Show your Aquaponic system.

[pandacory]

Originally Posted by DogFish

We use a juicer daily so just having fresh parsley daily out outdoor growing season will be worth the effort.

What is you cycle on the ebb& flow?

I'l planning on planting in Clay pots for the Goldfish tank. I used to keep Orandas and I'm very much aware of their sanitary habits. I'm planning bare bottom tank or maybe a few river stones on the bottom.

Don you have a link for adg's tank?

I've never kept goldies, and I hope this link works: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9zi-Wn5nKi8

I would like to do a similar hardscape only goldie tank with maybe a driftwood branch with anubias designed moreso to be viewed from above, say like a 40 breeder on a 18-24" stand...I would throw in some Japanese trap door snails too, maybe a highfin banded shark since an lfs keeps them with goldies.

My cycle is 15 min on, 45 min off, or 1x tank volume per hour, but I am starting to experiment with a siphon for continuous on. The lights are set opposite the tank lights so there is a more consistent sources of nitrate management. In my next set up I will plant the sump with weeds and floaters (aka goldies food) so that between the 3 cycles I have 24 hour management.

As far as the community notion goes, you could a) have a very large pond and run it like a community aquarium => was thinking giant gourami, tilapia, large mouth bass, fresh water lobster, trap door snail, and one of the giant minows (called sharks by aquarium standards) but amphibians and reptiles are a no go for me due to risk of salmonella or b) Google integrated multi trophic aquaculture => similar to your idea of divided res.

Welcome to the rabbit hole!

[Gooberfish]

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...nic+filtration

I did aquaponics as filtration over the summer for my planted 10g. I did marginal bog plants instead of edibles because of the excel and dosing. It was fun.

[pandacory]

Aquaponics has basically the same biological function as any tank with emergent growth, the difference is that terrestrials need root aeration or they will die.

It is interesting that emergent growth "pond" tanks are becoming more popular for their low maintenance requirements.

[xenxes]

Is a bubbler/aerator sufficient, or should I go with ebb and flow via a bell siphon? Aerogardens pods are just constantly in water with an aerator in the bottom, tomatoes, lettuce, a variety of other things grow just fine.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by pandacory

I've never kept goldies, and I hope this link works: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9zi-Wn5nKi8

I would like to do a similar hardscape only goldie tank with maybe a driftwood branch with anubias designed moreso to be viewed from above, say like a 40 breeder on a 18-24" stand...I would throw in some Japanese trap door snails too, maybe a highfin banded shark since an lfs keeps them with goldies.

My cycle is 15 min on, 45 min off, or 1x tank volume per hour, but I am starting to experiment with a siphon for continuous on. .....

That tank would be good from a sanitation aspect. It's way to over-crowded from a health stand point, rule of thumb is 20gl 1st fancy gold fish the
+10gl for additional. So maybe 3 baseball sized fancys in a 40-55 gl tank.

I don't care for the "Train Station" look of too many fish in a tanks (especially bigger fish) pacing back & forth.

I like your thoughts on a few simple plants. I thought about a weather loach but they really like to burring themselves in fine sand And I don't want to have any substrate in mine. All planting will be in clay pots. Weather loaches really should be in man pairs or trios tone happy. The also get to 9-10". I do like that they are cool water fish like fancy goldfish.

I would advise to take one's time and find the nicest specimens. You can find info on several fancy gold fish sites. Since they can live well over 10 years it worth the effort to pick a young fish that will have resale/rehome value. Look for thing like uniform fins, correct lenght to body, body shape, clean colors and markings etc.

Here's a good page on what a proper Oranda should look like:
http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/...nda/oranda.htm

I've occasionally seen very nice Orandas in PetSmart. It's rare but they do show up. They bodes are usual fine it's the fins that you need to examine.

I was thing the same as you on my cycles 15 on - 45 off during the Photo Period.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by xenxes

Is a bubbler/aerator sufficient, or should I go with ebb and flow via a bell siphon? Aerogardens pods are just constantly in water with an aerator in the bottom, tomatoes, lettuce, a variety of other things grow just fine.

