THIS IS AQUAPONICS

[Aquaponix]

Thanks people, real world I get patronised cos I'm a bit of a mad scientist some fools even 'feel sorry for me' - FOOLS! Bwa ha ha, if only they knew!

 

Meanwhile they pay 20 bucks a joint for shitty chembuds with a one hour stone.

 

It took me 3 weeks to smoke a 1/4 of Aquaponic superskunk I'd go an ounce of normal bud in that time.

 

I aint lying when I say it's the best, EVERY strain I've put in the system except a pure sativa was better than I've ever had it. Pure Sativa (Dum Dum) stretched too high too fast and then hermied everywhere. (also gave birth to superskunk/dum dum I call Barbary. Tough as a hedge grows fat like SS with a 6 hour stone like Dum Dum)

 

The details of all this are large. I guess we'd best start. :reallyexcited:

[WantDaChronic]

very nice plants, cant wait to see what they look like in a few weeks, especially if they keep growing like they did between week 4 and 5 :reallyexcited:

[Aquaponix]

What do I need for Aquaponics?

 

Anyone really keen please note what happened to overgrow, and 2 years of my work - gone overnight. Back up the words in your comp and you can always repost them for others should the law get hold of this site.

 

You will need 1st a fishtank.

 

I work with goldfish for several reasons. Easy to look after (hardy) cheap, and they eat a lot producing much waste.

 

Most fishtanks have what is called an undergravel filter, this is a piece of plastic with slits in it that sits on the bottom of your tank with the fish gravel on top. Water is pulled down through this via a pump.

 

WHY? Therein lies the key to Aquaponics. The nitrification process.

 

Bacteria inhabit the gravel, the sides of the tank etc, all surface areas of your system that touch water will soon be coated in it. These are beneficial bacteria, these are the worker ants in your little pot factory

 

Ammonia from your plants is eaten by bacteria and turned into nitrite, which is then eaten by other bacteria converting it to nitrate - or plant food.

 

So I was talking undergravel filters - these are very good but could be left out of your system and replaced with - grow beds.

 

To replace undergravel filter with grow medium you'll need large trays which can be filled with expanded clay (see pic 1 day old clones).

 

In my system I have an undergravel filter, plus expanded clay in my pots, plus a bucket of expanded clay suspended under the lid of the tank (barrel) with a trickle through it. So it can get complex if you don't know at the start what I learned at the end

 

Here's the formula I finally figured out. Keep this in mind at all times, we WILL learn to do this Aquaponics stuff here, but this is very important to keep in mind, I'll remind you later as well, the formula....

 

 

1 lb fish

2 gallon* gravel/medium

4 sq ft growspace

 

*Based on same volume of space water takes. (roughly 4.5 litre per gallon) I originally did this measure to compensate for a choice of mediums as weight of gravel and expanded clay are a lot different. Measure the medium in a bucket.

 

supplemented with 1/40th strength organic nutes (I use Earth Juice it rocks)

 

Supplementation is important. You can grow amazing leafy crops without it - buds are a flower or fruit crop and require a little extra. plus Aqua has micro problems without it.

 

Beginning with this formula in mind you can assess your system as you design it to make sure it has what it takes to produce well.

 

When pre-planning Aquaponics be aware also of the extra time needed to cycle the system up. A week before you add fish, 3 more weeks then add plants.

 

So, beginning with the end in mind is easiest - how much grow space?

 

If you have 16 feet of grow space from the above formula you'll see you need -

8 gallons of gravel

4 lbs of fish

 

Now, as fish grow fast in Aqua you can start with less. Having more than needed is ok just keep an eye on things see it is self cleaning still or you may need to do water change outs which I've eliminated from my system (only top ups) or add medium (gravel)

 

This is what your system must do.

 

Pump water from the fish tank through a filter (plants and grow beds) and gravity returns it to the tank.

 

 

Fish tank plus hydro = Aquaponics.

 

I've gone with DWC as I wanted to see explosive growth, for excellent growth in an easier system get grow beds add plants and trickle (continuous flow not ebb and flow continuous out-performs E&F by 20%) water through them.

 

For DWC you need it to be recirculating as well. Search bio-buckets and get good, this shit is a whole new subject, if you know recirculating systems by all means have a go but don't get too ambitious if you're a hydro noob like I was it can be painful watching things not work.

 

Now go look at the pictures again, water from tank - to plants - back to tank - that's it!

 

With the formula....

 

Another VERY IMPORTANT DESIGN CONSIDERATION

 

Buds and vegetative growth need to run simultaneously off the same reservoir to achieve the best results and keep your system sustainable (mines zero waste now, that's efficiency like scientists have wet dreams over)

 

To do this in mine I built and plumbed a cabinet inside my grow room.

 

It really is simple yet can be incredibly difficult without following what i've told you.

 

Summary

 

Nitrification process in your gravel and grow beds.

