# Anyone useing hydroponics?



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

I heard a video on this and was wondering if anyone here tried this kind of gardening?

I read you can use fish for fertilizer and you'll have fish for food plus they will feed your plants at same time.

We went over some of this when I took horticulture in college for one semester.Wish now I'd paid more attention to the technique.I was so involved in all the other mind blowing science courses 'Plant Science' and Plant ID being the worst 2.

You can use rain water,plus recycle the water ,so you use less that dirt gardening.

Any good books on this.NOT E BOOKS! i WANT A BOOK IN MY HAND.


----------



## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

Why don't you check your local library for a book? If they don't have it, they can borrow it from another library for you. 

Hydroponics is nice except how are you going to run the system when the power goes out. It is also very sensitive to variables that might be hard to control during SHTF.


----------



## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Try this if you want to just try it and see how you like it. "Hydro Ron" lives in Florida. You can read through the tutorials and look at the pics to help you out. This setup is pretty inexpensive. The costliest thing will be your meters.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

kejmack said:


> Why don't you check your local library for a book? If they don't have it, they can borrow it from another library for you.
> 
> Hydroponics is nice except how are you going to run the system when the power goes out. It is also very sensitive to variables that might be hard to control during SHTF.


Maybe use small solar panel and compost tea,don't know.its worth a try,not much luck last year with our soil garden.We still have them if this fails.Also our lean to greenhouse may help too,chicken manure helps with compost,plus all kinds of leaves around here.I need to rake some up soon to finish filling composters.One is full already and cooking.:dunno::wave:


----------



## Jim1590 (Jul 11, 2012)

Look at the gardening magazines. I looked through one recently that _was_ about gardening, but the ad base was geared towards hydroponics and gym bags that had odor shields to stop dogs and cute young ladies showing the wares.

I actually got an email at work when I was researching LED grow lights (ok so I was hoping to score a free sample for my aquarium) that we might carry for drop ship and I was sent a picture of how well cannabis grows under red LED lighting!

So there is a lot out there about hydroponics, and I bet this info would be useful, just use differing seeds! The fish thing sounds interesting, but if you were thinking they would be a food source you would need quite a large system.


----------



## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Hydroponics in general I am not a big fan of.
Aquaponics is a lot more sustainable and useful in my opinion.
In terms of power consumption, not very much is required. A small solar panel and a little 12v pump, could easily have a barebones system for $100.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

JimMadsen said:


> Look at the gardening magazines. I looked through one recently that _was_ about gardening, but the ad base was geared towards hydroponics and gym bags that had odor shields to stop dogs and cute young ladies showing the wares.
> 
> I actually got an email at work when I was researching LED grow lights (ok so I was hoping to score a free sample for my aquarium) that we might carry for drop ship and I was sent a picture of how well cannabis grows under red LED lighting!
> 
> So there is a lot out there about hydroponics, and I bet this info would be useful, just use differing seeds! The fish thing sounds interesting, but if you were thinking they would be a food source you would need quite a large system.


 I totally agree ! I'd like to learn and get familiar with the plants before I even considered jumping into the fish thing.:2thumb:


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

I did'nt know there was another hydroponics thread because it was'nt mentioned in the title,so this is getting confusing now trying to reply to both,haha.

Exspecting our books anyday now from fed ex.We will be setting up while our seedlings grow to hydroponic size .


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

cowboyhermit said:


> Hydroponics in general I am not a big fan of.
> Aquaponics is a lot more sustainable and useful in my opinion.


That is correct. The two systems work together and feed each other. HOWEVER...



cowboyhermit said:


> In terms of power consumption, not very much is required. A small solar panel and a little 12v pump, could easily have a barebones system for $100.


I believe this is not correct. The pumps needed to keep the fish alive are a lot larger than a person would think. The circulation/flow rate needs to be pretty high to keep the nitrates/nitrites from building up in the fish tank, and to keep enough oxygen in the water.

