# Planted Tank Aquaponics



## newpatch36 (Sep 7, 2010)

Maybe this is a long shot, but has anyone on here experimented with aquaponics? 

I enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy my planted tank and was thinking the other night that its gotta be possible to grow some herbs and lettuces using aquarium water as the main nutrient source. How awesome to have the herbs grown so close to home!

In my preliminary research I came across:

Windowfarms

And this article linked to their sight. The floating plants kinda remind me of what Hydrophote is doing. Devin any input here, you grown any edibles with your system.

Also a brief video of a vertical aquaponic set-up (as opposed to the floating style)

Any thoughts on how you'd set-up something like this would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Nic


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## drlower (Dec 14, 2010)

ive thought about this as well. i grow a garden every year and also have a 5000 gallon or so pond. i have thought about using some sort of pots susperded in a tray that would have water from the pond cycled through it. i have experimented with watering plants with tank water and the results are great. have also thought about something inside like what you found.


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## newpatch36 (Sep 7, 2010)

drlower, ditto, I water house plants with my aquarium water, which is part of what got me thinking along these lines.

Just came across an art project Farm Fountain which accomplishes exactly what I'm talking about. Except I'd be designing mine a bit smaller scale, can't have 100 Gallon tank in my apartment...

Other thoughts?


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## Baadboy11 (Oct 28, 2009)

Someone on here sells reparium pots that stick inside the tank, that are basically net pots. Probably work really well for lettuce or something. I've thought about trying this too.


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

I had some oregano growing on my plant wall for a while. It got overgrown by the other plants, but while it was still going strong, it smelt good and I used some of it a time or two. There is some info in my journal linked in my signature if you want to look at it more.


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## newpatch36 (Sep 7, 2010)

Yeah I've seen Hydrophote's riparium pots, and I'd imagine that could work, though the reading I've been doing on aquaponics suggest techniques other than full submersion of the plant. Plus I'd like to have a bit more room than just the back edge of my aquarium.

Keep the ideas coming.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

You get the added bonus of being able to use mulm collected during water changes. Whenever I squeeze and rinse filter media in tank water, I let the mulm settle, dump out most of the water, and dump the rest into ailing potted plants. Good results so far.


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## newpatch36 (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks Yikesjason, thats a pretty rad plant wall and awesome looking tank in general :thumbsup:. Is it still up and running. I wonder how lettuces and other herbs would fare in that setup?

Nic


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## GoodwillTKE (Dec 30, 2010)

I would be concerned about additives. For example, I am pretty sure water conditioners for removing chlorine/chloramine say on the bottle something along the lines of they are not for use on water being treated for plants that will be eaten.

I would imagine same goes for any other med/chemical treatment you may do on the tank.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I found the biggest problem with using our ripariums to grow plants normally grown outdoors, especially plant that flower and fruit, is the limited light we have. Sunlight is many times brighter than any of our aquarium lights, and most flowering/fruiting plants need that light or they just don't flower or fruit. Lettuce might work, but I doubt it, because lettuce normally grows in full sunshine.

Edible plants normally grown in shade, and I don't know of any, might do fine in a riparium.


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## majstor76 (Jun 11, 2010)

I had some Mentha Aquatica in my mini pond (now its overwintering in the indoor aquarium). Never used it since i have mentha (terrestrial version) in some other place and have lost of leaves for tea. But , every time im at pond i pick up some leaves and rub it in my hands. Smells nice


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## newpatch36 (Sep 7, 2010)

Awesome, thanks for all the input everyone. I'm definitely gonna tackle this in the next couple months. I think I'll imitate the Farm Fountain system, just on a smaller scale. (See picture below)

I'll combine my 10 Gallon tank and probably 3 2liters stacked vertically. 
From what I've read 10 Gallons can support 1 square foot of gardening space, and I think the 2 liters would get me close to that. * Do you think an Eheim classic would have the power to pump water up to the top of the stack of 2 liters, or would it totally loose its vacuum?
* 
Seems like leafy greens and herbs are the best bet. Root crops and fruiting plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc) are pretty tough in a hydroponic system long term, though it can be a good way to get your summer veggies started.

I've come across some pretty good resources if anyone else is interested in tackling something similar. 

Still open to thoughts and suggestions.


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## Baadboy11 (Oct 28, 2009)

Keep us posted! I've been throwing similar ideas around in my head for awhile.


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## majstor76 (Jun 11, 2010)

newpatch36 said:


> I've come across some pretty good resources if anyone else is interested in tackling something similar.


