Should I go Aquaponics?

[Aquamon]

I swang into my local Harvest Moon (Hydro Store) to talk to the ever knowledgeable owner. This guy has been around the block. He has stories about teaching and writing curriculum on aquaponics and what not but said that he stopped doing it because of the growth rates. He said that they were far too slow. I am going to have to run light over my plants instead of the sun. If I'm doing this and the growth rates are too low it might not be worth it for me.

Has aquaponics changed a lot in the past several years that would allow the growth rates to greatly improve or is what he saying true?

[Hotrodmike]

Welcome aboard
First off there are a whole lot of self proclaimed experts and if it works so poorly why are some of the major produce farms using hydroponics and aquaponics . Most Hydro shops really have no intrest in this due to sales and their trays are to shallow and you will not run back every week to buy more nutes as that is the real differance in hydro vs AP is where the nutes come from , fish or a bottle and nute tanks are too small for fish .
As for lighting the sun has seemed to work as well as any HPS light I know ,hmmmmmm they all say they copy the sun ! Now if you plan to grow year round then yes you will need some make up light in the winter to keep growth at maximum .
If he is such an expert why don't you invite him to come join us ,I mean gee maybe we all are just nuts Maybe he can explain his insite .
Have A Kind Day
Mike

[dufflight]

From what I've seen a mature AP system out performs most hydro systems. And its a lot easier to just feed the fish and not have to worry about how fresh the hydro mix is. A commercial system is a bit different but they seem to be looking more into using fish. My last AP tomatoes when I pulled out the plants the chooks got more tomatoes than the last lof of hydro plants produced in a season.

[JCO]

Welcome to the show....pull up an easy chair, relax and stay awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! Whatever questions you have on you mind, this is the place to get the answers.

As for which is best, it has a lot to do with the farmer. Badflash says the best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow and I agree with him. No matter which way you go, it's going to require your attention to detail. Aquaponics isn't rocket science but it does require a good knowledge of what works and what doesn't.

Please go to your profile and put in where you are from. More than likely there are people close by.

[Aquamon]

I updated my profile with the bit of information.

My largest interest is the fish. I want to have edible fish coming out of my system. My reason for mentioning the lights is that I do not get sun at my house. I'm practically in the middle of the woods. So I will need to use HPS. I posed the question because I didn't want to be wasting the amount of energy and costs of the light if the grow was going to go slowly but from the sounds of it it'll be just fine.

They guy I mentioned did also say that they are rewriting the book on aquaponics compared to when he was last involved in it. So things probably aren't as he remembers.

[badflash]

I don't do hydroponics because the fish grow so slow

You can set to good levels of nutrients for rapid plant growth with the correct balance between fish and plants. For fish with lower metabolism, you may need more fish, that is all. There is also a nutrient adjustment using organic additives like wood ashes or blood meal in small amounts. A system always needs tweeking.

You don't need HPS or the power is uses. I use stock shop lights with cheap daylight bulbs. You can stand them up rather than hang them for tall plants. 80 watts covers a 2' X 4' area for $15.

[dufflight]

If the fish are the main interest you might try growing duckweed instead of vegies. Use a lot less light and it can be used as a fish feed. You can still grow salad greens as well. Most systems can be tailored to your needs.

[badflash]

Without grow beds, you'll need to do water changes and have a bio filter. Having a bed gives you free food and keeps the fish happy. Any food from the bed is a freebie. About 250 watts of FL daylight 12 hours a day is all you need. That ends up being about 30 cents a day in power.

[Aquamon]

Nice BadFlash.

Well, I figure because of the amount of fish I want to house (Not decided yet but I know it will be too much for my system) I was thinking of using two 6x3 botanicare flood tables filled with hydroton. For ease of water changes I think having the tank in the basement would be good and I could just drain it into the wash basin. The grow beds could go in the room directly above the sump on the first floor. I can fit the two tables in there with some t5 lights. The overflow would dump through the floor and into a bio filter that could run from the ceiling to the tank. It all sounds good.

[JCO]

Your Bio-filter should between the FT and the beds to change the ammonia to nitrites then to nitrates and then pumped to the beds to feed the plants.

If you have all the parts, it should go like this....FT to the SUMP to collect the solids...to the BIO-FILTER to change the ammonia to nitrites then to nitrates...to the GBs to feed the plants and then back to the fish clean of all ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

Some people combine the SUMP and BIO-FILTER as one unit, but I have found separation of the two will help prevent 99% of the solids from finding their way into your GB and eventually clogging something somewhere and causing a mess that I prefer not to have to contend with. Finances usually dictates the system so you do with what you have and DIY.