Aquaponics Rocks

[RM - aquagrower]

no top feeding for me. top feeding means wet hydroton (or other medium), and that means algie. algie (above water) brings bugs.

when plants are young, just raise the water level to 1" above the net pot. once the roots grow out of the cups, then the water can be droped.

 

[BakedBeans]

What type of medium will you use in the netpots? I've been thinking about coco coir for my pot growing. I don't think it's sustainable in a commercial operation, but I could be wrong.

I can't figure it out (or I'm too stoned!) but I think you were using aquarium gravel and hydroton?

 

[dan kay]

been quietly keeping up with this thread, great info.

RM - aquagrower: can't wait to see that setup in action.

 

[El Spartico]

Always a good read this thread.

RM, quick question. Planning to increase stocking levels due to the added volume of water?

 

[Guest]

Question for RM - Was that anti-nutrient write-up of any assistance or interest?

I'm hardcore into fish nutrition at present and don't want y'all falling to sleep with too many big words but think a lot of this will make a difference in final results in output of fish, output of produce, and general taste and health of both.

Saw some HUGE oscars doing a spawning dance yesterday. So cute when they're frisky as opposed to killing everything.

Thanks so much for your photos that has made things clear as day for me

Guess what, I've worked so hard lately I have spare cash for test equipment, loupes, more EJ (cos it rocks I tell ye!) and.....

Building a greenhouse!

Oh yeah!

Do you want more nutritional summaries, it's all abridged from science papers I'll not tell you any wives tales there are far too many in circulation re: fishy tales, already.

Did you know - fish do not need carbohydrates but carbs present in the diet will be utilised for energy thus saving proteins and lipids for more important roles like health, reproduction and growth?

Did you know - fish draw minerals directly from the water - Calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper and selenium? - These are utilised for the formation of skeletal structure, electron transfer, regulation of acid-base equilibrium, and osmoregulation. They're important components of hormones and enzymes, and activate enzymes. Complex biochemical mechanisms control and regulate the uptake, storage, and excretion of various inorganic elements, allowing fish to live in a dynamic equilibrium with their aquatic medium.

More? - More pictures? Heheh.

 

[RM - aquagrower]

it just occured to me that i hadn't posted a pic of the bio filter and pump rez here. that stuff was on the old thread back at og.



the can on the right is the pump rez, pay no attention to gthe swimming pool pump on the can. it took a shit on me about 2 weeks in. there is a submersable pump in the rez.

the one on the right is an external bio filter, filled with lava rock and pea gravel. in the bottom of the filter is a manifold that feeds the valves. the tubeing from the pump runs up thru the overflow and into the manifold that's in the bio filter.

water is pumped from the pump rez and into the very bottom of the filter where some runs thru the valves and the rest runs upward, thru the bio medium, and back into the pump rez, via the 2" overflow.

when the current grow finishes up i'll be removing that damn pool pump and connecting the new veg system to the right side of the pump rez with a shower drain.

BB,
the 3" net cups i'm using are filled w/ just hydroton. i've never used any coco, but i don't see why it wouldn't work in a "run to waste" system. not too sure i'd try it in recir system. plus, as long as ya can keep temps under control, it don't get much simpler than dwc.

DK,
the new veg set up is pretty coles to the same as the flower set up. only difference is the flower system is fed by 2 valves from the bio filter.

ES,
with this being the "maiden voyage" with this thing, i've been watching the nitrate levels pretty close, and i don't think i'll have a problem with my current fish numbers. should be able to keep nitrate levels up by uping the fishes feeding schedule.

in the off chance that i do need more fish, i can always thro a sack of feeders into any "unplanted" tub.

THS,
i liked that anti-nute write up, altho i gotta admit that most of it is greek to me at the present time. but hell, at one time N, p and K were all greek too. but, hell ya, if ya got more, i'd love to see it. one thing we can't have too much of is information.

at this point, i'm trying to make sure all of the componits are working as they were designed. so far, so good!

so you're gonna build yourself a green house, that's great! how big? i'd love to build me one. maybe one day...

about oscars, from everything that always heard, they are supposed to be pretty agressive. mine is the "tank bitch". he's always getting picked on by the other 2.

speaking of feeding the fish,


got a bit heavy handed with the net while i was drunk and stoned. didn't know if he was gonna make it. oscar ate so many he puked! i know it ain't no good for them, and i'll noy be doing that again.

