Food Security With Aquaponics

Everyone is worried about food security. Anyone serious about it should seriously consider aquaponics it's simple efficient and highly productive.

I have been researching this for the last several days after reading the "How big of a backyard do you need to live off of" thread www.abovetopsecret.com... and someone posted some info. This looks to me like one of the best ideas I have ever seen.

I have been a avid garden for many years and you can grow ten times the food as the same space for in the ground or raised beds. Plus you have a protein source in a small space as opposed to other animals raised for protein it can be right next to the house for better protection in a SHTF scenario etc. If you're serious about food security I think this is the real deal! I am seriously considering building one of these system inside a greenhouse for year round food production.

It's all organic you can't use chemicals or you'll kill the fish. You use 50-70 percent less water then conventional farming and the system is pretty self sustaining. You can grow lots of different fish from catfish to trout to bluegill to perch and tilapia. Also shrimp and crayfish There is a tone of info out there on it. With all the warnings about food shortages soon to come now is the time to get started. You can put a a decent system on a porch or patio.

I was amazed at how simple it is. Anyone could do this! This is how we beat codex, Imagine millions of these all over the place. Neighberhoods could have there own little farmers markets or co-ops etc. There is no need to be shipping and trucking our food from thousands of miles away and from foreign countries where we don't know what chemicals and pesticides they use. And this food is clean eating and nutritious etc.

Here is a few videos to prime the pump literally. If anyone has a system tell us about it and post some pictures of you will?

This is great information.........Good Job OP!

reply to post by iLoGiCViZiOnS


Thanks yeah this is a way to be food independent. I mean some of these guy are even growing trees with this system.. With green house technology there is no reason every state or country can't be food independent. even if you are in to gardening this should be at least a part of it. I am surprised this thread has not gotten more traction.

I was thinking of cheap ways to accomplish it and one way is to use kiddie pools you could use the molded plastic ones for the grow beds and one of those snap pools for the fish tanks. Or just plywood and pond liner. There are some discount sites on the web that sell pond liner. That way you could build to suit your space. You can make cheap green houses with used windows and glass and lumber craigs list always hast a bunch of that on it.

To be honest... I think your barking up the wrong tree... Aquaponics it to heavily vested in expensive chemicals test kits and power to circulate the water and more power for grow lights... I think your efforts would be better Spent Learning Square Foot Gardening go look

Square Foot Gardening is a technique of intensive planting developed by a retired civil engineer, Mel Bartholomew, in the 1970's. Mel describes the technique in his book, Square Foot Gardening, as "a system of laying out, planting, and maintaining a productive, attractive garden in any amount of space. The garden is based on a grid of 1-foot by 1-foot squares, with single seeds or plants placed in carefully determined spacings." Mel goes on to say, "The square foot system lets you make the most of your garden space to conserve the amount of water, soil conditioners, and labor needed to produce a maximum amount of food in that space. A square foot garden takes only one-fifth the space and work of a conventional single-row garden to produce the same harvest."

Good OP!

Not only people with gardens can do this, you can aquaponics on small and large scale, outdoor and indoors.

Here is my indoor setup. Small scal, but leak safe nice little foodtower, producing herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers etc. Fun and a nice green ornament in your home.

Originally posted by DaddyBare
To be honest... I think your barking up the wrong tree... Aquaponics it to heavily vested in expensive chemicals test kits and power to circulate the water and more power for grow lights... I think your efforts would be better Spent Learning Square Foot Gardening go look

You have not done your homework my friend. Aquaponics DOES NOT USE CHEMICALS. You can't it will kill the fish you are thinking of hydroponics. I have been gardening for 30 years and and tried the square foot gardening method and it is over hyped. While it has some good aspects Mels mix is not that great. For optimum gardening your soil still needsa a balance of nutrietns etc and most soils need some suppliment for this now days. The Composts you buy are not all equal because the cattle it came from are not always getting the trace minerals needed. etc. Even your own compost may be nutrient deficient so you need to add trace minerals and a balance of nitrogen potassium and phosphate etc

Aquaponics is no more difficult then in ground and in many respects easier and cleaner. You only need one pump and it can be run on solar you can buy them any place that sells pond stuff or fish stores etc. it eliminates soil born viruses weeds etc. You can add the trace minerals to aquaponics just the same. You can grow ten times the amount in the same space as in ground. and it grows faster. also it is at a better working height and the fish are a protein source integrated right into your garden. it doesn't get much better then that. maintenance consist of checking your Ph levels and amonia and nitrogen levels etc instead of weeding and bug eradication. Teast kits are not expensive. And any serious gardener ( at least if your planning on being food independant tests his soils also. I don't see the downside.

