My Aquaponic Experience So Far This Year

[angelatc]

Yes, golfish and "feeder fish". They have been in the same tank for 5 months and just recently dying off.

Update: As of just now the remaining fish have been moved to the new fish tank, the hot tub!

Goldfish are pretty hearty, but they're dirty. Figure about 1 per 10 gallons. As long as you're filtering the water through your veggies, you should be good. Until the raccoons and herons show up.

 

[jmdrake]

I just want to say that you are my hero! How often to so many of us talk about solutions to world problems but not really do anything? (And writing your congressman to complain about GMOs or the increase in food stamps isn't doing anything.) I am guilty of this myself. I've known about aquaponics for a while now but I haven't taken step 1. Sadly I'm broke at the moment and I don't have the wealth of stuff you seem to have around your house. But I'm thinking about trying an experiment with an old aquarium and maybe some cherry tomato plants.

Anyway, keep it up and let us know your progress!

Edit: I see someone else has come up with the "aquarium home aquaponics" idea as well.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/back-to...ferralID=3f69945d-f303-11e2-a969-001b2166c2c0

I have been a member for a while but I am still new to the forums, so please forgive me if I am not doing things correctly.

I found out about aquaponics earlier this year and like most who find out about it, I was totally hooked. I built my own system the next day and had plants planted the day after. I started with a fishless cycle but I was way too eager to get started and added fish the next week (incorrectly). I started with a small fish tank and only one growing bed that I filled with pea gravel and started growing strawberries and lettuce and suplimented with Azomite rock dust.



After the system cycled, the growth went nuts! I had the best lettuce I have ever tasted and the juciest strawberries that I have ever had. I was so impressed that I built another bed for the garden and was contimplating on what else to grow.



When my mom showed up with most of a "flat" of Omish raised jalapenos, I knew what I wanted to do! I took 11 jalapenos and planted them all within an 18" x 18" x 1' area to test out how good the system can be. I heard that you can grow very close to other plants because with aquaponics the plants do not have to fight with their roots to obtain nutrients and I wanted to see just how close you can grow. I knew peppers in square foot gardening needed 1 square foot to grow in so this sounded like a good test for the system. In the new bed I finally planted some tomatoes that I grew from seed as well as some peppers I grew. The cantaloupe and watermelon seemed like a perfect fit for the system, so I just moved some pea gravel and put some seeds directly into the system.



Since then, things have going nuts! The jalapenos were growing a lot of fruit, the strawberries had runners going everywhere, the tomatoes started growing like mad, and the cantaloupe and watermelon have started to take off, but my other peppers in the new bed stayed small. I had a few bouts of iron depletion, so I had to suppliment with cheleated iron. I have made a few update videos to show the progress.





And thats where the fish started dying off. It started with one showing up dead, then four, then five. Every day started by scooping the dead fish out. I went from 32 to about eleven in just over one week. I am still working on this problem and I suspect the heat combined with the small fish tank are the biggest problems and I am getting ready to make a hot tub the new fish tank for the garden to help stabilize the ph better as well as help with the evaporation that has been a problem. I made an update yesterday of the progress in the garden so far. Hopefully the next update will have the new fish tank in it.



If anyone has any answers or theories as to why the fish have been dying off, I would love to hear them! I have checked out ich, ph, and nitrogen burn of which all could be the reason but the ich arguement may be the weakest. I have had the fish since early March and I would suspect that ich would have killed more by now and not just in the last few weeks. But at the same time, this is the first time I have had fish since high school.

