Aquaponics Getting started.

[Curnow]

Aquaponics Info

G'Day Gang,

Anyone considering aquaponics backyardaquaponics.com is a great source of info. It also has a really active forum and is free to join.

Cheers
Dennis

[theremart]

RE: backyard.

G'Day Gang,

Anyone considering aquaponics backyardaquaponics.com is a great source of info. It also has a really active forum and is free to join.

Cheers
Dennis

Welcome to the forum Dennis


I highly recommend that sight as well. It is a tremendous resource of how to and experimental aquaponics setups.

I have posted info from there about using charcoal with aquaponics, from that page here.

[theremart]

Food for me :-)

YouTube - 115 Update on aquaponics.wmv

From worms to fish to plants to me. First tomatoe comming on, and have high hopes for more!

[clueless]

I'd like to try aquaponics

but was wondering if root crops can be grown. Like peanuts,potatoes, carrots, turnips;etc.
It would not be a dealbreaker if you can't but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it.
-RG

[theremart]

Root crops.

but was wondering if root crops can be grown. Like peanuts,potatoes, carrots, turnips;etc.
It would be a dealbreaker if you can't but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it.
-RG

Hi,

I do not know about carrots and potatoes. I may just put a couple potatoes in to find out.

I do know people grow beets and turnips have been grown with success.

What you can do, is take the water from the fish and use it to fertilize your other plants you have. I do this, from my 250 gallon tank, I take out 55 gallons of fertilized water, then I put a fresh 55 gallons of water back in. So, when I goto water my garden plants they are getting watered and fertilized at the same time.

Great question.

[Bobbyd]

Root crops cant be grown although carrots and beetroot seem to struggle through and grow.

[clueless]

Thanks guys

I suspected root crops probably wouldn't fare well. This is something else for my to do list.

[ashtweth]

You guys are good . Thx Savvypro/Mart

Encase no one thought of this, I did some study on how the food in the UK IS DEPLETING IN MINERALS. Now what do we have in Aquaponics?, all the needed potassium, etc etc to make the produce MINERAL DENSE..lets not forget the soil is our external metabolism, chemicals make us sick , i think we may have a way to keep the world healthy in some parts whilst we repair the soil through OPEN SOURCE, will have that in my report.

Yeah didn't think what your doing is gonna make a difference, sorry for the bad news

[Savvypro]

@ashtweth

The UK government just after WWII did a study on the nutritional and mineral content of foods. In the late 90's an independent report was done replicating the study - what it found was that the mineral content of food bought at the time was almost depleted of its mineral. For example: to get the same mineral equivalent as a 1945 apple you'd have to eat about 10 apples at the time the report was made. The only issue with the report was that it was done by a guy who owned a supplement business - but the report was given to the top expert in the UK to check and the verdict was that the report was correct.

For those claiming that you couldn't grow root vegetables, I have news for you - you can.

Take a look at the following video:

YouTube - ‪Aeroponic grown potatoes on the Discovery Channel‬‏

On a more practical level, a couple of weeks ago after a visit to a local farm - with the farming group I mentioned in a earlier post. My parents and I were talking about what we could/would grow and they mentioned that the best method for growing carrots was to grow them in sand - plain old sand. Which is what they used to do when growing up on the family farms. They would also use sea salt on certain crops to improve their yields.

Heres a funny thing about them, they're currently growing potatoes in a plant pot on a north facing balcony with little to no sunlight. On that same balcony is a lemon tree, pots with a mint type plant, a couple of Bay Laurel pots, sage in a couple of pots and a couple of pots of Rosemary. There’s also basil being grown in the kitchen, which is also north facing.

On a different note: I want to add to an earlier post (post: 71) where I mentioned the Mittleider method and growing in the desert. The correct location is in Utah, you can see for yourself on the following page: foodforeveryone.org/gardening_course/

The following may be useful:
Custom soil recipes (quote from page: 84 of: The Mittleider Gardening Course):

1: 25% Blowsand with 75% Peat Moss
2: 75% Sawdust with 25% Sand (clean)
3: 15% Perlite with 50% Peat Moss or Sawdust and 35% Sand (clean)
4: 50% Sawdust with 25% Styrofoam Pellets and 25% Sand (clean)

Blowsand is fine sand like that heaped up by the wind in sand dunes.

Perlite is bits of granite rock “popped” by heat. It is available at construction suppliers.

Sawdust is safe to use from almost all kinds of wood. Fresh from saw or aged - either will work.

From page 179 and 180 of: The Mittleider Gardening Course:

Sawdust - any kind, fresh or aged, except walnut
Sand - washed concrete sand is best (do not use sand containing traces of clay)
Perlite - also known as rock wool (available from construction suppliers)
Bark - finely ground from Douglas Fir and other pine trees
Styrofoam - small pellet size
Peat moss - also called Sphagnum moss

Although with the above custom soils you'll need to add minerals and fertiliser as there will be hardly anything in the custom soil - which is how the Mittleider method is done.

On a different note - the following video is very interesting:
YouTube - ‪Urban Farming Grows Up‬‏

Key points: to feed 50,000 people a year would require: a 30 story building on 5 acres of land (1 city block). Based on the *animation* the only thing vertical is the building and no actual vertical growing would be done on each floor (remember I said: based on the animation - as in what is shown in the animation).

