Aquarium Water for Your Indoor Organic Garden

In organic grows there is nothing, in my opinion, that will make your grow cruise with ease like feeding with water from a well-maintained aquarium.

By this I mean water from an aquarium that receives no medications, chemicals, or otherwise unnatural treatments (this excludes common de-chlorinators such as Hikari Ultimate, wherein the biological efficiency is being enhanced).

This should be water that is well filtered both mechanically and biologically (that means an aquarium that has been set up for at least several months). This should also be from an aquarium that has a slightly to moderately acidic PH (i.e. tanks containing bog wood, peat, driftwood, almond leaves, etc).

In an organic grow, where your plants depend on bacteria to make the nutrients you have added to the soil to be available, it is absolutely essential that your plants are getting the right water.

This sort of aquarium water is alive with beneficial bacteria and other micro organisms. In an organic grow one of the most common mistakes is feeding with dead water (i.e. treated tap water, reverse osmosis water).

While beneficial bacteria will grow in your soil naturally if you maintain a proper moisture level, living aquarium water will replenish your soil with bacteria even if it dries out completely, and keep your plant from running out of available nutrients.

Water from an aquarium that is well inhabited with a variety of organisms will also be rich in many of the micro nutrients your plant needs to stay healthy and green. It is also a source of readily available, high quality major nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous.

It has a stable PH (otherwise your fish are dying) which is the solution to many a grower's nightmare.

Imagine pulling water from a pure, rich stream in the Amazon, and watering your plants with it.

This is what your plant can enjoy if you or a family member/friend are also into the aquahobby.

Rainwater serves a similar purpose but to a lesser degree of efficiency and dependability, and is at a higher risk of exposing your plants to pollutants.

Thanks,
peace and happy living

Thats all my house plants get for water

aquaponics....

This is why farmers have coveted bottom land near rivers for ever. It floods and rich, river bottom and water are deposited on and in the soil.

to exlude saltwater aquariums lol..

Very good Monkey,
I would also like to add to this thread by also discussing watering do’s and Dont’s.

- Do water your pot(s) the first time, thoroughly.

This will prevent dry, dead spots from forming in your pot(s).
With transplants, this will make the plant’s roots to spread throughout the entire pot and chase the water all the way down to the bottom of the pot.

- Don’t get water on your foliage.

Many plant diseases are spread through water supply with powdery mildew being a major one.
Also water droplets in full sun or grow lights act as a magnifying glass and will burn plant’s tissue.
A fine mist with lemon water (1/2 Tsp. juice and a brunoise strip of rind in a 1L spray bottle made fresh every time that I need it) first thing in the morning about ½ to 1 hour before lights on has served me well for when it is needed.

- Do de-nature municipal water supplies. Bacterial decomposition is the quickest and best non-chemical way for chloramines. Just circulation and time is needed for chlorine.
I use a commercially available culture.
The brand that I use is Cycle. The bacterial culture of nitrobacter and nitrosomonas bacilli will break the bond between the chlorine atoms and the ammonia molecules in order to consume the ammonia the chlorine effervesces out of solution by way of gas exchange at the surface of the water (meniscus) or the chlorine atom will bond with other atoms or compounds to form usually a ‘salt’ and is quite negligent as far as quantity is concerned.
Cycle or whatever other brand names are out there will rapidly remove chloramines (approx. 20 Gal. (75.8L)) within 24 hours with circulation (power head or air-stone).
If your surface area is wide enough and/or you can cascade the water you could easily eliminate chloramines out of much larger volumes of water. Chloramines are a quickly degrading molecule and will break down within minutes to days of being exposed to a bio active environment depending on bacterial action.

- Don’t over water your plants.
Let them tell you when it is time to water. They will ‘sulk’ when thirsty. When the leaves are just not standing quite at attention is plant talk for “I need water.”
The best time to water is about an hour before lights on as plants do not take much water when lights are off or at night outdoors.

An aquarium as Monkey Bones pointed out is the best way to keep your water supply nutrient rich, healthy and disease free without chemicals.

So could i put together a simple goldfish tank and pull some of the water/shit mixture and feed it straight to my plant?

I've got an aquaponics system which I'm using to water my plants right now. They're only about a week old, but it's been my only source of water so far. No nutrient burns at all, plants are doing great. I'm using ocean forest in 1 liter air pots.

snowboarder396 said:

to exlude saltwater aquariums lol..

Click to expand...

yeah, i did specify freshwater xD marine water would fuck up a plant pretty bad.