 

[CarharttKidd]

Jeebus. I must be reading something wrong. You guys go through all of this effort for roughly a 1kw grow? For the ammount of effort you guys put into this, you could probably have a whole garage full if grown another way. Don't get me wrong. This looks very cool, but it looks like a colossal pain in the ass for 3lbs tops.

 

[BakedBeans]

I don't think at this point it's about the end result, I think it's more about the science and principles of Aquaponics.

I've never had fish before (that didn't up and die a month later), but I really want to learn how to do it right now and get a tank to start with. Hell, I'm trying to bet my entire future on it (seriously). I love to figure out how things work and then apply it. This really piqued my interest.

 

[Guest]

I don't want a garage full of weed.

But if I did, I'd do it aquaponically for sure.

The amount of space I do have I physically dug out and then built.

Worth every effort.

The Greenhouse will be a modest 13' x 13'. Central pond, 3 rows of beds, eventually. got to drop poles, retaining wall, level site, pond dug, build....

For bloody vegetables.

I'm freakin looney hehe.

 

[RM - aquagrower]

let's see, a garage full of weed is roughly equal to about 5 years upstate. i'd rather not. i purposly limited mysely to the amount of grow space that i can resonably hide. it sure helps being able to "hide" most of my system in plain sight. in this reguard, aquaponics rocks.

having grown in soil for years, i got bored and wanted to build a hydro system, but i really didn't want to be "hydro store dependent", and i refuse to order anything online. so that kinda limited my options. in this reguard, aquaponics rocks. no more bringing ANYTHING into my house that says "i grow pot".

also, it is all about the finished product. from all reports aqua weed is the best tasting weed you can grow. again aquaponics rocks. if you're gonna go thru the effort, and take the risk, why not grow the best?

about that "colossel pain in the ass", the hardest part was designing the damn thing. that part alone took the better part of 3 years. i've only got about 50 hours in the construction. and now it actually takes LESS time to maintain the fish AND the plants then it took before to maintain the fish alone. once more, aquaponics rocks. the fish and plants do the work for ya.

and finally, the "coolness facter" speaks for itself. i've designed a system that turns feeder goldfish into weed.

that said, there's just no doubt: AQUAPONICS ROCKS!

 

[Guest]

You are so eloquent today RM!

My buds on the next plant are very chunky, like, if you smacked one down you'd get a thunk not a pat.

I don't know the cfm for the new fan all i know is it used to be the outlet for four offices . No CO2 needed, and a big thanks to Mr Wags and RM for patiently and persistently pointing me towards the obvious - air!

Today I get to shop, only for a loupe and a bit of a garden centre tour see what's really out there in organic range.

On that note - Aquaticus glow is rubbish. I kill more thrips via squashing them and flicking the plants to dislodge them than the spray dealt with. The powdery mildew is not spreading due to new air circulation, the spray has not removed it. The salesperson swore by it, funny enough, when I return it I will swear about it.

Pests and diseases are, I believe, the Aquaponic growers next biggest hurdle. The preventative medicine of getting your system running properly helps, preventative measures in ensuring good 'junk food' free diets helps, but at the end of the day, we need
- an organic bug spray that doesn't harm fish (and actually harms bugs)
- an organic anti-fungal/mold spray
- organic fish medicines that don't kill plants

This is one reason I'm hardcore into the nutritional side of things. I know my bio-filter eats pythium for breakfast, and believe that many other pathogens and bad bacteria likewise make food for good bacteria. In the larger picture I believe I'm learning how to keep the system cleaner by evaluating all inputs and their roles in the eco-system.

Undigestable foods, unneccessary nutrition etc, all add workload to the bio-filter. Inputs at a level that promotes fish growth, but no 'waste' keeps everything that much cleaner, leaving less opportunity for pathogens of any nature take hold. A bio filter will process inorganics, however, they need to be oxidised first, allowing a draw on the systems O2 supplies and possible anaerobic problems as a result. So, organics and a clean running (zero waste) system all the way.

Like if you got two hospitals. One had poor circulation and poor diet, the other run properly.

I'll gaurantee the junk diet hospital will spend twice even far more than that on actual medicines.

Prevention is the best cure. And I'll keep studying for the contingency plans.

