Purdue Aquaponics: Cut Water Usage 

Organic Hydroponic / Aquaponic this is the way of the future !! Great Job

Agreed, aquaponics are a great way to grow your own food. We sell dozens of recycled food grade IBC totes to customers just like you here in Florida, and we greatly appreciate others helping to preserve our planet.

I will be starting, this winter, a basement system revolving around a 40 gal. Fish aquarium. This will allow me time, before spring when I'll build an outside greenhouse, to learn how to build, and properly regulate a productive system. Thank you for the good tips

Great video. Im a sustainable Ag major at CSU Stanislaus and just started a small media bed aquaponic system at home. So far, after ~2 months, all is working well 🤞

Aquaponics is definitely the way to go especially in the effort to help green mother earth. Go for aquaponics...I know I am.

Excelent, very explicative video. The best seen so far.

I'm new to this but finding it to be a really cool way to become more self sustained.

I enjoyed watching this aquaponics video. I will be recommending it to my subscribers.

Great video and very good explanation of how aquaponics operates... nice job guys!

Really good information for my research into this most exciting method of food source production.

No doubt your farming experience has paid off, there is a learning curve to overcome. I grow hydroponically. With your formula I figured I can run 6 - 12 4x8 beds on a 400 gl tank, is there an optimum number? Isn't the system designed to provide balanced nutrition? Do you have to add nutrients to the system? How do you change nitrogen and phosphorus levels? Would growing plants in the fish tanks improve the system?

By far THE best video on Aquaponics on RU-vid!

Good information & excellent explanation. Many thanks.

yes just start simple! i started with hydroponics and its not too complicated and now im going to aquaponics good luck

I think this is one of the coolest new trends in farming...

This is really excellent. Thank you very much.

Good little video to help the new farmers

nice & excellent video of aquaponic, please also provide us with more video.

I've been a tech guy for a long time, but the older I get, the more I realize the personal benefits of things like this. I am slowly putting together my plan to become completely independent from the rest of society so that the crazy things that happen in our economy won't affect me very much. Everyone would do well to take a serious look at this, especially when you look at times like the Great Depression and Recession....

Very nice video. I'm so excited about aquaponics. Good information, thanks so much =)

I am going to make a smaller scale setup soon, thanks for the helpful vid!

We have a dual crop for our system, Wasabi for long term profit and strawberries and Tomatoes for everyday crops for steady cash flow. We are getting ready to expand our system to 12 tanks this summer. Some materials in our Area of Northern Maine have been very difficult to buy. It's taken us a year to gather equipment we should have had on hand 8 months ago.

Super cool Adam. i live in FL. It's hot so out door organic gardening kind of sucks, plus the bugs. I have been collecting material to build a system. I'm excited about doing the same thing as you.

We made a small aquaponic system with a 1.5lb fish tank and 2 plants, it's been up for a week and running great. the plants are so tall.

Thank you. It is very nice introductory video.

This could be a great hobby.

Heck, I'm an Architect and the way the economy is going, my profession could be dead in a few years. I can very easily see myself switching over to Aquaponic farming as a second profession. People will always need good food to eat!

Great Stuff....Thanks man....I am starting up a home system within the next week.....!

Aquaponics is a very good system for growing plants without soil.

LOVE this.. Really like the ideas i'm getting from this.. thanks... :)

Great video, thank you for sharing Purdue!

Does Purdue happen to have any more advanced material on this available to the public? I'm interested in methods for closing the loop as much as possible. Such as whether or not it's possible to have enough grow bed devoted to a high density, high growth crop which can be used as fodder for breeding worms or black soldier fly larva to feed the fish, whilst still having enough nutrients in the system to output a profit or sustenance crop? Also, I'm interested in any knowledge on the most efficient usage of the waste solids. I know it can be used in fertilizer but for all I know it could be dried, burnt to help warm the tanks in winter, and used to recover the essential minerals in the system.

Right there with you. Pulling away from the system is the way forward.

