Aquaponics Revisited

[BonsaiBud]

Turtle poo/water?
You can get internal filters with LED UV sterilizers. Put a T5 Pink bulb in your hood. They say that turtles can carry salmanilla. Otherwise, it should support a 400/600 watt grow easily. Keep in mind that those numbers (fish food/canopy area are for outdoor where they always have good weather).

I can get rock with natural ribbons of iron in it. I guess all I would need to worry about it potassium and calcium. But I don't know how to do that. I don't do hydroponics.

 

[PAGreen]

Does anyone have any pictures of their finished or in process aquaponic grows? I would really love to see some results; or hear input of aquaponic results vs aeroponic? Smell, taste, appearance?

 

[BonsaiBud]

There were some somehwere. BongSong had a nice grow setup and gave a smoke report. btw, aeroponic has little in common with aquaponic. You could do aeroponic aquaponic. The thing about aquaponic as opposed to classic hydro: you can't run nute levels through the roof or you will kill your fish. Your entire fish tank needs to be setup for the sole purpose of providing enough nitrogen for your plants. That gives you little choice in fish. Then, it would help to grow a strain that does fine with low nute levels: my Mandala are like that. They would work well. The plant is very airy and mostly water; while others are dense and woody.

The plants were "normal" looking. No steroid-like growth. The smoke was smooth and natural tasting. I would match a low-nute plant with a large fish like an Oscar...or whatever likes acidic water and eats a lot. If you use livebearers, let me just steer you clear of mollies as they only thrive in brackish water. Platys and guppies may be ok. Just keep another tank with the carnivore fish in it.

 

[PAGreen]

Thank you Bonsai! I guess I should have said aquaponics vs. aeroponics done with store bought organic nutrients. You are saying aquaponics tend to create airier, less dense buds? How about the strength of it? Would a plant take longer to finish flowering in an aquaponic set-up?

 

[BonsaiBud]

All my actual "knowledge" is second hand. I think I heard BongSong say that about the buds. He definitely pointed out that he was growing smaller than normal. I would guess slower as well. I would say, just maximize all the other limiting factors such as light, ventilation, humidity.

I guess it all depends on your selection of fish. My local fish shop said that goldfish/coi excrete yucky slime and should be avoided. Well, they know their stuff and put it in more technical terms. Discus/plant tanks shoot for a ~6.0 acidic range, but discus like super clean water. Check the aquatic plant forums for the discus tanks and look at what else they have swimming around in there. I bet most of the other stuff could handle higher nute (dirtier) water than the discus. I saw oscars in one person's res. They just swim among the roots. It would be nice to give them some space with a light...They are not cave fish.

 

[Woody Creek]

breeder steve of sol seeds is an aqua guy. had it hooked up to his house hold tank. the variety of fish, crab, etc. just increased productivity. made sense to me. why stick with one kind? dont be scared it's only nature.

 

[Chiefsmokingbud]

Guess the thread starter no longer participates in this thread since his account was deleted

 

[Mr Celsius]

www.backyardaquaponics.com

Thats the site, if you wanna learn about aquaponics.

I personally think the system is better suited to a polyculture vs a monoculture + I just like the idea of food producing food.

 

[MrFista]

goldfish and koi are fine for AP. This technology can be faster than hydro but you need high stocking rates and a pre-filter to trap solids in a DWC design.

It goes - Tank - undergravel filter - sponge filter (which you need to rinse in fish water weekly) then DWC buckets and back to fish.

Bongsong aka warbong aka several other pothead user names is one of the pioneers of AP technology BUT is also a self confessed mad scientist who experiments more than neccessary.

He taught me all I know on the subject and it is unbelievably good gardening the veg is the best you ever tasted and the weed is without parrallel.

Basically make a DWC system and add an inline sponge filter before the buckets. Replace the reservoir with a fish tank that draws water through an undergravel filter then out to the grow... Have about 1/2 to 3/4 kilo fish per plant. Keep water temps over 20 degrees for fast bacterial activity and good fish feeding habits. If tropical, warmer...

 

[smoketrichs]

Whee the power of poo!

 

[tokatronic]

This technology can be faster than hydro but you need high stocking rates and a pre-filter to trap solids in a DWC design.

It goes - Tank - undergravel filter - sponge filter (which you need to rinse in fish water weekly) then DWC buckets and back to fish.

That is not a universal necessity, it clearly depends on what type of setup you have. Some setups use 12 inch beds and do not filter the solids because the worms and microorganisms will do it for you and create a very healthy half inch environment in the bottom of the gravel. They feed on the solids pumped up from the fish reservoir.

For a kick ass setup search the pirate bay for the dvd Aquaponics Made Easy, it's well made and I just had to see it three times in a row. That system doesn't use floaters or timers either, just a constant pump from the reservoir and a siphon to drain quickly back into the fish reservoir.

 

[beta]

For a kick ass setup search the pirate bay for the dvd Aquaponics Made Easy, it's well made and I just had to see it three times in a row.

Aquaponics Made Easy @ ThePirateBay

Aquaponics Secrets @ ThePirateBay

Backyard Aquaponics Magazine Issues 1-3 @ ThePirateBay

 

[tokatronic]

Yes, that's it! The second one, Aquaponics Secrets, is good as well. But it focuses more on certain details.

One thing though! He mentions in one of them that it's smart to have a black soldier fly larvae farm to get cheap food. I wonder why he doesn't show a worm farm as well, that I had to read about at icmag. With a worm farm to take your kitchen scraps and cannabis trimmings, you get a shitload of excellent food for your fish + kick ass vermicompost to your "other" garden.

 

[tokatronic]

Anyone else seen those?

 

[Derka]

If you watch the videos closely, you'll see Murray talking about the fact that each grow bed, 600mm deep, will eventually turn into a form of vermicompost. Worms move in and help to digest the settled fish waste in the growbeds, and provide considerable benefits to the system.

I'm very curious about jumping into aquaponics, however there are several things that are critical. First off, get the system stabled and cycled, then once established you need to keep close control of the bio load and plant load, and keep a balance between the two of them. Most of the really successful systems that I have seen, both local and on the internet, typically utilize a bare minimum 500l of water between the fish tank, grow beds, sump, and filter(s). The successful systems also used a trickle tower or settle tank to remove solid waste before it moved into the grow bed.