Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oh lol, sorry to reply to myself; but I just noticed I'm at 49 posts.... Does this one make me "Not-A-Newbie"?

BTW, nobody steal my I'm gonna make bzillions idea, those are MY bzillions

I have had some ideas along the same lines. The difficulties of using the aquarium directly are:
1- Light to the roots
2- fish eating the roots
3- either spraying or ultrasonic dispersion of fish water.
4- Feeding your fish

Possible solutions:
1- dual chambers, put in a hood that lights your fish and allows you to feed your fish, then have a seperate aeroponic root chamber.
2- if you have high-pressure pump, then you can use the same pump for nutrient dispersal as you are using for filtering the UGF, otherwise, you will need 2 pumps
3- You may need to suck in additional outside air - probably through the venturi.

Yes, it would be dual chamber, that's why i spaced that on the sketchup.
It should be one pump for the whole thing, with the top being removable for cleaning, and a few inches on one side for feeding/testing/whatever.
It would also have a venturi on the pump on its way up to the top container, spilling to the other side a couple inches from the top of the container.

I've actually found a pretty good write-up on building your own aquarium (glass in front only), that I was thinking of extending/reworking to meet my needs for prototyping:
http://www.garf.org/140.gallon.html
Throw an extra shelf on top of that, throw in a UGF leading to a storage-bin with net pot holes cut in the top and a drainage on the far-side back to the tank. Something like that for testing anyway...

bhsx - I like it. But the gazillions are mine.

SERIOUSLY!

Got much nicer designs but there you have it, I share, the greedy turn up.

This is mine, my years spent, my every penny spent.

And there's already a US patent pending, sorry.

So enjoy the DIY and sharing nature of the forum, but find your cash cow through your own efforts.

Hehe, OK, no probs there

On a side note:
I don't think it's greedy to take an idea to market, I'm sure you weren't implying that I was, based on my own musings about gzillions.

I might have to argue that trying to patent an ecosystem (with some help) IS greedy. If it truly is the case that you have a patent pending, then you spent a lot of money on that, and I wish you well. If you haven't, I'd ask you to rethink that, as it would be detrimental to the world as a whole if such a patent were granted.

I'm sure you weren't throwing names around, nor am I; but it would be A Bad Thing imho if such a patent were ever approved.
Please take this with no offense, as none was intended.

Looks good. If you want to get the full aeroponic effect, you will need a high-pressure, high volume pump. If you want to get the DWC effect, then the pump should be great with a venturi to bring in extra oxygen to the system.

I'm not the one with the patent, it's another person who followed and adapted my work. I don't mind people using this, why do you think I posted it here and elsewhere. The person wishing to patent really has done his part to contribute to the idea, though.

I do object to folks seeing this tech as their personal consumerist salvation.

I agree, this is a gift to the world, for people to feed themselves or those less fortunate. Or you'd have never seen it till it hit your local shop.

My business is all about introducing AP to New Zealand as we know nothing of it at present, then my business will be all about some other green tech, like bio-digestors.

My priorities are pretty sorted, I just don't have much faith in human nature.

That's how I feel about the US. We have no info or product availability on this subject. I'd say thank goodness they're finally starting to teach it a bit in a FEW rural schools here. IMO it should be taught to students everywhere, ESPECIALLY in urban and suburban environments where it can do unimaginable good to a large percentage of our population and weaken our reliance on distribution channels and food miles.

Green's the way to go, but we're ignoring it completely here. It's a complete shame. We aren't on a water ration as much of the world is. We see lakes everywhere and think nothing of it. Our freshwater is finite, and noone here seems to realize it.

Love it AA, Great work!

hey AA, don't sweat it about the patent application, you're the man...

part from that I don't think he has a snowflakes chance in hell...

I could post you a hundred different pictures of commercially available hydro systems (aero or otherwise) that use the same basic principle as in bhsx's suggestion, just they use a poly/fibreglass "tank" rather than an aquarium

and while I'm certainly not taking anything away from your efforts, the dutch bato pot and similar ideas/concepts have been around for donkeys.

If we looked through all the posts on this forum I reckon we would find a myriad of different applications of similar systems and concepts all with "new" tweaks and refinements such as your system.

Great work mate.... bugger the scammers I say

Well said. We're all standing on the shoulders of giants here.
That said, I really like the satellite concept too. The one thing that really strikes me about satellites in DWC is the versatility.
First example that strikes me is the ability to say, have a tank in your basement with a sump pump capable of a great head pumping to satellites all throughout your home, for consumption or for just plain looking fab (if that's what you're into).

I can think of several different versions, as the concept seems more "stable" if that's the right word.

ROZ, true but they managed to somehow patent the ecocity farm on the new inventors. As a system it is unique but the build it is just using off the shelf items.

I don't mind when non-obvious inventions are patented... good for them as long as there is a market for it. I am not out to make money on aquaponics so if I build a homebrew version of someones patented idea, and don't sell it I think I should be allowed to do that. If they are on here I would seek thier permission of course.

I'd say that I'm against patenting anything like this, however, if the patent is simply on their implementation, and not the concept, then it can be worked around easily and most people would naturally not duplicate it anyway.

I don't think that patents are bad, I think they're being completely abused.
Patents for concepts, methods, chemical combinations or math should not exist (imo, of course), patents for devices or truly novel ideas should be granted after thorough examination.

I mean "chemical combinations" as anything really, whether it be a new dynamite or HIV drug.

Could you imagine if someone sent cease and desist letters to all the forum members for infringing on someone's patent?
I think there are at least a couple members that make a living off aquaponics, so even if we're only talking about "commercial" implementations, it would have a ridiculously negative impact.

You're kidding me aren't you TimC... how and what exactly did Ecocity patent??.... the concept of AP or their dinky di ferris wheel??

Thought it was bad enough to have claimed they "invented" AP...

but a patent??? How???