Well, I haven’t been able to figure out a good time to ask, “can I have your dead ESA bearded dragons’ light that I bought you for my pot plants that you aren’t supposed to know about?”, lol, so they’re still having to do with the light in there 
But, I got some better bud shots this morning…
hey guys, just wanted to let you know i’m still doing research on the best way for me to incorporate this aquaponic stuff into my life.
as mentioned before, when growing cannabis via aquaponics, i strongly feel the system needs to be decoupled. this means that the fish system is separate from the plant system but both are able to benefit from each other. there’s a tad bit more mechanical work which needs to be done because you have to get the fish water into the plant system some way or another. benefits include separate water tables means you can tailor things specifically to your marine life or to your plant life. the systems operating independently allows greater flexibility when working with the system. if it’s ‘all-in-one’ then any maintenance work stalls the system temporarily.
if one looks into retail aquaponics the system are designed with tens of thousands of gallons of water. as a hobbyist, i think more research needs to be done on how the average hobby grower can get into aquaponics without needing a commercial operation to do so. that’s why this thread has been so awesome to be a part of, thank you 
wanted to share these things called bead filters which use a polypropylene bead to filter solids waste. the nitrifying bacteria due their job while the filter is flowing, and then when it comes time to clean the beads one can perform a ‘backwash cycle’ which will stimulate all the beads to let go of the solids so they may be removed from the system via a waste drain. backwash frequency is determined by feed rates, fish counts, etc… normally every other day. typically most of these filters start off with a 300gal design as the minimum size model. that’s about 3-6x where i’d like to be.
here’s a do-yourself model of an expensive bead filter:
here
i think i’ve designed a model that could be made in pvc pipes using all the same principles acted on in the video. this will vastly downsize the model, and should be good to test on a small tank (~30gals).
@luxton - those flowers are looking quite tasty 
for what it’s worth, i think extra uv lighting is something you won’t find good results using unless you limit it to only 2-3 hours per day at the end of their light cycle. we’re trying to mimic sunlight with it. uv used for lighting in my experience has resulted in detrimental effects. i’ve used uv-a and uv-b lighting. grow leds do a fine job of producing good flower without the need for IR/UV; as long as the rest of your grow environment is good.
I’m with you on bead filters and decoupling the system on large units. I was lucky enough to go on a walkthrough of a place that raises coho salmon in 62F water and automatically shoots all the good stuff over to the 77F (if memory serves now) water for the weed. It’s a great way to raise fish with different temp requirements than the plants, but I think it would be a lot of work on a small system, and it would require a lot more room. You’re essentially replacing my garbage can with the filter, the separator and the integrator to get water into the plant side. If you do go this way, I’m dying for a walk through! And if you want to toss any ideas around about how to grt it working, I’m always game for brainstorming 
.
To get some of the monster buds that other people here are getting, you definitely need to be more regimented on adding your iron and phosphate than I am… Hmm, if I wrote that stuff down, that’d probably help… But it’s definitely doable without much extra work. Even in a hobbyist size. Looking back at previous grows, when I wasn’t on all these nerve meds and had a brain, I grew a plant that had so much bud I’m still finding little jars of it (I just found one today actually ). I’m good with design, horrible with upkeep, usually because my braisln is already building the next system 
🤦
I do have to say though, going through the various types of grow systems, I’ve learned a lot of little pitfalls. For example, with my current setup, having free flowing water through the whole grow bed, I forgot how much buildup you can get in the grow bed itself. This was a problem I ran into many, many grows ago, and am running into again with this grow (this is why the grow I had in the closet with all the tinfoil, had a separate bin filled with hydroton sitting inside a bigger empty bin so the water could flow all around the grow bin). I’m hoping the worms are going to clear it up this time. I’ve also added a coarse filter to the drain, that seems to be helping the small chunks of hydroton from getting to the screen before the fall back into the fish tank.