He talks about a start-up system costing thousands - I'm sure that's the case if you're going straight into commercial production. A simple home-system and fish providers who sell 20 or so fish at a time can get you started pretty cheap. (the rock growning medium was the most expensive outlay for me.) I'm not using a high-yield fish right now, but some local panfish and minnows I caught a few years back. I'm just testing to see how it goes.

I have access to an above ground pool with pump/filter etc, about 15,000 gallon pool. Can this be used for aquaponics? If so how is the waste etc pulled off the bottom since the lining is on the ground?

Can I use the abdonded material to create a new aquaponics system? Will it work?

What is the optimum exposure time for the water to MBBR and the how long will it take for the plants to absorb the nitrates?

Tank You. This system is good for Brazil too.

@walt0783 what problems specifically can u get with indoor composting? if u read the relevant books on this, is experience still essential? the outdoor alternative u mentioned, r u referring to the 'jean pain method'?

Looking good my man. Peace!

It is such a wonderful documentary. I want to know if Purdue University offers training online in Aquaponics and other courses in Social Sciences and Management. Thank you.

I am just getting into starting my hobby in aquaponics

"An initial investment for equipment can range from a few thousand dollars to several thousand..."

a few questions, 1) what's your view on vertical growing towers in AP (aquaponics) systems? i heard people are experimenting with this 2) is there a way to have a no-electricity AP system without having to manually hand pump for many hours every day? ..and i heard ram pumps are way too much maintenance, not worth the bother 3) what dimensions/size of a greenhouse for AP system do you need to feed 30 people a diverse balanced diet every year all year round? many thanks.

well done vid ... very informative ! all the best

Thank you!

This is very interesting. Question though. Is the effluent tested for pathogen activity? Are all the microbes benign?

Excellent intro video. Where can I get more details on this setup? Would love to build one.

i'll to start one too, i love it

Hey guy I am doing a week by week indoor aquaponic video so u can see how the plants grow look up backwoodsaquaponis

yes you can. i have just seen some forum threads of people that did it, stuff looks good, loom it up.

i was wondering what this was , recently i went to New Mexico and this farm had a big bucket of water with fish inside it and with tubes connected to it ..i had no idea what it was then but its a great idea and system , i believe this will be our future

Thanks for sharing... 👍👍👍

@oc00011 Composting can let off gasses that in high concentration could be bad for the plants. I wasn't familiar with the jean pain method but after checking out a video it seems like it should work. Basically you coil up pex pipe in a compost pile and then lay pex in flat coils through the GH floor and lay rock or whatever flooring you use over the pex. In the winter run the water through the compost pile to heat the floor. In the sumer run cold water through the floor to cool it.

oh my! I would like to see/make this in the country where I live (Armenia)!

Love the comment, especially the end. Those same people say they like "natural" substances in their lives, not "all those processed chemicals". To which I like to ask, "Would you slather crude oil on you? Because that's natural." ;)

I intend on getting in to this in the very near future, starting off small for home use to learn the process, then going commercial to make a living. Is there a good place I can go for extensive information on this?

Just decided to start aquaponics in the past month

If you set up a compost pile every 2 to 3 months with pex and some type of disconnect to change your water line from pile to pile you would never be with out hot water. I learned of this from a video of a guy using it for an outdoor shower and then came across a video of someone using at hot water heater for the floor system and figured why not combine the two.

thank's for the advice I will do that and let you know what happens thank's again!

This video looks like it came out of the 90's. i haven't been this ready for a nap since 4th grade science class.

Very informative video

Excellent . Do you have Modeling software

I've read about Permaculture gardening, and its cool from a technique standpoint, theirs a couple videos on youtube about this guy in austria who farms mountains and stuff.. But I think this method of farming is cool as well.

1 lb of fish requires 1 to 2 gallons of water and 1 gallon = 1/2 to 1 Sq. Food? Is that then the difference between growing 250 plants and 1,000 plants?

can i have your opinion on backyard liberty. thats how i found out about this semi-new way of farming.

This is awesome. People are stupid, don't pay them attention. I'm watching this for a university class. People definitely take this stuff seriously.

Do you use gravel grow beds?

Sweet!!

Very interested in this one.

