Decoupled systems on trial: Eliminating bottlenecks to improve aquaponic processes

Area of Science:

• Aquaculture and Hydroponics
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Classical aquaponics integrates fish (recirculating aquaculture systems) and plants in a single loop, leading to suboptimal production parameters like pH.
• Decoupled aquaponics (two-loop systems) have emerged to address these limitations, offering improved efficiency and control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the production performance of an innovative decoupled aquaponic system against a coupled aquaponic system and a conventional recirculating aquaculture system.
• To assess key growth parameters, nutrient levels, elemental composition, and resource consumption over a 5-month experimental period.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving three systems: decoupled aquaponics, coupled aquaponics, and recirculating aquaculture systems.
• Monitoring of fish growth parameters (FCR, SGR), plant yield, soluble nutrients, elemental composition (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, C), abiotic factors (pH, temperature, oxygen, conductivity), and water/fertilizer consumption.

Main Results:

• Decoupled aquaponics demonstrated a 36% higher fruit yield compared to coupled systems.
• Improved pH and fertilizer management were observed in the decoupled system.
• Fish production was comparable across the coupled and decoupled aquaponic systems.

Conclusions:

• Decoupled, two-loop aquaponics offers significant advantages over coupled systems, particularly in fruit yield and resource management.
• This system effectively mitigates common bottlenecks in aquaponics, paving the way for wider application in aquaculture.
• The study highlights the potential of decoupled aquaponics for more efficient and productive integrated farming systems.