Hydroponics and best veggie/fruit to grow?

[ericatdallas]

Hi, I've seen some discussion of it here before about what people grow. I've been searching the internet for best places to do research and discussions but most of the 'good' or the more active ones are used for illicit purposes.

My goal has nothing to do with decreasing nitrates for less WCs. I'm kind of just having fun (want to learn) and trying to get fresh vegetables out of it since I have the spare equipment, plumbing set up in my fish room and lots of fertilizer (aquariums).

I really wanted to grow avocados but from what I read, I need more head room and several plants for cross-pollination. Also, it takes several years for trees to bear fruit and I won't be here that long.

My other option is tomatoes or some random herbs (basic stuff).

Questions:
1) What are the "easiest" to grow
2) What are some good websites?
3) Any additional advice?

Plan:
1a) "dump" Discus water into barrel that will circulate water through plants. refreshes during each WC for aquariums.
1b) (alternative plan) - directly connect hydroponics system to aquarium (aka aquaponics)

My bin will be a simple rubbermaid or unused aquariums (I have a 75G not being used right now).

My wife wants me to grow some flowers for her during the winter so she can plant them in the spring, so that's something I might consider as well (prepping the plants indoors for outside planting).

I figured I might as well put all my new equipment to use (for the purpose of fast WCs).

Some of my concerns are :

- Pathogens that can get of vegetables (minor concern but still something to consider b/c I have some very young children at home).
- I'm clueless of pathogens
- I'm clueless on cross-pollination
- It being more expensive than I think (i.e. I need a lot more equipment).

I also used to have a planted tank that I disassembled so I have a 48" T5 assembly I can use for lighting. For tropical plants I have space heaters (I'm growing them in basement so temperature averages about 60F down there during the summer when AC is on but not sure the average for winter when heat is on).

Thanks for any advice.

[fast93accord]

First step. Buy a book on hydroponics. U r going to need the hydro system and style and size of your choice. If organic then they sell the liquid ferts, or DIY. If chemical liquid is best. Powders are cheaper but tougher to use, so they say... There's so many different additives... Your gonna need hps or halide lighting. T5s are usable, but your gonna need a lot...
You definatly need a good digital ph meter. You definatly need a good electronic tds meter.
Peppers are very easy. Tomatoes r easy but r heavy feeders. They like a lot of nitrogen. Strawberries r easy. U will need to manually pollinate... Any questions just ask me...

[ericatdallas]

Fertilizers aren't a problem... I have a ton of the stuff when I had planted tanks but I was planning to use them as a supplement since I have Discus and pleco poop and dirty water for that. I watered my wife's flowers with aquarium water and she even noticed how they grew faster and were blooming. She then requested that I watered all her plants with it... <sigh>

Yeah, I'm not too worried about lighting either, but I have no problems with building a halide lighting fixture if that's what it needs.
-So I guess a good question/requirement is also: What's a good plant that I can use with my existing T5 lights? (about 250W)

Wife doesn't like peppers, but strawberries sounds good.

[Darrell Ward]

LOL! People don't grow food with hydro setups. Tons of info out there, just "Google" it.

[ericatdallas]

People don't grow food with hydro setups? Well, I'm not planning on it being a life-sustaining venture, just one to "start" a sub-hobby.

I want it to be useful. No point in growing stuff to throw away ... and I'm not planning on breaking the law b/c I make decent amount of money staying within it.

Most of my questions aren't directed at hydroponics specifically... the concept itself isn't hard to understand. I'm pretty much asking opinions on some of the intangibles (what people prefer to grow), lessons learned (specifically from people who combine it with the discus aquariums), and what websites you may or may not visit to discuss this stuf...

[jimg]

LOL! People don't grow food with hydro setups. Tons of info out there, just "Google" it.
I was in disney world fla a few months back and they have a building with all the plants they use for displays and vegetables growing in water. Amazing sight!

[jimg]

People don't grow food with hydro setups? Well, I'm not planning on it being a life-sustaining venture, just one to "start" a sub-hobby.

I want it to be useful. No point in growing stuff to throw away ... and I'm not planning on breaking the law b/c I make decent amount of money staying within it.

Most of my questions aren't directed at hydroponics specifically... the concept itself isn't hard to understand. I'm pretty much asking opinions on some of the intangibles (what people prefer to grow), lessons learned (specifically from people who combine it with the discus aquariums), and what websites you may or may not visit to discuss this stuf...Keep posting what you find. I was going to try this too but just didn't get the kick!

[Darrell Ward]

Whatever. 98 out of 100 people grow super high quality marijuana with these setups is what I meant. Hydro and discus together is going to be rare info, but these guys sell more hydro stuff than anyone in the country, online, and retail. Lot of knowledge there, and can hook you up with advice, and products...http://stores.ebay.com/High-Tech-Garden-Supply/HTGSupply-Retail-Stores.html
How about a sump that was actually full of plants? The plants pull organics from the water, kinda like a planted tank but separate? I think fast growing bunch plants would work pretty good.

[jimg]

your right there pot plants are the #1 in that area!

I have tried the plants in the filter, I cut the filters in half and turn them sideways in the aqua clears and plant them, but nitrates are too low in the discus tanks to do any thing.
I have all kinds of lights not being used like mh and t5s looking for a need!

[ericatdallas]

Whatever. 98 out of 100 people grow super high quality marijuana with these setups is what I meant. Hydro and discus together is going to be rare info, but these guys sell more hydro stuff than anyone in the country, online, and retail..

