Aquaponics in Camp Pod Ostrog

It’s been a long time since we published news on our blog. Two years of coronavirus, spinal injury and recovery have slowed down the development of our property. Nevertheless, as of September 2022, we started implementing the plans and for now they are proceeding with the predicted dynamics.

Since we haven’t been around for a long time, we plan to revive our Blog again, publish news from property, start local initiatives and work on the improvement of the village and the Local Community.

Aquaponic production

In a series of articles, videos, photos, and advertisements (because we also plan to sell products created in our aquaponic system), we will present the principles of aquaponic production, its advantages and disadvantages compared to conventional agriculture.

For those who are not familiar, aquaponics is a simple form of agricultural production, which is based on the cultivation of plants in a water substrate, not in the ground, and the cultivation of fish. The biggest components of aquaponics are plants, fish and bacteria. The perfect symbiosis of three types of organisms – and the result is delicious and healthy products – in the organic category.

The principle of aquaponics, in the simplest terms, is based on the transfer of nutrients from fish to plants through water that is always circulating. The water circulates from the place where the fish are, all the way to the bed where the plants are grown. What is important to know is that plants take up these nutrients and use them for development. The water that has been freed from ammonia, nitrites and nitrates is then returned to the place where the fish are grown and the same cycle begins.

So, fish eat food and excrete waste (ammonia and nitrites) that are converted by beneficial bacteria into nutrients (nitrates) that plants can use. In consuming these nutrients, plants help purify water.

The only energy that is consumed during this type of production is electricity, because aquaponics consumes even 90% less water than the conventional way of growing, and in such a way that the nutrients from the water are recycled in a circle and thus save water.

For now, in our Camp, in two greenhouses with a total area of ​​160m2, we are starting to grow carp and vegetables. We are still in the preparatory phase of production, so we have not fully developed a complete plan for growing vegetables. What we know for sure is that in the biofiltration phase (we will describe this concept in later articles 🙂 ) the starting culture will be lettuce. Lots of green salad 🙂 So there will be an opportunity to order, visit the estate and try new flavors.

The main plan is to grow lettuce, strawberries, spring onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, broccoli, and in one part, over time, we will also try out the production of flowers.

During the next week, we expect to install the first part of the tub system and the vertical “Đuro – Pavle” hybrid breeding tubes, along with the geofoil, while in the following period we expect a fish pool and a submersible tank that will collect water and return it to the fish pool with pumps.

What we would like to say at the end of this blog post is that this entire aquaponic production project is based on the support that the company we work for (Seljak doo) received through a project implemented by the Eparchy of budimljansko – nikšićka, and financed by the European Union through the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare of Montenegro – Directorate for financing and contracting EU aid funds through IPA II – Multi-year action program for Montenegro for employment, education and social policy (2015-2017) within the framework of the program Support for employment in less developed municipalities in Montenegro “ARTOS – an opportunity for innovative employment.