[mweidner]

I don't know if you guys have ever looked into Aquaponics as a way to have sustained food, but I was just reading the "Off the Grid Gardening" topic by Cajunlady, and I wondered if anyone here was interested in gardening in your house.

I have had a small Aquaponics system running in my office at home for about a year (You can see my system at: Backyard Aquaponics • View topic - mweidners trial - plastic tote system).

I am in the process of upgrading my system to have 11 plastic totes for growing various veggies, I am hoping to get the majority of my veggies fresh right out of my office, I get way better quality food, it costs very little, no chemicals involved, etc.

And as a bonus, if the world ever does collapse, its easier to protect what is in my house and out of view. Also even though in its current configuration you have to have electricity to run it, it would be easy enough to cycle the water through manually a few times a day.

One of my side projects for in the spring is that I am going to try and setup enough solar power on the house to run the aquaponics, that way it is totally independent of everything (Except fish food, but if push came to shove, I could find something to feed the fish).

Thoughts?

[Camdor]

If by the term Aquaponics, you mean Hydroponics, yeah I have and I think I posted a link to a good how-to for beginners.

But more info is always a good thing.

Thanks

[mweidner]

Nope, two separate things, they are related though.

Hydroponics is growing plants in water, with Hydroponics you have to add nutrients for the plants, and you have to be careful to keep everything balanced.

Aquaponics is growing fish and plants, you have a fish tank and a grow bed, you cycle the water from the fish tank through the grow bed, and your plants grow off from the nutrients from the fish.

There are several great things about this.

1) You get a crop of fish twice a year you can eat
2) It is a self balancing system, the plants grow as fast as the fish provide nutrients
3) As for growing fish, this is also a great system, because your grow bed acts as a very large bio filter, the water the fish live in is very clean and good for them.

In my system the growth of the plants is awesome, it is probably 2-1 vs the same things growing outdoors, plus in the winter when there is 3 feet of snow I still have fresh herbs, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

There are only really two things I have to add to the system to keep it running, fish food and light, if you have a room with good sunlight you wouldn't need lights, but I don't, and the fish food works twice, once to feed your fish (which you get to eat), and then the nutrients from the fish feed your plants (which you get to eat).

[Camdor]

Ah ok thanks for the clarification.

I will check this out.

So if I am reading this correctly, with Aquaponics, you are basically creating a smaller version of a pond, and basically replicating the natural balance in ponds and lakes but with your own choice of crop?

Or am I off?

[lpm67]

Great idea...I had been using the water from my daughters fish tank on the plants in my garden.... this is an excellent idea, would save me having to manually siphon out the water than lug into the garden.
What other fish would you try? I wonder if with some modification and larger tank, divert a small stream (for constant running water)....eels, trout and salmon?

[mweidner]

So for some more information on the subject for those who are interested:

The basic setup includes a fish tank and one or more grow beds, the grow beds are pretty much anything you can scrounge up, and you will be filling them with about 12" of gravel. The most common setup for running your grow beds is called the "flood and drain system", this is where you attach a hose through the grow bed at the bottom and create a loop with the hose that goes up to about 1" below the surface of the gravel.

You then put a water pump in the fish tank that moves the water from the fish tank into the grow bed, once the water level gets above the top of the loop of tubing you have, it will automatically create a syphon and drain the grow bed. I have my system timed so that the pump turns on 1 time per hour for 5 minutes, that is enough time to fill the grow bed up and then allow it to drain.

You can't really divert a stream to do the same type of thing, it seems logical, but you won't get much in the way of growth, and here is why. When you have a closed loop (fishtank to growbed and back), the ammonia from the fish goes into the growbed where bacteria forms and converts the ammonia to nitrite, then then from nitrite to nitrate. The plants live off from the Nitrate, with a constant flow of water that is not in a closed loop, the Nitrates would never build up.

As for the fish part of it, most people do two crops a year of fish, koi in the summer and trout in the winter (This is assuming they are doing this outdoors, so the selection of fish is based off from the temperatures in the area). An indoor system you can grow any fish that you have enough space for in your tank, and will grow at the temperature you have in your house. Currently I am just growing goldfish, but am thinking of doing bluegill, bass, or maybe some catfish.

[Slade N. Illinois]

Is it simalar to Hydroponics?

[RangerXanatos]

Would have never thought of this. Great job!

[crazydave]

got a tropical wall tank I suppose I could grow cress in it

I've seen this on a prog they did here, kind of an indoor trout farm.

[LaRemnant]

Hey! Aquaponics was just recently introduced at one of the latest 2009 Bioneers conference in California! COOL

It probably won't get much government funding though because it makes too much sense.