 

[TomKat]

Thanks for the kind words!
I am hardly a hero, I just got hooked and watched almost every video on youtube about aquaponics and found a system that I thought that was do-able and went for it. Just try with everything and anything. Bulk garbage days are great for scouting for a new bed or fish tank, sometimes people are throwing away bathtubs (great fishtank) or plastic containers. Another great place is craigslist in the free section. I tried to get an IBC shipping container that many "big growers" use but couldn't find them due to my location (like 90 miles to the closest and had to pay $50 and pick up), some places just give them away I have heard.
I know you said that you don't have much money so the best advise I can give is buy a decent pond pump on ebay for $10 bucks, everything else can be improvised or bought cheaply at a harware store (I like the local Ace hardware, they sell ammo, chicken feed, horse feed, and have elk heads on the wall!).
I built this setup and the modifications that I am trying right now while being unemployed since January, with very limited income from side jobs, but like you said I had a lot of the components like pipe and containers.

Again, thank you and to you and everyone who has responded. I never thought that I would this great of a response!

 

[Professor8000]

I like your style, but you missed the whole point of the aquaponics system. You need to grow fish that you will eat. Aquaponics is awesome because of the fish protein grown in the system. Tilapia tend to be the best suited to aquaponics due to how hearty they are and how fast they grow. Throw some duckweed into the fish pond and that is all the food they need. You have to keep an eye on the duckweed though, too much and it will start clogging your equipment.

 

[eduardo89]

I like your style, but you missed the whole point of the aquaponics system. You need to grow fish that you will eat. Aquaponics is awesome because of the fish protein grown in the system. Tilapia tend to be the best suited to aquaponics due to how hearty they are and how fast they grow. Throw some duckweed into the fish pond and that is all the food they need. You have to keep an eye on the duckweed though, too much and it will start clogging your equipment.

Eating the fish is not completely necessary and is not necessarily the point. The point is to create a sustainable closed loop system.

The best example I've ever seen of an aquaponics setup only has koi as an ammonia source. http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/f...8&t=8898&sid=f610efce8b1f2cb7dc549080c90250cd

 

[Professor8000]

Eating the fish is not completely necessary and is not necessarily the point. The point is to create a sustainable closed loop system.

The best example I've ever seen of an aquaponics setup only has koi as an ammonia source. http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/f...8&t=8898&sid=f610efce8b1f2cb7dc549080c90250cd

I understand it's not necessary, but if fish are going to be involved, you might as well go for some fish that are worth eating. It creates added value to the system.

 

[newbitech]

This is just a tip. I don't know a lot about fish and aquariums, but I helped a friend do some research on a problem a couple years back when some fish she had suddenly died after a routine water change.

Chloramine.

not even going to try to tell you my research process and what I discovered, but it is a trendy additive that cities began using to treat water.

here are a couple links

http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.a...rium_fish_if_not/20120712_11_a11_anewch383075

Fish in garden ponds may be at the greatest risk because some owners add water to their ponds from a hose.

A small amount - about 1 percent - of water with just chlorine in it can be added without harming the fish, Kosciolek said. But doing that with chloramine-disinfected water could kill the fish, he said.

Fish owners should make sure to use a neutralizer that removes chlorine and chloramine, Kosciolek said.

1% Chlormine treated water kills fish.

So, i'd check with the local where your water comes from. I know you said that you get the chlorine out and you do all the same things that my friend was doing and she was just baffled.

When we finally figured out what was up, we had learned the city had just switched over to this new kind of treatment a couple months before the water change that killed her fish.


from the wiki

[h=3]Drinking water disinfection[edit|edit source][/h]NH[SUB]2[/SUB]Cl is commonly used in low concentrations as a secondary disinfectant in municipal water distribution systems as an alternative to chlorination. This application is increasing. Chlorine(referred to in water treatment as free chlorine) is being displaced by chloramine—specifically monochloramine—which is much more stable and does not dissipate as rapidly as free chlorine. NH[SUB]2[/SUB]Cl also has a very much lower, however still present, tendency than free chlorine to convert organic materials into chlorocarbons such as chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. Such compounds have been identified as carcinogens and in 1979 the United States Environmental Protection Agency began regulating their levels in U.S. drinking water.
Furthermore, water treated with chloramine lacks the distinct chlorine odour of the gaseous treatment and so has improved taste.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP]
Some of the unregulated byproducts may possibly pose greater health risks than the regulated chemicals.[SUP][7][/SUP]
Adding chloramine to the water supply may increase exposure to lead in drinking water, especially in areas with older housing; this exposure can result in increased lead levels in the bloodstream which may pose a significant health risk.[SUP][8]