1:2:4 formula.

Organic supplementation.

Month period before growing.

Water circulation.

Bloom and Veg off same reservoir.

 

Here's a pic of bloom and veg, I love this set-up :thumbsup

 

[Aquaponix]

OK, back again.

 

wantdachronic - yea bro! 4 - 5 weeks is amazing :thumbsup

 

I've never had a bud 8 inches WIDE before :reallyexcited:

 

I'm estimating under that half of a 400 (2 sites under it only one planted in since I've found the elusive formula) I'll get about 5 ounces or more. The strain is a 70 day flowerer so 5 weeks to go yet

 

5 oz's - 200 watts. .7 grams per watt. I've seen better, but what if I get 6 or 7 ozs hehe.

 

7 ozs would put me in the dope growers 'elite' - gram per watt - lets try for it huh! :reallyexcited:

 

Now imagine if I started with plants that already had a bit of size not just rooted clones...

 

I may have some I prepared earlier lying round here somewhere :whistling

 

In 2 weeks we'll have 2 other plants join in the quest for organic excellence.

 

I hope to continuous crop a plant site every 5 weeks. It would only be 4 with other strains but Jack Herer is worth the wait. I have 2 sites for bloom and 1 for veg.

 

When a plant is harvested another plant immediately takes it's place from the veg side. The veg plant is immediately replaced by rooted clones on standby.

 

This takes some working out but isn't so hard.

 

At all times 3 lots of plants should be growing, 2 weeks before a harvest new clones are prepared to replace the veg plant that replaces the harvested plant.

 

Ahhh, it was worth every second of every hardship and fuckup of the last two years to bring you this. :yingyang

[Aquaponix]

Here's one of the fuck-ups. Phosphate deficient, root rot, thrips, fungus gnats, poor water circulation, bad pH......

 

Even when going horribly wrong - One spot of this and either you grab something to hold onto or you fall on your ass, literally.

 

It's superskunk, transferring from dirt is BAD in Aquaponics as is combining mediums.

 

Superskunk LOVES Aquaponics done properly.

 

[Aquaponix]

"is there any one good place to look for info on how to make one of these beautiful setups hell my mother would want one even"

 

Unfortunately there isn't.

 

For growing a personal sized grow of weed, hopefully, eventually, that will be right here.

 

I learned about weed through life, family, and Overgrow Website.

 

When I learned about the existance of Aquaponics I had to access

 

Aquarium forums

Aquaponics anything I could get my hands on

Hydro forums ad nauseum then everything I could find on bio-buckets

Then the Aquarist sites where I started cross referencing with Encyclopaedia Britannica in order to understand what it was I was reading....

 

So lets make some basic system designs, and as we go, take note of my reasoning why I prefer specific things etc. Most decisions were made after ridiculous amounts of consultation. Why? - for truth? Wellll... was so bloody broke I was eating baked beans most nights and had all the time in the world to obsessively study as I saved for parts.

 

Thing is, baked beans taste better with Aquaponic weed, I knew it was gonna be worth it. ::

[Ozzy420]

Mate that is one kick ass setup you have there i will watching with intrest...

[Aquaponix]

The easiest way to do this by far, is to run a tank with your plants in grow beds on top of the tank.

 

Pump water from the fish to the plants and it trickles back.

 

Results are excellent but may suffer system instability without providing a range of plant stages in the system (veg and bloom or continuous cropping)

 

Choose a fish species and learn to keep them. Learn the stocking rate. You will read that Aquaponic stocking rates can run at almost double that of normal Aquaculture. Ignore this, you are not a farmer nor do you have the technological know-how to 'run the knife edge' with your fishes lives. your fish die your plants die no more grow...

 

Conventional stocking rates are desirable because

 

More water in the system provides a temperature and pH buffer.

Your fish will be happier and grow at almost double the rate thereby processing more food to waste (plant food eventually)

If we're going organic, let's try being humane as well

 

To learn basic fish keeping ask at an Aquarium store or online in a forum. There are a million snake oils in Aquarium keeping. So beware...

 

You need - Tank - this can be a plastic barrel like mine or an aquarium. If you wish this to be a display tank and have fish veg and/or herbs to show off to family and friends then the light levels of said tank will be high and algae will arrive en-masse once the environment runs rich. A uv filter should be then used these kill algae in the waterflow and are worth it to help achieve a more polished looking display garden. Otherwise look at the cover on my tank in the first picture, that piece with the writing on goes into the gap, there is only about 10-15% surface area recieves direct light. Enough for fish and a little bit of algae (a wee bit is actually desirable but that's a whole new page)

 

Hardy fish (goldies, koi, channel catfish etc)

 

gravel - as stated previously you can replace your gravel with grow medium so you just have more medium following the 1:2:4 formula.

