you,well hello I’m my gardener and I have an,absolutely exciting episode for you all,now a lot of you have been asking me to,do an aquaponic setup I’ve never done,one I did everything I would until I was,looking at our our fish tank that we,have as a family and I thought you know,we have a pond out on the back patio and,you get kind of some scum we had some,fish but one thing we did have was,lilies lily pads and we had lily pads we,had irises we had lots of moss you know,we had lots of green plant growth,growing in the pond and I thought to,myself well huh in a traditional,aquaponic setup you had a tank you had,the fish and then you had a tube that,would pump the water into a bed of,stones that went through a couple micro,filters and then the micro filters would,
uh would would have beneficial bacteria,that would break down the fish waste and,convert it to food that the plants could,have now I thought to myself there’s no,there’s no pumps in our pond there’s no,there’s no micro filters it’s a natural,micro filter it’s a natural ecosystem,and a natural ecosystem there’s fish and,there’s bacteria working together in the,same closed system so I thought to,myself what if I replicated that and,tried a aquaponic hydroponic crossover,set up in just a closed system so I,guess what I’m going to call this is a,closed system
aquaponic setup there’s,not going to be any pumps there’s going,to be well I mean there’s been one pump,that’s the air I have a very large air,stone here to supply all the oxygen that,I’m going to need for hosting not only a,healthy microbial habit,that but also for the roots on the,plants and I’m going to do it in the,form of a DW C system a deep water,culture system and I’m going to put them,in this 14 gallon fish tank I’ve painted,half of the tank so in the traditional,method you had a separate tank to grow,the plants and the water had to be in a,dark box,same thing with hydroponics if you do a,deep water culture you have to have it,in a dark thing where no light can get,in so that light doesn’t light prune the,roots because
roots don’t like light at,all it creates algae so what I’ve done,is I’ve actually created a kind of all,all-inclusive closed system here I have,half of the fish tank painted with an,opaque color and then the other half,raised is where you can see the fish now,I have seen a lot of setups similar to,this there’s an aquaponics an aqua farm,it’s a betta fish I’ve seen a lot of,people doing that now with a betta fish,and it’s just a little pump that pumps,air up but again there’s a separate,reservoir for that and I thought that’s,just too complicated is too expensive I,mean you’re talking a hundred dollars,just for the the setup not including the,fish not including the fish food not,including the plants not include I mean,there’s a lot of costs that
go into that,so I’m keeping this extremely low cost,and I think I might be onto something so,the method to my madness here is this,little box right here this little box is,called start design and it’s by tetra,and tetra makes pretty much everything,fish fish related they made the pump,they made the the fish tank that I,purchased and then they also make these,and these are a complete water,conditioner with beneficial bacteria and,so basically it makes tap water safe,immediately so I’m going to literally be,able to go right away and start growing,stuff,it removes chlorine and chloramines that,kill off other bacterias and it also,stimulates fish’s protective slime coat,so it’s healthy for the fish so that the,fish are happy in the ecosystem as well,and then also this right here says it’s,a fizz tablet that are fast dissolving,and it basically starts acting right,away to to
create a complete water,whether it’s a a complete water,biological cycle so you have things that,are breaking down organic sludge which,is the fish waste and then they’re,converting it but it doesn’t just stop,there the nitrogen cycle continues where,they convert the fish sludge which is,ammonia and they convert that into into,food that the plants can use so that is,the my method for my madness it’s all,right here you have the the bacteria and,the bacteria are going to call this,river rock home it’s going to be the,bottom of the fish tank there’s no,separate reservoir needed it’s all in,this reservoir here the the river rock,has a very porous um a very porous,makeup so it has a lot of surface area,and we have a lot of surface area you,can have a lot of bacteria on colonizing,these rocks and so I’m going to pour,these right in the bottom and then on,top of that I have the over here my last,component I have this this is my,floating raft I’m actually just going to,set it
right on top,similar to a cracking method that MHP,gardener does he I mean fantastic,fantastic grower with the cracking,method and so basically just you do it,just like he does with an aquaponic,setup here where I’m going to set the,foam right on top and I’m going to float,my two-inch netcups,basically right at water level and then,as the water drains down the the the,microbes are going to break down the,fish waste in the water and,and it’s going to keep the water really,nutrient-rich and then the plant roots,are going to continue growing down as,well as the water level drops and it’s,and it’s going to create air roots up,there as well not not even mentioning,the fact that I also have an air stone,and the air stone is also going to,provide extra oxygen so with all that,said let’s get started let’s construct,this I am so excited I think this is,going to work out great however it’s,never been done before I’ve never seen,this done before so it’s completely
open,to review I could be totally wrong with,everything I’m doing this is just a,really fun experiment and I’ve wanted to,do this experiment for a long time,because everyone keeps asking me Lou do,an aquaponic setup do a hydroponic setup,I got a hydroponic setup going but I,wanted to do an aquaponic setup because,why not,so hopefully you all will learn,something as I go because we’re going to,be learning together on this and,hopefully you all will enjoy this so,let’s get started so the first thing I’m,going to do and I’m actually going to,pour my river rock in that was a perfect,amount I don’t know how I guess that so,well but I got it alright cool so just,going to smooth those out there okay so,we got our River Rock down the bottom,there and basically I’m just going to,start filling this with water now I have,a little bit of distilled water but,apparently according to the