All the stupid little things like that add up, lemme know however I can help while you build your system so you can avoid the dumb mistakes I’ve already made!! Like I tell the Mrs kids, “learn from what I tell you, don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made, make all new super cool ones!”
here me out on this one - cannabis needs a decoupled system not due to the physical size of the setup but due to the depth of the root zone. the problem comes in vertical height. in order to have a successful airlift setup a certain amount of water depth is required. this means you must have the bottom of your plants roots must sit above the maximum water depth. this means that in most cases your plants will sit roughly 24-36" off the ground. if growing a large cultivar, it might not be possible to keep certain plants contained in a reasonable indoor setup.
the advantage of the decoupled system is that you can use some clever physical properties of water to save on electricity. one can use gravity to feed water through the filter instead of forcing water through it with a pump. one can use a siphon to transfer water from one container to another without using electricity. things like this…basically i can eliminate 90% of the mechanical components of a traditional aquaponics system and still derive all the benefits. the bead filter allows all of the fish waste to be taken out of the system and put into the plant system.
the beauty of it (in my eyes) is that it’s completely scalable to the size an individual desires. in my case i mainly intend to have 2 grow beds, 1 for a male, and 1 for a female. the male grow bed will need to be able to be disconnected from the system as his vitality fades once he performs his life purpose.
that’s real interesting that you’re getting buildup even with your filter and bioreactor! do you think a bead filter would fix this issue for you? additionally you could also try double stacked trays with a false bottom. this allows the water to pass completely through the system and not get ‘stuck’ in any container. i hope the worms help out as far as that goes! it will be interesting to see the results you have.
ah well i graciously accept your advice wherever present! the problem is, i don’t know what i don’t know 
if i run into complications i will be sure to ask for some constructive feedback!
No matter what system you’re looking at, either airlift or pump, you’re still relying on a pump, right? So really, it comes down to your size limitations and grow needs.
Mmm, not really. You can have a deep root zone, and have that 6" off the ground, you just need a bucket below that to pump water back up. The airlift is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but you have to build to your size, and there’s ALWAYS a way to make things fit… As long as you’re flexible on how things work 
I don’t actually have a filter on this anymore, it wasn’t pushing enough water for me, so I have a pump pushing it straight from the fish tank. So, solids in the grow bed. But, they’re most definitely helping, water is flowing beautifully now! So much so that I’m actually worried about the plants not getting enough and drying out a bit, lol. I’m really excited to see what the roots look like when I cut these plants down!
agree and disagree. a lot of this does come down to customization but regardless of either method to move water, a certain amount of water depth is required. in this situation where 6" is your water depth, you would have to have a massive footprint (length and width, because 6" depth) in order to do ebb/flow on the cannabis beds. otherwise you’ll pump out all 6" of water and then your sump is almost dry. if you do a system where it’s constant flow, sure you could have a bit more height to play with, at the expense of having ‘dead zones’. the problem i see with constant flow is there’s no way to keep the root zone stable. you can’t control dead zones, you can’t control where the water goes (only flows along the very bottom), and you can’t take out individual components. since your fish tank is connected to your plants, if you have any problems, both your plants and fish will suffer. you can’t clean out your filter without shutting the whole system down. it’s little things like this that i’m trying to be smart about.
when building a new design i would rather incorporate the solutions to these problems instead of dealing with them.
i’m curious too! please make sure to post the results if you can. that should give us a good idea of what’s good. 
Ebb and flow indoors is just crazy, I’ve had too many floods as it is to play with water levels changing, hahahaha. I’ve never had a problem with dead zones, and I’ve always had healthy plants, unless I move in the middle of a grow and they freeze, or something stupid 🤦. The worms should also help with moving stuff around, so bonus there. As for the water only going along the bottom, that’s the beauty of clay pebbles, they’re damp/wet half an inch down, the clay pebbles wick the water up .
You’re absolutely right though, the ideal system has a big fish tank, with a loopback system with a valve to the rest of the system… Then 2 filter setups, both big enough to handle the flow in case there’s a problem with one, but working in tandem… Grow beds 12" deep ebb/flow out to 2 long floating rafts, with identical plumbing back to the filter where it can be pumped back up to either the fish or the filters, in case you need to separate the fish out.