Post some links, just to see what is all about.
If Eheim would not push water so high i would just buy a powerhead. For 20$ you can buy Atman 500gph. Some of that would reach 2m mark


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

there shouldnt be a harder time with peppers or tomatoes its just about doing it right. there are a few ways u can do this flood and drain, drip line, aeroponicly, they all have there +/-. you can use gutters that are capped, a rubbermaid tub or just another tank it really is going to depend on how big you want this and what method are u doing to use to grow. the hardest thing imo is designing how u want it to effectively use the light source. go to your local hydro store and just talk to them they normally will help u even if ur just looking for ideas.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

We have a guy in our local club that's doing this

here's a link to a site he used
http://diyaquaponics.com/


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## drlower (Dec 14, 2010)

thought of something after the fact here. what if you place strawberry pots above the tank maybe sitting on a metal grate and just pumped water up tp them with a small pond pump. strawberry pots have holes for planting all around the sides.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Just an FYI, 99% of the dechlorinators we use are "not approved for use with fish for human consumption". I do not know why, but would suspect that it would apply to the plants grown in it too.

One that is known safe is Chloram-X which is used by fish farms and such.


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## newpatch36 (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks for the heads up on the dechlorinator. Someone else mentioned that earlier, and I took a look at my bottle and sure enough: "Not intended for use with fish intended for human consumption." I did some cursory research and hadn't come up with any suitable options so I appreciate the tip. 

As for useful resources. Heres a good overview of different aquaponics set ups, and several design options. Most of the examples I've seen so far of home fish tanks use the Flood & Drain method with a grow bed placed just above the tank. Seems successful, but it would really limit access to the fish tank, and I don't find it very aesthetically pleasing. So I think I'll do something more like the Windowfarms which uses an airlift pump to deliver water to the top of a column of bottles. Water then drips down through the bottles filled with grow media and nurtures the plants. 

Just trying to figure out the best way to incorporate this system with my tank. The airlift pump could be good, but I feel like it would add a lot of tubes and clutter to my tank. I suppose a water pump could work...

If anyone else has bright ideas on how to lift freshly filtered water 4-5ft. up to the top of the column please chime in. 

:fish:


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

i wouldnt use a airlift(normally wouldnt work) tube but a small pump instead will give u more height to work with when pumping water, also because its basicly a drip line system(what i prefer) you have to make sure that the line doesnt get clogged by sediment/debris. also when doing pots that are hanging with a light sorce on one side u have to make sure they are heavy enough to not get top heavy from the plant trying to lean to the light(idk what ur growing though) might/mightnot be a factor.


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## phoesnox (Jan 9, 2013)

*My planted tank and aquaponics*

This is quite an old post so I am not sure if anyone is still interested. I have set up a 50 gallon planted tank with an aquaponics system and have tomato plants growing and recently flowering indoors. I don't yet have any fruit on the plants but fingers are crossed.

My planted tank has in it barbs, gouramis, plecos and angel fish. I have not had to change any water since I set the tank up on October last year. Ph is a bit high at 7.8 but ammonia is right on the button.

The biggest issue I have had is lighting. Initially this was simply not bright enough and I have had to up the wattage and mix the temperatures to get to where I am now. The aquaponcs system is using two 60 watt 5,000K compact flourescents and two 40 watt 2,500 k compact flouros. The tank has two 40 watt compact flouros (5,000 k) and two 40 watt compact fluoros (2,500 K). The tank is growing some water plants OK, fermns are indicating that there is too little carbon dioxide by growing lots of roots out of the leaves but everything else is growing OK. 

I am about to set up a 1.5 metre tank with a bigger grow bed to grow lettuces, rocket and basil, all of which apparently need less light than tomatoes. This tank will have vastly improved lighting and I will be using a CO2 system to force the CO2 into the water. The tank also have a proper substrate and be planted out more professionally. The existing tank is using only sand.

In the existing tank I use an Eheim Classic 600 filter to pump the water up to the grow bed which has a bell siphon and drains every four minutes or so. In the new tank i am planning to use a pump and a secondary bin to decant the water using a siphon system (wife insists that only the tank should be visible in the lounge so all the aquaponics will be behind a door in a spare room).


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

How are you pollinating the flowers on your maters? Without that you get no fruit.


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## cheesehead (Jun 13, 2007)

OverStocked said:


> Just an FYI, 99% of the dechlorinators we use are "not approved for use with fish for human consumption". I do not know why, but would suspect that it would apply to the plants grown in it too.


Blame the lawyers. (Yeah, and I'm married to one. :icon_roll ) 

The standard ingredient in dechlorinators, sodium thiosulfate, is pretty safe. If I'm reading things correctly, it's not recognized as hazardous. 

I'd worry more about bacteria from the tank than the dechlorinator.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Same thing with fish feed. Plants not so much though. In some countries they use human waste. Then we import that and eat it.


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