aquaponics - for the fish folk

Hephaestus · Nov 12, 2009

G'day all,

Wondering about aquaponics lately - lets just say another fish tank in the house won't look out of place (though I do think certain friends might look closer if I put goldfish in it (more into the SW & angels/discus)).

Thinking more the technical aspects of it, from those of us who do come from the fish hobby... I see numbers tossed around in these forums - that make absolutely no sense to me... 1200ppm of what?!?

In Aquaponics - what PPM of NO3/PO4 during each stage are we looking for? Do we really need to pay much attention to K - never really been an issue in my tanks (though I do have tons of K2SO4 from PMDD on planted tanks - so could dose as needed).

Then as a secondary question - switching foods on stages seems to make sense... I know my NLS pellets are low in PO4 - but wardley flakes are high (get an algae outbreak in one tank every time i use them); seem to recall there were some foods that were notorious for spiking PO4 levels - anyone remember which ones did what?

Rysam · Nov 21, 2009

i dont know how well that fishtank water would work in flower, im fairly sure it would be too high in N(I dunno how the N is with angels and discus, I dont mind high N in my tank). I've thought about it for a while myself. im a fishgeek too, 135 reef and 72 FW. I put my FW tank water in the houseplants and they love it. I doubt weed would be any different in veg.

If you feed frozen for your S/W thaw them in RO water and dump that cup of thaw water on your plants? that would give them a boost i bet.

I guess im just rambling now...

Hephaestus · Dec 12, 2009

Still working on this setup/scenario - guess we'll find out soon enough as seedlings are going to be going into the system soon

My general plan is a sumped DWC system; fish in the sump, using a TOM aqualifter to feed drip emitters in the netpots (going to use peat moss as grow medium - need to buffer my hardness/pH down - it worked well for my apistos).

I'm thinking of mostly NLS on the veg, then going mostly frozen & flakes for flower... I see some good results here and there on the aquaponic systems; we'll have to see how it goes...

guest5703 · Dec 12, 2009

my local hydro shop just got an aquaponics set up put in. They seem to think its going to be great, I'm wondering how it will go but it seems pretty sweet.

MrFista · Dec 13, 2009

Drip does not work in Aquaponics. It will clog.

I (used to) just feed same food all cycle and supplement earth juice bloom in flower.

If you want DWC you need to prefilter solids (sponge is fine to catch solids) then pump water to the grow. Nitrate PPM's can sit around 30-50 comfortably.

Continuous flow, or add bubblers to your buckets, both works fine. In experiments continuous flow is faster so DWC continuous flow - it's the go.

pH optimal at 6.2 (for plants).

Iron is often a problem. Chelated iron is the fix. Only if you need it.

Good luck. Any link to that system in the hydro store? Lot of ways for aquaponics to go wrong. They still grow food but become average over time, average sucks. Make a turbo, follow above advice and clean out buckets and medium between grows.

Hephaestus · Dec 15, 2009

Maybe drips not quite the right word... the aqualifter pump puts out 3.5gph - going to run that into a manifold - just clip the lines to the pots - and let'r rip...

Iron shouldn't be a problem for me (higher levels from the tap) - but do have a fair bit of CTEM if the need arrises...

Kushy · Dec 15, 2009

I have heard about this from a family friend who took a trip to hawaii annd they were doing this wjith vegatables. What he said they had was kind of like an ebb n flo system to where every certain amount of time it would drain enough water from the fish tank to just fill up to the top of the spot they needed. Of course they had a huge fish tank and really didnt need to supplement as much nutrients out and in as say cannabis. Seems like a great idea. Good money saver if some one could perfect it. I guess they did large amounts of vegetables this way because its alot more exspensive to get nutrients sent down there. I dont know how much this helps if it helps any but this thread caught my eye and figuerd I would put in my 2 cents.

mrwags · Dec 16, 2009

I have in the past used drippers and had seen that with my formula Liquid Karma would almost always clog them up.

In stead of filtering (don't know what I might lose) I put my mix in a blender and mixed the shit out of it problem solved. I have also had success with those hand style blenders but felt the real deal type worked best.

Just thought I'd throw that in there.

My Penny
Mr.Wags

MrFista · Dec 16, 2009

Nice tip Mr Wags. The biofilm is the major contributor to clogging. Over time it builds up and the small diameter is asking for trouble. The flow Hephaestus has figured out should be fine.

