The notion of using fish wastes to fertilize plants (the fundamental premise of aquaponics) has its roots in early Asian and South American civilisations. The ancient Aztecs built ‘chinampas’ (networks of canals and stationary artificial islands) in which they cultivated crops on the islands using nutrient-rich mud and water from the canals.
The ancient Chinese also employed a system of integrated aquaculture in which finfish, catfish, ducks and plants co-existed in a symbiotic relationship where the ducks were housed in cages over the finfish ponds. The finfish processed the wastes from the ducks. In a lower pond, the catfish live on the wastes that have flowed from the finfish pond. The water from the catfish ponds was used for irrigated rice and vegetable crops.
The evolution of aquaponics has roots that stretch back centuries, but it was during the 1970s and 1980s that the foundational principles of modern aquaponics were solidified. These decades were marked by significant experimentation and innovation in integrating aquaculture (the raising of fish) and hydroponics (the cultivation of plants in water) into a cohesive system.
Although most attempts to integrate hydroponics and aquaculture had limited success, the development of aquaponics in the 1970s can be attributed to a global community of researchers exploring the integration of hydroponics and aquaculture into symbiotic systems, including the work of German scientist Ludwig C.A. Naegel, with his 1977 publication “Combined Production of Fish and Plants in Recirculating Water.”
Balarin and Haller, Muir, Paller & Lewis, and Watten & Busch were other researchers who made contributions to the field by demonstrating the benefits of incorporating vascular plants in recirculating aquaculture systems. These researchers showed that integrating plants into RAS had positive on yield by removing nutrients from the water, reducing the need for water exchanges and improving overall water quality. Paller & Lewis made a particularly notable contribution by introducing the use of reciprocating biofilters (RBFs).
Early integrated aquaculture systems, such as those developed by the New Alchemy Institute and researchers Dr. Mark McMurtry and Professor Doug Sanders at North Carolina State University, laid the groundwork for what would eventually be recognized as aquaponics. The New Alchemists were a group of scientists, artists, and visionaries who pioneered sustainable living practices and technologies in the 1970s. Founded in 1969 by John Todd, Nancy Jack Todd, and William McLarney, the New Alchemy Institute aimed to create self-sufficient living systems that harmoniously integrated agriculture, aquaculture, and architecture.
These pioneers were driven by the need to create more efficient and sustainable methods of food production, particularly in the face of growing environmental concerns and the limitations of traditional agriculture. Their work focused on creating closed-loop systems that could recirculate water between fish tanks and plant beds, thereby conserving water and nutrients while simultaneously producing both fish and vegetables.
In the mid-1980s, Dr. Mark McMurtry, Professor Doug Sanders and the iAVs Research Group introduced the first successful closed-loop system known as the Integrated Aqua-Vegeculture System (iAVs), which also became informally referred to as ‘Sandponics’. This system utilized sand as a biofilter to capture and utilize all of the fish waste, as well as a growing medium for the plants. It created a symbiotic environment in which fish waste provided nutrients for the plants, and the plants, in turn, cleaned the water for the fish.
In 1983, Dr Mark McMurtry formed an association with Merle Jensen who had designed the Land Pavilion at EPCOT Center, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In the autumn of 1984, Mark began to study with Paul V. Nelson (Professor Emeritus), a greenhouse operations management and plant nutrition expert based at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
The iAVs method was purposefully thrust into the public domain (made open-source in 1985) and in May 1987, Dr. Douglas C. Sanders (NCSU) convinced Mark to pursue a PhD in Horticultural Science. Mark’s interdisciplinary committee comprised six senior faculty members representing four life-science disciplines.
In the early 1980s, Dr. James Rakocy and his team at the University of the Virgin Islands initially tested media based systems using gravel . In an interview, James Rakocy said; “There was no research facility. We had some inexpensive vinyl lined steel walled swimming pools and were told to make the aquaculture research facility a showpiece. The first aquaponic system consisted of 3 metal oil barrels. One was used to raise fish. One was cut in half to create two hydroponic beds. One was used as clarifier with cone welded into the bottom. And half of the final barrel was used as a sump.”
The plant roots, in gravel, were regularly clogged with ‘waste’ and according to an interview with James Rakocy, gravel is “difficult to work with and not feasible for large commercial operation”. Around 1986 they started to test the use of floating rafts of styrofoam, commonly referred to today as deep water culture (DWC) . This method, known as the “raft” system, initially conceived a decade earlier by Ron Zweig and Bill McLarney at the New Alchemy Institute, has since become a popular approach in aquaponics.
Despite these early advancements, the term “aquaponics” itself did not come into common usage until the mid-1990s. According to James Rakocy, the term was coined by an attendee at a demonstration of the University of the Virgin Islands’ aquaponics system. This marked a pivotal moment in the history of aquaponics, as it provided a distinct name for the integration of aquaculture and hydroponics into a single, symbiotic system.
