Ever seen a system like this? Aquaponic, ebb n flow/dwc/top feed system

Excuse my gif
You might need to use your imagination a bit here


So basically it's an ebb n flow fish tank with a tray that's 600x200x200mm, Im eager to get started but there's no fish in it yet just some fish pond water I got from a friends house.
After each flood the small tank will fill and trip the float switch that will shut the pump down, the small tank will be a biofilter and an air stone added. When it's time to flood I'm hoping 4 hours will be enough time that the microbes can break down the fish waste and all the NH4 is converted.

I plan to pump most the water into the tray directly so that the filtered water is the only water the plant roots come into contact with however still maintaining the flood and drain effect of pushing old air out and sucking new air in.

My concerns are...
1, is aquaponics too much hassle for someone who hasn't even done hydroponics before and would it be better to run the system with hydro products first.
2, I've got another aquarium ready that I plan to create the conditions for bloom, then plumb in into a separate ebb n flow tray in the cabinet.
Would this be enough or would I need yet another res tank for early and late stage growth?
3,I'm planning on using coco pots for the plants and inside the tray use clay balls or rock wool.
4, will top feeding coco create a buildup or sorts in this case?

I've got alot of questions but these are the ones holding me up right now any feedback will be much appreciated, cheers fellas.

DaneJAH said:

View attachment 4385192
Excuse my gif
You might need to use your imagination a bit here
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So basically it's an ebb n flow fish tank with a tray that's 600x200x200mm, Im eager to get started but there's no fish in it yet just some fish pond water I got from a friends house.
After each flood the small tank will fill and trip the float switch that will shut the pump down, the small tank will be a biofilter and an air stone added. When it's time to flood I'm hoping 4 hours will be enough time that the microbes can break down the fish waste and all the NH4 is converted.

I plan to pump most the water into the tray directly so that the filtered water is the only water the plant roots come into contact with however still maintaining the flood and drain effect of pushing old air out and sucking new air in.

My concerns are...
1, is aquaponics too much hassle for someone who hasn't even done hydroponics before and would it be better to run the system with hydro products first.
2, I've got another aquarium ready that I plan to create the conditions for bloom, then plumb in into a separate ebb n flow tray in the cabinet.
Would this be enough or would I need yet another res tank for early and late stage growth?
3,I'm planning on using coco pots for the plants and inside the tray use clay balls or rock wool.
4, will top feeding coco create a buildup or sorts in this case?

I've got alot of questions but these are the ones holding me up right now any feedback will be much appreciated, cheers fellas.

Click to expand...

Too much of a hassle. DWC is both a great starter method, and is great for the experienced grower as well. So you won't have to move to a more complex hydroponic growing method, to increase output, once you've got some practice. Most people who start with DWC, migrate to RDWC once they're in the middle of their first grow. It'll make sense.

For as little as $25, and taking less than an hour to build, "5-gallon bubbling buckets" are an excellent starting point, for anyone new to hydro. Do a YouTube search for "diy dwc bucket" or "diy 5 gallon bubbling bucket", and go from there

Good luck!

JSB99 said:

Too much of a hassle. DWC is both a great starter method, and is great for the experienced grower as well. So you won't have to move to a more complex hydroponic growing method, to increase output, once you've got some practice. Most people who start with DWC, migrate to RDWC once they're in the middle of their first grow. It'll make sense.

For as little as $25, and taking less than an hour to build, "5-gallon bubbling buckets" are an excellent starting point, for anyone new to hydro. Do a YouTube search for "diy dwc bucket" or "diy 5 gallon bubbling bucket", and go from there

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Cheers man ill put the aquaponic idea to the side for now. So for straight hydro what I have is essentially a dwc setup that also floods and drains 24/7 in a fish tank over 150 litre, so 40 gallons I think? I have 2 and a few small 14 litre tanks and diamond drill bits so I'll use them and run DWC to the middle cabinet seen as this is a feature in my room

This was jast after I finished my first RTW in the small cabinet and got the other 2 from my mate not sure how accurate those measurements are but that's roughly the space I'm working with only I've had a tidy up since lol

For someone who hasn’t done hydro it would be a hassle for you but anything’s a hassle if it’s new ya know? I personally do Aquaponics for my outdoor soil plants. I run cover crops like buckwheat and Chinese peas intermittently on my tables as well as papaya and guava cuttings, all which are place on ebb and flow tables in smart pots. If you are running fish water and I can’t stress this enough(bout to get my ba in aquaculture), you need to have at least a 1/2 an 1/2 gravel to soil mix, should be more gravel tho and also be sure that you run smart pots on tables aposed to normal pots/ air pots so no soil gets backed up into the lines.

It sounds like you don’t have much room for Aquaponics tho, I myself run a 250 gal koi pond and to cycle the nitrates and nitrites correctly i run the fish water thru a 10x10 gravel bed, then it bell siphons to a 16ft long x4 ft wide run of Dwc beds for lettuce, then ran thru a swirl filter, then it over flows into the Rez for the 4 flood tables, and loops back to the koi pond; 3 times a day.

Judging by your experience id scrap the aqua setup, because running coco in Aquaponics without bio filtration is a death sentence. I’d be glad to help you set up a small system for spinach and shit and at most a mother plant or three to get you used to Aquaponics without needing to rely on it for meds if you’re interested.

The most important part of getting into hydro is knowing what you can and can’t do in your budget. Like what kinda light are you even running? Do you had a flood table? Top feed I’ve heard works for coco but I’ve lost plants in promix which holds more moisture than coco after not checking on them for a day or two when my irrigation lines clog so now I run smart pots on flood tables because there’s no anxiety on failed feed lines.

Im on that same boat tho and trying to switch to coco from promix because of the possibility’s of more root mass per container but have never fucked with it before.

It looks like your running leds for flowering? How much head room do you have in there? And are you tryna do like sog? Or one micro trellised mini monster?

JSB99 said:

Too much of a hassle. DWC is both a great starter method, and is great for the experienced grower as well. So you won't have to move to a more complex hydroponic growing method, to increase output, once you've got some practice. Most people who start with DWC, migrate to RDWC once they're in the middle of their first grow. It'll make sense.

For as little as $25, and taking less than an hour to build, "5-gallon bubbling buckets" are an excellent starting point, for anyone new to hydro. Do a YouTube search for "diy dwc bucket" or "diy 5 gallon bubbling bucket", and go from there

Good luck!

Click to expand...

what is RWC,, (i'm a old fogey ),, tryn to learn what I can.
also do y'all have a forum where as all these RDWC etc,, for the nebbies,, can tell what y'all r talking about,, I think it help

I'm just n old stoner47 said:

what is RWC,, (i'm a old fogey ),, tryn to learn what I can.
also do y'all have a forum where as all these RDWC etc,, for the nebbies,, can tell what y'all r talking about,, I think it help

Click to expand...

"RDWC" - Recirculating Deep Water Culture. It's basically multiple containers all connected with tubes and pipes, and most of the time includes a "controller reservoir" who's purpose is to hold extra water (more is better), and allow easy access to the water, instead of having to lift the lid of containers with plants, to check your water, and add nutes.

A great place to check out is the GrowWeedEasy site.

You can also check out my step-by-step build, in my thread