Beginner with lots of questions from Aquarium Keeping

[joshua.suereth]

Hi everyone!   I've recently decided to start an aquaponic garden and am looking for guidance.  I've been a fishkeeper for some time, and very much like having a  natural and healthy ecosystem.  

The first question I have is what plants are good to get started with aquaponics?   While I really want to eventually grow bell-peppers, I thought I should start off easier with some garden herbs and a flower or two using my large display aquarium.

My second question is, how many users are feeding water from "display" aquariums into their gardens? I have a 125G display tank in a  well-sunlight room that I think could house some nice-looking plants, and hopefully herbs that I'd like to start experimenting with.

My last question is on ecosystems.   I'm not the average aquarium keeper.  My aquariums have a substrate of dirt topped with sand or gravel.   I keep dwarf shrimp, blackworms and am looking at getting some snails and/or gammarus as alternative "snacks" for my fish, as well as decomposters of plant material.   I'm currently running a filter, but would rather use hyrdoponics to filter the water and grow some fresh herbs and nice house plants.  Will my 'style' of aquarium keeping work?  Can I feed plant trimmings to the aquarium for the worm/snail/shrimp population?

I know it's a ton of questions, but my aquaponics book hasn't arrived yet, and I'd love to learn all I can before the summer (and my time to build a aquaponics system) comes :)

[Jon Parr]

Welcome, Joshua.

1-What plants?  Most any you want.  My first was a tomato, planted before the water was even put in the fish tank or cycled. It did great, and is still alive and growing tomatoes for two years now.  Peppers do great, easier than herbs in my opinion.  Root crops give many trouble, though if you're clever you can pull those off too.  I've never had anything not grow.

2- I have 11 aquariums in use as the fish tanks for aquaponics, from 10 gal to 125 gal.  I raise tilapia, and I find it easiest to have a number of separate tanks to separate various types and ages of fry and brooding mothers.  Many users on this site use aquariums in AP

3- I'm not sure what you're asking, but I think you are worried about your dirt substrate in AP?  The answer is yes, and no.  Typical aquariums feed fish as little as possible to maintain fish without clouding or discoloring the water.  Typical AP setups feed like hogs to grow big fat fish and fertilize plenty of plants, not to concerned with prettiness or dark water.  So what are you after?  Running your current aquarium water through a media bed growing light feeding plants like lettuce is easy, and a nice bonus, and things stay pretty clear.  But heavy feeding of fast-growing fish will turn your water dark, and likely the dirt substrate will get pretty nasty. If your worms/snails/shrimp will eat plant trimmings, then by all means add that to their diet.  Are you also raising fish? What type?

[joshua.suereth]

Good to know!

I was planning to raise tilapia yet, as I'd like to get started with what I know, and what I know is hobby-tropical-fish.  For the 125G, it's currently in the most well-light room in the house.  It's also visible when folks enter the house, so my *initial* goal was to take my open-top aquarium and use it to grow some nice house plants and herbs.   If that goes well, I'd like to set up a more-expensive (because I'll need light) indoor Pepper + Fish farm.  

So, onto the 125G.   I have snails and small shrimp in the substrate.  I take tree leaves and crush them up and place them into the aquarium to feed these.  This also gives a nice natural 'dark' water.  My fish will snack on the shrimp/snails when able.   I over-feed my tanks to ensure nutrients are available for plants.  I also allow my in-aquarium plants to grow out of the water.

So basically, I'd like to get rid of some of the aquarium plants that are large and replace them with some kind of aquaponic garden.  The Aquarium should still be "showable".  I don't mind having  a small aquaponic garden to start off with, so I can learn the ropes before attempting anything serious.  However, i'd still like to keep showy fish, like tetras, discus, gouramis, etc. in that tank.

It sounds like I might need to really up the number of fish to get the nutrients I need.  Is that accurate?

[Jon Parr]

Not necessarily.  Get some plants started, go from there.  You can always add some fish or feed them a little more, AFTER there is a demand for more nitrates.  Better to err on the lean side. If you're happy with dark water, then you're already past the biggest hurdle tying show tanks to herb gardens.  You might try water cress as an immediate plant to use.  Water cress will happily grow from an underwater substrate and right out the top of your aquarium, and it grows fast.  Tops can be snipped on demand for a spicy, healthy salad.  

[joshua.suereth]

Wow, Watercress sounds like a nice edible replacement for umbrella cyprus.  I was also hoping to grow some arugula or basil.  Are these good beginners plants given my fish stocking + newness?

Also, what kind of hyrdoponic system do you recommend for someone starting new.   I'm planning to place the aquaponic garden on a stand next to the aquarium by the window.  I should be able to have gravity pull the water back into the sump, which I plant to use to feed water both into the aquarium and into the hydroponic garden.

Thanks much!  I can't wait to start putting this mini garden together.

[Jon Parr]

Sure, any greens or herbs are easy for starters. I prefer timed flood and drain over bell siphon through a media of gravel or lava rock, and composting worms. Everybody has their favorite style, so pick one and roll with it. 

[joshua.suereth]

So I was reading up on bell-siphons.  Does yours fill + drain several times during the timed flood?   I have an aquarium pump for my sump, but I'm thinking it may be too powerful for the set-ups I'm reading.  What kind of water-flow to you have going into the flood-pan?

I'm debating using one of these: http://hydrophytesblog.com/ripariumsupply/?page_id=4&category=3... for the watercress, but that would mean the roots are constantly submersed in the aquarium.  Is a flood + drain better for plant growth?