jamius.com

Well I need to tell some1 about my plans so that I follow them thru, I think..... anyway.

I have just aquired a 2nd hand conservatory from a lady who didn't want it any more and my plan is to use it as a green house. Using wind power to charge batteries to power pumps and stuff. I plan on having a 3000 ltr tank to hold the fish. (not sure what type yet.)

Everything in the grow room will be grown using hydroponic technologies using the fish waste as food. I will be posting videos on youtube when I get round to first building the conservatory and then later filling it and all the lovely food I will have to eat..... mmmmm...

Gonna have a snack.

Any advice or tips or questions.... please post.

Jamie, love the work you are doing. Its helped me emmm.... sit glued to my computer. Only joking, been lazy for a couple months so gonna get going and I'll keep you all up to date.

D.

I saw an article before about some people who kept a cage of guinea pigs (which they would eat) above their aquaponics tank, and the guinea pig droppings would apparently feed the fish. So they were getting three food sources for the price of one (meat, fish and veggies).

Thanks for that!! best not let my wee lass read this post! dont think she would like the idea of eating the pet guinea pig! I have been advised to set up a good wormery to help feed the fish. who feed the plants, who feed the worms.

Think I will give the guinea pig idea a wide berth for the moment.

Going to collect the conservator on saturday.

Can't wait to get acurate dimensions to get the foundations set in.

D.

When I do water changes in my aquarium, I save some of the water and waste for watering plants as it does work well. But just a couple of tiny fish produce enough ammonia and subsequently nitrates for a bunch of plants. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are toxic to fish though...so don't neglect them in an effort to grow better plants. Do the homework necessary for a balanced environment.

Also, I don't know of any fish that would naturally eat fecal matter of any kind...unless they were starved and had no other alternative. Please don't.

Thanks for the advice, I have been looking into it for a few months now and there are a few hurdles to get a good system balanced. Like you say a lot of nitrites etc.

It will be a bit trial and error but I will build it up slowly and as far as I understand the fish must be set up first and the water cycling through the grow beds to build up bacteria that break down the ammonia into nitates and ites so that the plants can proccess them.

Different plants absorb varying amounts of nitrogen and water tests highlight the amount of nitrites in solution. Crop rotation/selection to suit the levels of nitite etc. helps keep the eco balanced.

As a precautionary measure some systems have a filter to remove large waste particles that bung up the grow beds. Depending on water temperature, giant fresh water shrimp can be kept in the filter to help proccess the solids. They are meant to be really nice eating too which is a bonus.

D.

I've kept fish (and planted tanks) for a couple years now.

Plants actually HELP the tank cycle. They usually contain some bacteria that'll get the cycle started.

There are NO fish that will eat poop. Sorry. That's gross.

However, there ARE fish that eat plants. If you could grow plants that the fish like, and plants that YOU like, the fish will eat their plants and you can eat yours.

Also, you WILL have to change the water out every once in a while. Even if you do a 5% water change.
Yes the plants will remove the nitrates (remember, there is a difference between nitrITES and nitrATES.), but there are other trace elements that if left long enough to build up, will be harmful to the fish.

If you want to have some kind of system like that, please research how to take care of the fish well. Learn ALL you can about the nitrogen cycle. Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate.

The plants also absorb ammonia and nitrite (in small amounts) so they will actually SLOW the cycle, but it's a bit safer to do a cycle that way.

The easiest way to get started it to just start with a fish or two (depending on size of fish and tank). Let them get settled, healthy, eating, everything for a month or so. Then add another fish. Let it go for a few weeks, etc. That's the SMART way.

If you have ANY questions, feel free to PM me, as me on here, whatever. Remember, even though fish are small pets (and sometimes food), that doesn't mean we can treat them with any less respect than we would a puppy or kitten. I'm no treehugger, but I've seen too many tortured large fish in a tank that's MUCH too small for them.

Thanks for the advice.

From what I have already read some folk depending on breed of fish keep 1 fish per 10 ltrs of water. when they get up to 8-10 inches that is very over populated. I plan on having a 3000ltr tank so going to start with about 100 fish and see how I get on.

I work in a factory that bottles spring water so I understand nitrites/ates as we process the water to remove them to safe levels. how plants use them and how fish produce them I am not so sure about. I will need to do more research into this aspect once my grow room gets closer to completion.

I will give you a PM when I need some tips.

D.

d13rce wrote:I work in a factory that bottles spring water so I understand nitrites/ates as we process the water to remove them to safe levels. how plants use them and how fish produce them I am not so sure about.

Good good. The producing part is easy.

Fish poop. That poop decomposes into ammonia (bad for fish). Bacteria that eat ammonia make it into nitrite (not as bad for fish), and then more bacteria that eat nitrite make it into nitrate(tolerable at some levels). It's that simple.

Update post,

There has been a big set back and there is still no footings for the aquaponic greenhouse. The first location had subsidance issues, second had planning problems. The design drawings are complete and plans are in place. I will have to relocate the greenhouse to a stand alone site, I was planning on having it attached to the side of my house. This will mean having foundations and a support wall on the north side, the green house set against the wall facing south.

With weather turning cold we will be trying to set everything in place and have the building work completed around april 2012.

As the work starts I will post pictures so you can follow the progress.

Good to see you are still interested.

Something like this would definitely need a good foundation as water is quite heavy.