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    Results 41 to 60 of 63

    Thread: Aquaponics, sure, why not

    1. #41
      BroHay is offline Senior Member
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      I just want to keep things as a record b/c it allows me to go back and reference as well as document what I may have been doing at a given time. And not be held hostage with a 400/yr cost to be able to do 3rd party hosting

      For both NH3 and NO2, I strive for zero. My NO3 around 80 PPM per the pond master test kit. That is subject to change once I finish the (hopefully) last change for inside my greenhouse.

      I'll get a few pics up this evening so a better idea of what I doing can be seen.

      Adam

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    2. #42
      icu2's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by BroHay View Post
      I just want to keep things as a record b/c it allows me to go back and reference as well as document what I may have been doing at a given time. And not be held hostage with a 400/yr cost to be able to do 3rd party hosting

      For both NH3 and NO2, I strive for zero. My NO3 around 80 PPM per the pond master test kit. That is subject to change once I finish the (hopefully) last change for inside my greenhouse.

      I'll get a few pics up this evening so a better idea of what I doing can be seen.

      Adam
      You can always start a new thread here on Koiphen to document your progress. Many of us have done that
      when building our ponds... I go back and check mine all the time since 2008 was a looong time ago.
      --Steve



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    3. #43
      BroHay is offline Senior Member
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      This is a photo of my current expansion/with the larger dedicated koi tank my wife wanted to add before I even completed the original expansion.


      Sits in a 30x36 GH. The current expansion consists of a 250 gallon IBC with a RFF (Radial Flow Filter) and an MBBR. I was just trying to seed some media, but there would have been a third poly barrel for a SUF (Static Upflow Filter)

      It would have been capable of sustaining 184SF of growing area with


      This is my dedicated "koi pool" that is roughly 1100 gallons and will house the current 30 koi that we have. I am still trying to figure out how to get everything I need to tie back into the original expansion. I'll get something that I can grow in the IBC that might find its way to the table :whoknows:


      At roughly x4 the size, it could support a higher stocking density and ALOT more growing area.

      My GH within a GH (it has been low 20's the past few mornings. Covering up my test system/future expansion



      I keep cutting this thing back and it keeps growing. 2nd season and not showing signs of slowing down yet.


      Still getting strawberries


      20 koi powering the test system that skip the original expansion and go straight to the pool.




      Adam
      Last edited by BroHay; 11-21-2017 at 06:18 AM.

    4. #44
      guardianx9 is offline Member
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      I grow plant in the pond too.. mostly lettuce for me and the koi.. also a few herbal plant like mint and basil.. rosemary and such. Cheap free filtering properties n food..

    5. #45
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      i think aquaponic set up used talapia as fish because they can tolerate higher /dirtier water/

    6. #46
      BroHay is offline Senior Member
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      Yes, tilapia are the norm, but is a big :no-no: in this state. Have to permit with fish and game, all male (chemically neuter) and hatchery has to be certified by state (and no hatcheries do this anyway nor are any approved to do business) , and subject to monthly reporting and inspections.

      So koi it became. I still have not ramped my system up b/c looks like I get to start over again.

      So Tilapia will become my engine for GH and the koi will become more of an ornamental aspect, but Ill still put them to work with the collection of their solids for use in my AP system.

    7. #47
      kimini is offline Senior Member
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      I'm happy for those who got it to work, but in the context in that I was using it, (straight pond water and nothing additional), it failed. The experiment was to see if pond waste water alone could support plants in an aquaponics setup. To add anything additional made it more work than just dumping that same water on plants in the dirt - which proved to be much better as far as the plants were concerned. So, the container was broken down, the media went into storage, and on to the next project .

    8. #48
      BroHay is offline Senior Member
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      This was planted around the first of May


      This is the root growth of the same plants pictured below. The closet baskets are from Green onions that I stuck in after one night from Chinese food.



      The tall plant (with yellow flowers) is a leftover romaine base that stuck in and took off. Got about 2-3 servimgs of leaves before. It bolted to flower.

      Strawberries that were from the original 'test' system that has not had any nutrients added since beginming of may other than adding water to keep running.




      Taste like cotton candy.

      Run from no more than this setup with no other additives other than water and food.



      Now I get to incorporate some additional changes and put the final design into place at my soon to be new house.....

    9. #49
      BroHay is offline Senior Member
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      Starting to get some eggplant, cucumbers and bell peppers.







      I let it get too hot a frw days and stressed out/burnt some of the plants.

    10. #50
      MBroderick is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by kimini View Post
      People figured out that they couldn't keep the grow beds full of water because it drowns the plant roots. Someone came up with the idea of using a small pump to constantly add water to the container, and when it gets about 2" below the top of the media, the siphon quickly drains the water out. As the water level drops, it sucks air into the grow media, ensuring the roots are exposed to air in the "soil". The expanded clay holds water long enough to keep the roots happy until the next cycle, though some people use simple gravel because of the much lower price ($500 for clay versus about $30 for plain gravel).
      I setup a system like this a few years ago. I have the pump on a timer 45 minutes on, 1.5 hours off throughout the course of the day and the grow beds use bell siphons to completely drain when the water isn't running. Kind of complex to setup and adjust properly but once working the plants grow like crazy. Mostly peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and small-ish plants like that. Going to try dwarf tomatoes this year.

      My only real issue with aquaponics (at least with MY system) is that cleaning the gravel each fall / spring is a real PITA. I would love to replace it with the expanded clay pellets but that stuff is crazy expensive.
      Ponds are like lovers and tic-tac's You can never have just one.

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    11. #51
      icu2's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by BroHay View Post
      Starting to get some eggplant, cucumbers and bell peppers.
      Adam, any updates?

