9.5 Conclusions

9.5.1 Current Drawbacks of Nutrient Cycling in Aquaponics

In hydroponics, the nutrient solution is accurately determined and the nutrient input into the system is well understood and controlled. This makes it relatively easy to adapt the nutrient solution for each plant species and for each growth stage. In aquaponics, according to the definition (Palm et al. 2018), the nutrients have to originate at least at 50% from uneaten fish feed, fish solid faeces and fish soluble excretions, thus making the monitoring of the nutrient concentrations available for plant uptake more difficult. A second drawback is the loss of nutrients through several pathways such as sludge removal, water renewal or denitrification. Sludge removal induces a loss of nutrients as several key nutrients such as phosphorus often precipitate and are then trapped in the evacuated solid sludge. Water renewal, which has to take place even if in small proportions, also adds to the loss of nutrients from the aquaponic circuit. Finally, denitrification happens because of the presence of denitrifying bacteria and conditions favourable to their metabolisms.

9.5.2 How to Improve Nutrient Cycling?

To conclude, nutrient cycling still needs to be improved in order to optimise plant growth in aquaponics. Several options are therefore currently explored in Chap. 8. To avoid losing the nutrients captured in the sludge, sludge remineralisation units have been developed (Chap. 10). The aim of these units is to extract the nutrients captured in solid form in the sludge and to reinject these into the system under a form which the plants can absorb (Delaide 2017). A further technique to reduce nutrient loss would be to foster plant uptake through the concentration of the aquaponic solution (i.e. the removal of a fraction of the water to keep the same amount of nutrients but in a lesser water volume). Such a concentration could be achieved via the addition of a desalination unit as part of the aquaponic system (Goddek and Körner 2019; Goddek and Keesman 2018). Finally, the use of decoupled/multi-loop systems enables optimal living and growing conditions for all fish, plants and microorganisms. While some research has been undertaken in this field, more research should be conducted to better understand nutrient cycling in aquaponics. Indeed, more information concerning the exact cycles of each macronutrient (what form, how it can be transformed or not by microorganisms, how it is taken up by plants in aquaponics) or the influence of the plant and fish species and water parameters on the nutrient cycles could greatly help the understanding of aquaponic systems.