Aqua-growing inside a townhouse? - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T23:51:00Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/aquagrowing-inside-a-townhouse?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A374&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI believe there are ways you…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-06:4778851:Comment:13442010-03-06T23:36:10.000ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
I believe there are ways you could make it safe but I'm not sure it is worth the trouble. I've heard that you can use hydrogen peroxide to make the water safe but I've never been able to verify that to be sure.<br />
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When I was in my "wet" apartment, we made a stand for the dehumidifier over the back of the toilet and hooked up a hose to drain it into the toilet tank and we turned off the tap water to the toilet tank.
I believe there are ways you could make it safe but I'm not sure it is worth the trouble. I've heard that you can use hydrogen peroxide to make the water safe but I've never been able to verify that to be sure.<br />
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When I was in my "wet" apartment, we made a stand for the dehumidifier over the back of the toilet and hooked up a hose to drain it into the toilet tank and we turned off the tap water to the toilet tank. never really thought about it…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-06:4778851:Comment:13432010-03-06T23:07:06.000ZEarl wardhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Earlward
never really thought about it you are absolutly right, thats now stopped<br />
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<cite>TCLynx said:</cite><blockquote cite="http://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/aquagrowing-inside-a-townhouse?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A1342&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment1342"><div>Just an FYI. I'm not sure about the safety of using the dehumidifier water in a food system. Since the coils and surfaces in a dehumidifier where the water condenses can't be cleaned/sterilized the water can pick up…</div>
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never really thought about it you are absolutly right, thats now stopped<br />
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<cite>TCLynx said:</cite><blockquote cite="http://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/aquagrowing-inside-a-townhouse?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A1342&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment1342"><div>Just an FYI. I'm not sure about the safety of using the dehumidifier water in a food system. Since the coils and surfaces in a dehumidifier where the water condenses can't be cleaned/sterilized the water can pick up lots of bacteria and such and it is therefore not recommended to use. I think legonella (?sp?) might be one of the bigger worries from such condensate.<br/><br/>Only real use I've ever made of my dehumidifier water has been to flush toilets.</div>
</blockquote> Just an FYI. I'm not sure abo…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-06:4778851:Comment:13422010-03-06T21:13:03.000ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
Just an FYI. I'm not sure about the safety of using the dehumidifier water in a food system. Since the coils and surfaces in a dehumidifier where the water condenses can't be cleaned/sterilized the water can pick up lots of bacteria and such and it is therefore not recommended to use. I think legonella (?sp?) might be one of the bigger worries from such condensate.<br />
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Only real use I've ever made of my dehumidifier water has been to flush toilets.
Just an FYI. I'm not sure about the safety of using the dehumidifier water in a food system. Since the coils and surfaces in a dehumidifier where the water condenses can't be cleaned/sterilized the water can pick up lots of bacteria and such and it is therefore not recommended to use. I think legonella (?sp?) might be one of the bigger worries from such condensate.<br />
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Only real use I've ever made of my dehumidifier water has been to flush toilets. I have a small system in my b…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-06:4778851:Comment:13402010-03-06T21:06:12.000ZEarl wardhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Earlward
I have a small system in my basement under FL and LED lights. I don't live far from you about 30 miles so if you would like to see it you are welcome to email me in private and I can give you my information. Mine is kind of a cross between a raft and media based system I use it mainly for a filter for the 55 gallon tank,so far it has been running for 6 months with no other filtration. It has 2 basil, 2 tyme, chives, 2 lemon grass, rosemary, and tulips. as far as humidity I dont know I run…
I have a small system in my basement under FL and LED lights. I don't live far from you about 30 miles so if you would like to see it you are welcome to email me in private and I can give you my information. Mine is kind of a cross between a raft and media based system I use it mainly for a filter for the 55 gallon tank,so far it has been running for 6 months with no other filtration. It has 2 basil, 2 tyme, chives, 2 lemon grass, rosemary, and tulips. as far as humidity I dont know I run dehumidifier in the basement but I ran this before putting the system in the basement, hasnt really changed, still empty it twice a week, now I just add it back to the tank if there is room.<br />
