Pilot Aquaponic Growing System of Carp (Cyprinus Carpio) and Basil (Ocimum Basilicum)

The aquaponic recirculating systems are integrated systems that combine fish and plant culture. These systems consist of two components: aquaculture and hydroponics components. In these systems the nutrients necessary for plant growth are resulted from the metabolism of food by the fish. This was obtained by recirculation of water, with a pump, from the fish tank to the hydroponic component and back to the fish tank. The experiment was conducted in the laboratory of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry of University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest for 6 months. The system developed here, is a 1 m2 area of plant growth and 0.45 m3 of water in aquaculture component. In the hydroponic component river gravel was selected to support the plants and offer support for the growth and developing of nitrifying bacteria. The species cultivated were cultured carp (Cyprinus carpio) and basil (Ocimum basilicum). On average, there was obtained a quantity of about 1 kg basil leaves in a period of 60 days of growth. It has been found that the species of plants grown in this system, namely basil (Ocimum basilicum) grown with carp (Cyprinus carpio), has a faster and better development compared to conventional growth. Use of basil as a purifying plant, resulted in the removal of nitrates, being not necessary to add additional water, as in classical recirculating systems, where is necessary to replace daily approx. 10% of the volume of the culture water being necessary to add into the system only water lost through evaporation. According to the results the basil is suitable for aquaponic system with carp culture. The basil was grown much better than the conventional cultivation.