Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I know that overfeeding is bad, but I have not heard the reason yet. I'm assuming that it
mucks up the water by having extra food fall to the bottom and/or dissolve?

Thanks.

Yep, sounds like the pump is the big deal as far as vacationing.

Thanks.

It seems I'll have to work out something with a battery backup as well since this is Florida. I have not lived in this particular house yet in the summertime, but I know how Florida lightning storms get and there will be outages.

Thanks.

I have tried automatic fish feeders. Most of them fail after one or two seasons and they needed to be replaced. I also don't use manual fish feeders (ie phone a friend). The main reasons are because both these methods of feeding has a high possibility that feeding will still occur even when the water conditions and fishes do not look normal. Now if I go away for two weeks like I did recently, I give the fishes a good feed before I go, and when I come back, they are still alive. Although like what the others have identified, top-up water and air are important. I set up my reticulation system to top up the tank more than I need to if I go away. So what if some water overflows (although I do have a mesh net on the top of the tank that stops the fishes from swimming over the edge.


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Some of your terminology is a little over my head at this stage, but
I get the general idea.
It appears that the answer to my question is that I'm not buying
a dog, but I will have to take some precautions when going away.
I seriously doubt I'd ever be gone anywhere more than a week.
I suppose my next statements are more for another post,
but part of my interest in aquaponics is the possibility of off the
grid living. I'm not a survivalist, but I do believe in trying to be prepared.
I'm wondering if aquaponics requires too much outside help. I know
I can get solar panels and batteries, but each component required to
keep a system like this going can break, get old and stop working
or become unavailable.
Feed is a good question in that regard. There are any number of
helper items I've noticed like ph modifiers that might not be available if
we for example go to war with Russia. I also like the idea of growing
my own in a stable world environment, so the off the grid requirements
won't overrule my decision to go forward or not, but it does weigh some.
I guess this is the same reason that 3rd world countries don't have millions
of aquaponics setups to feed themselves. There are still significant expenses
and potentially unavailable support items in those countries. I have seen efforts
to reduce the complexity or component pieces of the system, but I haven't seen
anything very successful. I mean like; removing the requirement of a motor
to recirculate water, and hence electricity (if they can get by without heat or
cooling). That seems to be the holy grail for
third world countries. And, we need to pay attention because we are just about
a third world country now ourselves. Yep, a bit over the top there, but we are
a hop, skip and jump from there anyway and by our deeds, are determined to get there.

Well now that has gone over my head. Aquaponics can actually be as simple as you want it to be. One water pump and one air pump with a simple in-build battery backup. Stock your tank lightly with fishes. No real chemical modifier necessary.


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It still requires electricity. I can only go by what I have read. If all goes well, then
the system is simple. If there are problems, then it's maybe not so simple to
determine the cause. You almost have to buy feed from a feed dealer. What if
there is no mail service?
Anyway don't worry about responding to this. I should have posted it in
a separate thread, but I guess I was just thinking out loud.

Thanks.

If your interested in the off grid survivalist angle then perhaps look into wicking beds or running a fishless aquaponics system that you just add nutrients from things like manure etc (although it must be treated properly before using)... the system becomes much more resilient and self sufficient without the fish involved.. and reduces or eliminates the problems you are mentioning eg fish feed (not needed), electricity (decreased dramatically)

Hi Tom,
that's an great suggestion since I was wondering about something like that myself.
Seriously the answer for me might be an aquaponics system that can convert to a hydroponics
system if the fish suddenly are yanked out of the equation. I had seen a wicking bed design worked
into an aquaponic setup.
Anyone else doing this sort of thing?

Thanks very much for the suggestion.

Hi Jeffponics,
I agree. Aquaponics isn't quite the same tie as a dog. It is exactly like having an aquarium - one that is setup well that needs very little maint. Needs a watchful eye.
I agree with all the comments about well meaning people feeders and in my case, kid feeders. It doesn't work that well. I have had a few different aquarium feeders and I only used each one once. I agree that the fish can do without food for a a couple days away.
The fish won't get 'that' hungry generally - though I think if I left yabbies with no food they would turn to eating the weakest once they ran out of food. If you had some bigger fish & some fingerlings I would think that they would start to take down the little fist. If all the fish are the same age and size they should be ok.
I tend to agree about the wicking beds suggestion if it is an off grid system that you are wanting. I am doing a very crude solar AP system and I am not really sure if it is providing enough filtering - stocked very low at the moment.

Somehow "Hi Jude" doesn't seem to work.
I guess you get that a lot.
Thanks for your input. It will be awhile before I can spend the time
or the money on this system, although I am going to do something.
I'll continue to bone up on the facts until then. I think the idea of a system
that could be hand fed if necessary is good. But, I'll wait to hear other
comments.
It seems in the hydroponics world, that the wicking beds are very efficient
and seem to produce more veggies per given timeframe than a simple rock bed.
I have no idea if that is true, but if it is; wouldn't that suggest that to be a
good alternate method for aquaponics?

Well the cheapest form of conversion from aquaponics in case fish suddenly yanked out is peeponics. Works well and it is free and can be easily converted back once you have fish again, without having the residual toxic chemicals from hydroponics.

I believe some people here have tried a flow through wicking bed or something similar.

Me personally I have got two wicking beds that have their own "reservoirs" (ie not reticulated through aquaponics) and IMO they are a good compliment to aquaponics and works well with ground root veges like potatoes, etc.



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I wasn't aware the hydroponics makes residual toxic byproducts.
Is that true of both organic and inorganic hydroponics?
Just reading about it; it seemed pretty environmentally friendly.

I don't see my indoor system as a dog. It's more like a cat. It feeds itself, cleans itself and once a week you give it more water, food and dump the litter. I have left for a week and had no HSM to come back to other than just needing more water.

Now a outdoor or higher stocked system I have yet to try, but will soon. That may be more like a dog until all the levels are established.

Definitely more cat like - it know how to use the litter box

Still like dogs better though