Aquaponics?

[PacasNChicks]

I am wanting to do aquaponics .... the only info I've read is online. Anyone here doing this and would like to share info? thanks!

 

[Marianne]

Me, too. Anybody?

 

[hqueen13]

I know some folks in FL who have done an amazing job with Aquaponics. Might want to check out their website and info. They do a lot of teaching as well as growing.
http://greenacreaquaponics.com/

 

[k15n1]

I'd like to do something like the outside but I have too many small children who might fall in. Maybe I'll do something like that this winter, in the basement with 55-gal barrels or something.

 

[FreeRangeDinosaurs]

I am actually in the middle of building a set up right now. I have a 8 by 14 ft homemade green house and a 300 gallon tank like this one http://www.flextankusa.com/products/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=118 I paid only $200 for it used on craigslist -- If you go this route, just make sure you get one with a known history as a lot of them are used to store chemicals and are not food safe. Mine was used to store cooking oil and has been very well cleaned.

I cut the top off the tank and am using the left over top piece to grow duckweed to help feed my fish. I also farm red worms and will likely start breeding guppies in the future. I am starting out with goldfish just to make sure my system is life-sustaining but plan on having about 30 fingerling tilapia once everything is up and running.

I am going to to the plants soil-less in gravity fed rain gutter type system with one larger planter near the bottom. I will be growing fodder for my chickens in there as well. Everything is just seedlings at this point (I got a bit of a late start unfortunately) But I am going to play around with it and work out all the kinks. I will post some pics when it is up and running.

It is a great way to grow a lot of food in a really small space (I live in a very urban area) and to farm healthy fish with less environmental impact. I also love the sciency ecosystem aspects of it and want to make it as self sustaining as possible.

This is a really good book if you want to learn more. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/086571701X/

This guy is my hero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM

 

[PacasNChicks]

I am actually in the middle of building a set up right now. I have a 8 by 14 ft homemade green house and a 300 gallon tank like this one http://www.flextankusa.com/products/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=118 I paid only $200 for it used on craigslist -- If you go this route, just make sure you get one with a known history as a lot of them are used to store chemicals and are not food safe. Mine was used to store cooking oil and has been very well cleaned.

I cut the top off the tank and am using the left over top piece to grow duckweed to help feed my fish. I also farm red worms and will likely start breeding guppies in the future. I am starting out with goldfish just to make sure my system is life-sustaining but plan on having about 30 fingerling tilapia once everything is up and running.

I am going to to the plants soil-less in gravity fed rain gutter type system with one larger planter near the bottom. I will be growing fodder for my chickens in there as well. Everything is just seedlings at this point (I got a bit of a late start unfortunately) But I am going to play around with it and work out all the kinks. I will post some pics when it is up and running.

It is a great way to grow a lot of food in a really small space (I live in a very urban area) and to farm healthy fish with less environmental impact. I also love the sciency ecosystem aspects of it and want to make it as self sustaining as possible.

This is a really good book if you want to learn more. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/086571701X/

This guy is my hero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM

Awesome info ... thanks! I will save the youtube video and watch when needed ... he explained everything so I could understand!

 

[PacasNChicks]

I know some folks in FL who have done an amazing job with Aquaponics. Might want to check out their website and info. They do a lot of teaching as well as growing.
http://greenacreaquaponics.com/

makes me wish I was in Florida or even within a few hours drive ... wow! wouldn't an acre be nice but I will have to settle for maybe 500 SqFt, thanks so much for sharing!!!

 

[hqueen13]

They have a lot of educational materials, and they do workshops in various locations, so stay tuned to what they've got because you never know when you might be able to work with them I know they often do things with some folks in Colorado, if I remember correctly.

 

[Daffodils At The Sea]

I'll play the devil's advocate here, a little bit, because I have a farm and work really hard to make my soil healthy and it provides the best nutrition possible to the vegetables and there's not a lot of expense in doing that, not nearly as much maintenance.

There are some aquaponics nearby, and it's a big operation. Buying all that equipment is kind of a major investment, because you don't want to put the plants in the ground? Plus it takes a lot of electricity to run pumps, lights, etc., going all the time, that's expensive, because you don't want to put it in the ground? What about the noise? If you know anyone who has an aquarium they will tell you that keep those tanks and equipment in good running order is a commitment. There's a lot of cleaning, and clearing clogs, and keeping fish alive. These are not clean tanks. In fact, they have to have poop in them for the plants to grow, so they aren't pleasant smelling.

If they are accessible to raccoons, cats, other animals, they will go after the fish. If the tanks are indoors, the rooms are extremely humid. Not to mention the humidity that may already be in the air.

There are major nutrients, minor nutrients, and 79 trace elements in soil that our food contains and gives us nutrition. Fish poop doesn't have all of these. Just because a plant is green and growing, doesn't mean it's got all the nutrition, which has already been proven by using high-nitrate fertilizers. They look great, but are not great for us.


I feel pretty sorry for the fish. They are not small, and they are stuck in mucky water they can't see in, in tanks that limit where they can swim, and if there's any breakdown, if there's a power outage, and the pumps don't work, things clog up, they die. And when you go away, who all is going to be able to be sure these things keep running?

 

[Britesea]

Aquaponics is the new prepper/survivalist method du jour. It claims to give you ALL the food you will need in the post apocalypse. Of course, you will need several fish tanks in order to do this, as most of the setups I've seen would only support about 40-50 fish. Besides the problems you mention, I would also add that fish are fairly low in fat, and if we end up in TEOTWAWKI, adding fat to our diet will become a LOT more important than it is now. I will stick with my ducks and my in-ground garden and fruit trees.

I do remember seeing one guy's setup that looked pretty interesting on that prepper show-- he used an in-ground swimming pool and built a greenhouse over it, and went a step further than most aquaponics- he had chickens in there too, pooping into the water. He claimed that his family was getting all their food from this (which I doubt as I saw no grain crops anywhere in there) and of course since it was a tv show we only got the highlights.