All the things! Radishes, strawberries, chocolate mint, cilantro, garlic, maybe a carrot too. And the fig tree is putting on new buds.

I’ve been trying to google it all day but haven’t really found a definitive answer. I have multiple fish tanks that I’ve successfully grown pothos from. I received my Etsy order of a bunch of philodendrons but I’m trying to find out if it’s better to start the plant out in aquaponics or let it mature a little while longer in soil for better chances of transitioning?

Sorry if this is easily found in a guide on this subreddit, I almost posted to the planted aquariums subreddit and thought to try here first.

I recently saw a video on Youtube about aquaponics which got me thinking that it could make self-sufficiency easier, then I saw a video where a guy had an aquaponic system off-grid and said it required too much maintenance. I love the idea of the symbiotic relationship where the fish helps the plants grow and I can get 90% of my food straight from there.

Tilapia seems to be the fastest growing fish that works well in this system however most nights where I live get to below 60f which is the temp they seem to die at. Not to mention the pumps and filters and general upkeep of these systems don't seem to fit in an off-grid system for a guy who works full-time.

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I guess my questions are:

1. would a greenhouse work to keep the heat in so the fish don't die or would adding a water heater be the better choice?
2. I know how to make a homemade water filter but would those even work for a system like this?
3. is evaporation a big issue for you guys or am I trying to work my brain too hard?
4. How long do your pumps last?
5. Would it be smarter to use one big tank or a few smaller ones?
6. how big of a tank / how many tanks would you say it was take to be well fed while keeping maintenance to a minimal?
7. how many hours a day/week would you say you have to put into maintaining your system?
8. how much money goes into it?

Overall, it seems like a great idea, being able to grow protein and greens together with little waste but is it too good to be true? I need this to be an off-grid system or at least be able to transfer it into an off-grid system and with that I've been seeing it seems very difficult to make that happen.

Edit: I figure if this ends up working out, I can use a small solar panel to charge the pump and keep it running and subsidize my diet with eggs, fruit, and goat milk along with the veggies and fish. Along with rain water collection and a wood gasifier I'd be set for life granted I purchase enough replacement parts.

Also wondering if earthworms and duckweed would be enough to keep the tilapia well fed or if there were any other plants I should grow alongside the system to give them a healthy diet?

As a kid I used to have a few live terrariums which thrived, but now as an adult I'm looking into aquaponics which I'd like to construct in my garage.

I have a 320 gallon tank that I'm looking to use as a fish tank. I'd have live plants, snails, shrimp, plecos, and tilapia in the tank. I plan to provide good cover on the bottom of the tank as shelter for these others from the tilapia. The grow bed would be 32sq ft to account for the 320 gallons. I'd likely only have about 5-10 tilapia in the tank.

My questions are...

Is a solids catching tank necessary if I have snails, shrimp, plecos and live plants to clean up the excess solid waste in the fish tank?

How bad will the smell be, in general? My garage stays closed most of the time.

I don't plan on eating the fish unless in some emergency situation. Will they breed in the tank and overpopulate? To avoid, should I get all male or all female tilapia?

Thanks in advance!

Ive seen videos of folks farming redclaw crayfish using grow out mud ponds (and I don't even see any air systems) and they seem to harvest quite well.

On the other hand, all the RAS systems talk about keeping the PPC below 50.

Id imagine in the muddy clay pond the PPC is above 50. So what's the ideal condition? Cause it does look like they grow up to big sizes in the clay pond than they do in clean water systems.

Anyone who keeps red claws can comment please?

What are some good economical and ecological substrates to start seeds? They will be transplanted into both net pots in DWC and media beds.

Hi everyone,

I am working on a small project to design an MBBR and I was wondering if anyone would have a detailed product datasheet of the K1 media and could share it?

I have tried all websites possible to find a datasheet that would list the total surface area and total volume of the media (not protected surface area) but so far I find varying information ranging from 800 - 1200 m2/m3 for the media and I wanted to cross verify my information. I would also like to know their porosity/void fraction but this data is barely available in all datasheets I find online.

I have also tried to contact various suppliers but their datasheets always mention only the protected surface area but I would like to know the total surface area for my knowledge. I have also contacted AnoxKaldnes but they did not reply to my emails.

If anyone has this datasheet please do share it and I would be super grateful!

Is there any creative way to prevent poop from accumulating in corners of my IBC? I have a SLO in the middle, and a settlement tank that works great. Every day I get a ton of poop trapped in the corners.

Hey all!

I've been using the 5000k 4000 lumen basic version of this RGB Smart Garage Light as a grow light for my kratky tomato setup. It's been working really well so far (no tomatoes yet, but they went from seed to 2 feet tall in like a month and a half), but it's been a hassle having to manually turn it on and off at the start/end of the day. This might be a dumb question, but the RGB Version shows the same lumen count, so arguably would it be better for growing since I could tune the light to specific temperatures? Plus I could schedule it to turn on and off.

What are your thoughts? Ofc a grow-specific light would be ideal, but 25$ for a low-power and low-stress option feels pretty great to me.

Thanks in advance!

In an ebb and flow aquaponics system, how long should it take for the grow bed to fill with water before it begins draining? Also is it best for the bed to drain as quickly as possible once the bell siphon starts?

We (some friends and I) are planing to build a system [ibc fish-tank, radial flow setteler, small moving bed filter, 3 grow bed (expanded clay) in a small green house, sumptank] Does anyone have experience running a system all year-round in centraleurope (northern Switzerland)? And which fish are you using?

110 gal pond, ~50 gallon grow bed (expanded clay pebbles)

I plan on getting koi from a friend and using that water to bring in some water with ammonia, nitrite, nitrate already and pouring into pond and combining that with water change water from my 90 gallon cichlid tank.

This should get me to more than 50% of the pond and from there I will salt and dechlorinate the remainder of the water needed. Of course I plan on acclimating the koi with the cichlid water as well before placing in pond.

My question is will beneficial bacteria from water alone be enough to colonize the grow bed or should I take some media from my 407 Fluval to help colonize faster. I read the beneficial bacteria can double in less than a day. Would love some peoples advice on how to tackle the bacteria issue.