Goldfish Aquaponics and planted tank

[AquaAurora 9]

40 breeder with DIY in tank sump made from cut lexan with holes drilled and stuffed with foam to allow water through.  Have a pump surrounded by foam and bio media as well as heater and temp controller.  Lids are a 3500k 50 watt I think? T5 x2 4', and a 36" Finnex LED.

My workers (nitrate producers) include:Sprinkles the calico ryukin x fantail mix, Chocoalte the blue oranda, and Very Berry the mystery snail.

I also have water sprite growing under water (and a bit above) in this tank.

All the veggie goodness

Lettuce is looking more like a tree as the lower leaves are harvested for salads, look at that monster root/stem!






Cucumber continues to grow, hoping it will fill out more evenly instead of looking like a gourd/squash

 

Chocolate (left), Sprinkles (right)

Chocolate

 

Very Berry

 

Full under water tank shot

 

[Howie 2]

Awesome. How many plants do you think your system can produce with 2 good looking Goldie's and a snail fit for a plate. LOL. Any update pics and sure would like to see some of your bio filter. 

[AquaAurora 9]

On 10/2/2016 at 10:27 AM, Howie said:

Awesome. How many plants do you think your system can produce with 2 good looking Goldie's and a snail fit for a plate. LOL. Any update pics and sure would like to see some of your bio filter. 

Sorry for lack of update.  I could probably use a grow bed the dimensions of the tank (36x18") and cram packed with leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, char, and herbs.

That snails is only a mystery snail, a smaller cousin in the apple snail family.  Other apple snails species can get much larger (google 'giant apple snail').  Currently that snail is in another tank and I have 2 or 3 nerite snails in the goldfish tank.

Unfortunately I lost my 2 goldfish.  First Chocolate (the dark one), a large river rock that wasn't too stable fell on her, she didn't die immediately but I had to put her down a few days later with clove oil.  No more large river rocks in the tank.  After that I got 2 new goldies: Ginger(brown/gold) and Tangerine (orange/white) to keep Sprinkles (calico) company.  Unfortunately I lost Sprinkles over a month ago to dropsy-a bacterial infection that causes kidney failure-which results in fluid build up in the body leading to a pine coned fish (scales raise), with no cure for failed kidneys I had to put her down... but Tangerine and Ginger are healthy and past did not get the infection Sprinkle's did (past the incubation period and no signs of it).

I also harvested and removed the original plants on the tank.  Hubby said the cucumber was delicious. Now growing jalapeno (far right) and pasilla bajo peppers as well as some bloomsdale spinach.  been harvesting the spinach so not much to look at right now as its growing back.  The pepper plants have blooms which I pollinate with a small crash paint brush and already have some jalapeno peppers growing!

Planning and moving the goldies and breaking down this tank to redo the faux sump section to take up a smaller foot print (give fish more room) and move veggies to a more standard container above the tank.

I also have 2 75gs I'll be setting up for auqaponics in the next few months (waiting for some things to come in the mail), get to play musical chairs with some aquarium lights to get what I want on the 75gs and the others on my 40g breeder (goldfish tank) and my 55g (non auqaponic but taking its huge light system).

Will post photo dump later have to go feed fish now.

[AquaAurora 9]

photo dump of the 40g breeder

 

And a shot of my 55g riparium, probably the last photo as I'm taking it down to scavenge the lights for one of the two 75g tanks... need to find a hope for all these house plants (non pothos range from 17"-27" tall, pothos is in various several foot lengths).  They would work great indoors with low light (by a window or with some lights on them), or in a green house. Can be transferred back to soil or keep growing like aquaponic plants-roots in water. I put a new thread up in the give away section for these with more photos.

Edited January 17, 2017 by AquaAurora (see edit history)

[AquaAurora 9]

Time for an update!

SO originally i was waiting on a storage container that would fit over the 75gs perfectly.  Even though I bought it through amazon prime it was not actually in stock and woudl take up to to months to ship.. on top of that it was a bit expensive.  So I canceled the order and my husband and I picked up some much cheaper clear storage bins at home depot-2 per a tank along with some 2" bulkheads to connect them and drain back into the tank.  I also got 4x 40 liter bags of Grow!t expanded clay media for the bins.  Now we're waiting on some metal shelving units to come in the mail because heaven forbid our local stores carry anything we actually want  "You want 60" long shelving unit? to bad! we only carry 48"!".. once everything is set up over the 75g my husband will 'pretty it up' for me with some wood paneling to hide the bins.

These plants won't be staying here but I am sprouting some seeds on the 75g by the window that I'll be moving soon.  I plant to take the riparium plants off my betta tanks/ponds and grow edibles instead.  Papillon will have cilantro, Ciel takes care of parsley, one of my newer betas in a 3.5g bubble bowl will have lemon mint, and I may be ;saving' a betta soon that's been sitting in a petstore for MONTHS, I dunno how he's not dead.  If he's still there once plants are grown enough I always have some cups with scallions/green onions that he'll help grow.  Green onions haven't sprouted yet as i sowed them just a few days ago.

Onto the 40g breeder.  The jalapeno plant is going gang busters and has 16 or more peppers growing on it!!  The largest is shown in front of my hand-its about 3/4ths the length of an average store bought jalapeno so almost ready to harvest!  Also the pasilla bajo pepper finally started making peppers (I thought the jalapeno  was hogging all the nutrients).  Its just a small one.  I did a 98% water change this past Monday.. my back is still killing me from it-but I took out the sand and put Very Berry back in the tank.  With the dark substrate gone i can see the yellow of Ginger and Tangerine's bellies more clearly.  They don't want to hold still for in focus shots though >.<.  And finally last photos is the 26g tuffstuff bin I bought at tractor supply co to use as a grow bed when I redo the 40g tank.. right now it smells really bad so soaking it in a water+baking soda mixture to hopefully get rid of the stick.