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Earl Honestly, Nate, if I had hear…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-01:4778851:Comment:9452010-03-01T04:32:41.000ZEmma Lysykhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/EmmaLysyk
Honestly, Nate, if I had heard of the towers, I probably would have gone that route.<br />
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Daniel, I'm in an apartment where my complex plugs their ears at the sound of "aquarium." I'm really lucky like that. I wish I had started when I was still living in my townhouse, because I had a whole room with nothing in it (I moved to the apartment to downsize, funny enough). Since you're renting, you might want to make sure it's not listed in your lease that you can't have fish. Heaven forbid it's in there…
Honestly, Nate, if I had heard of the towers, I probably would have gone that route.<br />
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Daniel, I'm in an apartment where my complex plugs their ears at the sound of "aquarium." I'm really lucky like that. I wish I had started when I was still living in my townhouse, because I had a whole room with nothing in it (I moved to the apartment to downsize, funny enough). Since you're renting, you might want to make sure it's not listed in your lease that you can't have fish. Heaven forbid it's in there and your tank cracks (I've known it to happen), or a hose starts to leak.<br />
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My 5 gallon fish tank was really easy to set up. Granted, there was a lot of learning that happened in my week-long experiment, but I had no problems germinating tons of seeds even since I've disconnected it. I blogged about it (and my learnings) <a href="http://www.em2astudios.com/2010/02/aquaponics-fish-and-gardening-enthusiasts-unite/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Now, I'm a fish enthusiast. I've had fish for a long time and am used to the sound of filters going all day and night. It sounds funny when they're turned off. That being said, I can walk out of the room and the filter noise doesn't follow me. I also have always aquascaped my fish tanks/bowls. Basically, I've always had live plants in with even my bettas to filter out the solids and keep the water oxygenated. It's always extended the life of my fish and cut down on the frequency I needed to clean out their tanks.<br />
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Lighting is indeed a huge issue (as well as cats eating my plants.. but that's another topic), but I just use a standard clip lamp with a sunlight spectrum compact fluorescent light bulb (6500 degrees K) in it, and haven't had any problems since. The overhead fluorescent lighting wasn't enough for anything but my low-light plants. If you have cats, make sure the plants you grow are not toxic for them, or that they can't get to it. I moved my seedlings to a plastic shelving unit I got at Lowe's for $13.<br />
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As for humidity, I live in Arizona, so my apartment is humid compared to the outside for most of the year, but not enough to make it uncomfortable or noticeable, really. I only noticed it for the first time this winter. When I lived in Ohio, there wasn't a difference at all.<br />
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Also, since you're looking at something on a smaller scale, I would suggest not cutting corners and stick to aquarium-safe materials. The smaller the ecosystem, the more susceptible to outside influences they are. If I had added goldfish to my mini-tank, I would have killed them due to the chemicals added to Miracle Gro's Perlite and the caulk I used. I touch base on those little particulars on my photo album on here <a href="http://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/photo/albums/experimental-minisystem">"Experimental Mini-System."</a> I've included some of these "findings" in with <a href="http://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/photo/ze-plans?context=user">Ze Plans</a>, so if you want to know why I picked something, feel free to ask. I ended up using hydroton instead of gravel and river rock, and picked up a few net pots to keep some of my plants from getting too big in the future, but otherwise Ze Plans are still in the works.<br />
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I should mention that I haven't read Rebecca's book, yet. I'm going off of my own findings and what I already know about fish and their ecosystems. My methods aren't going to be the best or the easiest, but I figured out a few things not to do ;) I'm only doing my large system with a 55 gallon because I lucked out and found someone on Craigslist that needed to find a home for her fishies. I was just looking for a used 30 gallon breeder tank to move my tetras to. I'm also less worried about waste than people who are growing their own fish to eat because mine are decorative fish and I have 5 bottom feeders. As these fish grow old and die off naturally, I plan to move towards more edible varieties, but that's going to be some time down the road. My best local resources have been the hydroponic store, pet stores, home & garden stores, and Craigslist. I like the use of mylar blank…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-01:4778851:Comment:9302010-03-01T02:01:42.000ZDavid S.https://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DavidS
