Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

IMHO, theory provides the basis for action, but without action, even theorists wouldn't be able to grow their ideas or test them. "actions speak louder than words" you can theorise all you like, but without actually having a go, you are never going to truly achieve anything

Monya, I am not sure what you are saying here. Are you speaking in general, theoretical terms (perhaps using the pronoun 'one'), or are you suggesting that I do not practice what I preach?

Ok, I've read *now Paul, stop that*, he thinks that putting air in the soil is actually harmful. So how does this fit with the results for flood and rain vs continuous flow?

Perhaps air in soil is different from air in water. Perhaps I should read *now Paul, stop that* myself.
But just some thoughts -- since soil is immobile nutrients can only move where there is a water film -- not across an airspace. Also, any air trapped underneath the surface of the soil could become depleted of oxygen fairly quickly with biological activity. Also, very porous soils tend to dry out quickly and change temperature rapidly.

Interesting thread. Lots of questions being raised, ultimately as I read into the posts begging the question of what the ultimate truth is in soil regeneration and biodiversity. AP is a very controlled environment which lends itself fabulously to research of soil regeneration and biodiversity.

I wish I could have ten grow beds all filled with different soils and minerals. The fish being the canary in the coal mine of course..

I don't think we can get away from the inescapeble laws of bio-regeneration here. Soil and plants have only so much natural capacity to store energy that we find adequate solutions in both AP and soil. Can soil store more energy? Is soil necessary when the energy stored is in the water itself? The more diversity there is, the better balanced and stronger the biocycle becomes. Air, anaerobic pockets, rusty nails, dirt, banana peels......worms, it all contributes and I think I need to go take organic chemistry classes to understand it all.

I think that soil methods used by *now Paul, stop that*, in fact soil methods used by anyone, are so far removed from aquaponics that you can't compare them.

Good thoughts! Soil has a much higher concentration of nutrients, and a lower concentration of water (hence my original post to this thread). If you provide sufficient water to soils they become much more fertile. The trick is to do so without spending lots of energy.



Exactly. And more we understand about soil regeneration in AP the more chance we have of improving soil based agriculture.



But you can! Just make them smaller...



How could we measure the storage capacity of soil (and AP water)? An obvious (but possibly wrong) experiment would be to fill equal volumes with soil and gravel + AP water. Then only topping up the water, see which plants grow the furthest. This could be done at the level of a 1 gallon pot.