A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Fish-less Systems

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This is a group for people who have any kinds of fish-less systems, but yet are not doing classical hydroponics. Where we can share what we have come to find about making-home made nutrients, oganic-hydro, pee-ponics, worm tea hydro, bio-ponics, home-made buffers, water chemistry or anything else that is perhaps inappropriate for fish. As well as experimenting and sharing results for things that might be alright for our aquatic critters.

Members: 68
Latest Activity: Nov 21, 2015

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Warning... Much of what may be contained here may, or may not be a good idea to apply to a system populated with living, breathing, happy fish, crustaceans or any other aquatic life. So be smart...

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Tags: storage, water, nitrate

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Comment by David Schwinghamer on March 6, 2012 at 12:36pm: Im noticing alot of algae in the reservoir of my fishless system. Would it be a good idea to put some type of fish that eats algae in the reservoir or is it ok that its there? My new plants seem to be surviving but thats about it, dont see much new growth.

Comment by David Schwinghamer on February 29, 2012 at 10:07pm: This new way of gardening is getting deeper and deeper. Experimenting is fun!

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on February 29, 2012 at 6:55pm: Well, it's usually best to let the urea covert to ammonia first, so yes. The reasoning is two fold...1) The pH will rise to about 9 when it converts, thereby killing any potential pathogens. 2) You can test for ammonia with your kit (though this is probably more of a concern with fish/AP). But you can use it str8 away esp if you have some worm tea (which is mostly nitrates already) in the system. I've used a womens nylon sock with worm castings in it perpetually bubbling away in the reservoir near an air stone with really good results.

I have since found that adding a bit of hummonia to the mix helps to lower and stabalize the pH over time. This has been a wonderful added benefit.

If you have a bio-filter you can pour it "fresh" and it'll convert in there, but again you run the risk of over doing it and creating an environment not condusive to good microbial activity (ammonia over 6ppm would in all likelihood slow thing down some, and since you have no way to test when its fresh...)...it seems prudent to age it first so that you have an idea of how much ammonia you just added.

Comment by David Schwinghamer on February 29, 2012 at 6:36pm: So are you saying I need to wait for 2 to 3 weeks before I use it or...

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on February 29, 2012 at 5:34pm: David, just keep in mind that (just like with AP) you still need a bio-filter to convert the hummonia (aged urine turns into mostly ammonia after about 2-3 weeks, but like Eric alluded to contains other plant essential elements as well) to nitrites/nitrates. But on the up side, there are no solids to gunk up the roots...

Comment by David Schwinghamer on February 29, 2012 at 4:53pm: I used to dilute my urine and feed it to my dirt plants, maybe I will try a little in my tube system.

Comment by Eric Warwick on February 29, 2012 at 2:04pm: David, ever try pee-ponics for a full range of NPK?

Comment by Eric Warwick on February 29, 2012 at 2:02pm: David, it stands for Nutrient Film (as in a small amount/film of water running through pipes or gutters) Technique.

Comment by David Schwinghamer on February 28, 2012 at 8:16pm: I want to develop an award winning fishless vertical grow system I can offer to hydroponic stores in the Phoenix, Az area.