But, mine fits in a 4x4 tent and works really well
I can say that the worms definitely have the water flowing better already, so that’s a bonus!
try not to let your past cloud your perceptions of what is. every ebb and flow setup i’ve ever seen has been indoors save for Olomana Gardens. it’s about seeing the error of your ways and not doing them again.
ahh but you have one thing… experience. helps a wee bit 
that’s awesome. i also think that’s a good benchmark for a full mini aquaponic system as well. the 4x4 tent is a pretty standard thing in most indoor setups from what i’ve seen. since a decoupled system is my preference i think it would be cool to have the fish tank anywhere (not like it needs to be stealth) and have the plant system fit inside a 4x2 tent.
real swell to hear that the worms are worming! lol
Your right… I look forward to you getting your first system setup 
Lol, see above
If you’re into doing the extra work of mixing in the waste to a worm bed and then washing that out into your system, totally man, you could add nutes exactly when you need. You could pull from different aquariums even where you’ve been feeding different food, for a budding tent or a veg tent … There are soooo many possibilities with aquaponics, I freakin love it!! (I’m waaaay too lazy to do that much work, not that it would be a ton, lol)
I’m really digging the bead filter… I’m building one in my head now that’ll use the same media my garbage can is using, I’m just trying to figure out how to lift water out of it and up about 3’…
you and me both! as reality sets in it’s likely going to be spring before i can get anything going.
yeah that’s the general idea. might go more with a ‘tea brewer’ than a worm bed though. worms sound fantastic to me, but not in the system itself. a vermi-compost bin sounds better than trying to do too much with 1 system. it would be vastly less constrains on the farmer to have each system independent from each other, but still have the benefits from each system.
if you’d like i can send you over some of my designs for a pvc pipe setup. the diy bead filter i linked earlier seems swell, but i have some issues with it. the more professional models have better designs, and that imo is paramount to the effectiveness of the filter itself. the biggest unanswered questions on those seem to be the amount of beads and the flow rate in order to get the device to work.
additionally there’s another design element most won’t see initially. the beads must be a low density plastic (float in water). if they don’t float the system can’t backwash and the filter is not effective. these beads are about twice as expensive as any other biomedia. i reckon to fill that 5gal diy bead filter it would cost me around $200 for the correct amount of beads.
typically most systems i’ve seen with bead filters use gravity to facilitate fluid motion, combined with an airlift pump. it’s a rudimentary airlift but the concept is still the same. the airlift provides the mechanical pumping and aeration while the bead filter uses gravity and check/ball valves to operate. rather ingenious if i do say so.
for what it’s worth, i’ve been brainstorming ideas to use the bead filter in a horizontal position (so far the only ones i’ve seen are vertical). the only ‘trick’ to figure out is how to clear the beads and ‘backwash’ the filter.
You’d think that, but not having to manually put your fish waste into the system and have a spot to break it up, is a lot less work… There are a lot of variables in aquaponics already, adding complexity to your first setup seems like a bit of a recipe for disaster. I hope that’s not the case for you .
I appreciate that… Such, I’m always down to check out design ideas!
Flow rate of the bead filter definitely seems like it could be a factor in bead filters. Too much flow and you won’t have any filtering at all, not enough flown and you’ll have anaerobic spots in the filter… They look super cool when they’re sized and pumped right, but it’d definitely be a learning curve, and you’ll definitely want a valve on the input line so you can adjust it and find that right flow.
Definitely curious to see your ideas on a horizontal one!! At the end of the day it’s just a gravity filter, slow enough moving water and the beads will keep solids from floating up and out of the filter, so doing it horizontally will mean you need more flow to keep the beds from floating and leaving the bottom of the filter essentially open.
Well, for the record, don’t use this in aquaponics… I put a little into my bed last night just before the lights came on and by morning I had lost 5 fish 🤦.
A little water change and everything looks good, but damn. Some new bonemeal arrived today, I’ll be adding that in tomorrow to try and help some buds fill out more. I’ve used bonemeal before and had no issues with the fish, but wanted to try some liquid fert this time.
The remaining fan leaves seem to be drying out a bit, so I also changed from both blue and red lights to just red last night.
Hey @luxton
I’m having fun watching your adventures and designs.
First thought - This guy is crazy!
Second thought - No he makes perfect sense!
Third, Am I really high? Is this the same guy?
This reading through the entire thread.
Keep up the experimentation. I love it.
hahahaha… yeah, I’m on some pretty awesome nerve meds for my back that have turned my brain to mush. I’m making a disturbing number of mistakes lately… which is actually a big reason why I started this log, so I can remember what NOT to do, lol 
Thanks for reading at least
Hmmm, changed my mind… I kept the lights on full, but changed the fan to be blowing across the top of the light and blue into the plants, with how small the buds are I don’t think it’s going make a difference.
Well, more bad… Lost 2 more fish due to that fertilizer. Also, I have 1 monster goldfish in there and I’m pretty sure he ate most of the small new ones I put in last weekend… I have 4 fish in there that I can see now.
