Aquaponics

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trachr

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May 3, 2012
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So, Im an semi experienced breeder with African cichlids, as well as selectively breeding guppies and a few other fresh water fish.... I sell the fish to pay for my hobby, electric, etc... as well as make a small profit... nothing major but enough to make life a little easier.

Anyway, while looking around I stumbled upon aquaponics... basically you use a plant system to filter your tank... then you can grow vegetables and whatnot for yourself, or for sale, whatever it is your heart desires. Well I love salads strawberries and well it can get expensive so I figured this could be a real nice bonus to my hobby... do what I love, and get good food too lol. Anyway that brings me to my question...

Anyone have any experience with this? Also what would you recommend breeding in a system like this, the usual setup you see is fish to eat and well... Im not going to do that...So any recommendations? As far as I can tell so far the hard water of my tang setup is not optimal... Ill still probably try it but if plant growth isint what I want Ill want a 2nd choice.... I suppose theres always gold fish but I really dont want to breed those lol. I know some american chichlids are lower ph but they are so aggressive they probably would kill each other off... and 1 fish in the tank just wont cut it as your looking to get their wastes, thats what the plants need.... so I guess maybe discuss, or angels... guppies maybe lol

So what are your thoughts.... I would like to be able to turn out a minimal profit like I do with my tanganyikans

Thanks
 

kenjivaj

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Mar 1, 2012
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Fresno, CA
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xue
I tryed one and gave up in the middle. The reason I gave up was because I needed my 350gal fish grow out tank. I was using the tank for daphnia to feed my frys. I would recomend you building a mid size setup or bigger. Small one will not work as good. I build a 60gal low tub or tank sump with 2 20gal plant bed in the sun. I figure that I need to hookup the 350gal tank that was suppose to be in the shaded area all time to my aquaphonic setup. Or it will not work. 60gal sump + 2 20gal growth bed will overheat in the sun. Plant and fish will not make it. I live in CA. The temparature get over 100 degree during the sumer.


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SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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You will very likely find nutrients in short supply if you maintain "normal" stocking levels and try to grow fruiting plants. Commercial farmers measure fish load not in inches of fish per gallon, but pounds of fish per gallon. The nutrients produced are massive. This would be a less than ideal situation for raising fry. Adding a few containers with some leaf crops such as lettuce and herbs plumbed into the system will certainly help with water quality, but I wouldn't depend on it to feed my family! Fruiting crops are such heavy feeders that harvests would be disappointing I think. Adding ferts to increase the harvest of plants will decrease the harvest of fish. Better to use the system to help keep things cleaner for messier fish, some sort of piscine predator like Frontosa, Pike Cichlids, etc.
 

trachr

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May 3, 2012
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you actually grew daphnia in your stock tank that was in the aquaponics cycle? did they produce enough waste for the system?
 

kenjivaj

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Mar 1, 2012
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Fresno, CA
Real Name
xue
you actually grew daphnia in your stock tank that was in the aquaponics cycle? did they produce enough waste for the system?
I could grow daphnia everywhere water is at in my backyard. They are in my koi pond, pond filter, rubbermaid stock tubs and even in my DIY proteim pond skimmer. I never have enough daphnia to feed my frys. But this 350 stock tank was not hookup to my aquaponics setup or anything yet. I just sit with tons of daphnia inside. Daphnia does not produce waste for systems. Daphnia eats algae and fish-snail waste. Daphnia will help clean. Maybe this winter I will hook it up to my aquaphonic setup and run it in the Spring. Daphnia will not live in a aquaponic cycle system because of the fish ratio to water.
 

garyfla

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Apr 23, 2010
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Hi
Check out the EpCOT center site on Aquaponics. They range from 10 gallons to several acres within a GH.
can't imagine what they cost but theey certainly work lol gary
 

trachr

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May 3, 2012
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For substrate in the aquarium... woudl it matter what you used? ie aquarium gravel, aquarium sand, or the cheaper versions... blasting sand, pool sand etc etc
 

aquaponicpaw

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Dec 12, 2011
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I'm currently working on such a setup. You won't get a large enough bioload with ornamental fish. So you will need to add worms to your growbed. Feed them vegetable scraps to produce a load.

@aquaponicpaw
 
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