Interview with Paul Mason on April 16th, 2020
We had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Paul Mason on April 16th! He is currently living in Sydney, Australia and beginning his venture into the aquaponics industry.
Paul's story of getting started with aquaponics is quite interesting. Prior to working with aquaponics, his background included being a musician, student and even software manufacturer in Boston for about thirteen years. He wanted to do something new with his career and explore his interest in growing vegetables. He spoke of how he believes his interest may stem from family lineage dating back to a great grandfather who had a Botanical Gardens in New Zealand in the 1860s. These family stories always fueled his interest in being able to grow his own vegetables and establish food security for himself, friends and family. This led him to team up with his friend Matt, who was also changing his career path. Matt was interested in aquaculture and the cultivation of fish. With Paul focusing on plant cultivation and Matt focusing on the fish cultivation, their partnership into aquaponics began. This resulted in them establishing an aquaponic system in the front yard Paul’s home in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia in order for them to learn as much as they could about aquaponics. We absolutely think that Paul and Matt are approaching their venture into aquaponics in the best way possible! From everything we have learned so far, you really do learn the most by constructing your own system.
Paul and Matt have been working with this system for about a year and are trying to learn as much as possible. With this goal in mind, they designed the system with many different components such as media beds and nutrient film technique (NFT) systems, in order to expose themselves to the different possibilities that aquaponics has to offer. He spoke of how he has learned a lot from researching, online forums, courses and Youtube tutorials. Their goal is to go through the learning curve of aquaponics systems in about two years. They hope to gain a lot of first hand information on costs, materials, environmental impacts and system designs. Then after going through this trial and error process in Paul’s at home system, they will venture into a commercial aquaponic system in New Zealand. Paul is beyond passionate about learning as much as he can about aquaponics and it really shows in his system.
What's in the system?
Fish tank – Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC)
Radial (Solids) Filter
Bio Filter
1 Media Bed (Float and Drain)
2 x Floating Raft Beds
Approximately 8 meters of Grow Pipes
2 x Sumps
Their system is in a greenhouse which is about 4.8 meters long by about three meters wide. Actually inside of the greenhouse is the media bed, two floating raft beds, NFT system/ grow pipes and the sump pumps. The greenhouse is a great size for their system design. The fish tank is about 1000 liters and is located outside of the greenhouse along with the two filter tanks.
The Aquaponic System
This is an image of the entire system. In the left image you can see the greenhouse with the growing systems inside. The fish tank and two filter tanks are located on the right of this image. In the right image you can see a different angle highlighting the fish tank in the forefront of the picture and the entrance to the greenhouse behind.
Greenhouse in Australia?
Paul touched on how the idea of a greenhouse in Sydney is quite tricky. Due to the very high temperatures of Australian summers, they couldn’t put the fish tank inside of the greenhouse. It would cause for the water to get too hot, creating a less than ideal environment for the fish. The high temperatures of the greenhouse has also made it difficult to grow lettuce. They have turned to growing capsicum and zucchini in the hot months. Due to these vegetables growing quickly and very large, it also poses a problem when contained within a greenhouse. However, now that they are going into Autumn, Paul hopes they will be able to grow some lettuce soon.
System Break Down
We will start at the fish tank. It typically has a covering over it to protect it from the elements and help regulate the temperature of the water. Then from the fish tank the water flows into the radial filter. This is responsible for separating the fish waste from the water and then that water flows into a bio filter. Within the bio filter the nitrification cycle occurs. This means that the ammonia is converted to nitrites and then to nitrates. The nitrates are essential for the plants. This cycle is done with the aid of bio media which will be shown in a picture below. The water from the bio filter then flows to the greenhouse. It will first go to the media bed which is filled with clay pellets. It will then flow into two floating rafts beds which have grow pots. Next, the water flows into the NFT system. The NFT system consists of about 8 meters of grow pipes. Then finally the water will flow into the sump pumps and back into the fish tank.
The Fish Tank
The left image shows the system outside of the greenhouse. The fish tank is on the left with the filters are on the right. The middle image shows the view of looking downward into the fish tank. The right image is a closer look at the fish in the fish tank.
The Filters
The image on the left is the radial filter. This is the filter responsible for solid filtration. The image on the right is the bio filter. You can clearly see the pellets of bio media (white pellets) within the filter.
The Media Bed
The left and middle images show the media bed which is a flood and drain bed with a bell siphon located on the lefthand side of the bed. Underneath this bed there is a floating raft bed and the sump pumps. The right image shows the expanded clay pellets that fill the media bed.
In reference to the Media Beds:
"There are many ways to build these but we went with a wooden frame and PVC Pond Liner from the hardware store. We tried to find something “off the shelf” and cheaper but couldn’t find anything in the size or configuration we needed. We had an electrician run a cable to the greenhouse to power the air pump and the submersible water pump."
The Floating Raft Beds
The left image is the first floating raft bed. The middle image is a close up of the hydroponic net pots with foam inserts to hold the plants. The right image is the second floating raft bed with a bug trap and bug zapper and a temperature sensor.
The NFT System
These two images show the grow pipes of the NFT system. Within the grow pipes there are strawberries, passionfruit, basil and salad greens growing.
One of the things that Paul loves about aquaponics is their water efficiency. His goal is to make a system that is completely environmentally friendly and sustainable. To do this he always tries to consider organic solutions and the best ways to optimize his system. He hopes that maybe one day his fish would be able to sustain themselves on different plants such as duck weed. This would eliminate the need to buy processed fish food in the future.
The Learning Curve
In our conversation with Paul he was able to reflect on several things that he has learned about aquaponics through his personal system.
The trial and error process of finding the optimal environment for his plants and fish. He has learned through the environments of the greenhouse and natural climate conditions, that they will greatly influence the success of his system.
At the beginning of building their system, they quickly learned the importance of running the nitrification cycle before adding in the fish. They had immediately added their fish and this created an issue with keeping the ammonia levels regulated.
He also learned how important it was to test the salinity, pH, ammonia, Nitrites and nitrates of his system. He tests all of these regularly to make sure that the plants and fish are living in the correct conditions and getting all of their necessary nutrients.
He has recently experienced plant nutrient deficiencies, specifically iron an potassium. It has resulted in some of his plant's leaves to turn pale yellow (chlorosis) with browning at the tips (necrosis). In light of this he has ordered an iron testing kit, chelated iron (FeDPTA), and potassium hydroxide. After doing research and trying to tackle the issue, Paul found that it is very common to add the following to a system: Chelated Iron (FeDPTA or FeEDDHA), Potassium Hydroxide, Hydrated Lime, Phosphoric Acid, and Seasol (a general plant nutrient extracted from seaweed). This is something that he is going to keep working with in order to optimize his plant health. Below is an image of what he is trying to address with these nutrient additives.
Plant Nutrient Issues
Paul continually emphasized how his goal is to "make my system as energy efficient and as environmentally friendly as possible." He most certainly is building a system to do just that! We hope that his plants start to get a little happier with his new nutrient additives, but we couldn't say enough how impressed we are with his system! It is very efficient, well crafted and beautiful! We wish the best of luck to him and Matt on their journey into the commercial market in the coming year! You are both going to do amazing things!
Thank you Paul for taking the time to speak with us and providing us with all of this amazing insight into your system!
If anyone has any comments feel free to send them our way! As always, we would love to hear from you all and hope that these interviews are inspiring to read! All it takes is passion and curiosity to make your very own aquaponic system!
Sources
All pictures and information from Paul Mason
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