Blog #6
Team: Aquaponics/Biogas
Project Updates
Recap: Modifications have been made to a new 55-gallon barrel which can be seen in our previous Blog #5. This tank will replace the existing tank at Middlebrook Garden. It has been transported to the Maker’s Space on the SJSU campus so it can be further modified prior to taking it to the garden.
Our parts have been delivered!! We made our largest purchase so far, the combination of all of the PVC parts as shown below. Now we can get to work connecting and cutting the various lengths of the pipes!
As for the tank modifications…we have decided that a double drain at the bottom will work best for the most efficient fish waste removal. Similar to a double sink, there will be two holes in the bottom of the barrel, and these will both drain into a main pipe. A picture of the bottom of a sink is shown below to further illustrate this idea. The reason for the double drain is to minimize the amount of fish waste that will collect in areas of the barrel that do not drain easily. The bottom of the barrel is not completely flat, nor does it have a single low point.
We have received feedback from a professional in the field!! Kat Han, an environmental engineer who was at the design review helped our team brainstorm some ideas and gave us some tasks to do! Prior to this meeting with Kat, we did not know that we should have some baseline values of the system at Middlebrook Garden before we make any modifications. Now that she mentioned this, it seems like common sense! So, we we will start by collecting data in the form of: flow rate, temperature, pH, and turbidity from several different points within the system. These values will be recorded and compared to the measurements after our modifications to the system have been completed.
An illustration of the system was created by our team member Lok, shown below.
This diagram shows the system as a whole and where the outputs of each system go. Starting from the pond in the bottom right quadrant of the picture, the fish waste travels up (via pump) to the vertical drum barrel. Here the fish waste will accumulate at the bottom where it will be exported to the biogas unit (upper right quadrant). The clean, nutrient rich, water will be drained from the top of the overflow tank to the plants. The plants will utilize the water soluble nutrients from this water, and then drain off back into the fish pond.