
Ask HN: Does anyone farm with aquaponics? - melenaos
Can you share some helpful material for aquaponics?
Plans, instructions or even opensource projects you are using in aquaponics.
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ifoundthetao
I can help here!

I did it for about a year or so, when I was in IL. I will say this from the
get-go: be prepared to spend a lot of money, for a very slow repayment cycle,
if you're not doing this at scale, and if you're not doing it in a place where
you have enough light to suit your needs. Otherwise you'll find yourself in my
situation, with the $800 green pepper.. which, was delicious, and probably one
of the best I'd had. I just don't want you to think you'll end up saving
money, because you probably wont.

Okay, on to the fun stuff. So, on reddit, you can check out
[https://reddit.com/r/aquaponics](https://reddit.com/r/aquaponics). They had a
decent enough community there. The other big resource that I was familiar with
was
[https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/](https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/).

For my build, it was pretty simple. I got a 55 gallon barrel, cut the top
third off, flipped it over, and filled it with media. Then I added my bell
siphon, pump, and whatnot, and I was good to go.

The whole setup, for me, was pretty cheap initially. I was in a 5b zone, right
outside Chicago. So I had to keep everything indoors, and I had to make sure
that it had proper lighting.

It was similar to this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5BWutAygqM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5BWutAygqM)

Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

~~~
Nexxius
I'll second this commenters post, I researched aquaponics extensively and it
is expensive to break into if you are trying to make a profit. You can do
wonders with very little space but, the time and equipment costs are just as
arduous as regular farming at the start. I ended up going back into IT as I
just couldn't scale to market before my finances went red. More power to those
who can make a go of it, I just wasn't one of them.

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foxhop
I farm (grow plant based food for human consumption) with permaculture. It's a
better, more resilent and self aware/healing system which doesn't get enough
press.

~~~
melenaos
I am very impressed by permaculture but I think it needs much more time that I
have to spend. Is this your job or you work on that as a hobby?

~~~
foxhop
I work remote in the tech industry but I spend a significant amount of my
personal time growing food for my family.

I don't ever call gardening a hobby, it's always part of the economy whether
you sell or not. Anything I grow I don't need to buy, whether that is food,
seed, or plants for propagation.

My long term goal is to buy land and scale up my operations and what I've
learned on my small .33 acre yard.

That said, the lifestyle changes related to permaculture are great in their
own right. Changes what I buy because I'm always looking for the eventual
output.

~~~
melenaos
I do work remotely and I have spare time to work on my land. I am developer
and i don't like the repetitive work that is why I wanted to create a self
sustain system of aquaponics but I can see the benefits of permaculture.

I have planted some citrus trees (oranges, lemons, mandarin and graipfruit)
but I never thought I could use the surrounding area for something else.

Do you have any resources on permaculture? The only resources I am able to
find are commercial ebooks.

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roflchoppa
Kijani Grows based out of Oakland has been doing work in this space for
several years. I recall watching
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IryIOyPfTE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IryIOyPfTE)
was pretty neat.

~~~
melenaos
Thank you for your suggestion, they do have very good instruction on their
knowledge base.
[https://kijanigrows.com/knowledgebase/](https://kijanigrows.com/knowledgebase/)

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scs777
Hey! This is Shannon here from Volcano Veggies in Bend, Oregon. We have one of
the world's only commercial indoor, vertical, organic aquaponic farms. We grow
mostly lettuce & basil. And yes- it is profitable. :)

Be careful believing anything online about aquaponics, lol. It is extremely
complicated to be successful on a commercial scale. I'm happy to answer any
questions!

[http://www.volcanoveggies.com](http://www.volcanoveggies.com)

~~~
melenaos
Hi! This is great that I can chat with you. I am wandering with what kind of
fish I should start. I know that goldfish are the most resilient fishes but
they are not edible, catfishes are edible and can live in my climate but are
they easy to handle or they will die from my inexperience?

The climate I am living is mediteranian, not that cold winters, hot summers
and close to sea (I live in Corfu/Greece).

I want to grow tomatoes and cucumbers so I guess I need many fishes to produce
more amonia(I am noob so I might got that wrong) are editable fishes ok for
growing tomatoes of should I stick to goldfishes?

Are the catfishes taste good or should I choose other fish?

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snazz
Vertical Harvest in Jackson, WY does this—I don’t know how their finances or
operations work out but they have rotating trays of greenery on multiple
floors of a greenhouse building. The only thing I’ve tasted from there is
lettuce and microgreens, but apparently they also grow tomatoes. They sell
their produce at grocery stores in Jackson Hole and elsewhere and I’m guessing
that they would be happy to offer some information to you about the
technologies they use (it looked pretty fancy to me and outside the realm of a
hobby project, but I’m guessing that most of the concepts transfer).

See
[https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com](https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com)

~~~
scs777
hydroponic, not aquaponic. Not organic.

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bediger4000
Growhaus, a Denver CO nonprofit, seems to have an aquaponics facility:
[https://www.thegrowhaus.org/food-
production/](https://www.thegrowhaus.org/food-production/)

They seem to be super willing to share info and experiences.

