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Ask HN: Does anyone farm with aquaponics?

59 points by melenaos 8y ago

Can you share some helpful material for aquaponics? Plans, instructions or even opensource projects you are using in aquaponics.

roflchoppa 8y ago
Kijani Grows based out of Oakland has been doing work in this space for several years. I recall watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IryIOyPfTE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IryIOyPfTE was pretty neat.
- j0e1 8y ago
  Kijani Grows is super neat! Thanks for the link!
- melenaos 8y ago
  Thank you for your suggestion, they do have very good instruction on their knowledge base. https://kijanigrows.com/knowledgebase/ https://kijanigrows.com/knowledgebase/
bediger4000 8y ago
Growhaus, a Denver CO nonprofit, seems to have an aquaponics facility: https://www.thegrowhaus.org/food-production/ https://www.thegrowhaus.org/food-production/ They seem to be super willing to share info and experiences.
ifoundthetao 8y ago
I can help here! I did it for about a year or so, when I was in IL. I will say this from the get-go: be prepared to spend a lot of money, for a very slow repayment cycle, if you're not doing this at scale, and if you're not doing it in a place where you have enough light to suit your needs. Otherwise you'll find yourself in my situation, with the $800 green pepper.. which, was delicious, and probably one of the best I'd had. I just don't want you to think you'll end up saving money, because you probably wont. Okay, on to the fun stuff. So, on reddit, you can check out https://reddit.com/r/aquaponics https://reddit.com/r/aquaponics. They had a decent enough community there. The other big resource that I was familiar with was https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/ https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/. For my build, it was pretty simple. I got a 55 gallon barrel, cut the top third off, flipped it over, and filled it with media. Then I added my bell siphon, pump, and whatnot, and I was good to go. The whole setup, for me, was pretty cheap initially. I was in a 5b zone, right outside Chicago. So I had to keep everything indoors, and I had to make sure that it had proper lighting. It was similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5BWutAygqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5BWutAygqM Feel free to reach out if you have questions.
- Nexxius 8y ago
  I'll second this commenters post, I researched aquaponics extensively and it is expensive to break into if you are trying to make a profit. You can do wonders with very little space but, the time and equipment costs are just as arduous as regular farming at the start. I ended up going back into IT as I just couldn't scale to market before my finances went red. More power to those who can make a go of it, I just wasn't one of them.
- melenaos 8y ago
  Thanks for the links, I do plan on investing some money on it and I hope I could get some of them back. I do buy bio groceries and it's much more expensive than normal food is. I want to create a greenhouse like this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM
foxhop 8y ago
I farm (grow plant based food for human consumption) with permaculture. It's a better, more resilent and self aware/healing system which doesn't get enough press.
- melenaos 8y ago
  I am very impressed by permaculture but I think it needs much more time that I have to spend. Is this your job or you work on that as a hobby?
  - foxhop 8y ago
    I work remote in the tech industry but I spend a significant amount of my personal time growing food for my family. I don't ever call gardening a hobby, it's always part of the economy whether you sell or not. Anything I grow I don't need to buy, whether that is food, seed, or plants for propagation. My long term goal is to buy land and scale up my operations and what I've learned on my small .33 acre yard. That said, the lifestyle changes related to permaculture are great in their own right. Changes what I buy because I'm always looking for the eventual output.
    - melenaos 8y ago
      I do work remotely and I have spare time to work on my land. I am developer and i don't like the repetitive work that is why I wanted to create a self sustain system of aquaponics but I can see the benefits of permaculture. I have planted some citrus trees (oranges, lemons, mandarin and graipfruit) but I never thought I could use the surrounding area for something else. Do you have any resources on permaculture? The only resources I am able to find are commercial ebooks.
snazz 8y ago
Vertical Harvest in Jackson, WY does this—I don’t know how their finances or operations work out but they have rotating trays of greenery on multiple floors of a greenhouse building. The only thing I’ve tasted from there is lettuce and microgreens, but apparently they also grow tomatoes. They sell their produce at grocery stores in Jackson Hole and elsewhere and I’m guessing that they would be happy to offer some information to you about the technologies they use (it looked pretty fancy to me and outside the realm of a hobby project, but I’m guessing that most of the concepts transfer). See https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com
- scs777 8y ago
  hydroponic, not aquaponic. Not organic.
scs777 8y ago
Hey! This is Shannon here from Volcano Veggies in Bend, Oregon. We have one of the world's only commercial indoor, vertical, organic aquaponic farms. We grow mostly lettuce & basil. And yes- it is profitable. :) Be careful believing anything online about aquaponics, lol. It is extremely complicated to be successful on a commercial scale. I'm happy to answer any questions! http://www.volcanoveggies.com http://www.volcanoveggies.com
- melenaos 8y ago
  Hi! This is great that I can chat with you. I am wandering with what kind of fish I should start. I know that goldfish are the most resilient fishes but they are not edible, catfishes are edible and can live in my climate but are they easy to handle or they will die from my inexperience? The climate I am living is mediteranian, not that cold winters, hot summers and close to sea (I live in Corfu/Greece). I want to grow tomatoes and cucumbers so I guess I need many fishes to produce more amonia(I am noob so I might got that wrong) are editable fishes ok for growing tomatoes of should I stick to goldfishes? Are the catfishes taste good or should I choose other fish?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

