Aquaponics - Absurdly low energy system test

I started work on my absurdly low energy test system and it looks a little bit like this.

Actually it looks exactly like this, because this is it.

And that's all there is gong to be until tomorrow at least.

The grow media this time is a product from Germany called Hydroton. It's clay balls that are puffed up like popcorn and are really nice to work with.

They are very clean, so all they needed was a quick rinse rather than the hard work that washing scoria was all about.

They are also great to work with.

Scoria was very sharp, and hard on the hands, but this stuff is a very different story. You can push you hand right to the bottom of the grow bed. I'm surprised it's stable enough for tall plants, but it doesn't seem to pose any problems.

I've read that it can float for a while, and mine is sitting in a half full tub, so perhaps it will settle a bit in time.

Because I've been feeding close to the maximum my system would allow, I should be able to compare scoria to Hydroton from the point of view of the bacteria colony. If I cant double the feed within a few months, it means the scoria is better, it will be interesting to see.


120 Things in 20 years, where sometimes, eventually, stuff like an aquaponics, absurdly low energy system test can start to take shape.

5 comments:

  1. Besides energy performance certificate in sale and rental of residential buildings that directive also mandates that new homes an EPC must be made. Certain public buildings larger than 1000 square meters and frequently visited by the public, will need to have an EPC and hang it on a publicly visible. Also on sale of non-residential buildings is an EPC required.

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  2. Yeah, that would be nice to rickroll them. But I've had problems with my ability to judge when to moderate within a forum on more than one occasion so I cant be trusted :)

    I give equal rights to all robots that want to advertise, as long as they only do it once.

    The second time, all bets are off.

    Nobody likes a repetitive nagging bot :)

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  3. I do have a perhaps absurdly low energy system. (Or 2) They are ebb and float, where a ballast tank under a plant "barge" lifts it up as it fills and down as it empties for ebb and "float" and another one that I call "lungfish aquaponics" In that one there is an upturned half tank in the water tank and it fills and emptys of air to rise and lower the water level in the water tank, and the plants are right above it getting their roots wetted and dry again. It is called lungfish because the bottom tank is to be filled with coiled remay or frost cloth. This is like a good membrane for a film of water to give really good oxygen transfer as it fills and empties. Brian

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