Aquaponics Getting started.

[theremart]

Duckweed.

Hey Mart,

A question, do you still grow Duckweed?

It seems to make good fish-food, and you can even simply autofeed it. Whit a shallow tray above the fishtanks, growing the weed and skimming a little every day.

Peace.

Hi,

I stopped for a time because I did not have the grow space. And having very small areas to grow it became problematic.

However, in the last couple months I have been experimenting with growing it in a 275 gal container ( IBC ) because I am testing out growing fish without any pump. It seems to be growing well there.

As well, I am involved in converting a swimming pool to a pond, which seems an ideal place to grow it

->

Have a friend looking to convert swimming pool to aquaponics or to a pond. - Aquaponic Gardening

Duckweed likes still water, so both of these setups might be just the ticket, time will tell.

Yes Duckweed is most viable as it is high in protein, and doubles in about 2-3 days in ideal conditions.

You need a large surface area to grow it, so some people use kiddie pools. I know of one guy who feeds it to his chickens and horses.

[theremart]

Newest update.

Tour of Aquaponics / plants I have growing. - YouTube

Update and tour of what is growing.

[theremart]

Funny

[theremart]

Latest update.

Aquaponics tour. Look at wicking bed and plans ahead. - YouTube

[Golden Mean]

Open Source Aquaponics

Greetings All.

I would like to share with you all a sneak peak at my open source aquaponics project. The website (www.opensourceaquaponics.com) still needs a lot of data added to it and I've still got a little ways to go before I start this baby up full speed (I'm building the hydroponic troughs now, but I thought I'd share anyway with a group like this to get some feedback and/or ideas.

I plan to fully open source the whole design including the automation and software.

Blessings to all.
~ Will (aka Golden mean)

[Cherryman]

Indoor aquaponics update - YouTube

Hi all, here is a little update from my indoor aquaponics.

Spring is starting

This year i just threw in some mixed seeds and waited. No fance start ups, seedlings etc, just mixed the seeds put them in , rollled the top layer a bit.
After a month these ones have popped there heads out of the pallets.

- Beans
- Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Strawberry
- Basel
- Indian Cress ( Eatable flower, so also nice for indoor ;-)
- * Censured * (Not allowed in most of your countries)

I use a flood system combined with a timer.
Once an hour it floods and drains.

It is still very small scale, and fun!

[ashtweth]

Greetings All.

I would like to share with you all a sneak peak at my open source aquaponics project. The website (www.opensourceaquaponics.com) still needs a lot of data added to it and I've still got a little ways to go before I start this baby up full speed (I'm building the hydroponic troughs now, but I thought I'd share anyway with a group like this to get some feedback and/or ideas.

I plan to fully open source the whole design including the automation and software.

Blessings to all.
~ Will (aka Golden mean)

wholly crap very useful like marts open source info, we should do a course soon with your credits, open source is part of freedom and making your mind aware lets not forget (freedom tools to make your mind aware)

Ash

[ashtweth]

Tour of Aquaponics / plants I have growing. - YouTube

Update and tour of what is growing.

thanks Bro

[Golden Mean]

Cool Happenings...

wholly crap very useful like marts open source info, we should do a course soon with your credits, open source is part of freedom and making your mind aware lets not forget (freedom tools to make your mind aware)

Ash

Thanks Ash... I intend to release a ton more info as this develops. I just finished the first set of hydroponics troughs and am testing the fish tanks, installing gravity filtration and plumbing.

I want to share an interesting electromagnetic phenomenon that happened the other night. I have a motion sensor for turning the lights on/off at night so I can go in and out without having to find a light switch. The other night I was just sitting on the large fish tank next to the quartz crystal fountain and thinking about various subjects. Since I wasn't moving, the motion sensor tripped and shut off. For lighting I have a rope light strung around above and an LED string of lights lower down and strung around the lower part and just above the fountain area.
What is really interesting is that when the lights shut off, they didn't ALL shut off! The LED lights that were above the fountain and about a foot in either direction from it were still lit up although not fully illuminated. NONE of the other lights on the string or the rope light were lit up! The quartz crystals and water are giving off an electromagnetic frequency that is affecting the nearby LED's!! I did some testing to see what was going on and figured out that the light sensor is bleeding some current through at VERY low levels even though it's supposed to be off and when the wattage is just right, the lights around the fountain light up. They are not fully illuminated but definitely ON and noticeable like very bright stars. A few were bright enough to read by. Very cool!

