Food Security With Aquaponics

Originally posted by hawkiye
reply to post by BadNinja68

 

You seriously need to do some research here as you simply do not know what your talking about. Pot is actually not a good crop for aquaponics or hydroponics as it does not like wet feet. Fish need oxygen as much as any animal the water can be aerated by gravity allowing the water to drain into the fish tank water fall style or with a paddle wheel etc. Plants can get oxygen through thier foliage also. A complete Aquaponics system can be run on a single pump etc. Seriously dude do some research this is a proven system...

edit on 8-8-2011 by hawkiye because: (no reason given)

I don't want to come down too hard, but it is you who should do the research.


If you think you can grow food crops in an aquaponic garden using stagnant water you are very misinformed, and obviously haven't actually attempted this.
without heavy oxygenation, the roots will rot, they will lock out specific nutrients and the plants will whither and die.

I won't get into the problems with bacteria and fungus in stagnat, fertilized water but they will devour roots and starve them of oxygen.
ever seen a fish in a stagnant pool gulp air? notice how green the water is when they do that?
algae has used up the oxygen.
Im not guessing.
these are facts easily proven if you simply try it.


basic grade school science here folks, no mystery at all.
just google hydroponics and actually read the material before you know it all.


Or better yet, look for local hydroponic or organic gardening classes that offer hands on experience.
Once you actually TRY this, you will see I am 100% spot on.

waterfall is a great idea..... for the fish...... but you need a pump....to recirculate the water that the fish have made "hot" ( FERTILIZED)... or you will lose any nutrients via the runoff.
you'll simply overwater or "drown" your foodcrops.

you COULD harvest the droppings and soil from the bottom of a small fish pond, and use the fertile mud to fertilize a traditional soil garden but, well,....that aint aquaponics.




Slow your arrogance.
I have alot of experience with cultivating food crops in hydroponic gardens


Ive DONE this and Im trying to give you some sound information based on my experience actually using an aquaponic garden to grow lettuce. you WILL need electric power.
period.
no electricity.. no aquaponic garden.



again, please Just try this.
you will learn ALOT more than guessing based false science and infor found on some youtube vids

reply to post by BadNinja68


Your misinformation astounds me.

Goto backyardaquaponics.com, practicalaquaponics.net and countless other sites.
Thousands of members living quite comfortably on this process you claim doesn't work.

I myself have an Aquaponics system that is running efficiently.
It isn't rocket science.

You are taking aspects that are true but basing your entire argument around that.

Of course the plants will die with stagnant water, so will humans.
So will fish for that matter.

But in Aquaponics, you are creating an ecosystem. An ecosystem is a set of events that perpetuate and continue the supply across the board.

Here are the main principles so that you can understand Aquaponics once and for all.

#1 - Water in a fish tank is aerated via an air pump.
#2 - Fish in a fish tank create waste, this waste is in the form of Ammonia.
#3 - Ammonia saturated water flows out of the tank and into a gravel filled grow bed.
#4 - By nature, the gravel filled grow bed will fill with beneficial bacteria.
#5 - This beneficial bacteria will convert the Ammonia in the water into Nitrites.
#6 - Another kind of beneficial bacteria will then convert the Nitrites into Nitrates.
#7 - The plants absorb the Nitrates and flourish.
#8 - The gravel grow bed fills with water and then sucks all the water out via an automatic siphon.
#9 - The siphoned water fills a sump tank that has a pump and sends it back to the Fish in the tank.

BANG - That's Aquaponics 101.

Another note on aeration in an Aquaponics system.
When the gravel grow bed initiates the auto siphon, when the water level drops at a dramatic pace, it also SUCKS air through the grow bed. Bringing fresh healthy air to roots of the plants.
Then when the bed is filled up... It is filled up with aerated water.

At no point does this system fail when all pieces are in place.
All you then need to do is maintain the system with a bit of cleaning to ensure all systems operate as designed.

What is so hard to understand about this process?

you WILL need electric power. period. no electricity.. no aquaponic garden.

This is true... For the moment.
I have recently learned of something that would allow me to replace the pump in the system with something that works in nature.
So it will reduce the power requirement to only needing power for the air pump.

Since I lack the funds for testing at the moment... I won't be posting the information on any site until I verify its effectiveness.

But beside the point... Why are you arguing that power is a bad thing?
We live in a modern world where electricity is an abundance in multiple different easily acquirable forms.
As stated previously, a single solar panel of sufficient power (IE 100W), can easily power the Aquaponics system.

some old tires full of burnt cow poop and black soil will do the trick even better. if you drill one inch holes several places around the tire, mice will build homes in them and provide your plants with nourishment and trhe tires will hold moisture so you don't have to water as much

One of the main benefits of AP is the growth rate.

It is a lot faster than the standard methods.
Not to mention you can pack more in a smaller space than what you can with soil.

My wife and I have been looking into this for a while (nice post), and a thought occured to me after reading all the babble concerning power for pumps--if someone lived on land with a decently sloped stream running through it, could the AP system not just be a linear system piping in water from the stream, letting gravity take it though the AP system, then drain back into the stream at the end? Just place the fish tank at the top, feed from the stream, and gravity does the rest.

No need for a pump...but I do wonder if this would keep the nutrient level too low by constantly renewing the water, and I suppose this could possibly introduce unwanted bacteria and illnesses into the system as well. But, at least it's a possible alternative to needing power for a pump. Plus, if it's a good enough water source for moonshiners...