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In home Aquaponics


Ice222

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Been awhile since I was last on the forum, but I am now doing a uni project on an aquaponics design and I'm really interested in hearing about other people's experiences with it are like. While I know most people run aquaponics in an outdoor setup, I am interested in doing an indoor smaller set-up aimed towards producing/maintaining culinary herbs. I've done a search on the forums, and found maxim_nz's awesome aquaponics pond thread, but are there any others here in NZ that have tried it? Especially keen to know if there are Aucklanders that have done one.

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I have a mini indoor setup been running for the last couple of years. Will post picks later. Have cut back on the herbs now though as ive turned the lights off. Only have some lucky bamboo and some chives.

IM just running off a 30l Aqua one tank but bypass the filter and extend the pump head up to the grow bed then return pipes back through the filter. Really simple and really cheap after a bit of mucking around.

Its not the best setup but i was keen to do something as cheap as possible, reducing water changes and getting something in return from a tank. Wasn't interested in powering a whole garden. If i was to plant more herbs out i would have to get the lights going again.

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I have a mini indoor setup been running for the last couple of years. Will post picks later. Have cut back on the herbs now though as ive turned the lights off. Only have some lucky bamboo and some chives.

IM just running off a 30l Aqua one tank but bypass the filter and extend the pump head up to the grow bed then return pipes back through the filter. Really simple and really cheap after a bit of mucking around.

Its not the best setup but i was keen to do something as cheap as possible, reducing water changes and getting something in return from a tank. Wasn't interested in powering a whole garden. If i was to plant more herbs out i would have to get the lights going again.

Did you have any aquatic plants in your system? That more or less the kind of small in-home system I'm thinking of designing, more to add some nutrients to aid the growth of a few herbs and get something back from the system rather than trying to get lush rapid harvests.

I think one of the main reason aquaponics really appeals to me is that I'm not good with remembering to water indoor plants, and this is a way to get plants and ornamental fish both with less maintenance.

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P3180002_zps0a65d853.jpg

I have found great success with the raft method. Suspending the plants above the water level. I experienced a massive increase in root growth and great healthy growth.

It was hard to find the balance between maintaining great water quality and providing enough nourishment for leafy greens.

The nail in the coffin for the project was the proposed expenditure on the lighting. When we eventually build our fishroom from scratch aquaponics will feature heavily in the design.

P3180006_zpsd4643e09.jpg

P3180010_zpse9876072.jpg

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P3180002_zps0a65d853.jpg

I have found great success with the raft method. Suspending the plants above the water level. I experienced a massive increase in root growth and great healthy growth.

It was hard to find the balance between maintaining great water quality and providing enough nourishment for leafy greens.

The nail in the coffin for the project was the proposed expenditure on the lighting. When we eventually build our fishroom from scratch aquaponics will feature heavily in the design.

P3180006_zpsd4643e09.jpg

P3180010_zpse9876072.jpg

How do you guys prevent root rot? Is it not an issue as long as there's enough dissolved oxygen/aeration?

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How do you guys prevent root rot? Is it not an issue as long as there's enough dissolved oxygen/aeration?

For some plants I just had to lift them higher out of the water. The double stacked raft. Coriander was the trickiest to convince not to rot out.

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For some plants I just had to lift them higher out of the water. The double stacked raft. Coriander was the trickiest to convince not to rot out.

Neat! Sounds like a relatively simple fix then. Seems aquaponics is very much like fish keeping, can make it as simple (raft method) or as complex as you like.

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Hey I played around with out knowing what i was doing and made up this out of piece of 75 x50mm electrical ducting 650mm long, garden hose from in tank filter up through water proof gland into bottom of one end of duct, cut 2 holes in lid ( spaced so i could cut in a third hole later if wanted ) used some hydro growing pots and clay balls from switched on gardner and cut a slot for a waterfall effect back into the tank got some 5 dollar plants from warehouse chucked em in and filled all area around plant baskets with bio noodles.

I made this up purly as a filter and its worked great so far after about a month of running you can see the size difference in the plant on the left

P3100031_zpsa188db7f.jpg

P4290025_zps2fd6aa0f.jpg

Lol Coppy right Aaron Morahan :ton:

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"Barry the beaver" what a name :rolfl:

Top effort there too --- i always have duckweed in my tanks, bog plants in ponds, to try and obtain some benefit from the excess nutrients my heavy handed feeding provides. This aquaponics biz is so much better though ... every fish tank could be producing vege for dinner. Even salmonella salad from turtles :sml2:

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Hey I played around with out knowing what i was doing and made up this out of piece of 75 x50mm electrical ducting 650mm long, garden hose from in tank filter up through water proof gland into bottom of one end of duct, cut 2 holes in lid ( spaced so i could cut in a third hole later if wanted ) used some hydro growing pots and clay balls from switched on gardner and cut a slot for a waterfall effect back into the tank got some 5 dollar plants from warehouse chucked em in and filled all area around plant baskets with bio noodles.

I made this up purly as a filter and its worked great so far after about a month of running you can see the size difference in the plant on the left

P3100031_zpsa188db7f.jpg

P4290025_zps2fd6aa0f.jpg

Lol Coppy right Aaron Morahan :ton:

I like it :cophot: ! Interesting that you have aquatic plants as week as the plants up the top. Guess it's still an option to have submerged plants if not purely after rapid growth of the non-aquatic plants?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just had a quick check to make sure I'm not breaking any forum rules, but I've made a little survey for my project so if anyone has a few minutes to spare, I'd be interested in hearing your views:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N33GQLJ

It's basically to get an overview of what people's opinions are on fish-keeping and gardening, and also to see if there are any overlaps (eg. whether people who keep fish are more likely to like plants too and vice versa) and whether there are any trends.

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