Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have been considering this idea for a while now, Aeroaquaponics

at the moment all i am trying to do is get the seeds to germinate.
on the weekend i will gat some seedlings and add to the polystyrene.

the lid is a sheet of polystyrene with slits cut in the top, in this i have seed pouches made from folded shade cloth which hold the seeds.

the sump in am old hydro box which fill 1/8 full and then drain back into the main sump.

i have 200lt of air being pumped just below the surface which creates a mist, this mist goes to the top of the polystyrene lid and catches there. It only runs when the main pump is turned on which allows the seeds to dry out when not running. I tried using a ultrasonic humidifier to creact the mist but the fish poo and solids kept blocking the input to the humidifier and causing it to stop.

if anyone have any ideas or comments would be appreciated

I have a bubble bucket hooked up with hanging net pots with gravel in them. Will be making a larger version with the water looped into the system water. And use an overflow so I can keep the water at the best hight. Will probably just feed it from a GB overflow so the water will slowly be changed. So far the air stones keep a lot of the water in the air and the added o2 means the roots will still be okay if they end up in the water. The only other way is to have the mister set up inside the container above the water level and use clean water to create the mist. Have one I was going to use to help start NFT seedlings but have to use clean water to stop it from clogging.

The problem with aero/AP is the amount of filtering required. Even then, the biofilm will get everywhere

Yep, solids and filtering is the issue... and for a few pots... and/or some seedlings ...

Is it worth the effort...as opposed to just setting up a F&D growbed and direct sowing???

Duff

Trying to do it without air input from CHIFT. Bit of a crap pic from a system I an working on, 20litre buckets drop on a larger pipe to air vent bottom of a bucket, still got to see if I can get air round the bend .
Two feeds off to enable the water height to vary as plant grows. Might be ok for tomatoes because of their large roots.
Ruins you normally vary the water level in the 'bucket' to allow higher for starting and lower for developed plants.

Hmm had a think about that, won't work, back to the passive venturi idea

If aero could be proved viable for ap, it should maximise the planting potential for a small/micro system with a few fish as aero needs less of everything.
The complexity plus the chance of something packing up and killing your plants in a few short hours is the negative side
I figure a spinning disc to atomize the spray instead of using pumps and nozzles would be a good option for ap aero. It would reduce the clogging issues and needs less fine filtering. To get 50um droplets from a fogging/misting nozzle you`d need around a 5 bar pump (75psi), a spinning disc isn`t any easier as it needs to be spinning at 10,000rpm

I'm working on building my own bubble bucket but i plan on trying humonia version by filling the bottom with lava rock. I also plan on having at least 4 maybe 5 air stones for a 50 gal rubbermaid container with 2 plants. I figure the high o2 levels in the water will allow for optimum bacterial conversion of ammonia and maximize plant root growth.

Just be easy on the humonia though.... bubbling a high concentration of ammonia onto the roots might "burn" them...

I agree - I've always intended to build an aeroponics part to my AP system one day and a spinning disk is the only way to go in my opinion.

No bubbles.

Only noticed today that the lettuce and tomatoes that I put in the bubble bucket have handled the heat better than any of the other plants.

VB, I think it would need to be run alongside a standard system as the 5 sec on and 20 min off aero cycle isnt too useful for bacteria. Power usage is quite low at 15 seconds per hour.

A silent 10k rpm motor isnt easy to find so i`ve been playing around with a sealed 40w, 1300rpm greenhouse fan motor, some pulleys (10:1 stepup) and a model boat propshaft to transfer the power to the disc

Yep - definitely just one element of the system and using water that has already been through the beds.

So what sort of design disk are you thinking of using?

I still have a really old vaporizer that I remember mom putting in the bedroom when I was sick as a kid. It isn't silent though, it's pretty loud actually but somehow usually didn't stop a sick kid from sleeping. It is a motor with a spinning disk and shaft that sits on top of the tank and there is a nozzle for the vapor to leave the tank.

I'm sure such a thing would need often regular cleaning but I know of no other way to manage vapor from AP water without constant clogging/buildup issues.

It the point is to simply start seeds, can I recommend a pretty simple alternative (this is especially effective for getting seeds started for NFT or DWC since you can do it in situ as such.) In my hydroponic growing days, I thought it was such a pain to get seeds started within the net pots (or my cheap version of yogurt cups with holes) because they would always dry out. It was really tedious to start the seeds separately and transfer them into the net pots and then keeping them alive until their roots grew down into the nutrient was a challenge too. Then I discovered using rayon mop strings as wicks.

Now, I can fit a net pot or yogurt cup with a half a rayon mop string. I usually fold it in half and tie a knot in it. I poke the loose ends through the holes in the cup and the looped end I position so it comes up as high as I want to place the seed within the cup. I fill in around the string with media (gravel or perlite) and then I can simply place the cup in the trough so the strings hag into the water and then I place a seed in contact with the loop of mop string which wicks just enough moisture up to germinate the seed without rotting it. This works very well with lettuce and I've started 4 pomagranite trees this way too.

Thanks guys
I do like the idea of the spinning disk, it would be very easy to hook up a solar powered system with a propeller, maybe if I make a mark II, but as the setup is i don’t see how the biofilm will build up. The system is covered so i should get blockages, the in and out flow is 19mm and all of the seed pouches are getting water when the pump is on,

I decided on using the air as I have see other system running successfully producing large amounts of soft herbs.

after day 2 i am still pretty happy with the design, time will tell will keep posting,...... fingers crossed