http://chloramineinfocenter.net/

[/SUP]
[h=2]Welcome to the Chloramine Info Center[/h]May.3,2013[h=4]**** NEW CDC REPORT-DRAMATIC INCREASE IN SKIN AND RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS IN U.S. CHILDREN [/h]Symptoms and circumstances reported in the article almost identical to those reported as a result of exposure to chloraminated water across the country! Read about it under NEWS tab or see full article at http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/201...on-the-rise-in-us-kids-government-study-finds.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/27/drinking-water-with-chloramine.aspx


So while water utilities stand to save money by cutting chlorine costs with chloramine, the benefits to the public are far less clear. Other potential concerns include:8

• Because of chloramine’s corrosive nature, it has been linked to pinhole pitting in copper water pipes, which can lead to small water leaks and mold growth in your home
• Chloramine also corrodes rubber toilet flappers and gaskets, rubber hoses, and rubber fittings in dishwashers and water heaters, leading to costly home repairs
• Chloramine de-elasticizes PVC pipes, making them brittle and accelerating the leaching of possible carcinogens from the plastic into drinking water

[h=2]Chloramine is Difficult to Remove From Your Water, But it Can be Done[/h]

Chloramine cannot be removed by quick boiling your water or letting it sit out in an open container (as is sometimes recommended for chlorine). A carbon filter can remove the chemical from your drinking water, but that leaves your shower and bath – a significant route of exposure -- without protection. It would be helpful to take as cold a shower as possible as heat will convert more of the chemicals to a toxic gas. Additionally shorter showers will also obviously further limit your exposure.
Because of the high flow rate and large volume of water passing through your shower, there is no showerhead filter on the market that will effectively remove all chloramine. A whole-house filtration system is therefore your best choice to remove chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, DBPs and other contaminants from all of your water sources (bath, shower and tap).
If you don’t have the resources for a whole-house filtration system at this time, there are a couple of other tricks you can try. AtFindaSpring.com you can identify local springs where you can get pure, chloramine-free drinking water for a minimal cost. You can also try:9

• Adding fruit, such as slices of peeled orange, to a 1-gallon water pitcher, which will help neutralize chloramine in about 30 minutes
• Dissolving a 1,000-mg vitamin C tablet into your bath water, which will neutralize the chloramine in an average-size bathtub

If you’re not sure whether your city uses chloramine as a water disinfectant, contact your local water utility. And if you have concerns, voice them to your municipality. There are other disinfection techniques available, such as ultraviolet light and micro-filtration, which appear to be much safer, and may be an option in your area if enough people get involved to prompt change. This recently occurred in Albemarle County in Central Virginia, which dropped the consideration of chloramines after negative public feedback -- and is now looking at the use of granular-activated carbon as a secondary water disinfectant.10








​

Good luck and please report back if this chemical is being used in your city water and if you find a way to test for it etc.

 

[compromise]

I like your style, but you missed the whole point of the aquaponics system. You need to grow fish that you will eat. Aquaponics is awesome because of the fish protein grown in the system. Tilapia tend to be the best suited to aquaponics due to how hearty they are and how fast they grow. Throw some duckweed into the fish pond and that is all the food they need. You have to keep an eye on the duckweed though, too much and it will start clogging your equipment.

Tilapia might not be the best choice if you're keeping them outdoors in North Carolina like TomKat is. Winter will be tough for them. Also, tilapia tend to be very aggressive and so that limits how many can be stocked in such a system.

