61–70 of 91 posts
I recommend starting with deep water culture if you want to get into this sort of thing. Aquaponics is like hardcore mode. Shopping for fish so that you can grow plants is a really neat idea, but not where I would start if I didn't want to get frustrated in a hobby setting. DWC becomes very stable once you learn how to properly inoculate the plants with beneficial fungi. Just make sure you have a contingency for powe…
I love the idea of hydro/aquaponics and built a system as a student more than a decade ago. It’s a fun project. But as a form of agriculture it’s a spectacularly bad idea at home. This setup is about 1 square meter of NYC space, that’s about $18k. Meanwhile agricultural land goes for about $2/m2, or 9000x less. Then you spend $700 in parts to set up the 1 square meter, even if you put the system on cheap rural Kentuc…
A few years ago, I read in a book that it is feasible and safe to manufacture colloidal silver at home using electrolysis. I was intrigued, because my father had conducted many similar projects with success, in the kitchen, in the garage, and in the backyard, as he worked for EH&S. The Dunning-Kruger swelled within me. I reviewed photographs of the home lab setups, and I evaluated ingredient/supply/equipment lists. I…
I know the ship has sailed, but wouldn't something like "zoohydroponics" be more descriptive than just changing from Greek-rooted hydro to Latin-rooted aqua?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Structural support in the floor? There are people that weigh more than this. It’s only 20 gallons
But big tanks do need extra support. This is a relevant thing to post in case someone is thinking about scaling it up. The Pfizer building in NYC almost collapsed after they tried to build a swimming pool on the roof. This happens semi-regularly when building owners ignore, or don't consult, engineers about rooftop swimming pools. Every owner wants one and doesn't want to be told no.
I dont think they got to the pools. I worked for a company that did a bid for the electrical work. Edit: there was a pool. Didnt have on plans at time
Second edit: looking at wrong plan. There was a pool but it was basically a blank plan with annunderdesigned roof.
I recommend starting with deep water culture if you want to get into this sort of thing. Aquaponics is like hardcore mode. Shopping for fish so that you can grow plants is a really neat idea, but not where I would start if I didn't want to get frustrated in a hobby setting. DWC becomes very stable once you learn how to properly inoculate the plants with beneficial fungi. Just make sure you have a contingency for powe…
In my experience, DWC systems support plants fine without the pumps. I used them for years before trying Kratky, and sure enough, the plants still grow. This might vary by species. I have had pump failures as well, but never more than 36 hours or so. In any case, it wasn't enough to harm the plants.
An aside: I just looked up Kratky (to be sure I had the name right) and the image results are pure insanity. AI generated nonsense. There's one where the image generator used perfectly clear containers and included some sliced limes in the media, haha. And soil.
Starting a hobby like hydroponics will probably be so confusing with garbage like this all over the place.
edit: The lime-aid dirty Kratky system
https://easyhomehydroponics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/c...
I love the idea of hydro/aquaponics and built a system as a student more than a decade ago. It’s a fun project. But as a form of agriculture it’s a spectacularly bad idea at home. This setup is about 1 square meter of NYC space, that’s about $18k. Meanwhile agricultural land goes for about $2/m2, or 9000x less. Then you spend $700 in parts to set up the 1 square meter, even if you put the system on cheap rural Kentuc…
By this logic, doing anything yourself is inefficient and a waste of time. However, I think that by reducing it purely to a monetary number, you are not measuring things correctly. Part of the output of doing DIY things is the knowledge, experience, and fun that comes from doing it. If you insist on putting a dollar sign on that, I’m sure it ends up being much more equal.
I love the idea of hydro/aquaponics and built a system as a student more than a decade ago. It’s a fun project. But as a form of agriculture it’s a spectacularly bad idea at home. This setup is about 1 square meter of NYC space, that’s about $18k. Meanwhile agricultural land goes for about $2/m2, or 9000x less. Then you spend $700 in parts to set up the 1 square meter, even if you put the system on cheap rural Kentuc…
Nobody is arguing this will replace farming, nobody disagrees with you. The point is that it's fun and you learn something.
I love the idea of hydro/aquaponics and built a system as a student more than a decade ago. It’s a fun project. But as a form of agriculture it’s a spectacularly bad idea at home. This setup is about 1 square meter of NYC space, that’s about $18k. Meanwhile agricultural land goes for about $2/m2, or 9000x less. Then you spend $700 in parts to set up the 1 square meter, even if you put the system on cheap rural Kentuc…
Who cares? When you buy a couch, are you thinking "will this couch offset the value of the square footage it occupies" or "will this couch be comfortable and match my décor?" I'm glad someone is doing something fun in their home.
Cool project. I wonder how large a tank you need to get room fle aquatic animals you would actually eat. And as a small aside, idk how one can write sentences like this and not immediately revolt and switch to metric: Since a gallon of fresh water weighs roughly 8.34lbs, we estimate this puts the entire weight of the system’s water somewhere between 170 and 250lbs.
Because gallon of fuel weighs 6lbs! As a scientist and an adult immigrant to the US, I came to appreciate both systems as useful for different objectives. Celsius/Metric is neatly rooted in science - where it truly shines by removing /most/ of the conversion factors (but does it? we still have, today, speed of light that should be 1 , Avogadro and Boltzmann constants are just odd numbers you memorize too) - but doesn…
I accept that psi is more intuitive in many cases than Pascals. But I remain unconvinced about Fahrenheit. I reside two places during the winter. One has temperatures around 0C, and the difference between -1C and +1C is much more important than the difference between -1F and +1F, it's the difference between rain or snow! The other place regularly sees temperatures around -25C. In both places -18C is just some random uninteresting temperature, letting it be 0 is... disturbing.
