Aquaponics

[Anonymous No.760975]

Greetings /diy/.

Here it goes, I plan on making a small-scale indoor aquaponics setup using an aquarium 80x30x30cm(or something similar, will adjust accordingly when the time comes).
This is just for fun and I don't expect to start on this before spring. I plan to keep goldfish in the fishtank so I don't need a heater, and want to plant some paprika, tomato and pepper plants.
Does anyone have any experience doing this? And if so, care to give some tips? Like the capacity of the pump and such.
I'll post some more pics.
I've been googling around and the only sites that come up are some paranoid 'GMO is the devil incarnate' or prebuilt sites without any actual info.

[Anonymous No.760976]

Here's the reservoir and planter I intend on putting together. Water would flow from the flood compartment on the left into the planter, right, before returning to the tank.

[Anonymous No.760977]

Pic from google.

I want it to look something like this in the end, only with a 10cm or so gap between the tank and the wooden planter for access to the tank for feeding/cleaning.

I think I'll line it in some sort of pond-foil.
Have the water come into the top left, about 18cm up and flow out on the right, through a filtered hole, into the planter at about 15cm up.
Then at the right, either in the bottom or about 3cm up flow out a hole and back into the fish tank.

Any tips or ideas from you guys?

[Anonymous No.760986]

>>760975
I don't know much about aquaponics myself, but there's a ton of info on it in the /out/ Homegrowmen thread. Lots of aquaponics videos in the OP, most I think are larger scale than yours but should have the relevant info.

Other than that, I think your box might be too small for tomatoes or peppers, especially if propped over the fish tank.

[Anonymous No.760988]

>>760986
Right. Thanks for the info, I'll head over there now.
I didn't think /out/ would be into this stuff.

[Anonymous No.762649]

There is a thread up on /an/ eight now with a bunch of links. Just some advice from somebody who went way overboard on their own first build keep it small and simple. Also make sure you get your bell siphon rite before you add media. Lastly good luck its a lot of fun.

[Anonymous No.762738]

Google "Murray Hallam" and thank me later.

[Anonymous No.762866]

>>760975
I've already done this for a year in my window sil with a similarly sized fish tank and grew radishes. Will lurk and post a few pictures for those interested. (Though I have done it with fish in the past in these pictures I have transferred ammonia rich water into the tank from a friend's fish tank by hand.)

[Anonymous No.762870]

>>762866
Here is another of the radishes, once the bacteria started converting the ammonia into nitrates I saw a drastic increase in growth and greenness of plants.

[Anonymous No.762874]

>>762870
This is another few weeks later, same plants. But soon algae began to grow both in my pump tube and tank, you can see the green and red color.

[Anonymous No.763402]

OP here. I got a lot of info from the /out/ homegrowing general.
I figure as it is now, using a 60x30x30 tank with five goldfish to start and a growbed of about the same size, maybe a bit shallower.

>>762649
>Also make sure you get your bell siphon rite before you add media.
I figured as much.

>>762738
Found his videos in the /out/ thread. And thanks for the pic. I hadn't figured out what to plant yet.

>>762874
Wouldn't more plants hinder growth of algae if they take out more nitrate?
Also, if algae persists, couldn't regular cleaning or one of those bottomfeeders fix that?

[Anonymous No.763445]

>>763402
Well yes algae eaters would have had a field day with it and more plants would have taken out nitrates and reduced algae but you can't buy more seeds in the winter to grow from around here.

Instead of incorporating algae eaters I've decided to just use non-clear tubes and block light form the tank in the future. Good luck with your project!

[Anonymous No.763584]

>>762870
Did you get any to actually bulb up and become delicious radishes? Looks like they could use more light or something.

[Anonymous No.763612]

>>763584
The thing about radishes that I was told months later while shooting the shit at the local gardening store is that radishes won't bulb if well watered and well fertilized. Go figure

For my next experiment I've got a grow light, new system and pea plants. My first attempt I wanted to see how far I could get for around twenty dollars and those pictures was my result.

[Anonymous No.763621]

>>763612
I've had good results growing peas in a small ebb&flow system with CFLs. I haven't used fish water though. Perhaps hydroton or lava rocks would give more surface area for your bacteria buddies.

[Anonymous No.763766]

>>763621
I hope I have the same success, I got these white meshes for the vines to spread onto(not sure how well they show up in pics). When I received a the used fish tank I also got a large bag of blue lava rocks that I plan on using for experiment 2.

If you are a hydroponics user I suggest giving aquaponics a try. Even if you are just adding water from a dirty fish tank into your system.

One thing I had a hard time figuring out was how to get the right bacteria until I stumbled upon a thread on /out/ about using a dirty fish filter as a "starting culture" because it was bound to have bacteria already on it.

[Anonymous No.763767]

>>763766

[Anonymous No.764199]

>>763766
I plan on building a greenhouse this spring, and sticking a fish pond in there just makes sense. I can't decide if I want to get all fancy with koi, or use something I can eat. Should be fun.

[Anonymous No.764279]

>>764199
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYR9s6chrI0
http://kickass.so/backyard-aquaponics-t4385398.html
Here's some info to give you an idea.
Tilapia seems to be a popular edible fish. I'd go for that.

/out/ usually has a homegrow general up as well.

[Anonymous No.764289]

>>763766

Yep. I've posted that advice myself. I keep my filter cartridges for quite a while. I swish-clean the particulates off of them every 2-3 water changes. If I've had a decent build up of biomatter, I may change them out. In any case, they are great for quickly establishing a new tank.

For a small aquaponics system, I simply laid the used cartridge from other fish tank near/in the media for the aquaponics system. I left it in there for a couple of weeks but really, all you need is 2-3 days as I've established regular fish tanks in this time.

And fish tank water alone is excellent. Never waste the nitrate water when you do a water change on a fish tank - I've been putting mine on various yard plants and they grow like mad - better than anything you could buy in the store.

[Anonymous No.764292]

>>764199

I plan on stocking my soon-to-be-built backyard system with bream/sunfish. Those things produce a good amount of waste, they're tough as hell and one of the tastiest fish. If you are down South (U.S.) like me they are everywhere and an easy to build perch trap will get you all you need to fill your system (or you can just fish for them).

Check your PWD laws. In Texas, for instance, it is legal to catch sunfish out of public waters to stock private ponds and fish tanks using legal means like perch traps, cast nets, fishing pole, etc.