Looking to design an aquaponics greenhouse?
Here are some quick tips and strategies for making the most out of your greenhouse aquaponics investment.
1. Place grow beds in sunlight; fish tanks in shadier areas
If fish tanks are in direct light they can easily get too hot during the day, lowering the dissolved oxygen in the water, which can kill fish. Fish tanks are much easier to heat than to cool, so it’s imperative to avoid overheating your tanks. Plus, if tanks are uncovered, direct light on the water can facilitate unwanted algae growth.
Of course, you’ll want to place all grow beds in maximum light for optimal year-round growing (particularly to increase production in the winter). For this reason, passive solar greenhouses – ones that have an insulated north wall, and glazing facing the South – are a perfect fit for aquaponics systems. Tanks will stay more stable temperature-wise against the North wall, the greenhouse will be a warmer year-round environment overall, and beds will get full light. You can see some example floor plans of how this looks, on our Aquaponics Greenhouses page.
2. Insulate your greenhouse
Or, more broadly, create a super energy-efficient aquaponics greenhouse that minimizes temperature fluctuations. This is a good strategy when dealing with any greenhouse, but particularly important with aquaponics greenhouse design, where you not only want to keep the air temperature and root temperatures stable, but the fish tanks as well.
If in cold climates, using a hardier fish species like perch or koi that don’t require warm water temps will reduce heating costs. However, remember that an average uninsulated and unheated greenhouse will be the same temperature inside as outside. That means if it’s 20 degrees outside, it will be 20 degrees inside and you could have dead plants or worse, an ice block of frozen fish. People traditionally overcome this by heating the greenhouse, but these are extra yearly costs that add up. In many areas, traditional greenhouses aren’t used through the winter because the heating expenses make it cost prohibitive.
There are many strategies to building a well-designed, energy-efficient solar greenhouse. It’s not just about insulating the building, but the soil beneath the greenhouse as well. See our page on our passive solar greenhouse designs, as well as our Ground to Air Heat Transfer (GAHT®) system.
3. Design the greenhouse in tandem with your aquaponics system
As you are well aware, there are many systems out there – raft, NFT, media beds, wicking beds – which take on a myriad of shapes and sizes. You don’t want to limit yourself by building a greenhouse and then discovering that it cannot accommodate the aquaponics system you want. Greenhouse aquaponics should not only meet the needs of your system but increase the performance and productivity of your system. For example, a well-designed aquaponics greenhouse should have an insulated South knee wall up to the height of the grow beds. This protects the root systems from getting too hot or too cold. As experienced growers know, plants are more tolerant of fluctuations in the air temp than their root temp. By having insulation surrounding the grow beds, you protect the root systems from absorbing too much direct light during the day (getting too hot) and being exposed to cold temps at night (getting too cold), allowing bigger, healthier plants.
Other things to think about are the placement of your tanks, your overall floor plan (enough walking and working room?) and where to place electrical outlets for your equipment. If that sounds overwhelming, email us for some example floor plans.
For other tips on sketching your floor plan and ensuring your greenhouse is optimized for your system, check out our partners at The Aquaponics Source.
4. Grow up
In addition to beds consider vertical growing systems. Aquaponics greenhouse design that makes use of vertical space will allow for higher levels of production.
Contact us to learn more about aquaponics greenhouse grow systems
5. Choose flooring that meets your needs
Different types of flooring materials have different pros/cons. Here’s a quick list:
Concrete
Pros: Level and smooth; easy to clean; easy to move things (wheel barrows, moveable beds or tanks); long-lasting.
Cons: pouring a concrete pad is the most expensive option.
Tip: install drains when pouring the pad.
Gravel
Pros: Level; good drainage; reasonable cost and can be cheap if you find a good source.
Cons: can be hard to walk on or move things.
Tip: still a good idea to install a drain using PVC pipe.
Pavers or stone
Pros: readily available at any hardware store; easy to install; level; easy to walk on; attractive look; drains well.
Cons: can be costly, depending on source.
Tip: still a good idea to install a drain using PVC pipe.
Dirt
Pros: cheap; easy to level.
Cons: no drainage; can get muddy if watering down / cleaning the greenhouse; the greenhouse can be more prone to bug issues.
Tip: make sure to compact the dirt before installing systems.
6. Plan for Sump Tanks & Fish Tanks
Sump Tanks
You want to have your general plan for the placement of sump tanks and fish tanks before you start building your greenhouse. Sump tanks are usually placed below grow beds (though there are alternate configurations), and are often partially buried. For that reason, you want to know where your sump tanks are going to be located when considering your flooring options. I.e. if going with a concrete floor, you’ll need openings in the pad for the sump tanks.
Fish tanks
Like sump tanks, fish tanks can either be above ground or below ground. Each has it’s own advantages and disadvantages.
Contact us to learn more about using fish tanks in your aquaponics greenhouse
If planning for buried, or partially buried, tanks, like the sump tanks, be sure to think this through when deciding on your flooring. You’ll also want to place your tanks with access to water heaters, if using them. If not using water heaters outright, we would still recommend putting tanks near outlets so you can easily add them if you decide you need them later.
7. And, electrical…
All aquaponics systems need electrical for water pumps (or sometimes air pumps). Beyond that, each aquaponics greenhouse has it’s own electrical needs based on several factors:
- How controlled the greenhouse environment needs to be
- The heating/cooling/ventilating requirement of the greenhouse, which in turn depends on:
- Your climate, the greenhouse design and location
- If using grow lights for supplemental winter lighting
- The size of your aquaponics system and the total water flow
When bringing electric power into the greenhouse, talk to a certified electrician about wiring the greenhouse for the total power needs. Your homework, however, will be to figure out what this power draw is by knowing your equipment and the wattage of each component. You will need to add the wattage of every electric component to get the total power requirement. From this, your electrician should be able to wire the greenhouse according to your needs and floor plan. It is always advisable to add a few extra outlets for additional equipment that you may want to add (i.e. a circulation fan if you find you don’t have enough air movement, or an additional heater if you want to add some warmer weather crops).
Comments? Questions? Drop us a line at info@ceresgs.com and tell us what you’d like to grow. We look forward to helping you create your ideal year-round greenhouse and exceed your growing goals!