Hephaestus · Dec 19, 2009

Figured I'd update

Had to throw together a quicky aquaponics system; after one of the seedlings started showing some N deficiency...

Nothing fancy, using my catgrass 'popping' tray added 4 holes to the bottom - just to drain back to the tupperware; that's peat as a grow medium... mini Jebo HOB filter with foam from established filter... 3 smallish ameca splendens in the sump (you'd think in a big planted tank full of these buggers - the magic net scoop would catch more). Aqualifter on a timer (20 on 40 off) only using about 1/4 the flow - rest diverts back to the filter for now... Coralife 2x65 (4100k 55w bulbs).

48 hours after putting them in - wow... explosion of leaf growth... Using some KNO3 to keep NO3 levels up in the 20ppm range. Added some CTEM for good measure, pH is in the 6.6 range (peat is keeping it down - tap at the moment is in the 7.8 range)

:smokeit:

MrFista · Dec 25, 2009

Interesting using peat as a medium, please keep us posted I'll be on standby for advice/tips if you want em. I'm a bit concerned about root rot in the peat - but what do i know - lets see how it goes!

Hephaestus · Dec 25, 2009

They'll end up hanging out like a DWC setup in the end - this is just to get em started... Dries out pretty good between soaks - but yeah I've been a bit worried about that myself... Luckily - only one plant looks less than stellar right now; 1 out of 6 aint half bad :smokeit:

If I could get the computer to see the memory card - was about to post up some pictures :watchplant:

One of the seedlings EXPLODED the past two days...

They're using a ton of nitrogen; having to dose kno3 every day - then again that's only a quart of water, so not really that much in the grand scheme - but dosing to 100ppm then seeing it down to 0 the next day; still surprises me...

Will post some new pics later today once I can reboot (encoding a dvd at the moment).

Hephaestus · Dec 26, 2009

Finally... Geeze I need a faster computer...

3304 (left) is today, 3274 is last week... Not the fastest growth I've seen but not half bad... Yep that one middle right isn't looking good - not sure what's up with it - first one to pop and stretched the most... Now is fading fast ?!?

Could be root rot I suppose, will have to look at that - thinking about moving them again - fridge build still isn't ready for them, but I can get them into a aquaponics DWC system - and add a ton of vermiculite into the peat to help keep things aerated...

Kcar · Dec 26, 2009

Seen this around...

Hephaestus · Dec 26, 2009

Yep there's a few commercial systems around... I'm more interested in figuring out all those details like target nutrient levels (that make sense to us fish folk) as pretty much everything I've seen thus far has more been targetted at the hydro user, and the numbers really don't make much sense... And gotta try it out - see how we do... I'm not the most experienced grower; but this method works for me on multiple levels - thus we're going to run with it

MrFista · Dec 26, 2009

Google 'the skeptical aquarist' - brilliant stuff on aquariums, biofilms, nutrient cycling and more. I take notes when I visit that site it's heavy reading but well informative.

Hephaestus · Dec 26, 2009

Used to be one of my favorite sites

Maybe I should mention my background, used to breed discus angelfish and apisto's; and many others (even had police at my door once checking for a grow - due to power use LMAO). Still have a bunch of aquariums running - nothing close to where I was - but it keeps me out of trouble :watchplant:

medi-useA · Dec 27, 2009

Ecocity Farm

Ecocity Farm is an improved aquaponics system of food production which combines the breeding of fish with the growing of vegetables and, importantly, is designed for use in areas where farmland is at a premium - namely the urban, village and suburban environments where 75 per cent of the world’s population live.

The Ecocity Farm produces more food per square metre than any other farming system, because unlike existing aquaponic systems, the Ecocity Farm produces little to no waste. All solid wastes within the system are converted into nutrients (through a biofilter) and used to “nourish” the vegetables. The system is also drought proof as all water is continually recycled within the system.

Sound Interesting?

muA

MrFista · Dec 27, 2009

That's the aussie boys who are/were trying to patent aquaponics. Zero waste (ebb and flow aquaponic) systems were designed in california many years before that mob started copying them. I had a zero waste system before them by about 3 years.

New Inventors - PAH! Spinners!

Hephaestus · Dec 27, 2009

Um; I could be wrong but I believe the ancient greeks were the ones who had figured out aquaponics originally

We're just catching up again...

aquaponics - for the fish folk

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