If you take a little time to wach the videos and read etc you might change your mind.

reply to post by EartOccupant


Cool little proof of concept setup. Thanks for sharing

reply to post by hawkiye


Well I have seen small indoor setups just using actual fish tanks and I think that would be pretty cost efficient as well. Probably could only get a small herb garden out of it though. Problem I have where I live is I would have to have artificial sunlight, but I still think it would be way worth it in the end!

Thankyou for posting this - I had never heard of Aquaponics before and im intrigued!

I already grow most of our vegetables and fruit, so for me this is going one step further to being self sufficient.

I have been looking into it since the thread was posted and it does seem fairly simple and cheap to set up.
I have two greenhouses in my large garden and would like to get an Aquaponics set up in one next year. My main worry is our cold British winters, but im sure this problem can be overcome somehow.

Also , I dont really want to rely on mains electricity and would prefer to either generate it myself or at least supplement it . Solar panels would be fine for summer here - but hopeless during our grey winters. Any ideas anyone?

I already have visions of a fat juicy fresh Trout on the Barbeque with a big home grown salad next summer !

Originally posted by katseyes
Thankyou for posting this - I had never heard of Aquaponics before and im intrigued!

I already grow most of our vegetables and fruit, so for me this is going one step further to being self sufficient.

I have been looking into it since the thread was posted and it does seem fairly simple and cheap to set up.
I have two greenhouses in my large garden and would like to get an Aquaponics set up in one next year. My main worry is our cold British winters, but im sure this problem can be overcome somehow.

Also , I dont really want to rely on mains electricity and would prefer to either generate it myself or at least supplement it . Solar panels would be fine for summer here - but hopeless during our grey winters. Any ideas anyone?

I already have visions of a fat juicy fresh Trout on the Barbeque with a big home grown salad next summer !

Yeah me too I am already looking to see where I can buy rainbow trout Since becoming intrigued with this last week i have been scouring the nets and found that some folks just heat the water in the fish tanks which in turn heats the green house. An aquarium heater might do the trick I am thinking. Also with trout that may not need to have the water temperature as high as with other fish.

Also some use compost bins in the green house for heat. I am not sure if this would generate enough heat in the winter but it maybe could supplement an aquarium heater or other heater so it runs less so the electricity used might be negligible . I was also thinking of using an old coffee pot to run the water through and heat it.

I live in Idaho so have a similar problem as you. So I am contemplating ways to make it work. I was also thinking just a separate line plumbed off the house water heater to the green house or a small Propane water heater, you can sometimes find them real cheap from junked RV's or motor-homes.

Great info, even doing this on a small scale for just your family is a great idea and not hard to set up at all.

This will give you an idea of how to heat the greenhouse in autumn/winter..
Compost heater

I tried this last year (aquaponics) and it worked a treat. Small koi pond in garden, solar pump with small motorbike battery trickle charging, heat from the compost heap. I used a 12 pot raised table, pumped water in at the top then let gravity take it back to the pond..

I don't eat the fish but the tomatoes, peppers and chillies filled my 2mtr greenhouse.

I have been thinking about this concept for a couple of years, with some on and off research. Combined with a couple of other technologies, you could set this up totally off of the grid. I may start this winter on some practical applications. The more I read and research on this subject, the more excited I see for the potential of it, not just as a method of survival, but as a method to more efficiently feed the hungry.

reply to post by BubbaJoe


You absolutly can set this up totally off the Grid. It really depends on the climate as to how you set it up though. Windmill can be good if you in the right spot. Solar may be good in other areas. You can also create your own gas with cow manure which is a lot easier then you might think. This is the method I am going to have to use when I go off grid because of where I am.....cold weather Alaska! I am also gonna have to build it underground to trap some of that thermal energy.

I am with Hawkeye on the Rainbow Trout, because that is what I prefer to eat.

You can build your own fish tanks for cheap using ferro cement....... I THINK! They use ferro cement to build big water tanks but it may cause a problem where algae is concerned, not sure. I am going to build mine going around the length of the green house in order to utilize the max amount of space and keep the fish happy as well.

