Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Dears
i will try aqain to refresh my nft system but i have 7_10 quesions i hope to find good answers from proffesinal members in .
this site..

1:can we use cow manure with worms to make calcuim and potasum to the system?

i wouldn't put worms that have been in cow manure in the system
i wouldn't put cow manure in the system..
try putting all your questions in one post

for calcium you can add eggshells, for potassium a banana will help..
red wiggler (composting) worms in your growbeds are a plus

Ok iwill write them all later

thank you

You never ever mix land animal matter with aquaculture (with the exception of composting worms)

2 what is the elemenst comes from fish water ,let us say there is no fish in the world what we will use to get that elements(not hedroponic) for our plants.

3is that necessary to make greenhouse for my NFT and is that necessary for plants to be under direct sun light?


4 i have 8×4 space will it be some investment to make money

5can other bad bacteria live in NFT

Salam va laikum va rahmatullah ya Bakir, ahlain va sahlain fee aquaponics akhee.

The main element you get from fish waste is nitrate, though many trace minerals are also present. basically everything that was present in the fish food will be in the waste, it will be mainly nitrogen heavy though.

If there are no fish in the world we can use any organic waste matter to produce nutrient for our plants. Hydroponic exactly the same as aquaponics, the only difference is that the nutrient is a synthetic chemical solution in hydroponics and a natural nutrient created by the naturally occurring nitrogen cycle in fish waste. Any organic waste or matter will decay the same way, we might have to anaerobically create nutrient from other viable organic matters, but even something as simple as urine, human or otherwise as long as we know the supplier has not been ingesting any harmful chemicals and is not carrying any diseases. That is what I have always loved about aquaponics so much, it's not really a "technology" or an "advance" or anything, it is merely a method to take advantage of the perfect complimentary and symbiotic system of nature that Allah has created, Subhanallah.

A greenhouse is not "necessary", depends on your weather conditions. NFT or any other system can be kept outdoors if the weather will allow the plants to grow and not heat the fish tank too much, a simple shade can be enough solar protection. I see you are from Amman, from what I can assume of the weather conditions I think people do most of their agriculture there under high tunnels or in greenhouses to shade from the heat, you would have to do exactly the same. Note that shade and an enclosed space within which you can control temperature, eliminate rain, snow, wind and rain, and protect from harmful pests will always be better than growing under open sky. For example, birds will come and eat all your ripe vegetables, leave the growing ones and defecate all over your space. A greenhouse is a very good way to protect against this.

Direct sunlight is also needed only if the plants you are growing need it. People have had great success growing under 80% shade cloth though. Also, there is a lot of growers feedback that when you use long pipes for NFT or pipe based growth the water tends to heat up a lot in them going from end to end.

an 8 X 4 space, if in meters its a good growing space and you can grow enough to comfortably put someting on the table every day for a family of four. If in feet then still quite a decent space, can put greens on the table every night for four and vegetables a couple of days a week for the same. Won't make any money from that space though unless running costs are low and you have a ready high price market easily available; even in that case you'll only make enough to cover costs and a bit more not enough to pay for the capital costs anytime within 2 years as per the available literature. However, if you use all recycled or free parts thereby practically eliminating your capital costs, and again you have a ready market that will pay top dollar for your produce, then it will pay for itself relatively quickly and you can make some money in the first year even.

Bad bacteria can live everywhere. The trick is, as nature does, to find a balance where conditions are created allowing the beneficial bacteria to thrive more than the non-beneficial bacteria. There is no "good" or "bad" bacteria, they all do different things, we just need a specific one for aquaponics. Their names are Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, if I am not mistaken. They turn ammonia based organic waste matter from ammonia into nitrite, and then in nitrate, which fish are tolerant to upto large concentrations and plants can use readily as nutrient for green growth.

Thank you abdul .i am from zarqa .but tell me is there many proffesnal in aquaponic in ksa

I'm actually from pakistan, I work for Saudi Aramco.

There is only one other person doing aquaponics in saudi that i know of, a philipino expat in riyadh but I haven't had the chance to go over and meet him yet.

I'm usually in Khursaniyah during the week and in Dammam over weekends. If you can come down I'd be happy to meet you and answer any questions you have to the best of my knowledge.

Hi abdul

i hope that i can meet you soon ,and please if you come to jordan visit me..i am working in orange company

BR

If I ever get a chance to visit I will be sure to drop in. My travelling during the work year is usually just weekends in Bahrain though as I work six days a week.

Is that orange the telecom company or orange as in portugal?

it is orange telecom company

Ah, may i ask what sort of work you do for them? I'm a mechanical engineer.

sales

It's nice to meet you brother Bakir :] Best of luck on your aquaponic journey!

thank you abdul and nice to meet you too.