Become less dependant on the system for less than $100!

So i came across this thread today which came in relevance to what i was doing at home.
Now i know many people on here are pessimistic and "have a feeling that something is near and is going to happen" cause i have felt the same for quite some time and i came across a thread or 2 not too long ago. I have realized that coming on here and acting in a vociferous manner about what's going on in the world and how f***** up it is and about what might happen etc... is pretty much futile.
Today i came across this thread and influenced me to share this little project of mine with ATS.
DC Grocery Stores Out of Food, Gas Unavailable, Grid-Down As Summer Heat Rages

One of my main reasons of this was cause of rising oil prizes. I think of oil as "the middle man" of pretty much everything in our life. for example, if oil prices rise then price of everything else elevates because it'll cost more to export/import and make certain things. (bags/plastic, tires etc..) our lives revolve around oil.

So, this is called aquaponics.


I know their has been threads on here already about aquaponics but, in my opinion i don't think enough people know about it and i find it very important for people to know cause it's cheap and very beneficial for yourself and your family. That picture above is the system inside my closet, which i hesitated naught to convert into even tho now my drawers are congested with clothes and it sometimes irritates me that i have minimal amount of space in my room. lol

The type of system i have there is called "the flood and drain" system which is done with a siphon.

as you can see i have 2 growing beds, the bottom clear container is a fish tank (which i have replaced now with a larger one) and i have water draining into the container behind it by gravity and a water pump in that container which pumps the water up to the beds. The reason i have water draining out by gravity from the fish tank onto the other container was cause i had small gold fishes which were getting sucked in by the water pump and not allowing it to work properly. *chuckles

It's not a very complex system, here's how it works...


that system i made cost me less than 100 dollars:
Pea gravel- $4.00 each bag (bought 4)
Water pump- $25.00
Oxygen pump w/ tube and oxygen rock- $15.00
Fishes (i used gold fish)- $10.00
PVC pipes- $5.00
Black hose (ones you see going from fish tank to other container) $8.00
Seeds- $7.00
Thermometer- $8.00
Black growing beds i found in an alley and containers at home.

Now that i have experimented this and realized that it does work, i am now saving up money to build my own green house and distribute to local family owned stores. since it's local the fluctuating prices of oil wont interfere with the distribution AND it'll be organic. (no pesticides are needed)

So ill let you ATS'ers look into it more if it may interest you. very easy to make and very and fun.

Thats what I love about hydro. It's cheap and efficient.

I also wonder if it were let out as such an efficient way of supplementing ones family, how the prices to build such designs would mysteriously climb.

I choose to keep this secret a secret for that very reason.

reply to post by forall2see

right! since i have it running about 18-20 hrs per day the only thing that worries me is the light bill but, im also saving money to buy a solar panel to also become less dependent on the electric companies. this is aquaponics, difference between hydro and aqua is the fish feces used as plant food. i did hydro at first (requires you to buy plant food) but, the problem with it was if you don't monitor the nutrients frequently, it may become too concentrated in sodium and destroy your plants.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by Catalyst317

www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit on 4-7-2012 by Catalyst317 because: (no reason given)

did you fail to read what i wrote above? i know their has been thread on aquaponics already but, this post is meant to influence others to use it.

Originally posted by OUTofSTEPwithTHEworld
I know their has been threads on here already about aquaponics but, in my opinion i don't think enough people know about it and i find it very important for people to know cause it's cheap and very beneficial for yourself and your family.

reply to post by OUTofSTEPwithTHEworld


LOL I didn't say anything. I mearly posted a vid to help you solidify your point and to an existing thread so that people can read what others have posted on the issue as well.

Calm down there killer. LMAO

OOOOR... you could have bumped the thread... just saying

reply to post by Catalyst317



lol geez im sorry, i thought you meant it in a bad way as in "look fool here it is" since you wrote nothing just posted the video and link. lol
i owe you an apology.

reply to post by OUTofSTEPwithTHEworld


No worries.

I agree with you that not enough people know about it or they think it may be to hard to assemble.

Although, like forall2see said, I don't know if that's a bad thing.

reply to post by Catalyst317


right.
meibe it shouldn't be done by all the families instead have a local distributor, like im trying to do. im not trying to make large profit from it but instead help out from it. im not a materialistic person, just trying to make a descent living.
meibe metastasizing the green houses with the profit into different cities and help people become less dependent on grocery stores having food imported from far.
idk yet, i first need the money, which im working on right now.
i sure will keep ATS updated on that.

I built a greenhouse last year and it was awesome,
but, the one downfall i found about the design you have shown is,
If one is truly interested in health, then avoiding BPA's would be a concern.
Bisphenol-a.. a chemical in plastics.. and unfortunately plants love it.
It will leeach from the plastic into the water, into the plant and also into the
fish, there so making them unable to reproduce.
So though it is an awesome idea up front.. you will need to make some changes
to make it for the long run.. and not contract any cancers or loose your masculinity in the process.
look up BPA or the endocrine disruption for the human body.

Don't know why this made me think of this song...I'm already experienced with hydroponics from twenty
years ago.....never did grow any food though

Underneath the bridge
The tarp has s[rung a leak
And the animals I've trapped
Have all become my pets
And I'm living off of grass
And the drippings from the ceiling
But it's okay to eat fish
'Cause they don't have any feelings......

Nirvana

If you have the ability I would suggest upgrading your fish area and getting talapia instead of goldfish. Goldfish tend to have a pretty high ammonia levels, which some plants don't like. Plus, talapia is good eats and they reproduce pretty nicely. Then you have a source of fresh organic fish and vegetables.

Originally posted by Rivetlikewhoa
If you have the ability I would suggest upgrading your fish area and getting talapia instead of goldfish. Goldfish tend to have a pretty high ammonia levels, which some plants don't like. Plus, talapia is good eats and they reproduce pretty nicely. Then you have a source of fresh organic fish and vegetables.

i agree.
i was just appetent in making the system so i decided in using gold fish for the time being and besides, i let my little sister pic the fish out considering it's in my room and idk, she said "they make it look prettier", she's 11.

Very interestings. I should try this.

So what your saying is that someone could have fish as food and some form of plant food if this is done on a bigger scale?

Originally posted by r2d246
So what your saying is that someone could have fish as food and some form of plant food if this is done on a bigger scale?

not only on a larger scale but yes, that is correct.