What do we call those fish tank containers? Thats the most efficient design i see so far. With its cone shape design in the bottom, it would be easier for the physical waste of the fist to be drained. With its whole circular shape, you could create a circular current which could help the fish to be active. Simulating the water steams outside the farm. I'm from Philippines and does anyone know where I could buy one of these :) Thanks in advance!

can i use this vid 4 my blog?

@JSErwine Indoor composting should be left to people with experience. It can cause a lot more problems than the simple heat problem that it solves. A simple alternative is to compost out doors and run pex pipe through it and into the GH as radiant heat. This is also a good way for an outdoor shower with free hot water. I agree with using gravity and bugs/plant life to feed fish. Hay could bring in pests to a generally sterile GH.

Is it safe to use Rubbermaid tanks for the biofilter and for the sump?

very interesting video. Cheers :)

You really can build your backyard that won't require weeding, tilling or cultivating, the spreading of fertilizer or garden compost, without any watering or irrigating; all while your plants generate up to 10 x the amount of veggies than plants from the dirt garden.

It very good

how do i check the chemical and heavy metal content of the fish?

Brilliant comment adam putman!

Every state hatchery should also be doing this.

Is there a book or some pdf file i can read to built my own miniature aquaponics? Thanks

@skiie you'd probably want some kind of alternative energy source to cut down on the amount of electricity you'd have to buy. Efficiencies could be wrung out of the operation...parabolic mirrors heating water or driving boilers during the day, solar panels and wind turbines driving water pumps, energy reclamation from the water flow, passive solar heating, evaporative cooling.

My aquaponics cost me about €50. It's basically just a home aquarium with enough bed space to grow a few plants on your desk. If I were to value all the parts I used as new, tank included I'd say it cost less than €150 tops.

Does that basil have "the claw"?

Where could I find these tanks

I've heard reports that hybrid stripped bass doesn't perform well in an aquaponics system. Have you guys done testing on the fish, and if so, who's the author to the published paper? I'm a horticulture student at another Big Ten school so I have JSTOR and other database access.

@BooGooNFlowoo4Evoo i don't know if its possible to only use 'ram pumps' in an aquaponics system..? that would even solve the issue of electricity being needed at all for the water circulation. can u please specify what method u know of for "energy reclamation from the water flow"? in terms of evaporative cooling, r u suggesting to construct the aquaponics building as a huge 'zeer'? that would be interesting.

This can be done in a much more efficient way. Indoor composting to produce heat, gravity instead of electric pumps, plantlife to feed the fish, hay bails for winter insulation which can be composted later....etc.

How do you grow seedlings for Aquaponic? Pls advise.

I like aquaponics!

Dear University, you can give more information for I do construction, please.

AH! :-) Yes! Perfect! Well Done! You have hit upon the core issue here! The definition of sustainability. This requires a much longer discussion, requires more space than allowed here. Are we talking near term? Our lifetimes? 10k yrs? We'll have to move this discussion to a more free-form application that does'n count characters. In the mean time, here's a near term question: Can you close these sysystems such that they do not rely on petrolium products or petroleum energy in any form?

What's the market look like in Texas, you think? This stuff looks like quite an investment, plus many variables. Are you preferably indoor/outdoor and do you dress those tanks up, like fish tanks, or are they a bland environment. I'm just learning about this stuff recently. Like, what vegetables are the easiest for growing mutually with tilapia? And, not to sound like a hippie, but have you heard of feeding them hemp seeds? It's got to be safer, healthier than corn.

awesome!

If am using water filter or purifier how many days do I need to my pond water 💧

I've down on paper the detail by detail DIY aquaponics plan that all starter can easily use.

@BigBearHuskyMusher you can do it for 100 bucks or less, the price he quoted on here was for store bought kits. A few kiddy pools or totes plastic containers is all you need.

Aquaponic farmers can get organic certification?

In flood and drain it all depends on if u have a timer or not. A bell siphon is the superior method he'd because your not relying on a timer to flood and drain your system. The bell siphon is automatic and floods and drains our grow bed when water level is reached.

I really liked it