 

a pump - you want circulation at least 4 times per hour of system volume with a continuous feed system. There is a term with pumps called head. Head is the height a pump can draw water to. Any head will cause a decrease in the pumps efficiency and most boxes have a graph depicting the output curve decrease with increased head. This needs to be considered as well.

 

Again - Pump needs to do system volume times 4 also factoring your head or height AND....

 

Venturi Nozzle on your pump. (check box and ask store that you have one. This draws air into the waterflow, again, it also draws power from your waterflow.

 

More water circulation than you need is far better than less.

 

An undergravel filter - A very simple and low maintenance filter any Aquarium store will be happy to tell you about. (this too can take waterflow volume down)

 

Aquarium gravel - If you get larger and smaller sizes the small stones go on top.

 

Fish toys tunnels rocks etc. Fish can be territorial and need things of interest to keep them occupied somewhat. Try not to make wedges fish can 'wedge' into.

 

If you get a plecostamus (sucker fish) you will also want a bit of driftwood for him to suck on) Add snails if you wish, they may get eaten, I need big snails or I have none.

 

BEFORE YOU ADD FISH!!!!!

 

Fill the system with water and leave for 24 hours. Then run the system with the pump on for a week. then add half the fish you require. 3 weeks later add the rest of the fish. This enables the bacterial colonies to establish over time. Introducing all the fish at once you may lose some or all to poisoning and related health problems.

 

Give nature a chance to get started..... :reallyexcited:

 

WATER SHOULD NEVER be added directly from your tap. Chlorines burn gills. Leave water to settle 24 hours then add to your system.

 

Plants can be introduced quite early (when first fish go in or one-two days later) but real results can be expected at the one month point and soon after with a large functioning bacterial colony to support your grow.

 

Grow beds - Hydro industry has plenty of them. one bed with seperate planters in it is more derable so you can harvest one plant without tearing the roots of the next as strains etc variate.

 

Grow medium. I use expanded clay, it's a great medium but not a good anchor. Those plants in my photos are wired to each other at two points to help support them.

 

Info overload? not even started.... :scratchin

 

Questions on the first system described above feel free.

[Aquaponix]

Hey thanks ozmade

 

 

Here's some Grow/Aqua notes I wrote earlier sorry about repeats.

 

Ventilation – Have more air blowing out of your room than is blowing in. This creates a negative pressure in your room as practised by hospitals and doctors surgeries etc. Have a gentle breeze across your plants in flowering at least to stop powdery mildew.

 

Lighting - Fish like light to play in but so does algae. Try to keep too much direct HPS light from your tank. A green light can be seen by fish but not by plants.

 

Continuous cropping – An Aquaponic system that feeds both vegetative and flowering growth simultaneously has a far more efficient ratio of nutrients being utilised. If you can set up both light cycles of plants running on one reservoir you are well ahead in the Aqua game. This will save you from nutrient lockups due to excessive nitrogen as I had when only blooming plants in my Aqua system.

 

Transplanting – Ensure you NEVER put air roots into water. The result is root rot. Plant any and all clones at a height just above (1/16th” ish) the water line if you are doing DWC with Aqua.

 

Ebb & Flow – Continuous flow has been scientifically proven to be 20% more productive than ebb and flow systems with Aqua. So, don’t ebb & flow, lose the timer let the water go bro. (thought I was a rapper, sorry )

 

Harvesting – For your harvests do large (20 – 30%) water changes to assist the system adjusting to less nutrient demands. Try not to harvest everything at once. A staggered harvest is much better for Aqua.

 

Fish Foods – Learn to cultivate live foods for your Aqua grow. Conventional fish foods may lack the protein content desirable for Aqua. They also contain salts and many have medications and color enhancers within their contents. Add insects and worms to your fishes diet when possible. No need to be overboard or fussy but, variety is desirable.

 

Adding fish – 1 new fish can bring problems to your tank. I lost 4 fish to disease by adding unmonitored newcomers to my drum. Now I have a small Aquarium inside, always stocked with something to keep it (bio-filtration) running. I quarantine every new fish in that tank for a month before releasing into my Aqua system.

 

Adding snails – Unless they are BIG, don’t put snails with goldfish or they’ll be dinner. Get large snails.

 

Smoking Aqua – With good starting genetics, Aquaponic weed is the holy grail. Ensure you cancel all appointments for that evening. Put on your answer phone, have a big pot of coffee ready, it can be an unusually complex task once stoned, enjoy...

 

[Aquaponix]

Here are 4 systems that all successfully grow with Aquaponics.

 

 

1. Passive Return.

 

2. Aquarium Stealth Cabinet.

 

3. Drip feed.

 

4. Recirculating DWC.

 

Key.

 

Blue – Tank, Aquarium, Reservoir – the bit that houses your fish.

 

Green – Planters, Buckets, Rubbermaids - whatever you put your plants in.

 

Yellow – Pump and water lines out to your plants.

 

Black – Gravity or Passive Feed pipes returning water to your Tank.

 

Red – Light.