 

[RM - aquagrower]

i thought you'ld like that. it's just that aqua fits my needs to a T. i can understand that on the surface it appears to be really complex, but in all actuallity, it's incredably simple. and it's a hell of a lot of fun.

as for pests, i've been real lucky on that end. had a nasty case of mites years ago that required a complete tear down to get rid of, but other then that...

i'm not at all worried about overworking the bio filtration in my system, just because of the sheer volume of bio medium that i'm using. with the hobs on the tanks, and all of the ugfs, i could probubly get by without the big filter

.let's not forget that Nimby was able to grow a plant on flake food alone, without the fish. altho it was'n the happiest plant, it did grow.

i do whole heartedly agree that an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cured (bud that is), that and cleanliness is next to godliness.

 

[Guest]

there's a sig for you RM

An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cured. lol nice.

I know you're sorted filter wise, I'm planning ahead for commercial viability. Streamlining everything I can possibly think of in the hopes that the bulk of problems will then be husbandry and not system/diet related. And then of course I may practise good husbandry as well and see some serious profit margins.

I'll go broke 2 more years if that's what it takes, end results will be a cleaner planet due to showing farmers higher profits in zero waste. It's worth it.

 

[RM - aquagrower]

i like this one better: we don't grow the plants, we just provide them with an environment in which to thrive, they grow themselves!

i've toyed with the notion of a (legal) commercial project, but i live in the heartland, and there are lots of convential farmers. just not too sure i could compete.

i have access to the perfect site to build a large green house free of charge, just don't know if i could make enough to cover construction cost.

every since "geoge's war" started, the cost of building materials have been thru the roof. add in the destruction of last years hurricane season, and there's no telling if cost will ever drop to where it was.hell a 5 lb box of drywall screws is $20!

right now i'm wanting to build a nice solarium off the back of my house. faces south, great sun, and could tie it into the ketchen. it would be nice, but would cost a fortune.

 

[Guest]

excuse me now....

 

[RM - aquagrower]

govt grant? no thanks. last thing i want is them looking at me.

hobby grardens to yuppys, now that's right up my alley. it's something i've already given a bit of thought. maybe put something small together. give it a nice "finished" look. have a window version, and a lighted version w/ a cfl.

prob have to get a patent on the finished product, then there come that damn govt attention again. it would be so nice if this were legal.

 

[dan kay]

i've toyed with the notion of a (legal) commercial project, but i live in the heartland, and there are lots of convential farmers. just not too sure i could compete.

they were saying on the radio the other day that they can't meet market demand for ORGANIC vegetables so if you have a decent amount of land it really might not be a bad idea if you have the startup capital.

 

[Guest]

pH test first time ever! Hehe.

It tested at 6.2-6.3, I know, too low. I added 5% system volume tap water (pH 7.0) and raised it to 6.3-6.4.

I'll bring it up gradually over a few days using water only.

I need to dilute, my nitrate ppm said 160!!! My tapwater nitrates is 0. I want the system down to 100.

Theory of attack - Cut feeding schedule by 10%. The fish have more than enough.
Changeout 5% water each day for 7 days then re-test. Changeout water does not include the typical weeks water use (approx 10 gallons).

I imagine I'll be close to 100 ppm then.

7 days at 5% changeout should also give me an end pH of 6.9-7.0. The difference in both end results should give me a rough idea of -

- The actual nitrate accumulation.
- The speed of the pH drift.

In theory.

 

[muddy waters]

great thread... i hope to contribute some experiences of my own, soon.

ites aquaponic brethren!

 

[Guest]

I need to dilute, my nitrate ppm said 160!!! My tapwater nitrates is 0. I want the system down to 100.

Theory of attack - Cut feeding schedule by 10%. The fish have more than enough.
Changeout 5% water each day for 7 days then re-test. Changeout water does not include the typical weeks water use (approx 10 gallons).

Forgive me, I have not taken the time to look back and see if you supplement with non-nitrogen nutrients. If so, please disregard. If you are trying to stay away from supplements, might I suggest adding some N loving plants like anacharis to the fish tank in small pots. If your fish will leave the plants alone, keeping them trimmed will remove N without removing much P,K,Mg, etc. If your fish dine on the plants however, then the excess N still remains in system, so it isn't worth it then.