Then you have the view points of a couple of people at the end - which assume that only food produced and coming out of the soil is good for you.

[Vortex]

BSF, duckweed, tilapia and aquaponics

here's a link for everyone.
Raising Black Soldier Flies | Tips and techniques for raising black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens)

[theremart]

RE: link

here's a link for everyone.
Raising Black Soldier Flies | Tips and techniques for raising black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens)

Thanks Vortex for that link. I have been to that blog before and that guy really has BSF down to a science. In watching those videos again I caught a trick that he said worked for him which was to take some of the BSF and put them in another bucket so that they can easily pupate for mating. That is one of his secrets for high population densities.

I have been given free bread which went into my bin, and it has greatly helped the numbers of BSF.

The problem I am running into is the large fire ant population down here, I noticed one of the pupa was being carried off by the fire ants.

I am gong to try an ant killer recipe I found which is said to be very effective,

Orange oil,
molasses,
compost tea


YouTube - ‪Lawn & Gardening Tips : How to Make Ant Killer‬‏

I need this also for around the base of my aquaponics. It seems the ants love to put aphids on my plants.

Anyhow my BSF population is going up, which is a good thing.

[theremart]

Fish food...

Also I have been experimenting with creating my own fish food. The fish are gobbling it all down. This makes for a large batch, which should last me for a few months. Next time I think I will try the flake recipe also on this link.


From ->

Cichlid Food Recipes



The European Shrimp Mix:

One such alternative is the highly acclaimed "European Shrimp Mix." This recipe is recommended by many European breeders and hobbyists, and even appears in Ad Konings' book Enjoying Cichlids. He recommends it for virtually all African Cichlids. This recipe is reputed to increase color, help give them size, and mature properly.

Some aquarists feed it almost exclusively to their fish, while others prefer to use it merely as a supplement to a good quality flake food. CAUTION: You should never suddenly change your Cichlids' feeding regimen or food. Instead, gradually introduce the new food, observing them carefully in the following days to make sure it sits well with them. Because of the high nutritional value of the shrimp mix, you should not feed it more than once a day.


● 2 lbs. Whole Shrimp
You want to get regular whole shrimps, heads and all. The cheaper ones are preferable, they just need to be full-sized.
● 2 lbs. Green Peas
These should be frozen green peas.
● 2 tsp. Spirulina Powder
You can find Spirulina powder at Health Food Stores. Just make sure you get the pure powder with no added herbs or other products.
● 100 gms. Gelatin Powder
You can find this at health food stores as well. It's best if you use the vegetable form rather than meat as it's more easily digestible.
● 10 drops Liquid Multi-vitamins
These can be any good quality freshwater aquarium concentrate. If you are unable to find liquid multitamins for fish, you could alternatively try the liquid vitamins that are marketed for birds and other pets.

Thaw the shrimps and peas, leaving them slightly frozen.

Place them in a blender or mincer and grind them to a fine paste.


Place the mixture in a bowl and add the Spirulina powder and liquid multi-vitamins and stir well.


Dissolve the gelatin, following the directions on the box, making sure there are no lumps in it. It must be an easily flowing, sticky mass without any lumps. Lumps of gelatin can be dangerous for juveniles.


Slowly add the shrimp-pea mix to the warm gelatin. Be sure to mix it completely before it cools. The best way to do this is to mix the food scoop by scoop with the hot gelatin, preventing it from cooling too quickly by keeping the gelatin still on low heat.


When ready, the mixture is poured onto a baking tray or into small ice cube containers and placed in the refrigerator to cool for several hours.


The hardened mix is then cut into pieces of convenient size, and frozen in plastic zip-lock bags. After the mix has been frozen, it cannot b cut easily.
This recipe should last the average Cichlid hobbyist many months. By freezing it in several Zip-lock bags, you can keep the food fresh until it is completely consumed.

[Savvypro]

Just a little side note on the fish food:

Fish flake food is not a good food source - there is a reason why commercial fish farms use pellets instead of flake foods. One of the main problems with flake foods is that within a couple of minutes the Nutrients, Vitamins, Minerals are absorbed by the water. So unless the fish consume the flakes within seconds the likelihood is that the longer it takes to be consumed (removed from the water - eaten, not digested), the less is absorbed by the fish. Pellets on the other hand are more nutrient packed and can survive longer before fouling the water.

On the recipes - why not try substituting Crab and or Krill for the Whole Shrimp, maybe even having 2 lbs of Whole Shrimp, Crab and Krill and seeing which version your fish they like best.

There are other recipes online, the thing about the home made fish food that I've seen, is that people tend to end up starting with the recipe and then move onto mixing and matching with their own concoctions.

[theremart]

Fish food more details.

YouTube - ‪116 Fish food update.wmv‬‏


How I make homemade fish food, and a tour.

[Savvypro]

Mart,

You might want to try Anacharis (Egeria densa) - see post 61 of this thread. The trimmings you'd take - as it's a fast grower, can be dumped in to the blender with all the other bits that make up your diy fish food.

On a different note, to add to the Custom soil recipes I listed above: an alternative to Peat Moss is to use coir in it's place. For example:

Option 3 is: 15% Perlite with 50% Peat Moss or Sawdust and 35% Sand (clean).