      Quote Originally Posted by MBroderick View Post
      My only real issue with aquaponics (at least with MY system) is that cleaning the gravel each fall / spring is a real PITA. I would love to replace it with the expanded clay pellets but that stuff is crazy expensive.
      I use the clay pellets but only to start the young plants in...
      https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
      Do you really need all that medium to grow in if they're not root crops? My roots
      remain submerged constantly but I use 6" air stones in each container and a
      Medo 45 for 4 containers. I've never had an issue with them "drowning".

      I'd agree with the thought that the water I keep for koi wouldn't work for plants and
      I think the failure of the plants to really flourish is more about not enough nutrients
      (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, etc. ) and the wrong pH. The pH I
      maintain is about 5.8 when using hydroponics and I add bottled nutrients for the plants.
      I have a hard time imagining trying to maintain enough nutrients without some sort
      of soil or coco where you could use a higher pH and the plants would have access
      to more nutrients than just what's in the water. I think that's why we see our plants
      in the garden grow like crazy when we supplement their food source with the waste
      water as opposed to restricting it to only that water.
      --Steve



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    12. #52
      kimini is offline Senior Member
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      Oh I don't disagree at all, and in fact that was the point of the experiment. I wanted to see how well the plants would do in the pond water without altering the water chemistry, which could harm the fish. As suspected, when used as-is, it didn't go well. Traditional raised planters will be built and pond waste will be drained off to them. Pretty much the best of both worlds.
      Last edited by kimini; 02-07-2019 at 05:42 PM.

    13. #53
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      I’m very impressed. I’ve always liked aquaponics

    14. #54
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      Vertical hydroponic: strawberry "tree" - a "fruitful" leftover from my kid's science fair project . Some fruits harvested in mid season were gigantic 2" x 3" (the flat variety).

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      Last edited by AkwaKoi; 02-08-2019 at 03:22 PM.

    15. #55
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      I agree with ICU2 latest post that aquaponics starves plant growth due to low concentration of nutrients.

    16. #56
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      Quote Originally Posted by AkwaKoi View Post
      Vertical hydroponic: strawberry "tree" - a "fruitful" leftover from my kid's science fair project . Some fruits harvested in mid season were gigantic 2" x 3" (the flat variety).

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      Looks deliscous

    17. #57
      marinum is offline Junior Member
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      Super job

      Inviato dal mio SM-A310F utilizzando Tapatalk

    18. #58
      nil13 is offline Senior Member
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      I've noticed that the research on aquaponics tends to suggest a two part system where the waste from an RDF or sieve and waste water are separated out from the main volume to form a more concentrated nutrient solution instead of a simple recirculating system. The nutrient levels needed for the plants are too high for the fish.

    19. #59
      Cecil is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by RichToyBox View Post
      I think that our koi ponds need a fairly high KH, which translates to a fairly high pH. Many of the nutrients are not available at the pH values a typical koi pond has. To get the pH low enough to have those nutrients available, the pH swings would be very hard on the fish and the bio filters. I don't know how to get the pH down into the 6 or 6.5 range and have it stable.
      So true! When I did aquaponics in a raft tank system (tomato plants were imbedded in a floating foam board in a separate water tank) my alkalinity was so high I constantly battled keeping the Ph in the range that was optimum for the plants to uptake the nutrients. I periodically added muriatic acid to drop my Ph but it kept bouncing back. That said, not sure I really had to worry about it as the tomatoes seemed to thrive on the nutrients and nitrates in the system from the nitrification even at a higher PH.

      I will try and find pictures but the tomato plants went nuts as did their roots. I also circulated the water I the raft tank of tomatoes with an airlift. The species of fish of choice also thrived I the system and were the best tasting fish I ever have unlike the third world garbage tilapia you buy at the supermarket.

      Just a thought but isn't ammonia less toxic at lower Ph's? Perhaps a benefit to a lower PH although a well run koi pond should not have issues with ammonia.
      Last edited by Cecil; 02-14-2019 at 02:45 PM.
      The risk I took was calculated, but man am I bad at math!

    20. #60
      Cecil is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by MBroderick View Post
      I setup a system like this a few years ago. I have the pump on a timer 45 minutes on, 1.5 hours off throughout the course of the day and the grow beds use bell siphons to completely drain when the water isn't running. Kind of complex to setup and adjust properly but once working the plants grow like crazy. Mostly peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and small-ish plants like that. Going to try dwarf tomatoes this year.

      My only real issue with aquaponics (at least with MY system) is that cleaning the gravel each fall / spring is a real PITA. I would love to replace it with the expanded clay pellets but that stuff is crazy expensive.
      Have you considered a filter before the water reaches the pellets? As you know contrary to popular belief it's not the fish poop that powers the plants but the nutrients and nitrates in the water. I fact in a raft tank system the fish poop can coat the roots and be detrimental. I used an up flow blue drum packed with garden fence netting in conjunction with my fish tank, and just capped the siphon, pulled the pump out and placed it in the fish tank to keep the moving bed filter working, and hosed down the netting as I pulled it out, and then put it back in with fresh water and reconnected. The blue drum was fed by a PVC siphon with a small mag drive pump on top that fed water to the biofltter also in a blue drum.

      When I cleaned and drained the fish poop and dirty water out of the blue drum filter I drained it to a raised garden next to the aquaponic system. The garden plants there thrived on the fish poop. My dad who is the consumate gardener of the family loved the fertilizer and said he had never seen such thriving green plants!
      Last edited by Cecil; 02-15-2019 at 09:09 PM.
      The risk I took was calculated, but man am I bad at math!

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