Engineering Design and Construction of a 10,000 sq ft  Aquaponics Greenhouse, Merchant's Garden.

Aquaculture has been the fastest growing segment of agriculture for the past decade, providing consumers with a locally grown, healthy product, produced utilizing sustainable methods.   In addition, aquaponics, the integration of aquaculture and hydroponics, has recently gained increasing attention, because it utilizes the nutrient-rich water from aquaculture production of fish as a source of nutrients for growing plants and vegetables.  More recently, we have seen an incredible interest in the concept of urban farming, vertical farming and 'plant factories' for the production of healthy, nutritional plants and fish.  

Merchants Garden represents the integration of a well-engineered aquaculture system with a well-managed hydroponic system, yielding a highly productive, sustainable and economically viable system for plants and animals.   Indoor production of fish, plants and vegetables in a controlled environment  has the ability to guarantee both the safety and the quality of the fish, plants and vegetables produced throughout the year. An integrated, engineered design allows for construction of "turn-key" systems at relatively low capital costs, creating jobs and small businesses through easier entry of urban farmers, horticulturalists and other interested parties in the localized aquaponic production of fish and produce.

The primary goal of this presentation is to walk you through the engineering design steps: from selecting the species to grow, setting the yearly production goals for both fish and plants, determining the BioPlan from fry to growout, estimating biomass densities, determining tank size and daily feeding rates.  The engineering design specification for each of the unit operations are reviewed, including solids capture, biofiltration, aeration, degassing, and disinfection.  Equipment options are explored and some rough estimates of capital costs are presented.  Finally, knowing the feed rate per day, an estimate can be made of the size and production capacity of the hydroponics systems.   

Finally some of the engineering experiences constructing the system will be shared highlighting both what worked really well and what the authors really don't want to talk about.