I like the use of mylar blankets to reflect light. They are dirt cheap and aren't worth much else. If you are really cold, that thing would not keep you warm.<br />
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David<br />
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<cite>TCLynx said:</cite><blockquote cite="http://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/aquagrowing-inside-a-townhouse?page=1&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A929&x=1#4778851Comment924"><div>I expect the weakest link for a small system like that is light. How much really bright light do you have in the corner of your…</div>
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I like the use of mylar blankets to reflect light. They are dirt cheap and aren't worth much else. If you are really cold, that thing would not keep you warm.<br />
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David<br />
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<cite>TCLynx said:</cite><blockquote cite="http://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/aquagrowing-inside-a-townhouse?page=1&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A929&x=1#4778851Comment924"><div>I expect the weakest link for a small system like that is light. How much really bright light do you have in the corner of your kitchen? And are you willing to pay the electric bill to run artificial lighting for it and do you really want that much bright light in your kitchen?<br/><br/>For smaller plants, florescent lighting can work cause you can keep the light close to them but if you grow a variety of plants of different sizes, you need a light that is bright enough to work from more distance and penetrate thought to reach all the plants.<br/><br/>I've found that the mylar emergency blankets (cheap to buy in the camping department of any department store, don't pay for costly hydroponic mylar sheets) make a fairly good reflective curtain to put around an indoor growing area to reflect light back to the plants and to help soften the light escaping from the area so the rest of the room is still livable.</div>
</blockquote> for lights you might want to…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-03-01:4778851:Comment:9292010-03-01T01:53:02.000ZSylvia Bernsteinhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SylviaBernstein
for lights you might want to check out T5 fluorescents. Great plant lights, and not so much power.
for lights you might want to check out T5 fluorescents. Great plant lights, and not so much power. I expect the weakest link for…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-02-28:4778851:Comment:9242010-02-28T23:48:31.000ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
I expect the weakest link for a small system like that is light. How much really bright light do you have in the corner of your kitchen? And are you willing to pay the electric bill to run artificial lighting for it and do you really want that much bright light in your kitchen?<br />
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For smaller plants, florescent lighting can work cause you can keep the light close to them but if you grow a variety of plants of different sizes, you need a light that is bright enough to work from more distance and…
I expect the weakest link for a small system like that is light. How much really bright light do you have in the corner of your kitchen? And are you willing to pay the electric bill to run artificial lighting for it and do you really want that much bright light in your kitchen?<br />
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For smaller plants, florescent lighting can work cause you can keep the light close to them but if you grow a variety of plants of different sizes, you need a light that is bright enough to work from more distance and penetrate thought to reach all the plants.<br />
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I've found that the mylar emergency blankets (cheap to buy in the camping department of any department store, don't pay for costly hydroponic mylar sheets) make a fairly good reflective curtain to put around an indoor growing area to reflect light back to the plants and to help soften the light escaping from the area so the rest of the room is still livable. Have you considered towers? T…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-02-28:4778851:Comment:9162010-02-28T23:13:50.000ZNate Storeyhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/NateStorey
Have you considered towers? They'll give you a lot more production in a lot less space.
Have you considered towers? They'll give you a lot more production in a lot less space. Rebecca has a specific book o…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2010-02-25:4778851:Comment:3752010-02-25T04:06:38.000ZSylvia Bernsteinhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SylviaBernstein
Rebecca has a specific book on Desktop Aquaponics that has more detail in it than the back of her Aquaponic Food Production book, which is what I'm assuming you are talking about. Worth pursuing. Glad you found Ze Plans (too funny)
Rebecca has a specific book on Desktop Aquaponics that has more detail in it than the back of her Aquaponic Food Production book, which is what I'm assuming you are talking about. Worth pursuing. Glad you found Ze Plans (too funny)