Aquaponic Window Farm
5:20 pm in Completed Window Farms, Education, environmental impact, Getting Started, Nutrients, Plants, posts with pitcures!, Projects in Process, Starting Seeds by holly johnson
I decided this time around to build an aquaponic window farm. I wanted to put my reservoir to good use, and also had an extra fish tank around. I decided to use the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) river system (FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_film_technique) to accomplish this. This system has so many advantages! One pump (blue hose) pumps water up from the koi tank and into the river system. The water flows south to north, then back down the black hose. It is actually really simple, all the plants love it, and it keeps the koi aquarium perfectly clean!!!
I also water all of my seedlings (seeds of change seeds mentioned in post: http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/04/07/seed-companies-that-deliver-seedlings/comment-page-1/#comment-4428 ) with the aquarium water, as this water has the perfect blend of all organic nutrients (fish waste, and yes I feed my koi organic fish food). With this system there is no need for any other costly nutrients. My seedlings love this water, and I have noticed healthier plants and earlier germination.
I had started out with:
2 yellow pear cherry tomatoes
2 zucchini
1 sage
When I had started these seedlings, only 5 plants made it into this system. The others that were germinated at the same planing were planted in soil outdoors. All plants grown in this system are X5 larger then soiled plants. At the moment my tomatoes have reached the ceiling and are baring many lil yellow pear cherry tomatoes!
Yet, the zucchinis got too large and were successfully transplanted into soil. The two tomatoes and sage are still in NFT river. The pics are a few weeks old, but for more up-to-date images check out the album on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195490&id=534128768&l=5dbbeba8c7
Looks good. Your tomato plants are likely to outgrow your setup (I found most varieties do) but this goes give them a huge boost to start.
I have two aquariums collecting dust in my closet. I might have to bust them out and give this setup a try. I love the idea of the aquarium ecosystem filtering the sediment while keeping the water nutrient rich.
that comment by mre was in fact me. :/
Hi – we Non-Facebooklings can’t see the album you mention …
The tomatoes look lovely; but – as mentioned in other cases – without the fly-screen they’d grow even better.
Hardwarejunkie: Its almost there!
Samenrahmen: I updated the link so that it is now public. However, many pictures are above. Fly screen? …for the window? If I took it off, and have them grow out the window, it would be very hard to pick my tomatoes! I live on the 2nd story.
You have fly screens instead of glass windows ? Then forget about my palpably Northern European objection
No, I simply meant that there’s a significant amount of light filtered out by the screens.
Have you considered raising a food fish instead of the koi?
Isn’t Koi just the common Carp with a fancy coloration?
And Carp has been a food-fish for millenia…
That’s more of a religious thing; you can’t eat Koi …
Sure you can.
Filet it, rub the filets in a mix of flour, salt and pepper, then fry them with lots of butter.
Seriously, if you leave Koi to breed uncontrolled, they’ll revert to looking like normal carp within a few generations.
If the farm can support Koi, it can also support ordinary Carp. There’s a few other fish that should also make a good choice for this type of farming.
No you can’t.
You cannot eat a carp with a red cowpat on its forehead. You can eat dolphins, though.
I think there aren’t that many species you can keep in a few hundred litres of water and still eat at the end of the day. Tilapia, obviously, but many others simply don’t grow quickly enough. African Chichlids, catfish … conservatory, anyone ?
Btw: The minimum amount of water to keep one adult Koi in is about 500 litres.
But 500 litres isn’t nearly large enough (they can’t be kept alone), simply a measure to keep in mind.
@ Emery Premeaux: dont keep the tanks in yout closet! put those to good use!
@samenrahmen: I have glass windows (always opened) with screens. I live in san diego, ca and I’m sure some light gets filtered out.
@snjmom / Trygve Henriksen / samenrahmen : I chose Koi for the decorative properties. This set up is in my kitchen after all… If I move out of this beachfront apt, and had some land, I would raise more edible fish in a LARGE aquaponic garden outside. The fish have grown in the 2 months that Ive had them, (I got them at a few weeks old) and I am sure soon enough they will outgrow this tank. When that day comes, they will be given to a friend who has a Koi pond on their property. Right now, they are in a 378.5 L tank and loving life!