Soil VS Hydro : Just not the same?!?!?!?

[Flux451]

Hey thanks for the response and the good points in there JF

Yeah I feel I ought to learn to master organic soil growth, your description is very near to how I sense it.

And thanks for the photperiod advice, see, aslong as I could do the regular program, and (perhaps a short) organic veg, and all the oppurtunities for personal growth (exp) in the same room that would be good!

I have seen people talking about soil into coco and then lava rock? That sort of thing - however a fun idea I am not sure that would be any good for me, might aswell start at the begining as I do not have experience with soil.

Also, great links vonforne, thanks to all you guys already putting it through out there

 

[jaykush]

i guess it would depend on what you feed the fish. and what you use to keep ph stable for the fish

yea that makes sense, everyone i know who does it feeds them either black soldier fly larvae made from household waste, or they grow algae or some sort of waterplant like duckweed in another tank for the fish.

not sure if they even have to monitor or keep track of ph ill have to ask.

 

[Flux451]

I have heard a few times now that ph can and should be steady buffered by the whole system when working properly.

Of course when different applications say, high production of food, are at work you will probably have drift so I'd say its reflexive

I would like to look into an aquaponics system producing bio-diesel as part of the filtration cycle, so there could be food/herb/diesel/fish!

HAVE you ever heard of one application with diverse fish stock?

 

[Flux451]

whoops repost

 

[jaykush]

i do know it takes a few months to get the system "balanced" so maybe in the first few months monitoring ph is needed, but hell im far from a hydro person so im walking out on a limb here. just know a few who do it and there nugs are top notch with very little care.

bio diesel huh....now ya got me thinkin lol.

 

[Japanfreakier]

the collective marshlands of the Earth are naturally occurrences of the above

Marshlands have soil.

 

[Flux451]

http://www.growseed.org/growingpower.html - this site got me thinking. bio-d why not?

 

[EatMoGrass]

That link posted above is for Growing Power based right here in Wisconsin. Will Allen (the director of growing power) is on our local PBS channel quite often and he just started a large community garden right here in Madison at an abandoned school.

I haven't met the guy, but that program he started is doing some really great things with urban kids from Milwaukee. Like teaching them how to build greenhouses, composts, and of course building living organic soil.

Cities all over the world are asking Will Allen of Growing Power to help start similar programs in urban areas to teach disadvantaged kids how to grow organically, both in living organic soil and aquaponics.

 

[MrFista]

I feed the fish worms, slaters, cicadas, duckweed, azolla, filamentous algae, chicken, beef etc. A bag of pellets (500 gm) made from fish processing waste (no tableting aids etc) lasts for over 6 months with all the supplements. Guppies population cycles right up in summer which eat the algae in the pond and in turn are eaten by the eel.

PH - what's that? I only check pH if I mess with things out there, like add stuff etc. Typically sits around 6-7. I do not try to swing pH with products, rather, have some shells in system which in conjunction with decomposition provides a rudimentary buffer system.

I now use sea solids as salt for fishy osmosis, and swear by these for aquaponics, not as a nute source, as a supplement. I also add liquid kelp as micros. Salts - about a tablespoon per 50 gallon and not topped up unless water is taken out for gardens. Kelp, about 10 ml per 150 gallon, approximately fortnightly.

I've found you can run for many years without cleaning but to keep efficiencies running it's better to lose 1/3 of the water every 4 months and replace it. This can be pH tweaked before addition if need be. The excess water is great for gardens so don't waste it, why pollute when you got free nutes.

Scoria substrate is harsh on seedlings and gives a slower start than hydroton. Use one pump, put plants above tank, gravity returns the water.

Continuous flow is the fastest, but ebb and flow is a very close second and more forgiving. Have run veggie systems on 0 nitrate (output = input) for lengthy periods but MJ prefers a bit more oomph - 20 ppm up to 60 ppm is a nice range for explosive growth.

 

[Flux451]

That link posted above is for Growing Power based right here in Wisconsin. Will Allen (the director of growing power) is on our local PBS channel quite often and he just started a large community garden right here in Madison at an abandoned school.

I haven't met the guy, but that program he started is doing some really great things with urban kids from Milwaukee. Like teaching them how to build greenhouses, composts, and of course building living organic soil.

Cities all over the world are asking Will Allen of Growing Power to help start similar programs in urban areas to teach disadvantaged kids how to grow organically, both in living organic soil and aquaponics.

Kick Ass Man! - Maybe I could spark the CA chapter

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

I ran an entire 5g DWC bucket from start to harvest on nothing but water from my goldfish tank a couple years ago. It worked great, final yield was at least as good as a 5g bucket of soilmix. Vegging was slower than I usually see with my multiple repots in soilmix/containers, but so is every other method. It was as least as fast as other hydro methods I've seen.

Anyone with fishtanks/ponds knows that many kinds of non aquatic plants will grow just fine partly, or completely submerged as long as there's enough O2. That's the limitation of water when it comes to supporting plants, the amount of O2 it can hold, which quickly becomes too little when the water is warm. In the marshes of the world, the O2 is not always in such ample supply. There, plants such as reeds have the ability to carry oxygen downwards to the root systems.