I read a funny quote a few months back: "When you are getting started in aquaponics, you will soon find yourself to become a serial fish killer". LOL! Keeping the plants alive is easy, but keeping the fish from dying can be difficult.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Also you have to feed the fish.Just keeping them well in a pond was enough for us to not want to deal with fish agin.Not saying its not a good idea for some but until we get very familiar with the hydroponic growing,fish won't be used.


----------



## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Perhaps there is some misunderstanding of the scale I was talking about. I helped someone with an indoor aquaponics setup, it was an aquarium he already had, no airstone just a shallow 30 gallon I think, with a filter providing all the air necessary. We replaced the filter with a small growing bed above fed by a tiny pump, and had a second to circulate in the aquarium for air. The system used very little power and when I checked the gpm I found that my little 12V fountain pumps I use around the farm would work fine (12vDC [email protected] for $10). Even in a 50 gallon tank when run continuously would circulate 4 times per hour for 20watts, more than enough from my experience, of course depending on the type of tank, type of plants, and of course the variety of fish is most important. I have seen examples of people raising them in barrels with similarly low power requirements but barrels have very low surface area in contact with the air and imo are not the best for that reason.
I never understood why people would keep fish as "pets" but at least this way they could provide you with something in return.


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

How good are the nutrients in "compost tea"? 
Enough for plants to thrive on?


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

cowboyhermit said:


> Perhaps there is some misunderstanding of the scale I was talking about.


Yeah... I was thinking of the systems that you can actually grow "edible" fish in, like Tilapia that will grow to full size.

Although...if I had to swallow goldfish as a source of protein, I would have no problem! I would still need a system large enough to supply enough fish, though.


----------



## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

The nice thing about these setups is that they can be very scalable/modular if you want, you can have fish in varied stages of development in different tanks. Fish can definitely be grown to full size in a small tank though, they really don't need a lot of room, of course you want to avoid crowding, especially if you are not doing intensive filtering.
I worked at a research facility years ago and they had huge trout so packed in there it looked like there was hardly any water but they were beautiful and the water was crystal clear. Of course the pumping/filtering equipment was as big as the tank and who knows how much it cost to run.


----------



## bluestocking (Jan 10, 2013)

I do not yet have a set up, but long term I would love to. My husband loves to work with our aquarium fish for fun (not edible unless things REALLY got bad), and we plan to do a small garden setup so we can keep growing in the winter.

I have seen online s new product if you want to start experimenting small scale first: a betta fish tank (fighting fish) that helps feed a small herb garden, big enough for a small patch of plants. Might be worth trying to help get the hang of things, bettas are fairly hardy so long as they don't get too cold (no heater necessary in the tank, but necessary in the room they are in; accidentally killed some when we moved, leaving them in our old unheated apartment while moving other items).


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

LincTex said:


> How good are the nutrients in "compost tea"?
> Enough for plants to thrive on?


Don't have any idea when it comes to hydro requirements.:dunno:But I'm sure it would work IF the compost is well cooked and no mold,mildew or unhealthy bacteria.

Right now we will just use the 'Earth Juice Grow' we bought at Eco,its for hydos.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

LincTex said:


> Yeah... I was thinking of the systems that you can actually grow "edible" fish in, like Tilapia that will grow to full size.
> 
> Although...if I had to swallow goldfish as a source of protein, I would have no problem! I would still need a system large enough to supply enough fish, though.


Koi are suppose to be very good for eating.I hear the Japanese eat them,not sure but this is what I hear.


----------



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Yall want to take this to the 'The Weekly Hydroponics ' thread.May be less back and forth? WWhert,put it up.


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

cowboyhermit said:


> Fish can definitely be grown to full size in a small tank though, they really don't need a lot of room,


Maybe only certain ones will. A lot of them are truly "a product of their environment" and will only grow as large as what they deem they will comfortable in.

My dad used to grow goldfish in the livestock water tank that were over a foot long. I believe Tilapia are the same way.... no room to move = no grow


----------

