Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Everyone!!

I have a bombsheltoer in my basement. Its a 10x12 space, and always stays about 55 to 60 degrees down there.

We are a family of 5 and I would like to be able to grow enough food to feed the family in a disaster situation.

My goal was to raise trout in the space, I can do a 10'x2'x3' tank of wood with pond liner. My wife wants me to grow -

Tomato
broccoli
spinach
cucumber
beans - possible?
sweet potato
regular potato

am I insane to think I can fit all this in that space? And who makes the best grow lights for my setup?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

tbh for the cost of running grow lights to bring plants all the way through completion you could probably just buy product in bulk and can it and store down there. Or even buy long-term food storage foods depending on how many months of food you are thinking of.

With 5 people I think I would do that for sure, or set up a garden outside and can it if you don't mind the wait.

If you actually have a need to use the shelter, where is the family going to stay?

This will be something of a reality check;

I'm certainly not an expert on the amount of produce a family eats but I'd say the odds are against your being able to pull this off - I just don't think you have enough space. You could supplement your diet but that's about the best you could hope for. Look up something like the "amount of space needed to feed one person" and see what you get from Google.

A wicking bed would be a better choice than a media grow bed for growing root vegetables like the potatoes.

Given enough light and the proper conditions you should be able to grow any of the plants your wife wants you to. Some of those plants require warm growing conditions to do well. Your growing area is cool right now but may get too warm when you add the lights. That might cause problems for the trout because they like temps below 74F and anything higher can be fatal.

My biggest concern would be how to power the system in a disaster situation.
Even if you have a solar system to power it, chances are that it'd grow legs if you're locked in the shelter.

we wont be in the bombshelter in any circumstance. Its just a room in the house that is unused.

can you grow a good fish / plant group in this space?

You definitely can, it will just be expensive to run the lights and like scotty435 said it may get too warm for trout.

I ran a system under growlights for a couple of years. You can definitely get some nice salads and herbs out of it... maybe some of the other veges you list. And the occasional fish dinner too.

But, as much as I love doing aquaponics, I wouldn't be relying on it if my family's survival depended on it.

What are you going to feed your fish?



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its a good question. Flys? I hadnt gotten that far. Im working on if its possible.

are lights as good as the sun?

If you spend enough money on the lights and pay for or make your electricity they're probably as good as the sun. Maybe better on a cloudy day.

Can't imagine you'll be able to catch or breed enough ordinary flies. Look up black soldier fly... Might be more realistic.

But the point I'm making is that, in an emergency, it's more efficient eating the food yourself than feeding it to a fish.

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Broccoli,spinach,cucumber & beans can easily be grown with fluorescent lights (if they are the right spectrum) but tomatoes would need a HID bulb to fruit up properly.Tomatoes would still work with fluorescent & LEDs,just not that well.Sweet potato & regular potato,I don't know because I've never tried it.
You need to aim for 40w per square foot but if it's leafy crops it could be done at 15w-20w per square foot.With that amount of light,there will be heat.


If they are carnivores,dig worms out of the ground.Could use that blue light zapper bug thing & collect the flies and moths or breed meal worms,black soldier fly & earthworms.But then there's another problem,they need food too.