Hydroponics/aquaponics

Knowing there’s a fairly wide range of interests here, I was curious if anybody grows any of there food hydroponically or using aquaponics?

For those of you who dont know hydroponics is a type of growing which does not involve soil but instead uses nutrients in the water which the plant is fed. Aquaponics is a continuation of this but uses fish poo as the nutrient (hope that’s reasonably correct).

I have been growing lettuce in the greenhouse over the summer as a test and a bit of a project with my youngest daughter. We’ve managed to grow a fair bit and are now thinking we might expand our set up a little.

Most of the bits we needed, some basic plumbing and a pump I already had so just needed some nutrients and a growing medium (something for the roots to grow through) in this instance some clay balls. Bought the bits required at a very helpful shop in SW London frequented by lots of young men who all seemed to be able to afford to drive BMW’s. Its nice to see the younger generation taking an interest in growing plants.

Hopefully it should help with my surviving the zombie apocalypse plans or if I ever find myself stuck on Mars with only a few plant seeds.

A couple of photos below.

Hydroponics by Geof Champion[/url], on Flickr

Hydroponics by Geof Champion[/url], on Flickr

We’ve a similar plan to build a wicking bed, same idea, the plants grow in soil in a raised bed, but the lower half is lined with pond liner and filled with any old inert material like broken up polystyrene.

Rainwater fills the bed and overflows when it’s full, or its topped up via a piece of vertical pipe through the soil (which means you can also see the level).

WCA has been at it too
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/well-it-seemed-a-good-idea-after-a-few-beers

Wasn’t WorldClassAccident doing something with plants and fish (in a barrel)?

Excellent, thanks thisisnotaspoon I knew there would be someone who had tried or was doing this. Hopefully he’ll see the thread title and give an update on how his setup is going. What he’s doing with the large containers and trout is exactly what I would like to try. Although the wife is kind of expecting me to extend the house before I take any new project on.