On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:08:22 EST, Peter
wrote:
JB wrote:
There was an interesting article in today's New York Times on "aquaponics",
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/ga...gewanted=print
where the author uses "waste" water from a 150 gallon fish tank to fertilize
his plants. He's posted a YouTube video of his set up at
http://www.youtube.com/user/web4deb if you're interested. The article
describes pretty amazing production in his crops of cherry tomatoes,
lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries.



This got me to thinking. I have a bio filter falls that is planted with
mint, Louisiana Iris, Forget-me-nots and other plants, in addition to the
fiber mats and lava rock. This set up keeps my 3,000 gallon pond clear. (I
don't use any U/V filtration.) Each summer I have to remove significant
amounts of mint from the filter falls as it dams up the spillway where the
water returns to the pond. Wouldn't I be better off cultivating something
that I could use (eat) and not throw away for mulch? What if I were to put a
couple of tomato plants in my filter falls instead; or, some other food
crop?



Has anyone else tried "farming" from their ponds?



I think I'm going to try this out this year!



JB



I got really interested in this idea a couple of years ago, but a couple
of things put me off:

1. It seemed to be a necessity to run the project in a green house,
which I would struggle to fit into my small back garden.
2. A visit to a hydroponics shop, revealed a couple of things. The ideal
water conditions for hydroponics aren't necessarily ideal for fish. The
number of parameters which you need to measure and control makes marine
fish keeping look simple. I would want to be very careful about adding
additives to help plants in case fish are adversly affected.
3. The vast majority of hydroponics related material seems to be target
at the growing of one illegal crop, which apparently is the one of the
few industries, that Britain has gone from being a net importer to a net
exporter.

I'm not saying don't do it, but do lots of research. I'd be really
interested to here how you get on.
Peter

I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's been true in my experience
that if you want to grow the absolute best er, tomatoes, with
hydroponics, you do have to fuss with a bunch of parameters, but
you'll still grow pretty good tomatoes if you don't fuss, just not as
good as if you do. If any conflicts arise, just resolve them in favor
of the fish.
..