aquaphonics youtoob link

[woof woof woof]

[Foo]

Ive been interested to set one of these up for a while. Dont have the space or the cash to do so though

[danshaman]

;http://vimeo.com/19105346

the full video is here

i was in the proccess of setting a system up but hit a brick wall hopefully will be back on track soon

[Kee]

You just ended my uni study for today... DAMN YOU!!

[teonanacatl]

I like aquaponics but do heed what I have to say. My background is with growing plants, my brother's background is in aquaculture.

Aquaponics systems can be expensive to setup and run and fish can be quite temperamental in their requirements especially in a small scaled down ecosystem. Fish kills are a large part of aquaponics and generally speaking the fish and keeping them alive are the most expensive part of the setup. The fish need food which can be exxy, or you can grow your own. Google black soldier fly larvae.

A lot of the research done into aquaponics utilised tilapia, the workhorse of the international aquaculture industry, a practically bulletproof fish and declared pest in QLD. Tilapia will live in very poor quality water and eat anything, as well as they they have a good growth rate. Everything you want in a low maintenance fish. Most aus natives are much much harder to work with.

Good aspects of aquaponics:

- Great if you have shitty sandy soil that wont hold water or nutrients.

- Produce both fish and good quality organicish plants.

- Cool setup to show the ladies ;)

Bad aspects:

- Not as productive as hydroponics.

- Can be expensive.

- There are a lot of scammers in the aquaponics industry.

I would start an aquaponics setup for the following reasons, otherwise Id go looking elsewhere to either hydroponics, vermiponics or just to regular old dirt gardening.

- If I had loads of fish and wanted to reduce the nutrient load in the effluent and make money.

- If I wanted to grow my own fish, the veges would be an aside to the fish.

- If I had really really poor soils with no easy access to multch, shit and other things required to make a more conventional vegetable garden.

- If you have lots of money to blow and want something cool to show off.

I guess for me fish have never been expensive as Ive always caught my own and lots of them. For others it may be cheaper and better to grow their own.

One last thing, most commercial systems are nutrient film or deepwater culture setups. Most people selling to backyard growers push flood and drain style setups.