I am pretty familiar with all of these plants. There are a lot of habbyists that grow each of these. The tomatoes actually grow quite a lot more than 7 feet. the grow bed for the actual system is 12 inches... however in aquaponics the root systems don't work quite the same as they do in tilled soil. Several people have reported cherry tomatoes in excess of 15 feet.
Vermiponics - Fish, Plants, and Worms
- Thread starter Rivermud
- Start date
Rivermud, I was talking with a member of my local fish club Friday night who has an aquaponic setup above his aquarium and I was picking his brain a little bit. He has a standard glass aquarium and built a wood frame platform that straddles the sides of his stand and extends above his aquarium about 6" or so that holds his grow beds with an additional light fixture for the plants. Try and picture a vertical rack built for aquariums but freestanding though you could always attach the legs to the aquarium stand for stability.
This allowed him to have a light fixture for his tank and clearance for maintenance. He was using 3 smaller tubs for his grow bed rather than one large one though. You could always make the shelf for the grow bed level extend further back from the front of the aquarium so that you have easier access to the tank and you could mount the aquarium light on the underside of the grow bed shelf.
A flexible drain line back to the aquarium would enable easy access to the aquarium for major maintenance or aquascaping.
This allowed him to have a light fixture for his tank and clearance for maintenance. He was using 3 smaller tubs for his grow bed rather than one large one though. You could always make the shelf for the grow bed level extend further back from the front of the aquarium so that you have easier access to the tank and you could mount the aquarium light on the underside of the grow bed shelf.
A flexible drain line back to the aquarium would enable easy access to the aquarium for major maintenance or aquascaping.
I may end up having to do that. My hope is that I can somehow integrate the tank and grow bed. Though after several days of thinking I can find no way to do it other than make the canopy very tall and accessing the tank from a front door. Thankfully the geyer lift will push water pretty high. The worst part of the deal though is the height of the grow bed. I suppose I might be able to use the drawer slide idea to go left and right rather than front to back. I would just have to make the pipes removable.. which is easy enough. Hmmmm now would I have to make the canopy lock to teh tank to keep it stable when shifted over?? I don't think so as long as I keep 2/3's of the canopy over the aquarium it should remain stable. I could probably make a set of sliders with stops for both directions. My poor brain is in overdrive.
We are growing and harvesting crops. Plants and worms both use the waste byproducts of the aquarium. The idea is to have a complete ecosystem rather than using mechanical filtration (filter or water changes) to do the same job. I may have to add crushed shells to raise the gh since it will be affected by the "composting" action of the decaying matter in the grow bed. I may also have to add a nail for iron and let the worms convert it for me. The main thing to think about is that were are making plants our filter rather than a mechanical box. Since our filters depends on the waste products of the system performing water changes removes some of those products thus reducing the yield of the plant filter. I will be adding fuel by feeding my fish, I may occasionally add plant based food for the worms; both of those will be converting that fuel into what eventually will be come fuel for the filter.
Wont most of the waste be stuck in your substrate tho. how do you plan on getting those wastes from the gravel to the grow box? could u or are u going to use a n undergravel system? run it up thru ur pump somehow?
PS keep the info comin! this is the most interesting thread i've read in awhile! (and nobodys is bickering with eachother!)
PS keep the info comin! this is the most interesting thread i've read in awhile! (and nobodys is bickering with eachother!)
Well i c no reason u would have to w/c's either. with the worms and undergravel and its like u r doing a constant water change. tank should be fairly clean, i would think...
They are generally very clean. Most people never get any readings at all. The UGF system will be a diy setup made with pvc. the intake will be on the bottom so even if my fish try to re-decorate i won't get a high flow or low flow spot in the tank due to fishscaping.
As for the sliding top I think I have it figured out. i can mount a set of rollers in the hood or on the tank and match them with a simple wood runner. Then i I have to do is mount stops.. that should allow me plenty of access to the tank.
As for the sliding top I think I have it figured out. i can mount a set of rollers in the hood or on the tank and match them with a simple wood runner. Then i I have to do is mount stops.. that should allow me plenty of access to the tank.
Here is a wonderful video of an aquaponics system. They choose to run continuous flow. It's pretty awesome at any rate... it's overly long but meh.. You can pick up an IBC from loads of places.. as low as 50 bucks or so..
[video=youtube;WYFM7J_TpTU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=WYFM7J_TpTU[/video]
A link for used IBC's: http://www.usedibccontainers.com/
[video=youtube;WYFM7J_TpTU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=WYFM7J_TpTU[/video]
A link for used IBC's: http://www.usedibccontainers.com/