59 points by melenaos 8y ago

Can you share some helpful material for aquaponics? Plans, instructions or even opensource projects you are using in aquaponics.

roflchoppa 8y ago

Kijani Grows based out of Oakland has been doing work in this space for several years. I recall watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IryIOyPfTE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IryIOyPfTE was pretty neat.

j0e1 8y ago
Kijani Grows is super neat! Thanks for the link!
melenaos 8y ago
Thank you for your suggestion, they do have very good instruction on their knowledge base. https://kijanigrows.com/knowledgebase/ https://kijanigrows.com/knowledgebase/

bediger4000 8y ago

Growhaus, a Denver CO nonprofit, seems to have an aquaponics facility: https://www.thegrowhaus.org/food-production/ https://www.thegrowhaus.org/food-production/ They seem to be super willing to share info and experiences.

ifoundthetao 8y ago

I can help here! I did it for about a year or so, when I was in IL. I will say this from the get-go: be prepared to spend a lot of money, for a very slow repayment cycle, if you're not doing this at scale, and if you're not doing it in a place where you have enough light to suit your needs. Otherwise you'll find yourself in my situation, with the $800 green pepper.. which, was delicious, and probably one of the best I'd had. I just don't want you to think you'll end up saving money, because you probably wont. Okay, on to the fun stuff. So, on reddit, you can check out https://reddit.com/r/aquaponics https://reddit.com/r/aquaponics. They had a decent enough community there. The other big resource that I was familiar with was https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/ https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/. For my build, it was pretty simple. I got a 55 gallon barrel, cut the top third off, flipped it over, and filled it with media. Then I added my bell siphon, pump, and whatnot, and I was good to go. The whole setup, for me, was pretty cheap initially. I was in a 5b zone, right outside Chicago. So I had to keep everything indoors, and I had to make sure that it had proper lighting. It was similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5BWutAygqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5BWutAygqM Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

Nexxius 8y ago
I'll second this commenters post, I researched aquaponics extensively and it is expensive to break into if you are trying to make a profit. You can do wonders with very little space but, the time and equipment costs are just as arduous as regular farming at the start. I ended up going back into IT as I just couldn't scale to market before my finances went red. More power to those who can make a go of it, I just wasn't one of them.
melenaos 8y ago
Thanks for the links, I do plan on investing some money on it and I hope I could get some of them back. I do buy bio groceries and it's much more expensive than normal food is. I want to create a greenhouse like this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM

foxhop 8y ago

I farm (grow plant based food for human consumption) with permaculture. It's a better, more resilent and self aware/healing system which doesn't get enough press.

melenaos 8y ago
I am very impressed by permaculture but I think it needs much more time that I have to spend. Is this your job or you work on that as a hobby?
- foxhop 8y ago
  I work remote in the tech industry but I spend a significant amount of my personal time growing food for my family. I don't ever call gardening a hobby, it's always part of the economy whether you sell or not. Anything I grow I don't need to buy, whether that is food, seed, or plants for propagation. My long term goal is to buy land and scale up my operations and what I've learned on my small .33 acre yard. That said, the lifestyle changes related to permaculture are great in their own right. Changes what I buy because I'm always looking for the eventual output.
  - melenaos 8y ago
    I do work remotely and I have spare time to work on my land. I am developer and i don't like the repetitive work that is why I wanted to create a self sustain system of aquaponics but I can see the benefits of permaculture. I have planted some citrus trees (oranges, lemons, mandarin and graipfruit) but I never thought I could use the surrounding area for something else. Do you have any resources on permaculture? The only resources I am able to find are commercial ebooks.

snazz 8y ago

Vertical Harvest in Jackson, WY does this—I don’t know how their finances or operations work out but they have rotating trays of greenery on multiple floors of a greenhouse building. The only thing I’ve tasted from there is lettuce and microgreens, but apparently they also grow tomatoes. They sell their produce at grocery stores in Jackson Hole and elsewhere and I’m guessing that they would be happy to offer some information to you about the technologies they use (it looked pretty fancy to me and outside the realm of a hobby project, but I’m guessing that most of the concepts transfer). See https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com

scs777 8y ago
hydroponic, not aquaponic. Not organic.

scs777 8y ago

Hey! This is Shannon here from Volcano Veggies in Bend, Oregon. We have one of the world's only commercial indoor, vertical, organic aquaponic farms. We grow mostly lettuce & basil. And yes- it is profitable. :) Be careful believing anything online about aquaponics, lol. It is extremely complicated to be successful on a commercial scale. I'm happy to answer any questions! http://www.volcanoveggies.com http://www.volcanoveggies.com

melenaos 8y ago
Hi! This is great that I can chat with you. I am wandering with what kind of fish I should start. I know that goldfish are the most resilient fishes but they are not edible, catfishes are edible and can live in my climate but are they easy to handle or they will die from my inexperience? The climate I am living is mediteranian, not that cold winters, hot summers and close to sea (I live in Corfu/Greece). I want to grow tomatoes and cucumbers so I guess I need many fishes to produce more amonia(I am noob so I might got that wrong) are editable fishes ok for growing tomatoes of should I stick to goldfishes? Are the catfishes taste good or should I choose other fish?

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]