Aquapondics - Has Anyone Heard Of It?

[KrystaK]

It's basically a tank, with a tray on top where plants are grown. The plant's aren't grown in soil, and the water from the tank is pumped over the roots of the plants, which will supposedly take out the water and then the clean water will drip back into the tank.

It's a very interesting concept. I'm not sure it's rock solid, but I would be very interested to try it myself.


Here's a video:
http/www.kickstart...ish-tank-that-g

Anyone else think it's an ingenious idea? (Or that it could be with some work)

 

[SombreroBanana]

It's truly amazing. I've been thinking about doing this for a while. Basically you get a 55 gallon rain barrel, cut a big square out of one side, set it on a frame, fill it with water and tilapia fingerlings, and set up a loop siphon onto an aquaponics tray. The tray drains back down to the barrel, the cycle repeats. You don't even need to power it, because loop siphons siphon a certain amount of water every 3-5 minutes. Look them up. Ammonia and nitrite are processed by bacteria which grow on the aquaponic substrate. The nitrate is used as fertilizer by the plants, and the fishies get clean water! All you gotta do is feed the fish. And when the fish grow up, you eat them.

 

[Chad]

Honestly I'm not really feeling it in terms of a project to invest in on kickstarter.

Hydroponics is a really old idea that has been around since the 1600's and perfected over the years and is used frequently in places with poor soil.

While I give them credit for sticking it on top of a fish tank it's not really something I would invest in. Not trying to be a downer but that's my thinking.

 

[ColR1948]

This got me thinking. instead of plants as the tank cover have normal type hood and have filter media in (part) of it leaving the other part on a hinge so it could be lifted for feeding, then have a pump tanking the water from the bottom like in the video clip.
Then have it trickle in from holes under the hood, also you could have a fair amount of media in the hood creating a good quantity of bacteria.

Just my mind working overtime lol.

 

[Geordiehc]

Its called Aquaponics, my friend has done it on a much bigger scale and is getting truely amazing results

https/www.facebook.com/MidlandAquaponics?ref=ts&fref=ts

 

[Chad]

This got me thinking. instead of plants as the tank cover have normal type hood and have filter media in (part) of it leaving the other part on a hinge so it could be lifted for feeding, then have a pump tanking the water from the bottom like in the video clip.
Then have it trickle in from holes under the hood, also you could have a fair amount of media in the hood creating a good quantity of bacteria.

Just my mind working overtime lol.

That's the basic idea of a sump in a marine tank or perhaps an algae scrubber.

 

[HAMBONE]

I'm doing this in my 37 gallon..

saves on water changes..

 

[Baccus]

I dont know if I would invest in an Aquaponics kit for a fish tank. But I have seen the larger scale ones for backyards which are really interesting. Basically you have an above ground pond stock with a food fish like yellow belly perch or yabbies and above the fishes pond you have your veggies growing. Because the plants are living off the fish waste your not fertilizing the plants like traditional hydroponics, but you do need to feed the fish high grade food to optimise their growth and allow for some nutrients to be left over for the plants.