CaliMackdaddy said:

So could i put together a simple goldfish tank and pull some of the water/shit mixture and feed it straight to my plant?

Click to expand...

yes, the larger the tank the better. so long as the tank is healthy it is safe to assume the water and bacteria are healthy too. however you will not achieve mature water for watering right away. you don't neccessarily feed it water/shit mixture, there are readily available nutrients floating in the water

dadankskunk said:

I've got an aquaponics system which I'm using to water my plants right now. They're only about a week old, but it's been my only source of water so far. No nutrient burns at all, plants are doing great. I'm using ocean forest in 1 liter air pots.

Click to expand...

right on man, you probably will rarely see a deficiency

FR33MASON said:

Very good Monkey,
I would also like to add to this thread by also discussing watering do’s and Dont’s.

- Do water your pot(s) the first time, thoroughly.

This will prevent dry, dead spots from forming in your pot(s).
With transplants, this will make the plant’s roots to spread throughout the entire pot and chase the water all the way down to the bottom of the pot.

- Don’t get water on your foliage.

Many plant diseases are spread through water supply with powdery mildew being a major one.
Also water droplets in full sun or grow lights act as a magnifying glass and will burn plant’s tissue.
A fine mist with lemon water (1/2 Tsp. juice and a brunoise strip of rind in a 1L spray bottle made fresh every time that I need it) first thing in the morning about ½ to 1 hour before lights on has served me well for when it is needed.

- Do de-nature municipal water supplies. Bacterial decomposition is the quickest and best non-chemical way for chloramines. Just circulation and time is needed for chlorine.
I use a commercially available culture.
The brand that I use is Cycle. The bacterial culture of nitrobacter and nitrosomonas bacilli will break the bond between the chlorine atoms and the ammonia molecules in order to consume the ammonia the chlorine effervesces out of solution by way of gas exchange at the surface of the water (meniscus) or the chlorine atom will bond with other atoms or compounds to form usually a ‘salt’ and is quite negligent as far as quantity is concerned.
Cycle or whatever other brand names are out there will rapidly remove chloramines (approx. 20 Gal. (75.8L)) within 24 hours with circulation (power head or air-stone).
If your surface area is wide enough and/or you can cascade the water you could easily eliminate chloramines out of much larger volumes of water. Chloramines are a quickly degrading molecule and will break down within minutes to days of being exposed to a bio active environment depending on bacterial action.

- Don’t over water your plants.
Let them tell you when it is time to water. They will ‘sulk’ when thirsty. When the leaves are just not standing quite at attention is plant talk for “I need water.”
The best time to water is about an hour before lights on as plants do not take much water when lights are off or at night outdoors.

An aquarium as Monkey Bones pointed out is the best way to keep your water supply nutrient rich, healthy and disease free without chemicals.

Click to expand...

thanks for the addition, this is good stuff. i would like to add that in organic grows it pays to never let the soil dry out to the point where plants sulk (as soon as the soil is completely dry you have lost all or most of your bacterial culture), but if you are watering with great water full of bacterial culture then it should be okay.

hey, i've come across something that seems pretty important to share. i keep an aquarium with hundreds of little shrimp in it, and invertebrates like them leech calcium from the water to form their exoskeletons, unlike fish which get it from food.

in this situation plants fed strictly with this water will show signs of calcium deficiency if this imbalance is not fixed with something like epsom salts

I have a hottub outside that was converted into a koi pond that has koi and gold fish in it. would this water be ok to use?

lluciano7 said:

I have a hottub outside that was converted into a koi pond that has koi and gold fish in it. would this water be ok to use?

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yeah, if it's filtered and nice and clean it will be great for your plants, so long as you don't put any fish medications or algae treatments into the water

Agreed fish are the dogs bollocks for making good nitrogen rich water XD

Got a pump from my pond attached to a hosepipe that goes all round my garden with sprinklers oh and the weed gets a watering can full too once in a while!

its not filtered the pond has some algae on the bottom but the water is clear. theres an airstone or two in there but no actual like aquarium filter.

I wouldn't say it has to be filtered, though if you have real Japanese Koi then I am very surprised your pond is not filtered... If they are just regular 'ghost koi' they'll be happy in anything I've used unfiltered water from my pond before and it works the same, only problem I've ever had is sometimes you get bug eggs in the water (that have hatched in my soil...) so your best bet would be to syphon it into a watering can from the bottom of the pond/tub XD

My pond is filtered biologically with all the appropriate fauna and fish life (occasionally oysters too) plenty of nutes in there at the proper dilution rate somehow good ol' nature!

so what are some other things i can add to my pond to add different nuts and life to the water?

lluciano7 said:

so what are some other things i can add to my pond to add different nuts and life to the water?