start design,packet that I have it doesn’t really,need you don’t really need to have,uncoordinated water because the because,the the water pretty much gets,uncorrelated the moment you put these,little tablets in here so I’m going to,fill up some water here,so basically I have the tablets in here,now I have the start dime tablets in and,they’re just dissolving and letting them,dissolve before I stir in any water or,put it any fish now I am going to let,the tank rest for if you know about an,hour to before I put anything in just,because I want the water temperature to,be okay and I also want to have,everything stabilized before I put any,fish in so nothing dies on Reed so now,what I’m doing is I’m basically just,taking these plants that I got from the,store I got these beautiful basil plants,and they look really great so the,problem is is I don’t need the soil that,they came in so I’m actually just taking,them and picking the most healthy plants,and
I’m actually just washing them out,of the soil and untangling the roots,getting all that stuff out because I,really don’t need all of that I’m just,getting all that off just to give a nice,little wash and it all does come out you,eventually do get it I already got two,finished,the system is looking really great I,have the bubble or hooked up and I’ll,show you all that a second but the,bubbler is not running just for the sake,of sound because it is a bit noisy and,then I’m just coming through here and,picking out some of these bad leaves,that I see because those are not going,to aid the plant whatsoever and I might,actually pick a couple of the healthiest,plants and leave them and just trim off,some of the non healthy plants like that,right there I’ll leave that plant it,looks really nice now I’m going to bring,it over here and what I’m going to do is,I’m just going to take it I’m going to,wiggle the roots down I see I have just,a bit too many roots here so I’m going,to do is I’m just going to cut off some,of those roots I’m just going to wiggle,those roots in there weave them in and,then I like what I see right there so,then I’m going to come in here I’m going,to take this just as black gravel rock,here,and I’m
going to basically just pour in,and fill in the rest of the net cup with,the Black Rock that’s going to support,the plant it’s going to give it a little,bit of a growing medium and this again,also will house some of the some of the,the bacteria that will help to reduce,the plant or another plant waste but the,the fish waste and it will and it will,increase the microbial activity in the,system so all of this makes part of the,closed system here which is really nice,now I didn’t think in I’d mention that,the water has actually just come up to,the very bottom of the net cup I’m using,a two inch net cup right here and,they’re just at the water line so,they’re not actually in the water but,it’s going to allow the roots to be just,touching the water so that when water,does evaporate and the plants do take,some up there’s not a gap there where,there’s no roots touching the water and,it really is good to start like that so,we’re just going to come along here and,I think I’m going to separate these one,more time they come apart just so easily,which is nice I’m going to stick that,one right there and that one right there,and there you have it as you can see the,fish are enjoying the micro bubbles down,there I have the bar of
the bar aerator,plugged in and it’s working out,phenomenally I am so proud of this,system now like I said I’ve never seen,anything like this done before this is,basically just like a credit key method,it’s got the the float here just sitting,on top and this is an opaque paint here,so that no light comes in and damages,the roots and the roots are slowly going,to work their way down but they’re going,to have a very large root system right,around here and I got four goldfish in,here they’re going to grow nice,they’re going to do their business and,hopefully all of the the waste falls,down in the stones where the beneficial,bacteria are going to be growing in,number and colonizing all of the the,rocks and I mean what can I say it just,looks really beautiful,hopefully the plants do well hi I’ll,keep you guys updated but this could,fail just as much as you as it could,succeed because I’ve never tried this,before I mean heck I’ve never done,aquaponics before and I kind of went,against the grain on this one so there,you go come check this out really
close,so you can see just how this thing works,the aerator cord basically just comes,down and I have it in a hole right in,the foam and the reason why I put this,blue taper on here is just so it didn’t,flake off anymore because I actually had,to cut this to size so I didn’t want it,flaking off any more than it was and it,doesn’t really stick very well but it,works so time being I’ll continue to,improvise this method if it does work,but I mean this is a pretty darn good,prototype if I don’t say so myself I,have to parsley plants and I have six,basil plants and this whole entire,project was done including the plants,was done for $35 including the tank the,pump the the tubing the all of the the,stones you see both down there and in,the net cups I used like I said just,those black river rock and and the air,pump and the goldfish all of that so I,think I did pre pretty good for a,cost-effective aquaponic system if that,is it works that’ll be the next thing,and if it doesn’t I can always just,paint the entire thing an opaque color,pull out the fish and I can just put in,a hydroponic solution and leave the pump,down there and I can just make it a,hydroponics,so really it’s it’s going to work out,fine the other way I am really proud of,this so yeah there you go so thank you,for coming along with
me,hopefully you all learned something,hopefully I inspired you and heck if you,think this is actually going to work let,me know if you think it’s going to not,work let me know I just really want to,know what you think because I am so,proud of this but my pride obviously,does not lead to success all the time so,just let me know what you think and and,I think it’s gonna be really fun,regardless of it wit if it works or not,so alrighty well I better find a way to,hold this thing up to my grow room to,put it I rate some grow lights because,it’s not under any artificial lighting,just regular house lights and those are,compact fluorescent I want you guys know,how this thing works,step-by-step every single day and we,should be luck all right I’ll talk to,you all later is on my gardener writing,a t-girl bigger go home see ya bye