I have also witnessed highly magnetic properties within greenhouse as it relates to water. The water is so charged that when I turn on the fountain (after it's been off for a while), the top layer of sand where the water flows lifts up and floats on top of the water. I've also witnesses water moving in very unexpected paths due to these highly magnetic structural properties. In one case I watch as water over-flowed out of the drain hole on the side of one of my hanging pots and instead of flowing down the side and draining off the pot, it curled back under the pot over a large lip, back UP onto the pot and traveled to the direct middle of the bottom of the pot before releasing! I've never seen water with such high surface tension and magnetic structuring.

If anyone lives in the Minneapolis area and would like to visit, please contact me.

That's all for now, have a wonder-filled day!
~ Will (aka Golden Mean)

[theremart]

Open Source..

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your ideas and vision of open source AP.

Looks like you have a very nice setup there. FYI there is another group that I believe you would benefit from.

Check out ->

I want to monitor my AP system from a web site - Aquaponic Gardening

There is TONS of info on this board and a very helpful community.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

Mart

Greetings All.

I would like to share with you all a sneak peak at my open source aquaponics project. The website (www.opensourceaquaponics.com) still needs a lot of data added to it and I've still got a little ways to go before I start this baby up full speed (I'm building the hydroponic troughs now, but I thought I'd share anyway with a group like this to get some feedback and/or ideas.

I plan to fully open source the whole design including the automation and software.

Blessings to all.
~ Will (aka Golden mean)

[theremart]

RE: Indoor AP

Nice setup Cherryman. Go man go! :-) a small system is the place to start to learn what it takes to make even larger ones. This is very addicting :-)

Interesting cycle time of once an hour.


In the winter time I only have the pump running 12 hours a day, but I keep the air pump going 24/7.

Indoor aquaponics update - YouTube

Hi all, here is a little update from my indoor aquaponics.

Spring is starting

This year i just threw in some mixed seeds and waited. No fance start ups, seedlings etc, just mixed the seeds put them in , rollled the top layer a bit.
After a month these ones have popped there heads out of the pallets.

- Beans
- Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Strawberry
- Basel
- Indian Cress ( Eatable flower, so also nice for indoor ;-)
- * Censured * (Not allowed in most of your countries)

I use a flood system combined with a timer.
Once an hour it floods and drains.

It is still very small scale, and fun!

[theremart]

How to make cuttings of Stevia. A test run.

Experiments with Stevia cuttings Sand verses compost and aquaponics - YouTube

I have tried a few different methods of taking cuttings from Stevia and here are the results.

[Cherryman]

Experiments with Stevia cuttings Sand verses compost and aquaponics - YouTube

I have tried a few different methods of taking cuttings from Stevia and here are the results.

Hi Mart,

Great Video, I watched it all the way.
I tried a few seed start-ups with stevia, in my AP setup without success, Only one survived and after months only a millimeter thick very long little plant.

But recently I bought a small 5 cm one on the local market, rinsed it out and put it in my system. I took off rapidly two shot excelled. Maybe the abundance of nutricions in AP makes the plant create excelled shoots.

After seeing your vid I think i will cut the tall ones, the top out. As you did , and strongen the base.

I will try to get those cutoff rooting.
The sand method looks good.
Did you water the sand and compost with plain water or AP water?

The sand got me thinking... Maybe the structure and size of the sand (small edgy grains) make the root grow more diverse compared to the larger pellets we use in aquaponics,

Keep up the good work!

[theremart]

Hi Mart,

Great Video, I watched it all the way.
I tried a few seed start-ups with stevia, in my AP setup without success, Only one survived and after months only a millimeter thick very long little plant.

But recently I bought a small 5 cm one on the local market, rinsed it out and put it in my system. I took off rapidly two shot excelled. Maybe the abundance of nutricions in AP makes the plant create excelled shoots.

After seeing your vid I think i will cut the tall ones, the top out. As you did , and strongen the base.

I will try to get those cutoff rooting.
The sand method looks good.
Did you water the sand and compost with plain water or AP water?

The sand got me thinking... Maybe the structure and size of the sand (small edgy grains) make the root grow more diverse compared to the larger pellets we use in aquaponics,

Keep up the good work!

Sand method with plastic bag is a winner. I believe if we use the AP to wet the leaves as well when the water raises to max level we will also have even more success.

I used rain water I think. I am not 100% sure on that. But I am thinking that I did.

Interesting observation about the structure of the roots.. You may be on to something there about the root structure.

Thanks for the encouragement!

[Cherryman]

Hi Mart,

The sand grow still has me thinking...

Sand has no (known) nutricions, maybe a few minerals, but they release very very slow.

If you used AP water, I understand where the nutricions come from
If you used rainwater.. I guess the plant itself provided the grow energy, helped by the water ofcourse.

What is with the plastic bag?? I do not understand.

I do think the sand structure makes it also easier for oxygen to reach the roots, because wet compost is to dense.


Also I did a small video update:

Aquaponics Update june 2012 - YouTube