Moving from Aquaponics system to RAS

Hello ,
       I've learnt that without P,K,Fe,Ca supplements plants in Aquaponics system will not grow properly , you will see all kinds of problems

If this is case one can go for hydroponics where all nutrients are given directly , anyways for now I wanted to move from Aquaponics to RAS for many reasons.

I've managed to buy MBBR media , Tilapia , high pressure aerator and water pump
and slowing I've to change my Aquaponics setup to suite RAS system

As of now I'm using 150ltr aquarium with little filteration , I've to upgrade it in future
here are some of the pictures and videos.

Happy growing :) 

My 400ltr NFT Aquaponics System

Hello , 

      After 6 months of research and few site visits in Bangalore , 

I've decided to give it a try with NFT , as I thought initial setup cost per plant is lower compared to media bed but this turned out to be more challenging . 

CheckList :

1. 100x 3-inch net pots for growing
2. 5x 5 inch PVC pipes for water flow
3. 500ltr water fish tank 
4. 25lt bucket for solid filter , 1st stage 
5. 200ltr overhead sump  tank
6. 100lt water drum for nitrogen cycle , 2nd stage 
7. 20w water pump 
8. 5w Aerator 
9. 8x12 ft 50% Shade Net
10. 6kg hydroton & 2kg compressed cocopeat
11. Digital PH meter , Water test kit 
12. seed growing trays , seeds 
13. micro-nutrients Fe-EDTA/Ca-EDTA/KoH/HCL

Total cost was around 20k INR , this system can grow 88 plants .

Setup after 45days , still no growth may be surface area was little less for nitrogen cycle and I didn't use any aerators to increase Dissolved Oxygen  - DO levels , this turned out to be imported for NFT-Aquaponics .

After few more days algae problems plagued my system , sump tank and solid filter became dark green , may be the available nutrients and DO are used by them

cleaned sumptank/filter and this time covered them to avoid direct sunlight , added aerator to improve DO , adjusted PH to 6.5 municipal water is at 8 and surprisingly rain water is at 9 , 

after few days it rained heavily and PH again increased as I didn't cover fish-tank  , later we did this .

Current status : 

After above adjustments within 3-4 days we saw growth but as with all Aquaponics system we were seeing Fe/Ca deficiency in spinach 

Ammonia , Nitrite , Nitrate levels at 0ppm , fish tank had 9 goldies looks like plants needed more food :) , added 6 more 

Actually terrace was windy , so tapered shade cloth to shield plants .

These plants are actually 60 days old due to initially problems growth was shunted , planning to remove them and plant new saplings .

Special thanks to
Munish Dadwal @www.facebook.com/pages/Aquaponic-Hub/270623123061580
Vinil Ratnakaran @www.facebook.com/AquaponicsinBangalore

Happy Growing