another grow technique!!!!!!!

[weedseed]

well my parents used to own a pet store in a small town and one of the products we sold was a beta fish inside a glass vase the top of the vase had a plastic dish which held those glass pebbles which supported various house plants or the customers choice, the beta served the purpose to supply co2 to the roots and also fed on any algae growing on or around the roots without damaging the the roots thereself.

my question is, since this obviously keeps house plants alive for years in this system(changing water periodically ofcourse) would it work for a pot plant? my guess is yes..there a plenty of things that would help .

1) fish shit may somewhat fertilize the plant.

2)fish keeps the roots clean and free of algae and other growth without eating the roots.

3) fish provides co2 to the roots of the plants, also constantly swimming keeping a minimal water circulation

4) you never have to feed the fish!!!!!!!!!

tell me what you think, im hoping some of you have seen these plant setups, i had one with a typical house plant for over a year and the plant did fine, so im guessing a pot plant would do just aswell..

[astro]

I'm too fucked up to explain, but as a former aquarium hobbyist, let me tell you the claims that the poor betta spendens fish can live off the roots is a BS marketing ploy. They are pure carnovores that eat insect eggs and other small organisms, not herbavores or whatever the damn word is. Fuck I'm messed up right now

[DISRUPT]

Originally Posted by astro

I'm too fucked up to explain, but as a former aquarium hobbyist, let me tell you the claims that the poor betta spendens fish can live off the roots is a BS marketing ploy. They are pure carnovores that eat insect eggs and other small organisms, not herbavores or whatever the damn word is. Fuck I'm messed up right now

thats the point isnt it? the fish feeds off of the small organisms growing in the roots to keep the plant healthy, it doesnt directly feed off of the plant itself. just a guess on my part though.

[astro]

Originally Posted by DISRUPT

thats the point isnt it? the fish feeds off of the small organisms growing in the roots to keep the plant healthy, it doesnt directly feed off of the plant itself. just a guess on my part though.

The 'small organisms' I was referring to are misquito larvae, zooplankton and such. Not single celled organisms but like small bugs and stuff. Betta spendens don't eat algae, or clean the roots, or any of that stuff. When you see them pecking at roots it's because they're searching for food, not because they're actually finding anything.

Fish can live a *very* long time off their own body fats. Months and months even. Which is why those fish last as long as they do in those vases without being fed.

Also, I just thought of this, is that it wouldnt work for weed anyway because cannabis plants' roots need to be exposed to air as well as water. Having them underwater all the time wouldn't be as good as just putting them in something damp that lets them "breathe"

[Chrysamere]

Originally Posted by astro

The 'small organisms' I was referring to are misquito larvae, zooplankton and such. Not single celled organisms but like small bugs and stuff. Betta spendens don't eat algae, or clean the roots, or any of that stuff. When you see them pecking at roots it's because they're searching for food, not because they're actually finding anything.

Fish can live a *very* long time off their own body fats. Months and months even. Which is why those fish last as long as they do in those vases without being fed.

Also, I just thought of this, is that it wouldnt work for weed anyway because cannabis plants' roots need to be exposed to air as well as water. Having them underwater all the time wouldn't be as good as just putting them in something damp that lets them "breathe"

i'm really high but i have to say that's interesting to know

[weedseed]

bettas are an asian fish (found in cambodia, thailand, and vietnam) that are very very territorial but by no means carnivorous. someone lied to you...i suggest you go to your local petstore and read the ingredients on the food made for them.theyre: fish meal,ground wheat,corn gluten meal,brewers dried yeast...if they were "purely" carnivorous then dont you think theyd be eating live creatures only? and if they did eat live things only then why do they make pellets specifically made for them? fish meal or blood meal is the only thing that you could consider to be a carnivorous ingredient but even then..any aquarium fish on this earth will eat the same thing. i know plenty on the species and i also know that a fish is one of the healthiest meats to eat, thus a small betta swimming in its bowl has good exercise which as we all know burns fat.so to say it can live off fat for months is kinda bogus. they eat the shit outa those pellets.

the whole point of this post wasnt based on the fish's diet anyway..if you dont think it will live off roots (which it will easily for a few years) then give it some damn pebbles, the pebbles could only help the plant in fert. anyway.

my question was can a pot plant do the same thing as the other plants in those setups which is grow healthy without problems? id say yes, with periodic water change and keeping the fish happy its doable.

P.S. i think the more accurate term for the fish would be omnivore (both carnivore and herbivore) considering it will not only eat living things but flakes or pellets aswell

lol and you wont find krill,zooplankton, or mesquito larvae in any domestic indoor tanks/bowls

no offense but those are the facts, ive seen it survive with my own eyes for 2-3 years at a time. does a fish have that much fat to last it 2 years?no....it most certainly does not.

i do appreciate the response though i guess

[astro]

Nothing that you've said contradicts what I've said...