I need to get the big guy out of there and replenish with a bunch of new ones, but the only tank I have to put him in has 2 really big white tiger Oscars that have eaten everyrhing I’ve put in the tank, save the pleco. He’s too big to be eaten in 1 go and they won’t go back to a fish aftrr its dead, so if I’m putting him in that tank, I’ll be taking most of his body out in an hour 🤷🤦.
I’m self-sabatoging my grows 🤷
But, at least the crystals are showing up nicely
been busy; just had a chance to check out your progress and i’m sorry to hear about some fish dying 
lessons learned i hope! (secretly hoping you decide to decouple your system )
i hope everything is smooth from here until the end! it sounds like you’ve got them all stabilized.
here’s another nifty little idea i seen on the YT. it seems that essentially it’s a radial flow filter just on a very small size. i like the ability to just turn the ball valve to purge the system.
i’ll say it again, i think cannabis has too many obstacles to perform well in an aquaponic system. it needs a large root zone, and more even more head room. it needs specialized nutrient requirements based on the size and where it’s at in the life cycle. it takes a long time (3-4 months minimum) to get any kind of usable product from it.
if you decouple the system and remove the fish waste from your fish system, there’s a number of ways you can still use that nutrition in your cannabis plants with minimal losses. when you run into issues it will be easier to correct when you don’t have to worry about the health of the other system.
one of the inhibitions i have with aquaponic cannabis is that it seems very hard to keep a ‘seamless’ operation going. lets say you have a setup with 20 fish, feeding 4 plants. once the plants are in the second stage of flowering where they start to pack on weight, they’re feeding about as heavily as they are going to. a few weeks pass, and you harvest your goods. you throw some new clones in there for the next run but… there’s still 20 fish. instead of feeding 4 extremely large and hungry plants, now you have 4 tiny clones in the same amount of nutrition. is there a chance for nitrogen toxicity on those new clones? meanwhile every day the fish get bigger and want more food (=more poo= more nutrition). the only way i can see around this is a perpetual system where each bed has a plant at a different stage. if one goes perpetual then you have a constant supply of hungry plants, but then you also must have cloning down, and a couple of other unforeseen things. need a dedicated veg space, flower space, and clone space.
when i think about all the moving parts a coupled system where it’s ‘all-in-one’ seems like a nightmare. you already have to have 3 areas for your plants, and one of those areas must be big enough to have the fish system too (unless you decouple).
one of the things that makes me think “there’s got to be a better way”
Thanks… This is why I don’t name my goldfish 
I understand your hesitation, but I’m also currently vaping weed from my aquaponics system and I can tell you, it’s better than what I’m ordering online 
There is a reason to this that isn’t specifically coming to me at the moment (see my previous comment about currently vaping )… In an aquaponics system the plant only pulls out what it needs and unless there’s a really MAJOR overload, the plant lives happily. There are lots and lots of videos about growing marijuana in aquaponics, including a commercial grow in Ontario that’s 200,000 sq ft underground… They have a pretty cool walkthrough video. There’s also one in the BC Okanagan growing in aquaponics, doing pretty much exactly what I was laying out, it’d almost like someone gave them my business plan, lol. They’ve done a great job!!
Sweet!!
Do you not have 3 separate places already? With aquaponics it just has to be connected, which granted, is a PITA for the plumbing.
You’re honestly really overthinking it. I have 3 plants growing happily in a 4" grow bed. And when I put a new 4" clone in, it’s ready to flip it to budding in a week or two typically. I’m not far from pulling down my current grow and starting some new ones… I’ll post some of the pics my app takes as it goes, so you can see how quickly everything grows and it’ll be in a system that just budded plants (
)
Another “trick” with aquaponics that I have forgotten 🤦… Because water is so accessible to the plant, it doesn’t hold much in its branches and leaves. With less water the plants are more prone to drying out. So you really have to watch where fans are blowing, your light intensity and where your humidity is at.
The bonus is, your dry time goes from weeks to days to get a nice, even dry .
The fish still don’t look super happy, so I took out 2 more 5g buckets of water today and added 2 of fresh. I’m keeping the water I took out in the tent in buckets, with air going through both. I’m hoping it’ll help keep the humidity up, and I’ll be able to dilute and reuse the water later, and with air going through it it’ll be goooood to go.
