Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

When I first learned about aquaponics this past winter I was researching aeroponics. Aeroponics is special in that you can run nutes that would normally burn a plant making for very quick growth. When I came across the information on aquaponics on the internet I was convinced it was a better system for me. I just recently built a small aquaponic barrel system. It is just about completed cycling up. After I get it up and running well I aim to do some research on adding air to the root zone in the growbeds. It is my thought that by doing so fish concentration could possibly be increased because each plant would be able to handle higher nitrate load. Anyone tried running air into flood and drain at rootzone?

Hi DRD, welcome to the forum,
I don't think the problem is whether the plants can take higher nute levels but the fish. Some have raised their nitrate levels to 300ppm and the plants have thrived but the fish start stressing at these levels.

A lot of air is dragged through the grow beds on the drain cycle - as the fish water returns to the tank

Thanks Les for the information and welcome! Been lurking here for a few months and been busy as heck cleaning gravel etc. I am going to see a man today about some greenhouses he wants to be rid of. Need a bit of luck on the deal as I don't currently have the cash. Perhaps he'll give me a 0 down 0% for 1 year deal on it. Doesn't hurt to try! I am losing my employment in August '08 and will get enough severance to cover the cost of setting up a large system. And this guy is real anxious to move these greenhouse for his used car lot.

Welcome DRD... don't forget to post up your system in a thread of your own..... pictures aren't compulsory...... but the mods know where you live and will tell the rest of us if you don't

a friend sent this link
http://www.synergyii.com/aeroponic/VAP.pdf

They certainly know how to do a decent presentation...maybe Codi would be interested...

Somewhere on the net, I read about an arched raft system -- don't remember if it was hydro or aquaponics, but it profided for an airspace under the "float" where the crown of the plant was supported. I think they used airstones to provide the "mist" in the aero zone. The growth of roots and tops were incredible.

ok, I have a question.

I've known about aeroponics for a long time, the first type i saw on the net was the A frame.

Now Who can answer me this, because i have never been able to work it out.

Aeroponics gets at least SOME of its great growth from having roots super saturated with O2................. now if the A frame is totally enclosed where the HELL does the O2 come from? and i'm buggered if i'll believe through the root filled net pots

Using hydroponics, I have tried every method. Ultrasonic fog is super awsome for rapid seed starting, but the plants can not fruit or grow much.

See most of my test here:
http://66.76.55.66/naphtha/hydro/hydro.htm

Actually the best results I ever had was using deep water culture with an air stone under every plant. I just dont like aeroponics becasue its to prone to crop falure. Once or more a year someting fails or I do something stupid. In gravel nothing is lost in aeroponics I would loose my whole crop. I choose not to do DWC becasue I had to tie every plant up. I have wondered if you could do DWC with the fish in the same space as the roots.. Would require a bio filter. Anyway..

You might consider trying a mini system. I had found a pdf somewhere on the forum that showed a simple aeroponic rubbermade tote setup..

Does anyone know the molecular size of nitrates? I was thinking it would be neat to use a membrane to remove all the extras and return pure water to the tank. I bet it would need a large series of filters though that would all need cleaning.. Would be a way to concentrate the levels though.

Dan

Reverse osmosis, unfortunately pressures etc required seem to make it impractical. Very little pure water and a lot of the rest to cope with. Also not sure how long the membranes would last, or the prefilters required, in an AP system.

Re the aeroponics. link :- http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... er+buckets

FYI I found AP aeroponic lettus at
this site.

Many of these system have a fan in them. Some of the systems also use compressed air to atomize the water. I would not want the electric bill from running large compressors all the time...

thanks dan. that question had been bugging me for AGES

Dan
Am not a favourite of aeroponics however I did a little work on trying to get water injection into my Mazda. There is a firm called Tecsi who produce nozzles for painting applications, the one I have is a B2 body with a P42 nozzle. This works off relatively low air pressure and is extremely well made. As the system would not be on constantly with a sufficiently large tank the compressor would be doing very little work.

I ended up going with an intercooler with computer controlled water sprayer but thats only because I got them cheap.