development as a result of insufficient oxygen at the root zone. Since I upgraded my blower, I’ve seen immediate improvement. Thank you for sharing this!