Both systems work, really just about how you want to bold it.

My ebb & flow will drain back through the pump exhaust bulkhead on the bottom of the grow tank when the pump is off.

The stand pipe return will be a safety over flow and determine how high the water level will be at in flood stage.

[HX67]

Thanks for a great topic.

There's so much to discover here.

I've worked with plant filters for ages.
My first "serious" edible plant aquaponics setup was this:


It is rigged in a 75 gal tank.


With a dash more serious approach with Aquaponics.fi we have come up with this:


At a "Local Food fest" we rigged the unit with a couple of 4 pound sturgeons from a local fish
hatchery:




(Please note the fish were held in the 130 gal tank for a few hours at a time)



Currently I'm working with another kitchen-sized unit (150 gal) with decent-sized Tilapias:


Looking for a lighting setup for this as we speak...

[HD Blazingwolf]

SO im curious as to what is dosed to the water besides feed for the fish? any sort of macro/ micro fertilization going on here?

[xenxes]

[chibikaie]

I had an ebb and flow on the top of my goldfish tank, growing lettuce for my rabbits. Then my pump died a horrible, silent death and I went back to deep water culture, which still works well for mint and lettuce.

I could never get enough plant growth to do more than mildly supplement water changes, though. It has been very frustrating. I have given up on soliciting advice.

I keep thinking that if I could plumb in a bigger hydroponics area, I would get somewhere. But I would also need lots of grow lights, and a huge pump with a prefilter that would need to be cleaned daily, and I just don't have the space or the money.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by xenxes

That is one of my Lotto-Fantisys, an Aquaponic Geo-dome green house/fish room

[HD Blazingwolf]

too bad my wife doesn't like fish to eat or i'd be all over this

salmon MMMMMMMM

[Gooberfish]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

SO im curious as to what is dosed to the water besides feed for the fish? any sort of macro/ micro fertilization going on here?

If you dose ANYTHING, you can no longer call your plants "organic." The fish waste fertilize the plants.

[pandacory]

Originally Posted by HX67

Thanks for a great topic.

There's so much to discover here.

I've worked with plant filters for ages.
My first "serious" edible plant aquaponics setup was this:


It is rigged in a 75 gal tank.


With a dash more serious approach with Aquaponics.fi we have come up with this:


At a "Local Food fest" we rigged the unit with a couple of 4 pound sturgeons from a local fish
hatchery:




(Please note the fish were held in the 150 gal tank for a few hours at a time)



Currently I'm working with another kitchen-sized unit (150 gal) with decent-sized Tilapias:


Looking for a lighting setup for this as we speak...

Those are some nice set ups, much less mad scientisty than mine. What size is the tank in your rack design? What is the clearance like between shelves? I did a stacked garden once, but I got sick of having the tank on the floor for viewing purposes.

For lighting check out the hydrofarm t5ho strip lights. Daisy chainable with decent reflectors. Lettuce etc don't need much light.

How large are the tilapia? I would love to have a 150galllon, but that is definitely not "kitchen sized" for me!

[pandacory]

Originally Posted by chibikaie

I had an ebb and flow on the top of my goldfish tank, growing lettuce for my rabbits. Then my pump died a horrible, silent death and I went back to deep water culture, which still works well for mint and lettuce.

I could never get enough plant growth to do more than mildly supplement water changes, though. It has been very frustrating. I have given up on soliciting advice.

I keep thinking that if I could plumb in a bigger hydroponics area, I would get somewhere. But I would also need lots of grow lights, and a huge pump with a prefilter that would need to be cleaned daily, and I just don't have the space or the money.

Rule of thumb is equal volumes of tank to grow bed area, with grow beds 7-12" deep. 7" is fine for herbs and lettuce, 12" for tomatoes etc.

Many drain their tank into the grow bed and allow the solids to mineralized in the grow media so as to avoid exporting nutrients. I am not a fan of this, mine is inside a small apartment and even a mild smell is unacceptable. Outside, why not?