I have a 55 gallon aquarium with assorted cichlids, guppies and algae eaters as well as a few plants. The fish are fed flake food and earthworms from a compost. A filter with no activated charcoal sprays water from the aquarium into 3 small pots which drains into the top of the aquarium. The first pot had tomatoes, the second has thai chiles and the third has Blackberry Kush marijuana. I removed the tomato plants as i read somewhere that it contains a toxin and about 3 weeks after i put it in the pot my fish began acting strange. The Chili plant hasn't grown much at all and has had slight yellow discoloring. This might have been because of an aphid problem. Thankfully the Blackberry Kush is growing without any problems . There are two 100w equiv. 6500k cfls shining into the tank and a 120w Philips Agro-Lite bulb on top shining horizontally on the Chili plant and the Cannabis. I dropped a seed from a bag of shake into the pot and within the first 24 hours it had cracked and sprung a root. It took three days before it was an inch tall plant with 2 round leaves. It only grew about a half inch over the next week, i'm guessing this is due to it putting most of its energy towards growing a root system. By then the 1.5 inch plant had an 8 inch root with reached into the aquarium water. The water looks very oxygenated but Im not sure if it is enough. The fish have pecked at the root but only when it barely reaches the water and makes the water raise up to cling to it. The plant is now 4 inches tall and has its first set of true leaves. It kinda looks a little stretched and the stem is curvy because i have moved the light several times. The root hangs about 3 inches in the water and has two thinner roots branching off of it. I plan on growing the plant sideways across the 4 foot tank with the 120w agro-lite bulb on the opposite end shining horizontally and the 2 cfls equally spaced apart shining down vertically above the plants and into the tank. A sheet of plexiglass or chicken wire would separate the bottom of the grow box from the top of the aquarium. Does this sound like it would work? Does the plant look healthy? I'm still a novice grower and have only grown a few plants in soil in the past, never hydroponically or guppyponically. Im planning on building a grow box for the top of the aquarium to coneal the top and keep more light shining on the plants. Would it be hard to keep it from reeking up the room? I think I'd add small fans, like those in computers, to the grow box, one intake and one exhaust. Should i try to make a activated carbon filter for the exhaust?
I'm thinking of not adding fans and making the growbox on top completely closed off and accessible with cabinet doors . It would then be a completely closed system. The co2 would be added by the fish and the organic soil (I put organic soil under the sand in the aquarium, its broken down by anaerobic bacteria and releases co2) and used by the plants. The o2 would be added by the plants and used by the fish. What do you guys think?
that shit is pretty fucking badass i dont know much about hydro though. im also a new cultivator but im using soil. the plants will still need air from fans because of the heat from the light plus plants still need movement of air to breath good. There good for now but im thinking once they start getting bigger. Your going to want to setup a tent or cabinet around the tank to make it light proof later down the road. Light leaks will stress the plant when its in flowering stage. just plan ahead. good luck. the soil and fish sound like all the nuts u would ever need.
lol yea mayybe if u wrapped the tank in black plastic or somthin so u can take it off an take a look at the roots now an then but ur fish probly wouldnt like that lol..
Remove the chilly.. This is fantastic and very very cool, this is a symbiotic ecosystem, if you can make this work you'd be on the next rocket to mars ..$$$$$$$ You gotta make the fish and the MJ work together, for the benefit of each other, one gives the other something and visa versa like if the fish ...shits then the mj gets nutes, you got a hps on the plant, then the fish gets shade from the MJ. I don't know enough about fish, but you could be on to something here...keep us posted peace "V"
i agree that shit is badass and very efficent if the weed likes the nutes its getting and u can get a decent ph for both fish and plant
maybe you should take a preforated black tube of some sort - maybe a pvc tube - to have the roots grow down in to sheild ou the light. make the preforations at the bottom, of course. each tube will probablly need their own air stones, too.
I made the new aquarium top and transferred the plant but it started to look ill. I also replaced the medium with lava rocks. The new leaves are looking fine but the bottom set look like they are getting nutrient burn, or maybe the plant is just stressed from the move? Anybody got any ideas?
old leaves always take stress nute burn, etc first versus new leaves so just let it go and see how the new growth looks
I clipped that one leaf off to stop the plant from trying to save it. I moved the light farther away as it was only about 10'' from the plant. The newer set of leaves started to curl up as well but at a much slower rate since i moved the light. How should i fix this? Thanks in advance!