 

[luctor-et-emergo]

I understand it's not necessary, but if fish are going to be involved, you might as well go for some fish that are worth eating. It creates added value to the system.

Fish protein is not the main output of an aquaponics farm..
Leafy vegetables usually are. Fish is just a 'once a year' bonus.

 

[TomKat]

Excellent info! I have been 100% organic in my dirt garden and try the same in aquaponics so I am aware of this as well as many of the other extra additives that my water comes with so I have tried to only use rain water to fill. When I use city water to fill, I fill a bucket and let it sit in the sun for a day and test it before I add it. My biggest concern about chlorine is that it would kill the benificial bacteria that tranform the nitrogen from the fish poop into nitrites as well as the bacteria that turns the nitrites into nitrates, which feeds the plants.

As a pool guy the word, chloramine, rings loud and clear. When you add chlorine to water, it gets broken down into hypochlorus acid also known as "Free chlorine" in the pool world because it is free and available to kill organic matter. Chlorine kills by breaking the cell wall of organic matter and then dissolving the cell and then it becomes airborn because it is an oxidizer (thats why you smell the chlorine at a community pool, you smell it dissolving organic matter and becoming airborn. You cannot smell chlorine even in high amounts when it is in water. #FunFact, also it is the ph that burns your eyes not chlorine. Tears are normally 7.4, where I try to keep my pools). When the hypochlorus acid attaches to organic matter and starts to dissolve it, it is called "combined chlorine" in the pool world, also known as chlorimines. Any pool test kit, whether liquid or test strip, will have a reading for "free chlorine" and "total chlorine". If you subtract the free from the total, you will get the combined level, or chlorimine level. In my aquaponic system, I have only put in chlorine free water, no combined, free, nor total chlorine allowed. Lol
(Sorry so long, I am a total pool nerd, as shown)

 

[TomKat]

I like your style, but you missed the whole point of the aquaponics system. You need to grow fish that you will eat. Aquaponics is awesome because of the fish protein grown in the system. Tilapia tend to be the best suited to aquaponics due to how hearty they are and how fast they grow. Throw some duckweed into the fish pond and that is all the food they need. You have to keep an eye on the duckweed though, too much and it will start clogging your equipment.

I have already done the duckweed thing, it does clog up the system, but also it is free here in the swamps!!
Ironically, I don't even like fish. I thought about tilapia and maybe catfish if we could catch some this year but for now I am just sticking to the cheap fish for cheap crops.

 

[TomKat]

Tilapia might not be the best choice if you're keeping them outdoors in North Carolina like TomKat is. Winter will be tough for them. Also, tilapia tend to be very aggressive and so that limits how many can be stocked in such a system.

This is why I have been trying to talk myself into making a greenhouse for gardening as well as for my hot tub aquaponic system. I could add a hot tub pump and heater to it and have tilapia and crops year around.

 

[TomKat]

Fish protein is not the main output of an aquaponics farm..
Leafy vegetables usually are. Fish is just a 'once a year' bonus.

Very true.

 

[newbitech]

Excellent info! I have been 100% organic in my dirt garden and try the same in aquaponics so I am aware of this as well as many of the other extra additives that my water comes with so I have tried to only use rain water to fill. When I use city water to fill, I fill a bucket and let it sit in the sun for a day and test it before I add it. My biggest concern about chlorine is that it would kill the benificial bacteria that tranform the nitrogen from the fish poop into nitrites as well as the bacteria that turns the nitrites into nitrates, which feeds the plants.

