Any one doing verma/aqua ponics?

[Gallo del Cielo]

Kassaundra, I've seen some small indoor systems that were pretty cool. I wish I had thought about it years ago when I was raising fish. I'll look forward to your pics.

centrarchid, that's great that you have that background. I raised south American cichlids as a hobby for years and I'm an avid gardener, I've just never put the two together. I've been spending a lot of time reading on another site and learning all that I can. Do you have a lot of experience with pumps?

Illia, it sounds like we're about at the same stage in getting set up. I've got my eye on a CL above ground pond that I want to turn into a grow-bed and I'm looking for something to hold the fish. I don't have a lot of $ to put into the project but I'm hoping to have a 500-1000 gallon tank for fish. I'm also extremely limited with yard space. It's going to take some creativity on my part. It sounds like you're making a quite a large set-up.

 

[centrarchid]

Gallo del Cielo,

Putting hydropnics and aquaculture together most difficult for those with little or no experience with either. You are likely to have good start.

I have lots of experience with pumps; sizing, plumbing, wiring and repairing. Usually have about 20 running at any given time. I should be working with size range that will bracket your needs. My cichlids of choice were / are of African rift lake but major emphasis now on species native to Mississippi River basin.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

centrarchid, I knew by your username you were a fish guy.

I started by raising angelfish. We raised solid black ones that weren't very common when I started and we were able to sell every one we ever raised. That set me up for raising a whole variety of tiny SA dwarf cichlids. At the end I was raising chocolate cichlids (Hypselecara temporalis). They were awesome, especially after they got a few years old and so huge. They had such great personalities. They were always as happy to see me after work as my dog was. I wish I had looked more at my natives when I was in New Orleans. I'm sure to have some questions for you about pumps when I get to that point.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
I bred chocolate cichlids as well and dabbled with keyhole cichlids. Chocolates cichlids are a very talkative bunch with cool interactions between parents and spawn.

When time comes for pumps, fire away.

 

[Kassaundra]

Okay, it's finally up and in the east window. Had it running last week, but ran into a few problems had to disassemble it fix the issues and now it seems to be operating fine. I'm posting pics, but remember it is a "getto" system pieced w/ what I could find for free or very cheap, and an experiment for growing salad type garden duing the winter and indoors. If this all works I'll work on a more "proper" and automated system for outdoors. This system has no automation or pumps, it uses gravity and human effort. I am adding an air stone tomorrow just to make sure they system does not go anarobic. Right now no plants or worms, I'm running it for a few days to make sure it all works as expected then I will plant and add the worms.

The bin on top of the dresser is the water holding tank (where the fish would go if I was using fish)
The round black object is a found inner tire that is 3 feet in diameter, and sitting on top of a table I already had to hold the rocks and water of the grow bed.

I have a simple tube connecting the water tank and the grow bed. I am simply placing the tube in the grow bed for 20 minutes and letting gravity do it's job, then placing the tube back in the water tank when the grow bed is full.

The liner is a blow up mattress that no longer held air, the grow medium is rocks we gathered from a local outdoor area. We had to sift out the sand and wash the rocks. The center container is just a filter to keep the water tube from getting clogged. The other two tubs (margirine tubs) will be where I put the worm food, large holes are cut in the sides to allow the worms to get in and out.

The white bucket at the bottom of the pic is the drain bucket, the same type of tubing is connecting the grow bed and the drain bucket, and again gravity is doing the work, when it finishes draining to the bucket then the manual work of pouring from the drain bucket to the water bin, then it is all set up and ready for the next cycle.


Well, that's it in a nutshell.

 

[centrarchid]

Your system is what I can flow-thru. We use similar with hatching small batches of fish eggs. You will be doing a lot of tweeking to get flows to where you want them and they will need adjusting from time to time.

What is being done to control leaks around insertion point for tubing into fish tank on dressor? For me, small diameter tubing and hard plastics hard to seal, especially with any amount of head pressure involved. Have you considered lift tubes or establishing a siphon?

 

[Kassaundra]

The sealer in the grow bed is a butt load of silicone bathroom caulk/sealer, and a very tiny hole just big enough to allow the tube to pass through (with some difficulty I might add). The sealer in the water tank is hot glue. So far no leaks.

I'm not familiar w/ the terms used I'll look them up.

Since this is a small system, inside no inclimate weather to deal with I used these free things. I know they won't hold forever or outside just hoping they hold long enough to get a first hand look at how this type of system works to see if I want to put the money, time, and effort into a real one.

 

[Kassaundra]

Got it planted today, with lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, and chives, now just waiting to see if anything sprouts.

 

[centrarchid]

Next concern will be; do you have enough light?

 

[Kassaundra]

Yes, I have been worrying about that. It is an east facing window and my only option. Hoping since all are cool crops and dark leafy's the light won't be a huge problem. It will get direct light for about 6 hrs, then indirect for another 5 or so. If the sprouts seem to be to leggy I will put a grow light in there. I don't want to unless I have to, so I will keep a close eye on it.