Design and construction of an aquaponics system

Abstract

The aquaponics system at Busitema is a solar powered system. This system comprises aquaculture, biofiltration system and hydroponics, and these are the major components of an aquaponics system. The study was aimed at minimizing water utilization by recirculating water in the system as many times as possible. The experimental setup cointained an aquaponic system for rearing tilapia and growing of lettuce in the grow towers. Samples of the fish pond effluent were collected for its quality characeterisation. The parameters tested included Dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature. Response surface methodology and central composite design were used to construct and model relationships between the indepent variables (number of fish, stage of fish and number of plants) and the dependent variables (DO, pH, NH3, K, P, Ca). The sigficant parameter for juvenile stage of fish was ph(p=0.000012). an optimal DO is 4.33ppm, pH is 6.614, NH3 is 0.363mg/L, P is 3.88mg/L, K is 41.445mg/L and Ca is 19.941mg/L with desirability of 0.92. This system recirculates water hence reduce water usage and consumption compared to traditional farming. The system is controlled and monitored using Arduino Uno. Arduino Uno is programmed using Arduino software to control the electronic components like pumps and water quality sensors. The sensors were used to measure the water quality parameters.