Fish Tank Weed

[smokendude420]

Hello,

This is my version of aquaponics. I found a fish tank and remebered a YouTube video I saw with weed growing in it, Figured I'd try it out, cheap enough, no nutrients only fish and food. well here it is any ideas critisisms, anything I am open for suggestions and help. This is going on 3 days since set up. Clone is 1 week +3 days old. Light is on 18/6.

65w show&grow light(will upgrade ifthis goes anywhere)
multi-setting timer
2.5 gallon tank (I think)
air pump
1" air stone
glass rocks $2
micro-rockwool 1.5"
cut to fit pink syrofoam floating on surface of water (rockwool is alsways moist)
4 Gold fish $0.28/per fish
gold fish food $2

total $5 minus the light, light fixture, fish tank, air pump, air stone w/tubing & check valve, rockwool, and clone was free or on hand.

photos:




please comment, I am intrested to see what ya'll think

 

[rolledupdriver]

lolwuttt is that came to my mind when i saw this, hey its an interesting idea, cheap. If I were you id invest in more lights, more lights = more bud.

 

[whiteflour]

This could work but there's a couple problems I see. First your roots are exposed to light and totally submerged so their going to get root rot. You don't have enough aeration going on.

It's going to be a problem getting enough aeration to it without disturbing the fish. So what I'd do is maybe have sump tank like a reef tank and grow the plant in that. Then you can completely block off the roots from light as well.

Or you might be able to divide the tank in half, and put airstones half way so the fish can swim below undisturbed.

 

[akgrown]

This is crazy and If it works my hats off to you. And I agree to get more light maybe even just a 150 hps from home depot or something.

 

[me8980109]

You should be using the tank as a reservoir and not to grow in for reasons already mentioned. If you used a drip system and had the return line going to the aquarium you would be all set. My grow store has a setup but much larger that uses a 55 gallon drum for the fish and a flood table for the plants. They look healthy but the problem comes in when they go to flower and you cannot adjust nutes because you will kill the fish.. good for vegetative growth, but not for flowering.

 

[whiteflour]

A flood table would actually be better. Then you could drain off the bottom of the barrel and send he detritus to the table which actually has most of the nutes and waste. That should help keep the tank water clean as well.

To solve the fertilizer problem when you hit flower maybe you could use a second reservoir. That one would hold fresh water to refill the fish thank and fertilized water would be sent to the drain. Not sure how you could measure out the amount to be added in on the fly though. Maybe a dripper on a solenoid.

 

[smokendude420]

thanks all for input, i had planed on getting a small pump and cycleing the water like you have suggested. i just wanted to check and see if this way would work, mainly due to he cheapness of it. i am concerned about the light, so i have a mini dwc system i may convert to a flood and drain. ill go get a small pump and put it together tuesday after holiday and update yall.

thanks again for input, i will kepp upto date on the progression of it if anyone is intrested. how much does a hps run at homedepot? my plan is to eventually use this system for my mother plant to save $$$$ on nutes.

i think i will have to movce this into my grow room anyhow, there is much more lightingin there that this can share withthe rest of my plants, nice addition to any liviing room, odd thing is not one visitor has noticed.

 

[whiteflour]

I think the Sun System 150w & ballast is about $100.

 

[smokefrogg]

this is pretty awesome, if you can get it to work out, you are the man! kudos!

 

[smokendude420]

hello,

I have upgraded my fishtank set up some. I changed the fish to a single male beta. I added a grow tank wraped in foil tape to block light, and i put a pump to cycle the water. The pump was $8.99 at the hardware store. the new fish plus fish food was just over $5 so now the total cost was like just over $20 with the old fish. I am saving an looking around for a better light, i will prolly add some cfl's, think this will help? I will travel to a homedepot soon and see what they have.
here are pictures of the new system.



Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[rucca]

lol are you trying to grow weed or just make a cool thing? if it's just a cool thing, then yeah.. you are doing it! good luck lol

 

[smokendude420]

lol are you trying to grow weed or just make a cool thing? if it's just a cool thing, then yeah.. you are doing it! good luck lol

If this will supply enough nutrients for the plant i am going to use it on my mother plants, on a larger scale under better lighting, but i will prolly keep this one going as well, but i want to see that it works before i dump alot of money into lgihting. i will prolly need more light to make it work though eh? It is rather cheap system mainly due to the fact that you dont need nutrients, they are prolly the most expensive part besides electric and inital setup. If it work well enough i may even use iot to veg my plants, would save me a bundle.

 

[smokendude420]

hello,

small concern of mine is the ph inthe waters, if i were to drop the ph of the water to 5.5 to 6ish, will it effect the fish?

any ideads on the subject?

 

[whiteflour]

What kind of fish? I know the Pacus I used to have prefered slightly acidic water. I'm thinking down to about 5.0. They get pretty big and dirty up a tank quick as well. Their Amazon fish, close relative of the piranha, so probably any black water native is fine.

 

[rucca]

If you really want a cheap setup for a mother read about bonsai mothers. 12 different strains under a stupid dual tube flouro shop light. Each in like 2.5" square pots with minimal nutes. Basic maintenance of the plants will keep them alive for years and I think the guy said he got like 10 cuttings per plant per week.

I do think what you are doing is neat though - keep it up. Your CFL should do fine for keeping a small mother alive.

 

[Danielsgb]

I use my 55gal Koi tank and 20gal fancy goldfish tank's waste water to water my plants. Thanks, now I have a new DIY project. That looks really cool.
Daniels

 

[smokendude420]

What kind of fish? I know the Pacus I used to have prefered slightly acidic water. I'm thinking down to about 5.0. They get pretty big and dirty up a tank quick as well. Their Amazon fish, close relative of the piranha, so probably any black water native is fine.

I am using a male beta, i have the water at ph of 7 right now, this lil guy and the plant have drank about half a quart of water in the last 2 days.

If you really want a cheap setup for a mother read about bonsai mothers. 12 different strains under a stupid dual tube flouro shop light. Each in like 2.5" square pots with minimal nutes. Basic maintenance of the plants will keep them alive for years and I think the guy said he got like 10 cuttings per plant per week.

I do think what you are doing is neat though - keep it up. Your CFL should do fine for keeping a small mother alive.

thanks i will look into it, i am always looking for new ideas and ways to save money, thats one reason i started growing.

I use my 55gal Koi tank and 20gal fancy goldfish tank's waste water to water my plants. Thanks, now I have a new DIY project. That looks really cool.
DanielsView attachment 973223

Thats a good looking fish, I started with 4 cheap goldies, but they all died. I changed to a beta, and modified the setup. it was real simple and parts were cheap too. I am always open for ideads and discussion.

 

[smokendude420]

I will be putting some cfls on this when i get more $$$, will be constructing areflector and hang it over top for adjustment. will keep anyone who is intrested posted on it.

always open to ideas.

 

[smokendude420]

Hello,

I changed out the cheap wally-world 65w light with 2 cheap wally world cfl in a converted enclosed halagen reflector. i hope these 2 bulbs will make a difference over the one i had, not to mention i made it hanging so it will be mor conveinent than the old setup. i am considering putting this in a cabinet, so i can leave my front window open lol, it is starting to heat up outside air flow would be nice this time of year. I may just move it to my grow trailer, but i am kinda fond of my beta buddy in my living room.

pictures....





I have another one of these i am saving for when i get a large cfl that will fit the fixture nicely there is about 9 x 4 inches of useable space inside, iany ideas on the size of cfl i could stick in there, with a socket? it is sealed and the cast aluminum absorbs alot of the heat and disipates it.


any ideas?

 

[smokendude420]

Hello,

My plant has started to sprout a couple of roots outside the cone and is growing to like it new light and grow resivor, the tip of the leave are yellowing some, but i expevt that to stop now that a new rootsystem is forming(the others got eaten or something). I am worried that the beta will not produce anugh nutrients for the plant, anyone know?

I have a larger dwc top drip system aswell, i run the water pumps 24/7 should i put them on timers so that the roots have some dry time? as of now it is constant flow, the roots eventually grow down intot he water, then i put them into a new tote without a water pump.





thanks for checking it out.