Thanks, here is some more for ya How have your yields been? Do you add natural organic nutes to the medium in small dosages during flower? because I do not know if the PPM count could ever get to a level that would be both healthy for optimum yield and healthy fish? What about air breathing fish or other air breathing aquatic animals that could potentially survive in higher concentrated water? I know it is a bit counter productive, but I might use small pond pumps instead of siphons as I want to separate the two areas since I do not have the space I would like to. I am trying to optimize space if do it, i was up all night with the gears spinning on set up. This is what my mind has come up with. If we want a constant flow of water threw the system would a NFT with a small amount of medium be ideal for this? Sorry for so many questions, but it seems like the Aquaponics community and the Marijuana community do not really get along and there is not much information or studies done yet.
I guess I have answered one of my own questions. I suppose with the need for vermiculture in the grow medium to help with nutrient levels a NFT would not be practical and an ebb and flow system with a bell siphon seems to be what one would want. I am going to wait til this current grow is done and try it out next time around. Going to get a 30-50 Gal or so fish tank shortly and let them get comfortable before I start messing around with them.
My first attempt was quite successful before I made this larger setup. for the fish tank I used a simple plastic 32 gallon garbage can (brand new not used). I cut some holes for pvc fittings to pass through without leaking. I already had a 4' grow table but I think a rubbermade type container would work just as good. I've found that everything seems to grow better in the 4' table with lava rock. (that's also the grow bed with worms) My theory is that at first sign of root rot or dead roots the worms eat them, so there is always healthy live roots. Nothing to take away needed nutrients. But that's just my theory. There are soo many endless posibilities with AP that I think this is going to be the new "wave" of growing techniques. I had a conversation with my uncle a couple days ago. He's the director of a non proffit group that works with the fish hatcheries and land owners with spawning habitat on their properties. I thought he would get a kick out of the type of setup I have going. After I told him about it, he said, "do you really think this is a new concept? the 5th graders do this same thing on field trips to the hatchery" And he's right, the 5th graders do a microponics setup every year (only on a very small scale) they take a fish fry, some bugs, some plants, water, and rocks, put them in a 2 liter bottle, and bam. Aquaponics/microponics/bioponics whatever you want to call it. Anyway, I think it's an awesome concept that needs to be used more. If it has been around forever than it's our fault for not going simple and growing big, remember what everyone always says. K.I.S.S. Keep is simple stupid.
I can't wait to see what kind of setup you have in mind. I think an NFT would work perfectly well if you construct it right. The cool thing about aquaponics is that you can turn just about any hydro setup into AP by adding fish, throw in some worms and you're good to go.
The only thing I have I have any worries about is the worms falling out of the lava rock and into the system itself. I am sure that can be fixed with some mesh big enough to let the roots out but small enough to keep the worms in. I am excited about this and go pick up my fish tank this week (I am keeping them out of the grow room cause I like fish tanks) Im still worried about nutrient levels for flowering, but we will see how it goes. I appreciate the input and help so far!
I havent actually cropped out. This will be my first complete grow. My first setup was just transplanted into this one, so for the flowering and yield questions I don't know anything yet. The reason I rely so much on siphons VS multiple pumps is because with one pump I never have to worry about flooding. with multiple pumps they have to be timed right and one cannot be more powerful than the other. I think it would be a huge mess to deal with multiple pumps. with my system, if I turn off the pump, all the water in the grow beds slowly drains out to the sump tank. But there is not enough water to overflow. My main concern with doing this was power outages, in the area I live in it's quite common. So even with the power out, I can manually flow the system with either buckets from the sump to the fishtank or a hand pump. The supplimental lighting (in the event of a power outage) will be supplied by camping lanterns and flashlights.
this is an idea I had for a very simple setup you can do with very little setup costs. you could plant anything in it and just set it near a window. Or throw any kind of grow light above it. If you put a screen over the top tank, you could probably raise ladybugs or something like that.
UPDATE: I AM A MORON... So after reading the post about molasses, and even reading the part about not puting it in a hydro system. I guess I thought I was the exception, I added about 1/4 cup of Grandma's Blackstrap non-sulphured molasses. It seemed to do good for a couple days, plants had amazing new growth... but than today I noticed the fish were not happy, and there were excess bubbles forming in the system. So after about 2 hours I have the system flushed and now have to wait for everything to readjust. so no more ignoring posts that multiple people have said "don't do that" I guess that's why they post that. so... If you are thinking about trying molasses in your hydro or aqua system... go ahead, it might work... just kidding, DON"T DO IT!!!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNbbRC9y1BY&feature=g-upl]Aquaponics Cannabis Grow update 1 - YouTube[/ame] heres an update for you guys. just to show you the growth after a week. Also, i saw someone say something about adding worms. i actually put about 20 worms in my growbed. havent seen them since. im assuming theyre doing their job down there. lol.
Its a fill and drain type of system. the bell siphon is actually consistent. it stays cycling falling back into the fish tank and a pretty much the same consistent rate. i havent added ANY nutes to the system what so ever. wou.d you recommend adding potassium?
That's good, I had a lot of problems with my siphon at first. I would recomend adding red worms to the clay pellets (they will live and be very happy). this will help with the lacking nutes. I think i'm going to have to completely drain and clean my system to get rid of the mollases that I added like a moron... it still keeps fermenting and adding bubbles... I've thought about leaving it the way it is because the firmentation process releases co2. Still a work in progress.
yeah. i think the way to get the best results is keep it simple. worms hydroton and fish. let the system build more nutes over time. its all self sufficient.
I should have done that... keep it simple... because sadly I have to tear down the entire sysyem, scrub it out and start all over... Only I don't have the time to wait for the natural nutes to build back up... All the fish died from the molasses. And the plants have yellow/white leaves on the bottom from lacking everything... I guess ill have to run the rest of the cycle with nutes from the store... I cant afford to start from scratch again this time around... Next time I will do a small scale run from seed/clone to bud. Thank you all for following this, hopefully someone else will keep us updated on their attempt at aquaponics with Marijuana. I will continue to post updates throughout this grow
I am more amazed than anything. I went to start tearing everything down, I noticed a lot of new growth within the last 24 hours, the bottom leaves are still very yellow/alomst white. I am still a little confused on if they will turn back or just die and new ones take their place. And the fish that I thought had died... were just hiding I guess... not one single fish died in the last couple days. the water is still a little brownish but there is no more beer foam like bubbles in the system. I turned all the lights out for a couple hours earlier and went I just went in there to start draining I was looking at everything... the worms even survived... there were tons of them all over the 4' table when I turned the lights back on. I think in the next few days I will get into the pet store to get about a hundred more goldfish. I'll keep updating I don't know if i'm just hanging on a fine thread trying to make this system work... but I think I am going to still keep this setup going.
The bubbles or foam is normaly a sign of bacteria you might have to flush or find a organic antibacteria the sugar in molasses will cause it big time I had this problem when flavoring my buds in a hydro system
[quote name='"cannaman90"']The bubbles or foam is normaly a sign of bacteria you might have to flush or find a organic antibacteria the sugar in molasses will cause it big time I had this problem when flavoring my buds in a hydro system[/quote] Thank you, I wish I would have listened to everyone else that has tried that and posted on here... That I READ BEFORE I DID IT... Lol I did it even though I knew better... All is good now though.
Here's a few pics for updates... I've been using the LST and FIM techniques to get bigger output per plant
Dude! i love to see a grower out their using aquaponics! i dont have it implemented on my medical grow im just setting up but i might in the future! Check out my Journal for my aquaponics system! (only regular veggies )DIY Aquaponics