Aquaponic systems: biological and technological parameters

Figures & data

Figure 1. Scheme of an aquaponic system.

Table 1. Most commonly farmed fish in aquaponics.

Scientific name	Common name	Most commonly farmed fish (ranking)	References
Oreochromis niloticus	Nile tilapia	First place	Love et al. [4,21], Villarroel et al. [19]
	Ornamental fish	Second place	Love et al. [4,21]
Silurus glanis	European catfish	Third place	Love et al. [4,21]

Table 2. Most commonly grown crops in aquaponics.

Scientific name	Common name	Crop	Most commonly grown crops (ranking)	References
Ocimum basilicum	Basil	Herb	First place	Love et al. [4,21]
Lactuca sativa	Lettuce	Leaf vegetable	Second place	Villarroel et al. [19]
Solanum lycopersicum	Tomato	Fruit vegetable	Second place Third place	Love et al. [4], Villarroel et al. [19]
	Salad greens	Leaf vegetable	Second place Third place	Love et al. [4,21]
	Herbs	Leaf vegetable	Third place First place	Love et al. [21], Villarroel et al. [19]

Figure 2. Scheme of structural and functional elements in an aquaponic system.

Figure 3. Schematic illustration of classical (coupled) and decoupled aquaponics. (a): Classic aquaponic system consisting of RAS (blue: fish tanks, brown: clarifier and mineralization tanks and violet: degassing tank) coupled with hydroponics (green: raft tanks). Water is continuously recirculated from RAS to hydroponics and back to RAS. (b): Decoupled aquaponic system consisting of RAS connected to the hydroponic unit (with an additional tank) via a one-way valve. Water is recirculated separately in each system and is delivered to the hydroponics unit if necessary, but not vice versa [74].

Love D, Fry J, Genello L, et al. An international survey of aquaponics practitioners. In PLoS One. 2014;9(7):e102662–10.

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Love D, Fry J, Li X, et al. Commercial aquaponics production and profitability: findings from an international survey. Aquaculture. 2015;435:67–74.

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Villarroel M, Junge R, Komives T, et al. Survey of aquaponics in Europe. Water. 2016;8(10):468.

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Monsees H, Kloas W, Wuertz S. Decoupled systems on trial: eliminating bottlenecks to improve aquaponic processes. PLoS One. 2017;12(9):e0183056–18.

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Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.