After having a successful year with our aquaponic growing system, it was time for an upgrade to our tilapia grow tank. Our greenhouse experts noticed that it was difficult to keep the grow tank clear, and proposed a new skimmer system and bottom draw filter. This improved skimmer system was added to our tank in order to collect all the particles that float at the top of the water and draw them through heavy foam and filter material.
With this new skimming system, we no longer have to shut down the entire system or interrupt the flow of the water to remove and rinse the filter. Instead, we are simply able to remove the skimmer filter material to clean, which only takes a few minutes and significantly clears the water. In order to clean the sediment that collects at the bottom of the tank, we also introduced a bottom filter. This filter is attached to a pump that draws the water through two filters to remove even fine particles before sending the water to the grow beds.
The clay particles in our grow beds then absorb all the nutrients the plants need to survive and grow to their best potential from this filtered water. The waste from the tilapia in our aquaponic growing system is incredibly nutritious for these plants.
Any residual water from the grow beds flows back into our sump tanks and is pumped back into the tilapia grow tanks to start the process over again. With our new skimmer and filter system, cleaning the filter materials only takes approximately 20 minutes for the entire system, making maintenance of our aquaponic growing system much more efficient. Our tilapia are enjoying the improved water clarity as well. Keep an eye on our greenhouse blog for more updates on our aquaponics growing system.