Prior to this, what would today be termed as aquaponics was referred to in the 1970’s and 1980’s by names such as “hydroponic aquaculture pond,” “hydroponic solar pond,” “integrated agriculture,” “integrated aquaculture,” “integrated fish culture hydroponic vegetable production system,” and “Integrated Aqua-Vegeculture System (iAVs).”
Dr. McMurtry and Dr. Ronald Zweig, FAAAS, co-presented a multi-day “integrated aquaculture” workshop at Wood’s Hole in 1989.Following the completion of his PhD dissertation at North Carolina State University in December 1989, Mark R. McMurtry undertook a series of trips to showcase iAVs and its benefits for allied faculty staff, students and aquaculture industry professionals. One of those events was a 3-day interactive discussion/workshop at the Meadowcreek Project in Fox, Arkansas with guests that included Tom and Paula Speraneo.
After assuming the position of Research Associate with NCSU International Programs, in partnership with various US universities and international aid organizations, Dr. McMurtry took his work to sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. From 1989 to 1994, he visited more than a dozen countries to promote the practical benefits of iAVs.
In the early 1990s, Tom and Paula Speraneo, owners of S & S AquaFarm in Missouri, popularized what is commonly termed flood and drain aquaponics, based on their modifications to the iAVs design, which included replacing the sand with gravel and housing fish in above-ground tanks. These systems, also known as “Speraneo Systems” after Tom and Paula Speraneo, employed bell siphons to allow an ebb-and-flow irrigation cycle.
In 2005, Joel Malcolm bought the Speraneo’s information kit and “tweaked” it into an Australian context. Australia’s ABC Gardening TV program ran a segment on Malcolm’s home-based system and the basic flood and drain system enjoyed a new surge in popularity.
The use of sand (not gravel) was a significant change and one that would have serious implications for aquaponics including:
- significant reduction in mechanical filtration capability
- significant reduction in soil organism populations and activity
- reduced aeration of media bacteria and plant root zone
- reduced nutrient utilization and system stability
- significant reduction in fish survival, feed rate and growth
- increased capital costs with reduced fish and plant yields
- increased operating cost per unit of production
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Wish I had been aware if this IAVS concept before setting up my gravel filled F/D system. Even with a functioning RFF my GB’s eventually become anaerobic from all the fines that are not captured by the RFF and eventually settle into a dead zone in the beds. I chuckled at your B-B/Basketball net analogy, which is quite accurate. Makes perfect sense, to me, anyway, that the sand will keep the “stuff” at the surface where nature can do it’s magic instead of allowing the beds to fill from the bottom up with plant killing trash.
“Can’t wait” till I can get my setup redesigned for iAVs.
BH…Never mind, the best lessons in life invariably exact a price. Mark and I advise everyone who has an AP system (particularly those who think they’re working) to build an iAVs with which to compare. We’re confident that they’ll opt for iAVs for all future systems.
The new system will be all the more satisfying when you get it up and going. In the meantime, take the opportunity to plough through our content….and to ask questions as they occur.
Hi Gary, while I understand that sand as a media is better by virtue of its much increased surface area, it does not seem to me that hydroton or lava rock are failures as this article seems to imply. I have great success in growing many variety of plants using both in F&D systems. The growth rates are phenomenal. So although sand may give better results other methods should not be charactorized as a “killer machine.” Once my current cr is done I will transform by dutch bucket system into a sand bed system. My sole concern is the use of coral sand and the resulting Ph.
Jim….Let me begin by defining what I mean by “basic flood and drain.” This is any media bed system that is not fitted with dedicated mechanical and biological filtration. This is where the water travels from the fish tank to the media beds and then back into the fish tank (sometimes via a sump tank).
In my view that system is a prospective “killing machine”…..and there are hundreds of reports of dead, dying and sick fish to support that contention. In the context of iAVs, what I call the basic flood and drain system is a mistake, an aberration or a mutation.
The Speraneos, the people who popularised the system, were specifically counselled against it – but they persisted – and the world has had to live with the mistake ever since.
Gravel, hydroton and lava rock are all fine if the system is fitted with dedicated filtration…..if you’re prepared to accept that it will cost you more to produce less food than you could with an iAVs.
I confidently predict that, once you’ve tried sand bio-filters, you’ll be as enthusiastic about them as we are…..and that’s all we ask of anyone who questions our claims. Just try it.
Jim, the sand that you use must be inert…..coral sands are not suitable. I suggest that you look at the black volcanic sand that is to be found on the beaches adjacent to the Waipio Valley. That may be better for iAVs purposes.