Yeah, that's my point. Hard to find anyone that's not growing weed, so not a lot of active forums for people who grow vegetables at home. Also, had a hard time finding an active community (like this forum ). Why does it matter? Well, because I'm actually (YES, ACTUALLY) trying to grow food crops or at least flowers so my wife can plant her flowers next spring.

There's useful technical information on some of the other forums and I do read them, but no one in those pot growing forums that's going to answer my questions about trying to grow avocados (which is actually pretty hard from what I've read). Besides, I can look up stuff here and on home gardening sites, but not those other sites at work. Also, tidbits like, "Tomatoes require a lot of Nitrogen" (from fast93accord) isn't as easily found as you may think. It's out there, but digging through hundreds of sites does take time...


Lot of knowledge there, and can hook you up with advice, and products...http://stores.ebay.com/High-Tech-Garden-Supply/HTGSupply-Retail-Stores.html

Thanks, I'll check them out.



How about a sump that was actually full of plants? The plants pull organics from the water, kinda like a planted tank but separate? I think fast growing bunch plants would work pretty good.

That's kind of what I was thinking. It's called aquaponics. My idea for isolating the system (method #1) was because I change water daily, the amount of nutrients may be lacking so I might need to keep my discus and plants separate to allow for fertilizer dosing. Not that discus can't handle ferts in moderation, but I can use cheaper stuff to supplement (i.e. the ammonia based products sold at hardware stores.


your right there pot plants are the #1 in that area!

I have tried the plants in the filter, I cut the filters in half and turn them sideways in the aqua clears and plant them, but nitrates are too low in the discus tanks to do any thing.
I have all kinds of lights not being used like mh and t5s looking for a need!

Yeah, the extra equipment is also what got me thinking about it. If I could use it as a supplement to my bio-filters even better. Also, my wife spends a ton in the spring to get flowers to plant in the garden. It would be nice if I could buy the seeds, get them to sprout, and let her transfer them in the spring which would save $$$. The price of flowers is insane! The price of seeds, nominal.

I do think Darrel is right about fast growing plants though. Something tropical and has a lower nitrate requirement.

-----

Thoughts like this is what I'm after... :) Give me some ideas about whether this is practical or give me things to consider that I didn't even realize or forgot.

I just enjoy doing this kind of stuff and I figured this is just a natural extension of the aquarium hobby.

[roundfishross]

I have seen alot of lettuces grown in the aquaponic setup, typically it will be connected to a tank full of talipia so you can eat the fish as they grow as well. I dont think there will be enought nitrate to support the plants in a discus setup. flora hydroponics in athens, Ga has a full blown commercial hydro setup for producing food crops the guys there would be able to lend you some good advice.

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Any type of lettuces or herbs will be the simplest/easiest to grow.

-Ryan

[ericatdallas]

I have seen alot of lettuces grown in the aquaponic setup, typically it will be connected to a tank full of talipia so you can eat the fish as they grow as well. I dont think there will be enought nitrate to support the plants in a discus setup. flora hydroponics in athens, Ga has a full blown commercial hydro setup for producing food crops the guys there would be able to lend you some good advice.

I wish I still lived in that part of the area. I checked out their website, looks like a neat place to visit. I might have to swing by there in a couple of years on my way back to Florida...


Any type of lettuces or herbs will be the simplest/easiest to grow.



Yeah, I might shoot for herbs. Seems easy, small footprint, and the time and resource commitment is nominal if I want to throw the whole idea out the window. Probbably best to start small.

Looks like my wife's petunias will be enough to mess with for now too. She told me she wants at least 30 plants but I was planning on a much smaller scale setup initially than that.

If the nitrate is an issue, I'm probably better off isolating the discus water from the main system and then supplementing it with artificial fertilizers. I bought an extra water barrel (for 'just in case' purposes just as this) that I can use to store dirty aquarium water for hydroponics. This at least allows for some reuse.

I also have a pleco tank, but it's just a twenty gallon. Dirty guys, but I doubt they're good enough.

I have absolutely no desire to grow food fish though :)

One odd thing I did see on one blog, this guy put feeder goldfish in an aquaponics setup. My first thought it might be cheaper just to do artificial fertilizers and get rid of the aquaponics part. He may have just done it as a proof-of-concept, so hopefully he puts something a little more useful in it or at least, he sells the feeders to someone...

Thanks for the help. The whole nitrate thing is certainly something I didn't put too much thought into... One of the things I did consider, because I did want to breed Discus, is if I have a few tanks of juvies, they may be able to generate enough nitrates for me. I guess I'll have to do some additional planning...

[DiscusOnly]

Not quite the same as what you have in mind but how about bulding a wall of plants and have discus water pump through it.

Drexel University has a biowall in their brand new science building. It's an amazing sight in person.

http://www.drexel.edu/coas/research/pisb/BioWall/

[ericatdallas]

Not quite the same as what you have in mind but how about bulding a wall of plants and have discus water pump through it.

Drexel University has a biowall in their brand new science building. It's an amazing sight in person.

http://www.drexel.edu/coas/research/pisb/BioWall/

Actually, that's pretty neat. That definitely is something I might consider when I buy my retirement house... (aka when I have more money and more time) :)

In the meant time, that seems like a moderately difficult project for someone just starting out...

Conceptually it's straightforward, execution will probably be more of an issue :P


Thanks for the link though. Might give me ideas or different things to explore and read about.