Yeah, they can eat those pellets just fine and live as long of a life as if they were in the wild. What I was talking about was those vases that claim that you *don't* need to feed the fish at all because it "feeds off the algae" or whatever BS some of them say. Anyway they *are* a carnivourus fish and cannot live off algea or by pecking at the roots. That's all I'm saying.

Anyway, I did answer your question about if a weed plant will like that environment, and in general, no, it doesn't. To repeat, marijuana's roots need to be exposed to oxygen or they do rot away, so having them underwater all the time isn't good for the plant. It probably won't kill it, but it would be better in soil or in another setup where all the roots can dry out when they need to.

Since you seem to be interested in Bettas, here's some info backing my carniviorous claim:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta_splendens
http://www.solodvds.com/betta-fish/betta_fish.htm
http://www.siamsbestbettas.com/care.html
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fres...ids/bettas.php

And so on. Of course they can live off pellets that don't have meat in them as long as they have the right nutrients, but it reiterates my previous, and only, claim that they don't eat algea or root matter. I'm not trying to be a dick here or anything, but when it comes to fish, I know so much shit it's not healthy. At the height of my aquarium keeping hobby I belonged to an fish keeping club (which I recommend anyone who's interested in fishkeeping to join, you'll meet lots of interesting people who go to S. America and discover their own species), worked at a pet store (which sucked, don't recommend that) and maintained the aquatic areas of a few of the city's indoor gardens. So I'm not talking out of my ass on this one.

[lemmenischnikit]

i say good call astro i raise /breed betas among other fish .....
i agree on them not eating root matter at all ive raised 1000's of the bastards n if they lived off plants root matter they wouldnt be the fish they are ...those are good sites to visit too they shuold explain every thing

also growing like it seems your talking of , dont the roots need to be completely in the dark???
hardly a good enviroment for a fish.... in a glass container i believe a root systyme would turn to brown mush...either way their enviroments for ideal growth on both ends seem to conflict.....

i did run this thought thru my nut a few times before i decided against it...
good luck... good growing
oh yea wanted to add that sometimes when i change beta bowls i check n adj. PH n feed it in veg some plants really like it!! also dead fish get composted into soil meds..
this is by far the most efficient use of a beta for growing herbs..IMO..

[brian17]

if you did that, your fish would die. roots dont just stop growing your fish would run outa room and die... or get twined into the roots.. then you will have a mess on ur hands

[froggy]

not all root systems can physically handle the constant saturation of the root system.

even hydro has periods of dry for oxygenation. the plants would die of drowning, imo.

[weedseed]

at any rate, it was worth a thought. maybe someone will try it someday and tell me about it.

[DierWolf]

Your talking about this.



People have tried it but in larger scale, not this small thing.. its called AquaPonics and works
very well, dont know how well it would work at such a small scale.

[weedseed]

thats exactly what im talkin about!!! awesome pick man thats exactly what i was talkin about!

thanks for showin everyone what it is, i didnt want to have to use paint to make a diagram lol.

[astro]

Originally Posted by DierWolf

People have tried it but in larger scale, not this small thing.. its called AquaPonics and works
very well, dont know how well it would work at such a small scale.

If we're thinking of the same thing they're sometimes called bubble buckets as well. The difference (at least for bubble buckets) is that (1) there container isn't filled to the top, and (2) there's an airstone that creates a foggy, misty, water saturated air that both allows the roots to get air and keeps them damp enough to get the water they need. I set one of these systems up and made the mistake of putting the water level too high and all the roots in the water rotted away.

Anyway weedseed, try it with some bag seed or something. No harm in trying, right? Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but there's only one way to find out.

[DierWolf]

bubble buckets and aquaponics are 2 totally different systems....

Hydroponics is growing plants in a solution of water and nutrients, without soil. The solution is created by adding the elements a plants needs to water, which is fed directly to the plant’s roots. In some hydroponic systems the roots are in a growing medium which keeps them moist, aerated and helps to support the plant. Hydroponics provides the plant with the ideal water and nutrient ratios and optimum conditions for growth.

In aquaculture, the water quickly becomes nutrient rich due to the fish digesting their food and excreting waste. The waste water is usually filtered and/or disposed of to keep the tank water free of toxic buildups, so no external nutrients are added in this like in hydroponics and bubble buckets, the plants depend solely on the fish and there is also no airation like in bubble buckets

I too tried the bubble bucket a few weeks ago and messed up big time by doign the same thing water level too high and wrong nut mixture, i will try again in a couple weeks

anyways there are many good sites on aquaponics as well as some good posts on this forum about it, worth giving a try if you have the area and security to do it.