Kitchen Aquaponics

Moving up in the world and high classin' it with a system in the kitchen. This is my best system yet and works great. Only issues are my low quality fish food not providing enough nutrients, a clear tank which is going to make algae but what's the fun in not seeing the fish, and alot of biofiltration for the size. I am currently designing the new biofilter which will hit relatively soon and we'll see the results which should help tone down the sediment and algae issues somewhat.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Kitchen
• Aquaponics
• Fish
• Water
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Spinach
• Celery
• Marigolds
• peppers
• cabbage
• chives
• basil
• cilantro

[ConcernedMushroom]

@meerk38 so true....makes you really want to save your cuttings from fall to spring to get a jumpstart on your tomatoes and other plantings...another fun fact: both blueberries and bumble bees are indigenous to the Americas...honey bees are not...(i think they are mostly european or russian)...maybe that is why a bumble bee can polinate a blueberry patch 6 times faster....just by flying by, the resonance of their wings causes the blueberries to "self polinate"

[ConcernedMushroom]

awesome video! i never thought to put a small system indoors but this will now be my winter project! btw tomatoes need polinators (bees, butterflys, etc) and if your system is indoors chances are you will get flowers but no fruit...although i did read somewhere that simply the resonance/sound of bumble bees wings as they fly past, causes blueberry's to self polinate, maybe playing a recording of that sound (no idea where you would get that :( might help

[fathersh]

@AUX999 Very nice set up ...I thought I would add a suggestion..with your tomato plants cut off all non producing leaves and that will help with containing the plant and give the others more light and room to grow..

[meerk38]

@madscirat Actually plants can be broken into two categories, those which base their life cycle off the photoperiod and those which do so chronologically (based off time since birth like us). Tomatoes fall into the latter category, after about 3 months your tomatoes will flower regardless of the number of hours of light it is receiving. Fun fact: did you know that when you clone a plant from a cutting that clone is as old as the parent plant is?

[AUX999]

Are you using T5 flouro for that? You have 2 tubes? How many 3" holes in each?

Is that an ebb and flow, or an nft and constant flow?

I use no bio filter, just a sponge filter in my ebb and flow.

[madscirat]

Actually here you go. I found a you tuber who did a video on the exact subject of regulating tomato growth in aquaponics systems. Her user name is "slywoman1" and the video is obvious by its title which is something like "Aquaponics/hydroponics and Tomato Growing". I believe it will help you out alot.

[madscirat]

Thanks for sharing your problems and not just your successes, that is amazingly helpful.I did not know how vital biofilters were.

For your tomato, my one thought was in regards to your light cycle. Plants key their growth off of photoperiod length so you might be able to convince them to do less vegetative growth and more reproductive growth by adjusting the duration of light exposure.

[ZombieGreaser501]

I have an indoor system in my kitchen too. I just took out my tomato plants for the same reason... they are difficult to control, and once they get going the go crazy. Biofilter- yes, it will keep your water clean and debris free. Good luck, keep us posted.

[myaquaponic]

nice practical setup! i'm planning a similar indoor system, and very much appreciate your information. i would suggest getting at least one 5 gal bucket, filled with lava rock or scrubby dish pads (nice surface area) for a bio filter. use a auto siphon/bell siphon with 2nd pump from the fish tank. good luck!