Fish farming/ aquaponics

[Fish_Bone]

I am currently out of state @mayo clinic trying to figure my health issues out. Last night the wife and I went driving around for something to do. We stopped at a petsmart or petco (i can't remember which now) and I ran across a small tank billed out for bettas to be use to grow plants/ food too. I looked for a price...nothing. so I asked the young girl at the counter and she told.me they just got them in that day. The price when scanned was 59.99. I have been doing some reading on aquaponics for a while now so this was kind of neat for me to see commercially available. Is anyone else interested in this?


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[OrionGirl]

Well...I'd be shocked if one betta produced enough waste to feed very many plants. But otherwise, I guess it's ok? No light, so that would be an add-on, since I wouldn't want to put the tank in a window. Larger scale, there are DIY setups that use more/bigger fish that would likely work better.

 

[authmal]

Huapala (sp?) has a pretty good aquaponic set up, it seems. May want to hit him up with a PM.

 

[mr.key]

My understanding of aquaponic operations is that the fish part of the equation (waste food etc.) is much larger than the plant part. Also I believe in most cases the waste is concentrated as the plants are primarily being used to deal with the sewage.

That said my mother grew golden pothos happily with a betta swimming around the roots in a large fish bowl with monthly water changes. The setup lasted about a year before the betta died, so it could work. Without a strong light I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to grow any food though. With a light I would maybe try lettuce first.

 

[THE V]

Aquaponics workes because the majority of the nitrogen in the fish food is not taken up in the fish.

It's a way to dual purpose one nitrogen source. Of course most of the nitrogen comes from fish meal harvested in massive quantities from the ocean. Not really as environmentally friendly as it is billed.

Yes one betta does not produce much waste but it should be enough to grow 1 or 2 lettuce plants.

 

[huapala]

thanks for the plug authmal

Aquaponics works in the very same way fish waste in a tank with a filter feeds aquatic/semiaquatic plants. Its all abou the nitrification process and the amount of bio media you have (either as part of your growing bed or external). There must be biological filter media for an aquaponic system to be fully optimal. There needs to be enough bb to break down the ammonia and nitrite in order to feed the plants nitrate. It is really fun to do and if done right growth rate is fast and full in very small areas. If you make the conditions proper the food will grow right in the tank and you will only need to supplement with dry food.
P.S. golden pothos works great I have one in the "pre gravity filter" part of my sump which is really just a large grow bed outfitted with a bell siphon.

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[Fish_Bone]

After talking with ^^^ I think a custom or DYI setup is the direction I am going to head. Authmal could not have suggested a better person to get in contact with, I just picked my self up from the truck load of info that ran me over, LOL. I appreciate it though.

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