Has anyone here had any experience with aquaponics?

I haven’t had any experience with it, just considering the idea, and if too proceed.

Some links for those unacquainted,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Aquaponics /ˈækwəˈpɒnɨks/, is a food production system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals being raised can accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity. In an aquaponic system, water from an aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down by nitrification bacteria into nitrates and nitrites, which are utilized by the plants as nutrients. The water is then recirculated back to the aquaculture system.

As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all aquaponics systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponics system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/

https://www.google.com/search?q=aquaponics

Try over on the gardening forum. I think at least one participant has done it:

http://tokyo3.org/forums/gardening/

I have been reading of a few people trying it, and I personally believe both the fish and the plant systems would be more effective as discreet systems rather than compromising each to allow it to work with the other.

The backyard aquaponics forums are an excellent source of information.

Hydroponics grows plants much faster as the nutrients are more concentrated. For fish growth rate, it really depends on your fish species and what and how much you feed them. Species such as silver perch grow pretty quickly.

My only problem with aquaponics is that it’s proponents tend to spruik it as the ultimate in sustainable food production while conveniently ignoring the rape of the oceans that is required to produce the fish food the system runs on.

I’ve always used my waste aquarium water to water my plants.

For aquaponics to work properly and to raise a decent amount of fish I think would require a massive amount of plant material to use the nitrogenous wastes from the water enough for it to be recycled back to the fish.

Teleost said:

The backyard aquaponics forums are an excellent source of information.

Hydroponics grows plants much faster as the nutrients are more concentrated. For fish growth rate, it really depends on your fish species and what and how much you feed them. Species such as silver perch grow pretty quickly.

My only problem with aquaponics is that it’s proponents tend to spruik it as the ultimate in sustainable food production while conveniently ignoring the rape of the oceans that is required to produce the fish food the system runs on.

My current aquaponics setup. The plant growing out of the filter is Kang Kong or water spinach. It’s got the potential to become an aquatic weed, so keeping it contained like this is one of the best options for growing it.

as much green slime we can eat

we’re saved!!

Don’t forget the shrimp. This tank is full of Paratya australiensis.

There’s probably enough to make a teaspoon of prawn cocktail :)

Teleost said:

My current aquaponics setup. The plant growing out of the filter is Kang Kong or water spinach. It’s got the potential to become an aquatic weed, so keeping it contained like this is one of the best options for growing it.
Don’t forget the shrimp. This tank is full of Paratya australiensis.
There’s probably enough to make a teaspoon of prawn cocktail

Does growing microalgae count as aquaponics? I did quite a bit of that as part of my last serious project with CSIRO. My job included design of two different hectare-scale tanks (one shallow for rapid growth but high in pumping energy and evaporation, and one deeper of a more conventional design where I minimised the pumping energy), as well as investigating schemes for harvesting, and financial evaluation of alternative ways in which harvested algae could be used.

I didn’t think of this until Teleost mentioned “shrimp”. CSIRO did briefly investigate the possibility of algae production combined with either shrimp or tilapia.

I remember that Qld fisheries were doing some really interesting work on algae in an attempt to reduce the need for external food inputs in aquaculture. That was before the fisheries budget was systematically stripped and all promising research paths either shut down completely or snapped up by overseas markets :(

There’s no way they would have countenanced using it for Tilapia though. Number one aquaculture fish on the entire planet. Fast growing, thrives in conditions that would see other fish give up the ghost, very tasty and illegal to possess in Qld with a $200 000 fine for those who dare to choose to not waste a perfectly good source of cheap protein. Not to mention the positive environmental effects of declaring open season with no bag or size limit.

Sometimes when I’m wearing my cynical hat, I think they deserved to have their funding reduced.

Teleost said:

I remember that Qld fisheries were doing some really interesting work on algae in an attempt to reduce the need for external food inputs in aquaculture. That was before the fisheries budget was systematically stripped and all promising research paths either shut down completely or snapped up by overseas markets :(

There’s no way they would have countenanced using it for Tilapia though. Number one aquaculture fish on the entire planet. Fast growing, thrives in conditions that would see other fish give up the ghost, very tasty and illegal to possess in Qld with a $200 000 fine for those who dare to choose to not waste a perfectly good source of cheap protein. Not to mention the positive environmental effects of declaring open season with no bag or size limit.

Sometimes when I’m wearing my cynical hat.

Have been wearing my cynical hat for the past few days. For instance the book “God’s greatest mistakes” by Oolon Colluphid would have to include at least a sentence on plant nutrition. There is plenty of carbon in the soil and nitrogen in the air, so it’s a mistake for plants to get all their carbon from the air and nitrogen from the soil. Plants cannot eat the carbon in the soil. In practical terms this makes plants nearly useless for cleaning up organic pollutants. Cynical.

A problem with aquaponics in general is lack of sunlight. Say it requires 1 hectare of water surface to produce a certain amount of plant growth and that the amount of growth is hard-limited by photosynthesis. Then with plants alone you’re not going to do that much better per hectare with hydroponics than per hectare of land area with a crop like sugar cane. With plants plus animals in aquaponics you’re going to do about nine times as badly for food per hectare as you would for land-based plants alone. And hectares of fresh water are considerably more valuable than hectares of soil, especially when you factor in the water evaporation.

For fish farms in the sea this problem doesn’t arise as there is ample surface area outside the farm to gather the sunlight to produce the phytoplankton that the animals inside the farm need for growth.

mollwollfumble said:

Teleost said:

I remember that Qld fisheries were doing some really interesting work on algae in an attempt to reduce the need for external food inputs in aquaculture. That was before the fisheries budget was systematically stripped and all promising research paths either shut down completely or snapped up by overseas markets :(

There’s no way they would have countenanced using it for Tilapia though. Number one aquaculture fish on the entire planet. Fast growing, thrives in conditions that would see other fish give up the ghost, very tasty and illegal to possess in Qld with a $200 000 fine for those who dare to choose to not waste a perfectly good source of cheap protein. Not to mention the positive environmental effects of declaring open season with no bag or size limit.

Sometimes when I’m wearing my cynical hat.

Have been wearing my cynical hat for the past few days. For instance the book “God’s greatest mistakes” by Oolon Colluphid would have to include at least a sentence on plant nutrition. There is plenty of carbon in the soil and nitrogen in the air, so it’s a mistake for plants to get all their carbon from the air and nitrogen from the soil. Plants cannot eat the carbon in the soil. In practical terms this makes plants nearly useless for cleaning up organic pollutants. Cynical.

A problem with aquaponics in general is lack of sunlight. Say it requires 1 hectare of water surface to produce a certain amount of plant growth and that the amount of growth is hard-limited by photosynthesis. Then with plants alone you’re not going to do that much better per hectare with hydroponics than per hectare of land area with a crop like sugar cane. With plants plus animals in aquaponics you’re going to do about nine times as badly for food per hectare as you would for land-based plants alone. And hectares of fresh water are considerably more valuable than hectares of soil, especially when you factor in the water evaporation.

For fish farms in the sea this problem doesn’t arise as there is ample surface area outside the farm to gather the sunlight to produce the phytoplankton that the animals inside the farm need for growth.

Perspective eh. :)

I’ve been banging my head on that wall for life.

I’ve seen a few setups in a shop and they worked well but thats under ideal conditions with experienced people so it might not work as well out in the real world.

It seems to be useful for vegetables that require a constant water supply, things like lettuce that wilt easily or go to seed when it gets too hot. They aren’t cheap unless you do it yourself so are probably not value for money.