Construction of Automatic Bell Siphons for Backyard Aquaponic Systems

Aquaponics is a developing agricultural technology that is rapidly gaining worldwide popularity, both for commercial production and small-scale, backyard systems. The aquaponics concept involves integrating aquaculture and hydroponics, where fish wastewater is utilized as a nutrient source for plants grown in soilless culture. Publications describing a high-yield aquaponic lettuce production system and detailing on-farm food-safety practices for aquaponics have recently been is-sued by CTAHR.1,2 These efforts are consistent with the college’s 2010 Plan of Work3 and Hawai‘i’s 2050 Sustainability Plan,4 which focus on decreasing the state’s reliance on food imports by producing more food locally. Alhough the integration of agriculture and aquaculture has been practiced globally in one form or another by many indigenous cultures for thousands of years, moder