aquaponics

[captain chronizzle]

It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again...
bravo on ur grow, i just seen you can get that quote on a t-shirt $ 12 bucks at noisebot.com. thanks for taking a stand on our solutions to the future. i quite enjoyed your experiment. it would be totally cool if you turned it into a business. way to go!!!!!

 

[qbee23]

Thank you Captain Chronizzle ,am trying. Good idea with the t-shirt,i will check it out.Next i well be trying tomatoes and egg plant.Everything is going fine so far but am having problems with water evaporation.Ever time i add new water,the Nitrates dropHere's some new pic.

 

[dionysus4]

why is ur water level so high?

 

[Dr. Who]

still kinda confused but thanks
flood and drain im still dont get all the way?
thanks u have any more pics?

OK, look at it this way.....With a normal home aquarium you have the tank and a water filter......The fish and the uneaten food "pollute" the water so the fish die off.....It has to be cleaned - right?

In aquaponics the tank water is pumped to the plants in a media and that IS the filter.......Get it now....

I have seen some interesting things converted to aquaponics using Tilapia or another "chitlid" type fish.....Duckweed is grown with the fish as their food for the most part and in a sense you have a "true" closed system that feeds it's self all the way around.....Swimming pools and ground tank systems....The swimming pool was an old set of 3 community pools that had been closed down and bought by an enterprising local who promptly turned it into a wonderful working aqua farm! Veggies of all sorts including corn, maters, squash, leaf crops, you name it he ran it (Tubers in a media with water pumped through..) His fish were Tilapia and gills w/some big ass Pleco's for P control, that were supplement feed by "insect zappers" strung over the pools entire areas......The insects added needed micro/macro nutrition and he used Duckweed and other aquatic plants as normal fish food supply......Talked to him just the other day and he has added some Bullheads to try out for Catfish meat he likes...

The system is designed and run by the guy on his own....It is one of the best "running" systems I have ever seen! It is completely effective and his yields are impressive for all plants for consumption go.....The Canna plants are run outside with another pump to media and return section......A lot of the plants are simply suspended in the shallow ends of the pools by underwater screen tables.....The water is circulated with in the closed pool systems for effective transfer. He converted the community building on the property to his home and has the most impressive self sustained lifestyle!......I think he was in Mother earth News once....Not sure.....

In Africa I have seen this being employed on small scales.....As far as feeding the community. Good drinking water is at a premium and the use of it for aquaponics is not going to be viable for that for a while...

Doc

 

[fishdeth]

Pretty slick setup man, I'm gonna hang and check this out !

 

[qbee23]

Pretty slick setup man, I'm gonna hang and check this out !

Just sign back in after 4-5 years of mia ...if you need any help let me know

 

[qbee23]

why is ur water level so high?

At that time I needed to flood 30 gallons to the grow bed

 

[ttystikk]

At that time I needed to flood 30 gallons to the grow bed

Well welcome back! I just read this whole thread. You've rekindled my interest in closed loop aquaponic systems...

Can you share some insights gained in the last six years or so? Talk about rising from the dead, this thread has it all!

 

[OGEvilgenius]

Well welcome back! I just read this whole thread. You've rekindled my interest in closed loop aquaponic systems...

Can you share some insights gained in the last six years or so? Talk about rising from the dead, this thread has it all!

I was just looking for this kind of info myself.

The idea of being able to provid some fish for eating as well as growing some nice cannabis in a fairly low maintenance way sounds good to me.

Anyone ever use Rainbow Trout in these? They're pretty hardy fish AFAIK - seems they would handle the cooler temps well.

 

[Humanrob]

Awesome project @qbee23 !

I did a little research into this a while back, spent a day working with a local commercial aquaponics farmer who raises Basil/Tilapia. His grow beds were something like 8' wide and 50' (?) long, with a 300 (or maybe 600?) gallon fish tank on the end of each. The closed loop means you can't use anything on one end that might hurt the other end, so his biggest issues were around bugs on his plants and how to treat them without hurting the fish. He also used Tilapia because they can be raised in almost total darkness, and that keeps the algae down, which would rob the nutrients from the crop if it were allowed to grow.

The whole thing is definitely fascinating, I hope it really takes off.

 

[thewanderer718]

Very fascinating!!!!!!!!!!

 

[qbee23]

Well welcome back! I just read this whole thread. You've rekindled my interest in closed loop aquaponic systems...

Can you share some insights gained in the last six years or so? Talk about rising from the dead, this thread has it all!

Check it out.

 

[ttystikk]

Aquaponics.

Because there's something fishy about the future...