As a pool guy the word, chloramine, rings loud and clear. When you add chlorine to water, it gets broken down into hypochlorus acid also known as "Free chlorine" in the pool world because it is free and available to kill organic matter. Chlorine kills by breaking the cell wall of organic matter and then dissolving the cell and then it becomes airborn because it is an oxidizer (thats why you smell the chlorine at a community pool, you smell it dissolving organic matter and becoming airborn. You cannot smell chlorine even in high amounts when it is in water. #FunFact, also it is the ph that burns your eyes not chlorine. Tears are normally 7.4, where I try to keep my pools). When the hypochlorus acid attaches to organic matter and starts to dissolve it, it is called "combined chlorine" in the pool world, also known as chlorimines. Any pool test kit, whether liquid or test strip, will have a reading for "free chlorine" and "total chlorine". If you subtract the free from the total, you will get the combined level, or chlorimine level. In my aquaponic system, I have only put in chlorine free water, no combined, free, nor total chlorine allowed. Lol
(Sorry so long, I am a total pool nerd, as shown)

Yeah after I posted I watched a couple more of your vids and realized you probably know whats in the water! Ha! Well I am curious now, cause we used the test kits off the shelf from a local pet supply and it had a chlorine test. I did end up learning that a regular chlorine test does react to the chloramine. I also learned that I can't just let buckets sit out for the stuff to go away, and it only takes such a small amount to contaminate the fish water.

What is really disgusting to me to be honest is that if fish cannot live in it, how can it be safe to drink? I am not really a purist, cause I make my coffee and tea with tap water. It is just startling to me how much impurities I ingest that is deemed "safe" and I really have no idea what it's doing to me!

Also, something else I learned about water, cause I had to deal with some AC problems recently, the water that comes from the AC drain is distilled, no chemicals, just about as pure water as you can get once you boil out any organisms in the drain pipes.

So of course I have gone ahead and set up a collection system for that H20 (its a lot! 5 gallons a day!), and use it to water my garden.

I REALLY want to give aquaponics a try, and your first video has reignited my interest that I kind of gave up on cause of lack of time. You set up looks completely self sufficient tho. I bet it's something that can get going over the weekend!

I hope getting a larger aquarium solve the fish die off problem. I'd also like to know what you think about pest control with that set up, I bet it helps to not have dirt. Your plants look awesome!

 

[TomKat]

Also, something else I learned about water, cause I had to deal with some AC problems recently, the water that comes from the AC drain is distilled, no chemicals, just about as pure water as you can get once you boil out any organisms in the drain pipes.

So of course I have gone ahead and set up a collection system for that H20 (its a lot! 5 gallons a day!), and use it to water my garden.

I REALLY want to give aquaponics a try, and your first video has reignited my interest that I kind of gave up on cause of lack of time. You set up looks completely self sufficient tho. I bet it's something that can get going over the weekend!

I hope getting a larger aquarium solve the fish die off problem. I'd also like to know what you think about pest control with that set up, I bet it helps to not have dirt. Your plants look awesome!

I forgot all about using the a/c system. Recently it has been 100% humidity and it runs nonstop and like you said get rid of the organisms and you are in business. Also a point of interest, some good a/c guys will add some "pills" to the air handler overflow pan to kill bacteria that may acrue due to the overflow is sometimes higher than the pan bottom and water will collect . It probably wouldn't be good to water plants with this since they need bacteria to get nutrients. On the other hand, if you are just using the air handler drain (the one that drips water more than the other) then you should be good to go with your plan, just wanted to add that in case you tried to get more water stored faster.

Good luck getting a system going. It was really easy to do.

 

[TomKat]

Quick update: I spent a few hours yesterday fixing up the hot tub fish tank. Today I moved the beds over to the tub, got it plumbed and it is going again. I should have a video of it made tomorrow to show the progress.

 

[TomKat]

Here is the latest update to the garden. Platform made, beds moved, killed a cantaloupe plant. You know, progress. Lol.



I also made a quick walk through on how I made my aquaponic garden. I hope this may help those on the fence about building.

 

[TomKat]

Another update video.

 

[TomKat]

Newest update includes my favorite chicken recipe I use.

 

[TomKat]

My bro-in-law started building his own aquaponic garden out of an old paddleboat that has been framed in. The bed will be in the center over the "hump". More details to follow.