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Have a good gravel substrate at least 4" thick on the bottom of the pond. A pond that recieves direct sunlight for more than 50% of the day should try and have at least 70% of the water's surface shaded.


The best way to do so is with plants. use aponogetons, valisneria, lillies, Water hyactinth, and many other emergent and marginal species of plant can be used.
Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) can be used in place of hyacinth where only early morning, filtered light casts or fully shaded ponds as it burns to a crisp in direct sunlight.
Be aware that koi, gold fish, carp and carp like fishes like to root around the bottom so anchor plants with apropriate sized rocks.

Make sure there are no 'Dead Zones' in your pond. Circulation is king in any body of water and dead zones are areas that have no circulation and can go anerobic which taxes the ecosystem you are trying to balance. So either create a waterfall, water course, fountains, airstones, powerheads or any combination that creates circulatory currents throughout the pond, your fish and plants will thankyou.

As for filtration, an old filterbox with some open cell sponges and a topping of filter floss hooked up to a circulating pump would not only keep your water polished but also make an easy collection of nutrient rich mulm. that is the reddish brown sediment you all see in aquariums and it is basically fully composted organic matter. Those sponges will collect tons of mulm in three to six months. just squeeze the sponges and floss, into a bucket.
I run that through a cheese cloth and either dry it out for future uses, top dress as a slurry for my plants, or add to a living soil mix.

When a pond or aquarium is set up with a thick substrate, plants and a well established nitrogen cycle, you can remove up to 20%
Of the volume and replace it with fresh water per week. Try and keep a three day gap between workin on any filters you have and doing any water changes as well as any transplanting etc.

In your case, you have an established pond so if you plan on adding more gravel to the bottom it is better to do only a quarter of the pond at a time with a minimum of three days but preferrably a week apart with the addition of any substrates. Have your plants ready and in place before adding your gravel.

I make sure I have plenty of fish and I create good moving currents so they have to exert more energy and therefore eat more food and in turn make more poop which makes more nutes and the currents like I said above, will keep things areobic which is key to healthy and efficient bioactivity.

Hope that helps.

Edit: I was just about to go to bed and had just smoked a bowl to boot when I decided to answer this so I know i kind of skipped along so sorry and goodnight...lol

In aquaponics fish are good sources of nitrates after the bacteria convert the nitrites. Crawdads and other types of crustations are good for P.

https://www.rollitup.org/organics/495037-aquaponics-using-fish-waste.html

It took a long time for my plant to grow with just the fish waste and with out crustations it would be impossible to flower. I have pulled the plant and will try again at a later time when I can have a more diverse ecosystem. No doubt the plant will grow with just fish over time but it will not flower. My tomatoe plants they grow like vines but no fruit.

As a fert in addition to other methods works great. The water is teaming with microbial life as well as nutrients.

personified said:

In aquaponics fish are good sources of nitrates after the bacteria convert the nitrites. Crawdads and other types of crustations are good for P.

https://www.rollitup.org/organics/495037-aquaponics-using-fish-waste.html

It took a long time for my plant to grow with just the fish waste and with out crustations it would be impossible to flower. I have pulled the plant and will try again at a later time when I can have a more diverse ecosystem. No doubt the plant will grow with just fish over time but it will not flower. My tomatoe plants they grow like vines but no fruit.

As a fert in addition to other methods works great. The water is teaming with microbial life as well as nutrients.

Click to expand...

Very good points personified.
I use my aquarium water in supplememntal fasion myself. I have always wanted to try something...

Personified's mention about high N and low P being in most general (community) fish waste has given me a thought.
I have always wanted to take a tank and stock as full as possible one type of fish and for example purposes, Danios.
Danios will eat all kinds of fish, insects and crustacea. If you were to feed a specific diet, that should produce a higher nutrient that is condusive to the main diet of the fish.

I know that wouldn't work with your setup personified due to your dedicated tank to plant(s). I am growing in living soils so that amendment would better zero in on the plant's needs. All I would have to do is draw water from a tank that is running for either N, P, or K.

Well...I am going to dig up another tank this weekend and set it up to run some danios or rainbowfish and we'll see if there is merit to my thought.
As I go through my library and get some pertanant information, I will post what I find out if you all would like.