Aquaponic Food Production System with Basic Internet Connectivity (Farming 4.0)

Course Synopsis

 This 2-days course provides brief overview of aquaponic as sustainable food production system with sufficient details on some of the major components involved (water, plants, fish and microorganism). It also provides a simple demonstration of Farming 4.0, particularly on how environmental condition (such as temperature & humidity) or water quality parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen or electrical conductivity can be displayed and visualized in real-time over the internet using charts or graphs. The course begins with brief introduction to Industry 4.0, particularly the impact of Internet of Things (IOT) technologies on improving the quality & efficiency of our food production system via online control and monitoring system. The course then describes the main principles of aquaponic, the designs, water quality parameters, role & function of microorganism, suitable plants & fish commonly cultivated in aquaponics as well as basic introduction to current internet technologies (devices) used for online control and system monitoring.

For details : email to - [email protected]
or Call/WhatsApp - +60193798913

Course Contents:

Day 1

1. Introduction
   1. Aquaponic as sustainable food production system
   2. Farming 4.0: Food production with internet connectivity

1. Principles
   1. Nitrogen cycle
   2. Biofilter
   3. Environment for microorganism
   4. Balancing aquaponics ecosystem

1. Aquaponics system, components & designs
   1. Site selection (stability, environmental factors, utilities, greenhouse, etc)
   2. Essential components (tanks, filtration unit, media, aeration, pumps, kits, etc)
   3. Flood & Drain Technique
   4. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
   5. Deep Water Culture (DWC) technique

Practical 1: Construction of simple aquaponic system

1. Water
   1. Water quality parameters (pH, DO, temperature, salinity, hardness etc)
   2. Growth of other microorganisms (algae & parasites)
   3. Sources of aquaponic water (rain water, tap / municipal, aquifer, etc)
   4. Water quality testing

Practical 2: Water quality testing & instrument calibration

Day 2

1. Microorganism (bacteria)
   1. Nitrifying bacteria as biofilter
   2. Growth requirements
   3. Bacterial mineralization
   4. Unwanted bacteria (sulphate-reducing, pathogenic, denitrifying)
   5. System cycling & bacterial colony

1. Plants
   1. Soil-less crop production (fertilizers, water, yield & productivity, germination)
   2. Basic plant biology (anatomy & function, photosynthesis, nutrients)
   3. Water quality for plants (pH, oxygen, temperature, nitrogen)
   4. Plant health, basic pest & disease control in aquaponic system

Practical 3: Seed germination & media

1. Fish
   1. Basic fish anatomy, physiology & reproduction / life cycle
   2. Fish feed & nutrition (components, Conversion Ratio, feeding rate)
   3. Fish water quality (pH, temperature, oxygen, nitrogen, light)
   4. Fish selection & acclimatization
   5. Basic fish health & common diseases

1. Internet technologies (devices) for system control & visualization / data monitoring
   1. Introduction to Arduino as microcontroller
   2. ESP8266 devices for WiFi internet connectivity (Adafruit, Sparkfun, etc)
   3. MQTT for device communication protocol
   4. Internet-based platforms for control & data monitoring (Cayenne, Blynk, Ubidots, IFTTT, etc)

Practical 4: Setting up devices & displaying sensor data to the internet (Demonstration only)

1. Summary

 Business opportunity

1. Simple Economic & Cost-benefit analysis