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Doors open Empty Room LR Empty Room RF

All great adventures start somewhere. Ours began with a plan to get into aquaponics. After doing some research and visiting a couple places we thought that we were finished before we even started... then we came upon this web site Aquaponics.com. John Pade and Rebecca Nelson are the leaders behind Nelson and Pade, Inc and are considered by many to be the leaders in the field of aquaponics. After reviewing their site and others we decided to invite them into our lives. We all (Norb, Donna, Christopher, John, and Rebecca) sat down at the kitchen table and discussed our goals for the future of KP's Simply Fresh. With their assistance we have gained knowledge and understanding in this wonderful new adventure. John and Rebecca have been more than willing to share their time and services with us. We have taken part in their classes and worked side by side with them at our facility as well. They have been an important part of getting Simply Fresh started. Now on with the story.

This is where ours has started. An empty room within a room. The floors have been cleaned, the walls have been prepped, glass board has been installed. Follow along with me to see how our project will start to take shape.
Initial Dry Setup Filtering Tanks Raft Tanks
Above, starting on the left, you will see the initial "dry" setup for our fish components. Starting with the closest there are four (4) 110 gallon fish tanks. Behind them is the filtering components for the fish tanks. Moving to the middle picture you can see the two (2) clarifier tanks. The fish waste comes into these tanks first, hits a divider that was installed in the middle and then the solids settle to the bottom. On the other side of the divider cleaner water rises to a point where it will exit through a tube and dump into the first mineralization tank. Inside these mineralization tanks is where the remaining fish waste begins to get transformed into nutrients that the plants will use in order to grow. The first tank is where most of this transformation takes place. There is a supply of "orchard netting" that is placed inside both mineralization tanks that the remaining waste collects on and where the chemical breakdown begins. After the water has passed through both mineralization tanks it flows into the degassing chamber. Inside this tall rectangular tank there is a massive air stone that aerates the water to release some of the chemicals that are not needed in the grow beds. The picture on the right is showing the actual "raft tanks." These tanks will be filled with water and then a layer of styrofoam is placed on top of the water. Holes are drilled in this media and the plants are placed inside the holes. As the water flows through these tanks the plants pick up the nutrients that they need to grow. While doing this the plants also clean the water for the fish. A sump pump at the end of the raft tanks will return the cleaned water to the fish tanks to start the cycle all over again.
Deck Framing Deck Partially Finished Deck with Fish Tanks
Since the fish tanks needed to be higher then the clarifiers we needed to build a deck for them. This is just a standard deck. 12' x 12' built with 2x10 and treated plywood. As you can see from the first picture it goes together just like any other deck. In the middle picture you can see that the first tank is in place and the holes cut in the deck to run the plumbing. From the last picture you will notice that all 4 tanks are in place and the appropriate holes cut out for the plumbing. While not entirely necessary (we could have just built a small platform for each tank) we decided it would be easier if we didn't have to walk around and over all of the plumbing.
Fish Tank Plumbing Plumbing for tanks Plumbing of the filter tanks
Next came the long and tedious task of plumbing everything together. When doing this on your own it is vitally important that you dry fit everything before cleaning and gluing. We only had to cut a couple of pipes twice so it wasn't too bad. Alright, so the picture on the left is of a shutoff valve and a clean out pipe. Each fish tank has this setup. When the clarifiers need to be flushed the shutoff valve gets closed (after the sump pump is turned off otherwise you will flood the fish tanks.) The middle picture is of various parts that we used in making the water flow from one tank to the next. The black rubber rings are placed on the outside of a tank where the pipe enters it. Along with a marine quality sealant and the pressure from the pipe being pushed in the tank this makes a very good seal. The picture on the right is of the system we designed so we would only have one pipe going back to our floor drain instead of four. With a little careful planning and a lot of creativity we figured it out.
Plumbing Completed Fish tanks completed Fish Tanks Completed 2
Almost done with plumbing . From the picture on the left it is obvious that there is still a little work to do. While the main plumbing is done, the water return lines and the air lines still need to be ran. In both the middle and the right picture you can see that everything is done and ready to have water and air added.
Airation Motor Air Pressure Gauge Water Pump
Here are a couple of components that are essential to the system. On the left you will find the air pump. This is the device that creates the aeration in our system. Inside each of the four fish tanks there are four (4) air stones, there are also four (4) air stones in each of the 4 raft tanks, and if that wasn't enough there is a massive air stone in the degassing chamber. In the middle picture you see the pressure gauge. This is important to know and understand. Too little pressure and there won't be enough air going into the stones to make them function properly, whereas too much air will cause the stones and lines to malfunction. The picture on the right is of the water pump. This is an ordinary swimming pool water pump. It takes the water from the two sets of raft tanks and pumps it back over to each of the four (4) fish tanks.
Fish Tank w/Air Water tank w/air Degassing Chamber
Here is one of the final steps before adding fish. The water has been added... the air was turned on... and the leaks were repaired. Now we have to test the water temperature, Ph level, chemical levels (which will change when fish are added), and overall "health" of the system.
Completed Room
This is a shot from the corner of the room. As you can see there are many pipes. The larger of the two pipes coming down contains the water from the raft tanks. Each fish tank has it's own water line along with their own valve to control the flow. The smaller of the two pipes is the air coming from the air pump. There is a valve that controls the amount of air that comes down to a splitter. There are a total of four (4) air stones in each of the fish tanks. Aerating the water not only releases oxygen into the water, but also helps to change the Ph level. The water that we have coming into the fingerling room has a Ph level around 4.8! The level that we are trying to acquire is around 7.0. After doing some testing (with the help of Nelson and Pade) it was determined that aerating the water brought it's Ph level up to around 6.8! That is wonderful news, and means that there will be little amounts of chemicals added to reach our desired level of 7.0
If you have any questions please feel free to email or call. Email works better, but we are around to answer the phones.
Email: KP's Simply Fresh Phone:

800-635-7393 toll free
608-522-5001 local 		KP's Simply Fresh
S 6234 County Road PF
North Freedom, WI 53951
United States