STUDY ON BUILDING A SMALL-SCALE AQUAPONIC SYSTEM AND THE OUTSET OF IT

Building a small scale aquaponic system can be cons idered as a source of profit. On the same floor are a two products could be yield: fish and plants (herbs, vegetables, salads, ornamentals). The small scale aquaponic sy stem was built in the laboratory of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Faculty of Animal Science of the University of Agro nomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest. It has two co mp nents, namely component of aquaculture and hydro ponics component. The aquaculture component is represented by a tank with a volume of 450 l and the hydroponi c component that is composed of a parallelepipedic box lined wi th PVC foil of 0.5 mm. PVC film’s purpose is to ret ain water in the hydroponic component. The parallelopipedic box was m de of OSB with reinforcements made of pine timber . The substrate chosen for plant growth was river gravel with dimensions between 8 and 16 mm. The surface ob tained for the plant growth was 1 m. Water recirculation was done with a pump with adj ustable flow of 300 to 1000 l / h. An aerator with two diffusers was used to assure the fish resp i ation and the nitrification processes. Constructi on costs, initialization and use of such a system are small a nd do not require special knowledge, tools or skill . This system can be built and used in spaces where there is no possi bility of using soil for plant growth (balconies, t erraces, etc.). This way one can have available herbs, vegetables and fr esh ish, even in an apartments building.