Hydroponic systems using 4 inch pipes etc help utilize max space vs the planting beds IMHO.

I can't wait to see my vision in full swing......

reply to post by iLoGiCViZiOnS


Yeah ferro cement is a good way to do permanent tanks, also a cheap easy way is to use 2x4's and plywood with pond liner. I am going to make some houses out of ferro cement one day if i ever get the chance. Also earth ship style green houses with ferro cement then you never need a heating source except the sun.

reply to post by hawkiye


Tell me more about how you plan on incorporating 2x4's and pond liner with your ferro cement.

I used to be a big fan of the Earth Ship type structure and I suppose I still have in mind to use some of their techniques but some of the stuff they build with is just crappy and flimsly. I want to build something that will last the test of time. Possibly even Tsunami and earth quake proof. I think its awesome to recycle and that is why I am going to use older steel beams to support much of the structure. They use tires and cans to build a lot of their structures and I just don't think thats smart even if their artists can make it look cool. IMHO

reply to post by iLoGiCViZiOnS


I was actually thinking more along the lines of a bio mass generator, given the organ material that will be a fall out of the production of fish and veggies, need to do some more research on this portion.

Originally posted by iLoGiCViZiOnS
reply to post by hawkiye

 

Tell me more about how you plan on incorporating 2x4's and pond liner with your ferro cement.

I used to be a big fan of the Earth Ship type structure and I suppose I still have in mind to use some of their techniques but some of the stuff they build with is just crappy and flimsly. I want to build something that will last the test of time. Possibly even Tsunami and earth quake proof. I think its awesome to recycle and that is why I am going to use older steel beams to support much of the structure. They use tires and cans to build a lot of their structures and I just don't think thats smart even if their artists can make it look cool. IMHO

The 2x4's and plywood would not be used with ferro cement I am talking about building the tank and grow beds with that. For instance for the tank you build a 4x8x2 1/2 frame line it with plywood drop in your pond liner plumb it and your good to go. 2 or 3 grow beds the same way at 4x8x1.

I was talking about using ferro cement for homes and the earth ship style green houses. I am not fond of the tire method either. So I would use masonry block for the back retaining wall and thermal mass. Or I was thinking you could do it like a pool with rebar and wire stucco mesh and ferro cement up against the dirt back wall. The roof could definitely be ferro cement either way and a barrel or centenary dome with a rain water catch system built in. The main point is it is southerly facing and has earth against the back wall for thermal mass so it acts a a heat sink for the sun and then radiates heat out into the house at night. They can be built very sturdy and domes will withstand much more then conventional. The Masonry arch is the strongest thing known to architecture wich is the principle strength in domes, they would be the most likely to withstand earth quakes etc.

I was also thinking if you do not have any hill you could build the back and side walls out of block and line them with straw bales outside for super insulation. That way the masonry mass would still radiate the heat from the day back into the house instead of half inside and half out. I would cover the straw bales with that garden clothe so it can breath and dry out of any moisture that might get on it and just make sure the roof over hangs enough to keep the rain and snow off the straw bales and keep rodents and bugs out of them. That way if you ever need to replace one its not big deal if you have the room you could just push a mound of dirt up against the back and sides.

Hope that makes sense.

reply to post by hawkiye


there are some good how-to's about alternative gardening on a website called "instructables". i've been reading up recently on hydro gardening. many DIY's show how to build soilless growing environments using cheap items from Wal_mart, used items and things one can find cheap at yard sales.

i have found when on "instructables" its best to try assorted search words.

reply to post by hawkiye


Well your not going to be able to keep mice, rodents or birds out of the straw so I would be careful with that one. I was envisioning the lord of the rings type of village where frodo is from when you said you want to build it on the side of a hill etc........I think this is a good idea if thats all you got to work with and where your location is. If its possible I would think rock would be better, like a cliff or something. Thats what I would do but since I live in Alaska and we get heavy snow fall I would have to worry about avalanches etc so that won't work out for me. I'm going underground I think. No matter where you are at I really don't think straw is that great UNLESS you use it in an adobe type fashion IMHO.

I really recommend using a 4-6 inch pipes for growing Aquaponics though rather then grow beds. I think your gonna have to use to much material and take up more space with plant beds etc.....