This Looks Like A Good Idea ... Think It Really Works?

[This Old Spouse]

Just tripped over this looking for something else. What do you think?
 
http/www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=fCL68ETB_nM

 

[frapadoodle]

Well, what you were looking for is still illegal.
I remember a few years ago something on pbs about disney doing much the same with sewage from the park. I think the one in California. Anyway the sewage water at the end of all the plant filtration was cleaner than the bay it flowed into. So yeah think it would work.

 

[This Old Spouse]

How is it illegal? Oh, wait. Never mind. 

 

[colleen0309]

How is it illegal? Oh, wait. Never mind. 

It's only illegal if you get caught!

 

[Chad]

This is really just the Berlin method with the refugium on top instead of as a sump. I'm not quite sure what the advantage to doing it this way is. This is how my reef tank runs but with the nutrient removal items (i.e. macroaglae, etc.) in the refugium.

 

[MBOU]

Tut tut!
 
Its been done many times before, not actually all that rare, there are shops that specialise in setups like this. Meant to be a great way of growing plants like tomatoes and chillies and herbs etc. Main problem being how much light the plants need so with two choices, you set this all up in a greenhouse (heating bills in winter and insane heat in summer!) or you have to pay out for intense lighting for the plants. And pray that there is no police helicopter in the area using heat sensitive cameras/whatever, wouldn't be the first time police have mistaken heat sources LOL know someone who got busted for having a heater in her converted loft where she had a few guinea pigs in cages haha..awkward.. not sure what was worse... that the police came a knocking or that she had to admit it was heating for her guinea pigs that live in the loft.
 
Cant help thinking it would be really fun to set up a mini system on a windowsill! A long, narrow tank, the plant system big enough for one plant (or maybe one plant each side!?) and a little pump in the middle (like the Interpet/Blagdon ones used to run filter in River Reef Tanks or outdoor water features, 550i). Can be T'd off to run to each side of tank if needed and a few tiddler fish, minnows maybe? in the tank (which can be deep to give the fish space and for movement a tiny little powerhead like the ones for use in CO2 systems).
 
Chad, generally the point of these systems is actually for the plants you are growing rather than the fish tank itself

its mainly a way of downsizing the systems that are used on a much much larger scale for growing crops of fruit, vegetables and salads, anything requiring plenty of water and nutrients.
 
http/hydroponicsequipment.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/aquaponics.jpg
 
Edit:
 
This is a great image for giving a clear picture of how you want it if it were large scale (tilapia!! eesh!! but used as they are a food fish... suppose pangasius would work too )
 
http/www.farmxchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Aquaponics-DIY-manual-infographic.jpg

 

[This Old Spouse]

Whatever the Berlin method is.  
 
MBOU, this piqued my interest because of our ridiculously long winters here. I love green peppers, but we can't grow them because the season is too short.
 
My 55g sits right below a west-facing window that's 60" wide. My hope was to set up a long, skinny planting bed to sit on the windowsill, then I could grow the plants (for eating, not smoking) that I can't grow outside.
 
Biggest problem is trying to find actual plans and techniques. Would one use ceramic media for the plants? 

 

[Chad]

I'm keeping this fish related so I don't have to close an otherwise interesting thread.
 
Here's a quick wicki on the Berlin Method http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Method.
 
The below photo isn't my tank but it does show a good mangrove system.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Interesting, but my tank is FW.

 

[MBOU]

Its a similar method to completely different end goals

 
Berlin Method  (im assuming this is correct) is growing plants/algaes to reduce Nitrates for the benefit of the system.
Aquaponics is to keep fish purely to *create* nitrates to grow the plants you want.
 
Could easily be done TOS

and no to ceramics, you'd use gravel, assumedly the larger diameter river gravel and I believe in some cases, a layer of plant soil too?
 
And is totally fish related Chad Couldn't keep an aquaponics system without fish in it! Its figuring the theory behind it and how to set it up.
 
Dear god... this is dire but same principle...
http/www.ecochunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Goldfish-Garden_1.jpg

 

[Chad]

Interesting, but my tank is FW.

Yes, but the concept works for freshwater as well. It's just more commonly employed in marine due to the composition of the rock.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Its a similar method to completely different end goals

 
Dear god... this is dire but same principle...
http/www.ecochunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Goldfish-Garden_1.jpg

 
A FISH BOWL (Just giving you a little grief.)
 
 
 

Interesting, but my tank is FW.

Yes, but the concept works for freshwater as well. It's just more commonly employed in marine due to the composition of the rock.

Gotcha. 
 
Would a person need some sort of pump to get this going? From the diagram it just looks like a gravity siphon that goes continually, but I can't tell.

 

[MBOU]

That said, for a project that should, technically, be really easy to create, not many people have grasped the concept of the project looking good as well as serving a function, most peoples (when you google images) look really mess to be having indoors...
 
Other thing worth noting is don't do it if you have clean water OCD, the water wont be clear, it will be really murky

 
And yes, just a small simple pump to move the water, it is pumped up to the plant tray where it gravity feeds back down into tank.
 
If it were me, I would go with 3-4ft tank (any less and you wont grow many plants), have a tray or two the length of the tank and either half the width or same width but only half over the tank (need a frame to sit it on) and have a small pump pumping water up a pipe going right up the back to a spraybar putting water across the top tray (containing gravel and plants) that is angled very slightly downwards (so water drains forward through plants) and either holes drilled so it trickles back into tank or 3 holes drilled, three small tank connectors and straight solid pipe doing down into the tank (means you have pipes to look at but no noise ( pipes can be decorated).
 
Reading that makes no sense at all but I can picture it LOL
 
Another thought... think coldwater set up would be better unless you live somewhere warm as the water would cool quickly as it went through plants...

 

[This Old Spouse]

Even without soil?

 

[MBOU]

I assume the soil would be needed for some plants and not others? I assume it would be cleaner without soil... but will limit what you grow?
 
Seems most plants inc tomatoes would be fine in gravel, perlite or expanded clay balls