Why We DITCHED The Aquaponics System

There are 2 main reasons why we don't run our aquaponics system any longer.

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[parme]

If your maintenance was greater than a soil crop. Your system was never balanced. A balanced system needs no real maintenance aside from feeding fish and adjusting per fish growth. Removing larger fish and adding smaller ones. I’ve made many over the years and the first 6-9 months is all maintenance to properly balanced. Then you put your auto feed for the finish and monitor nute levels.

This happens in nature everyday with no upkeep. 👍🏼🇺🇸

[DaughterofYAH]

For such a hot climate why did you create an open system hydroponics where you’re going to lose more water? You had so much surface area that your water had you’re going to increase evaporation if you kept your surface area down you would have less evaporation.

[mynextyears]

Running water in open channels is a sure way to evaporate it. Having closed pipes would definitely fix the problem.
Thanks for sharing the experience

[dna]

Your doing it wrong if it is being high maintenance. I've got a system and I just feed the fish and add a little water. You must've had overflow issues or a leak. It has already been proven aquaponics systems use less water then soil base growing. There are many ways to resolve your issues.

[thefarmllc]

I'd like to know more about your system. I operate a 1200 suare foot system and 2, 500 square foot system. The only maintenance I have in 7 years is feeding fish and adding water once a week. All my time is carrying for plants. There shouldn't be major maintenance to the system unless is badly designed. One of my systems is a flood and drain with bell siphon and the othere is fully automated flood and drain. I also have a 800 square foot aeroculture system but it's a high pressure system with 85psi emitters that requires a booster pump. My filters are self back washing. I waste only 10 gallons of water a week when flushing the filter and that sludge is Mineralized for watering a soil garden. I use 100 pounds of fish food a week. My monthly cost on running the systems is about 400 a month.

[amazingrandom]

Our off grid isn't true aquaponics, but uses a 250 gallon ibc tote to hold shinner minnows which are VERY cold tolerant and do well in hot climates also. We simply use the water for irrigation of our beds, and have a solar air pump for the minnows. We have to water the garden beds anyway, so we simply use the well once a week to top off the minnows water and use the excess water for the garden. We use NO fertilizer this way and its super simple

[justsomeguy]

I see you have the water flow exposed to the air. Have you tried doing a bell siphon fill and flush method in the grow beds? I would think that might keep the water less exposed. Also maybe use pvc pipes and not open air flow methods?

[gardensandmore]

Very helpful and honest briefing about a system that is expensive to build and expensive to use. Over time it is a hobby most cannot afford to have and try to eat from while thinking there is a chance for coming out ahead on the food bill. Of course that won't happen since the method depends on electric, water supply, and the ability to fix and maintain all the parts. The Egyptians were taking advantage of a natural flooding event that took place at least once each year to grow food, or they had starvation problems. Their only cost was in labor and very long hours during planting and harvesting periods, which is common to farming.

[safffff]

The most interesting Aquaponic system I saw was in Taiwan 15 yr ago. The man used indoor greenhouse and outdoor pools around 12" to 24" deep of 30' or more usually long oval shape which he just floated plants on 2" Styrofoam sheets with holes to put plants in, and fish and shrimp in the water. Covered 90% of the water to help keep evaporation down. Very easy to plant and harvest by just pushing the sheets around. No need for any recirculating system. Ad water and fish food. Some plants indoors he had sitting on stands in the water which he even grew banana's.

[ArkofEdenHomestead]

we are doing AP here on the homestead in Arkansas with not as much evaporation as you stated but it seemed like you had dripping water going through the air in over a dozen places, that is where the evap is coming from. I am experimenting on different ways of approaching the nutrient part of the water and using geothermal earth tubes to keep from freezing. we have 2-275 gal ibc buried and 3-275 gal above for fish.

[RenaissanceThinking]

Texas Farm Bureau just did a piece on a large commercial aquaponics operation in Belton, Texas the other day. People are definitely still bettering the technology and systems.

[theeconomicrevolutionist]

But soil gardening is also maintenance heavy. I would say any type of homestead food growing to remain as off-grid as possible to make it successful is very heavy on commitment and maintenance. Work, work, work to produce liberty from the global corporate systems that control us.

[tootsusa]

Please do not discourage folks from aquaponics. Yours was large scale, but there are vertical tower gardens available for people to put in their houses with a pump that sounds like a fountain, and a housebound person in a wheelchair can grow food with these.

[UncannySense]

just looking at how your system was constructed with open air plumbing and relatively shallow grow beds your issues were mostly you own design choices. A well designed system will be low maintenance and low water use.

[DamianHinkson]

Good evening sir. i am going to do a reaction video to this an i really would like for you to take a look at my design and thinking on the aquaponics system. i think you simply didn't chose the best design for your farm.

[jamiecoxe]

You appear to have several open faced drain/ gutters, which would greatly increase evaporation. Also, Catfish can survive in temperatures of 40° to nearly 100°

[John.-]

I lived in South Florida, Broward county. I had a koi and talapia pond. It was 2500+ gallons and 5 feet deep and lined with black Firestone pond liner. Every year when the cool weather came in I'd lose a batch of Tilapia to the cold water.
The best fish we had were plain old koi. They could handle both the 80-90 degree weather and the cool weather during the winter season.
The Tilapia we're good at keeping the algae under control.
I had this pond set up with an aquaponics grow bed too.
I think the best way to do aquaponics is to have it set up as naturally as possible with gravity feed. Also there should be a source of water that can be used to replenish any evaporation, with as little effort as possible.
It can work but it will require a lot of investment at the start.

[blakenelson]

Can you elaborate a little on the actual size of your system and how much solar power it required? And roughly how much food it would produce?

[ciliap]

Decoupled Aquaponics is a better process. In short: Raise fish.... take the sludge.... and use it for fertilizer.

[hippyhebrewhomestead]

That’s something we have been struggling with on our homestead, finding the balance between working on certain things around the homestead, it always seems like when we work on one thing the other suffers so definitely finding things we don’t have to maintain is nice.