Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I made a CO2 / Wine generator for my planted aquarium because I was told it was necessary for healthy plants. I just took a liter bottle of apple cherry juice, added a 1/2 cup of sugar and wine yeast. I drilled a small hole in the lid and pulled an aquarium hose through it (it was tight and sealed). I put an air stone on the other end of the hose and put it in my aquarium. In just 6 days the aquatic plant I put in there grew over 2 feet. When the CO2 stopped the growth slowed.

What I am getting at is, what if I sealed plastic around the grow bed and ran my blow-off hose from my 3 barrel fermenter into the grow bed. I wonder what the results will be in conjunction with the aquaponic system?

That gives me something else to design... crap!
a grow bed right outside my meadery (winery) with a wooden frame wrapped and sealed in plastic and have the CO2 exhaust from the fermenter going into the grow bed. Then take the yeast sediment and dehydrate it to meed the fish. I wonder if I could have a long enough grow bed to scrub all the CO2 out before it reaches the other end. CO2 is heavier than air, so just have a small vent in the top at the opposite end the CO2 comes in.

I like the idea, just would need your airation done with good clean air for the fish and not sure how the bacteria in the growbeds would breath. I know my 6 gallon fermenter puts out a lot of Co2
3barrel fermenter

Johnny

Land plants need O2 and CO2 at the roots and the foliage. Your gb has bacteria which need O2. CO2 is able to be absorbed by water better than O2 which is returned to your FT.
Plants use CO2 during the day and O2 at night.
Nice thought but IMHO not a good idea

Using a fan to mix the CO2 with the air so it gets to the stoma (essentially gas intake ports) in the leaves (or other green tissues) would probably work well; I don't think that land plants take in CO2 in their roots. Water plants, as you have noted, would benefit a lot from extra CO2 in the water during the day.

This is one place where a solar cell would be a good idea -
Have a solar powered fan to circulate the CO2 to the plants when the sun is shining.
Maybe have a solenoid valve for the exhaust for the meadery that is only open when the sun is shining....

Interesting thought.
But as to exhausting it into the water, your aquatic plants did very well, but were probably under constant light. That would not be the case here. That could cause some pH fluctuations that could cause problems for your fish...

Over winter i run a Nat Gass heater [ open flame] in the closed up glass house the air pump for the whole system is high up in the Glass house and the plants do well is it the heat or the co2 !

Upping CO2 levels in commercial greenhouses to increase production is a common practice.

And the rise in CO2 on a planetary basis is causing acidification of the oceans, as CO2 mixed with water = carbolic acid. No reason this would not happen in an AP system, probably with bigger swings too, as the smaller the system the less stable.

Higher co2 is only really useful with higher light levels and with all the pollution we have a lot less light intensity today than we used to get

Well, as far as my aquatic plants, I turn the light on in the morning and turn it off when I go to bed.
I may make a small frame for my experimental aquaponics system and put clear plastic over it and seal it up with tape and have the blow off hose from a small 3 gallon fermenter going into it. I am about to make a cyser. I may wait until I get it set up to make my cyser, so I can use it.

It is funny you mention this, because I have been wondering if I could use plants under grow lights to filter the CO2 out. I need to figure it out now, because you can bet they will tax the he11 out of my winery one day for CO2 emmisions...

Hydro yes, AP IMHO no.
Whether it would be worth it with the lights pulling power I'm not sure. Carbon capture v carbon use v value of crop.

Don't sweat the carbon tax stuff, if you run a vineyard on biological farming principles, you should be sequestering more carbon than you're emitting. Our various ag depts (extension agencies) are doing much research on this right now, as Oz will be hugely affected by any carbon tax / carbon trading scheme if/when implemented. Google Dr. Christine Jones and soil carbon if interested.

Yeasts are theoretically capable of producing large amounts of CO2 per kg of sugar mcfarm. Some bureaucratic idiot will eventually work this out, might be prudent to plan ahead

Probably get a carbon tax on bread eventually

FYI:

The current CO2 level of 386 ppm is not far above the 200 ppm level at which plants stop growing because of carbon dioxide starvation. Nurserymen know this and use gas burners to increase the CO2 level in their greenhouses and plant nurseries to 1,000 ppm or more. If the atmosphere reached this level there would be massive improvement in plant growth, with benefits for the whole environment. There is no danger to humans at this level - the CO2 levels in submarines may reach 8,000 ppm without problems for humans, and our exhaled breath has about 40,000 ppm of CO2.

So much for that global warming crap...

FYI:

Evidence of co2 tolerance does not disprove global warming. It is simply evidence co2 tolerance.
And a "massive improvement in plant growth" could be like uncontrolled mint in your AP system.

Any more "crap" arguments against global warming?