Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If so you could hatch cultures of mono sex fish, all female.

At least if you do pee ponics with your own pee, you know what medications you are adding back into your system. And then if you want to avoid contaminating the public drinking water supplies with your own waste, it is best to humanure compost since the "flush toilet" simply sends the waste back into the water supplies hoping that dilution will take care of the problems which we now know that we are running out of dilution supplies as we over populate and over medicate.

I read that and started to cry. Don't know why I'm so emotional today...

DD, you're a crack up! You gave me my first chuckle of the day!

Perhaps you could move to Seattle to get more antidepressants in your drinking water then

TC, I'm not saying don't do it- that is a personal preference- just be aware that you might be adding things that you didn't know you were adding and everyone who eats from the AP system, will also share. Salt is a major issue as it won't leach out and will continue to build in levels that may affect both the plants and future fish and chemicals in an environment that is unable to convert it, will not be able to eradicate it either- your own personal mini water pollution problem.

On a personal note- and you won't like this TC- I think that peeponics injures the image of aquaponics. There is a huge uproar here in Kern county over the fact that human effluent waste sludge is being shipped from Los Angeles and spread over agricultural farm land. According to the source, it is being spread over land used to grow fodder for livestock so it is not a direct link back to humans but it is still causing an major issue and environmentalists are fighting it.
If someone like me, and others, want to grow produce for commercial production- or even the the local farmers market, or to neighbors- using AP growing systems (which I believe will be the future method for growing all above ground vegetables and some fruits), right or wrong- peeponics generates a negative image. It is that "what if" factor- just look at tomatoes when the E=coli scare hit- all tomato growers suffered. One farmer here just plowed his crop under, several $100,000 worth and some lost even more because the tomatoes rotted on the vines- no one would buy them. Just something to think about.

I do understand the whole image side of it being a bit of an issue Angie. Truth, the real problem is that most of the public can be horribly swayed by misguided, misinformed images. Many people really don't understand aquaponics and it some how gets mixed up with ideas that have nothing to do with it.

I'm a strong believer of humanure composting but most people panic over that idea when the reality is proper humaure composting is far better than any sewage treatment plant at removing pathogens. And you don't have the problem of figuring out how to dispose of the sludge that is often mixed with anything else people put down the drain like dangerous chemicals.
Ah well.

As for urine as fertilizer, I can understand that salts will build up around soil plants if constantly fertilized with high concentration urine just as the salts would build up when fertilizing those plants with traditional chemical fertilizers (and manure from certain animals also has high salt content and should only be used in moderation.) Since most Aquaponic systems wind up having to add salts, I'm not seeing how the small amount in urine would cause such a problem. Salts actually do get used up by plants in any sort of ponics system, you just need to keep an eye on things so you don't wind up with too much salt. As to urine causing build up, I did not notice that with the barrel system, After 6 months of operation it was still registering almost no salts when I decided to add some fish to it, I had to add salt for them.

I do see how medications could be a worry but if anyone is gonna get organic certification for their growing practices of any sort, then human urine is not an acceptable source of nutrients anyway and would not be used.

Anyway, I'm not selling my produce or feeding unsuspecting people stuff from my pee ponics system, I've been running it as an experiment that seems to be working just fine.

pissaponics is manly and all, but would this work?
http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.com/ac ... tml?ref=42
I believe that price is for 6 gallons...

I don't think this would be a good idea.
Read the Safety data sheet- it says it's harmful to the environment.
http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/AM/ammonium_hydroxide.html

Anhydrous ammonia is what is used on farms as an efficient and widely used source of nitrogen fertilizer. It breaks down in the soil just as it would in a AP system- same bacterial process. You have to purchase it at a store that deals with farm products but it is common in rural areas.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distributi ... C2326.html

Buying ammonia at the store is a tempting alternative but don't- there are usually purfumes, dyes and surfactants in them.

Okay.... I was sitting on the pot and looking for something to read. I picked up a container of "Zep's Septic System & Cesspool Treatment" It does not say specifically what is in it. It just says it contains "All Natural Enzyme-Producing Bacteria" I would think is would be geared for amonia. Anybody know what Bacteria is in it?
I add it to my waste system every now and then.

That is what I used to start my system. I used the smaller bottle though for my 10 gallon tank (still have half left). It is pure and does not contain any detergent. You can shake it and it will not foam up. I have not yet come across any other ammonia brand that is pure.