Hi guys.
I might bein over my head here so help will be greatly appreciated. Imvolountering at a farm in India and because I said i was interestedin aquaponics they apparently think im some sort of expert
Theyare trying to become fully self-sustaining and up until 2 years agothey fished the pond they have. They turned vegan and are looking totake advantage of the lake in another way. Since they ate the fishbefore im thinking the water is clean enough, at least by Indianstandards. It is a 2-2.5 acre pond, dividede into 2ponds connected by a narrow strip.
I have a few questions that ihope you can help me with.


Im going to run thewater through an HPLC to test for micro- and macronutrients, shouldtell us if it is even possible to grow anything on the lake or if itis a fully enclosed ecosystem. I have been looking around theinternet for a formula to calculate aprox amounts of plants able togrow based on the nutrients, but so far unsuccesful. I know thisdepends a lot on the type of plant as well, but any help will beappreciated. At the moment i dont even know what they want to plant.


Second I wasconsidering which setup to use. In a pond of this size a raft systemmight be viable (again, we will need the wateranalyzes before we cansay anything for sure). The problem with a raft system as far as ican tell is aeration of the water, since theres no pump and no drop.By placing the rafts in the narrower part of the pond we should beable to ensure a steadier stream of "fresh" water throughthe root system, at least thats my theory. Fins underneath the raftmight also help to "plow" the water and aerate it. A solarpowered airpump attached to the raft might also be viable. Any inputon this is greatly appreciated.


Fish eating the rootsmight be a problem, so my idea is to put a net both on top and bottomof the raft, thus preventing both birds and fish from going at them.A fine net on the bottom will also prevent waste from attaching tothe roots.


Looking forward to yourreplys and i will keep you update as I progress.