Internet of Farming: Arduino-based, backyard aquaponics
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Rik Kretzinger grew up on a Christmas tree farm and spent his college years studying horticulture, but he found it too difficult to make a living as a small farmer so he spent most of his career working for others.
A few years ago, he began to tinker with aquaponics (fish-farming + hydroponics), sensors, and the open-source microcontroller Arduino to create an automated garden that could compete with commercial farms.
For the first couple of years, he spent thousands of hours struggling to learn programming languages to automate his backyard mini-farm. Then while speaking at an international conference (along with Eric Maundu and Rob Torcellini, he's among the elite few experimenting with aquaponics and automation) he was introduced to APDuino(open-source firmware for aqua- and hydroponics).
APDuino allows Kretzinger to read the sensors in his garden without any programming. Now Kretzinger's garden can send him tweets or Facebook updates if something is going wrong and Kretzinger can adjust the water flow, pH, and temperature from a smartphone.
Now, what started as a hobby may provide Kretzinger with the boost to compete as a small farmer. His plan is to keep it urban (or suburban). He'll use unused backyards or vacant lots to grow his produce and he's created a prototype tower (PVC structures similar to those in our videos of Rob Torcellini's greenhouse and of rooftop hydroponics on Manhattan restaurant Bell, Book & Candle).
His towers can be removed and taken to farmer's markets where customers can "pick" their strawberries or lettuce directly from the units. His set-up is also highly mobile so if a property owner decides he wants his land back, Kretzinger can move within a week.
Rik Kretzinger's blog: rik94566.wordpr...
Original story: faircompanies.c...
This guy is an absolute genius! It is just humbling how so unpretenciously he goes about explaining what he's been able to achieve. Kudos to Mr. Kretzinger!
This excites my inner engineer.
lol same
Anyone else see that the guy has koi that are almost 24 inches in that tiny tank. Wtf is wrong with this guy
Wow this man is amazing. Nice to see this older guy being so motivated, tech savy and embracing new technology for his business. I wish more people kept their inner curiosity and openness like him as they age. I wish to do the same like him when I get old. Most people his age sit in front of TVs all day. Long life to you and keep the innovation going.
We older guys invented tv and the internet.
Zero wasted time in this video. I love it. And you can tell how amped up he is for efficiency.
6 years old, and suddenly, youtube's algorithm decided to promote this. Guys, give this a thumbs up so that it ranks higher so more people see it.
Your math is blowing my mind
@@ahmeddavids8634 What 3 + 6 doesn't equal 10?
How ingenious can one man be ?
I am amazed by this level of skill and knowledge.
Aquaponics as a method of production has amazing potential for producing good quality food while drasticly reducing environmental impact. This is very positive.
This guy's basically a RUclips Gardening Great, a titan among men. I need to find like, a convention just full of people like this and just fill my head with new ideas!
Martin Martin Not in school any more, I climb trees and run chainsaws for a living. I'm also a geek, I guess!
There is a daily convention being held in every larger bookstore in America. Bring money.
that was the smartest idea i have ever seen. No waste, Not too much consumption. You could even put up a power supplier across the water pressure.
This is the most impressive thing I've seen in a long time. If I owned a house, I'd love to copy this guy and get something similar going.
I'd like to be his sharecropper until I learn how to do it myself.
I started something similar last month. I wanted to build a Hydroponic tower that I saw that is capable of growing over 800 plants on 1 foot by 12 foot by 6 foot high. The cost was going to be around $600.00 to build. I have a big yard so I network with a guy that live in a apartment that wanted to do the same. cost us each $300.00 we built it and got our first crops in it of red and green peppers.'
we will make about 9 per plant and sell them 3 for a dollar making around $7500 our first crop in another 50 days
altha2008 it’s been awhile how’s your setup now?
@@altha2008 how did it work out?
Is he using solar to provide the electricity? If not how is the farm gonna bring in money? Fertiliser bill, electric bill, water bill
Genius .... Now you can have a Farm and still have a Life ! ....Take a trip with less worry ..... Impressed
Would love to see a sequel about this or an update on how the guys doing or what became of all his setups
By far the healthiest plants I've seen grown in aquaponics!
@SteeayOtis- I think so also.... rik
Love the farm nerdiness but Christ, THOSE FISH NEED A LOT MORE SPACE.
Indeed - the biggest concern about aquaponics is the fish habitat.
Please add more space for those fish!
Agreed, he could make a beautiful backyard pond that serves the same function and increases the value of the house at the same time. Think naturally
they need more space
Almost thought that was hydroponic water,, it looks pretty dirty..
Also feeds twice a day? Please don't feed your fish twice a day... goldfish and koi maybe once a day but anything else just stick with every other, dont feed more than they can eat in 5 minutes
This guy is brilliant. I can't wait to see his project finished and functioning.
man this guy knows some shit about shit
+matthew everett -- Thanks
+Rik Kretzinger:
Say, do they make that same container you use for a Fish Tank, in clear plastic?
Hahaha. love that comment man.
Go here if you want the best aquaponics system online: HootAqua. info
Awesome with scaling on the internet. Lol
Just amazing how much knowledge and energy this guy has. He should be sent to Mars or something - to build a habitat for the rest who follows.
I wish i had a grandpa like him :)
Andy Wales
One of the coolest grandpas on planet Earth.-.
I like how you are the one putting everything together. you, sir, have helped see my ideas into action and have inspired me to continue. Continue your work, don't let negative people affect you by suppressed thinking of how we should live in this society.
How would you like to make this an open source class for students to build large scale systems to help feed seniors and undernourished kids in rural US? I'd like kids to learn programing skills, as well as the agriculture skills on my land.
Raspberry Pi, Sensor starter kit, ESP32, ESP8266. It's all inexpensive and well documented, with step by step tutorials and online videos. Simply search on Google.
This is more relevant than ever.
@@TheOleHermit - I think he meant that the design of the contraptions could be open source.
@@thedevo01 The contraptions (water level, humidity, temperature, etc) are included in the 'sensor kits' for both Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Open source C++ and Python code is included in the starter kit tutorials. The only parts not included are project boxes to house the contraptions. Those are available in various sizes on Amazon or can be custom made DIY.
But, none of these are going to simply arrive on the doorstep nor jump into one's brain. The research takes time and the learning curve can only be overcome with hands on experience. Personally, I love the challenge, 'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat'. The most memorable lessons and greatest rewards come from overcoming obstacles. I've been at it for over a year and my perseverance is paying off.
This gentleman is travelling that same path. It is unavoidable on such a project. 😎
These are the most worthless replies ever. The answer is that everything you want can be had free libre and open source up to a limit. The raspberry pi, for example, had a closed source video driver. This seems inconsequential until you realize an operating system like GNU GuixSD is completely automated until you throw the closed source figurative wrench in the gears. Being closed source, in practice, fucjs everything up. In practice, you should ask, "what is this man doing that the people around me are not doing?" I recognize many of the notions he had from a variety of commercial hydroponics greenhouses. Instead of those tubes and relief valves, one greenhouse went through about 5 different sheet steel bent profiles until, by trial and error, they found one which didn't generate too many maintenance requirements. That is expensive! However, jointed and planed whitewood is cheap. Just use that! Walk through the steps manually. You shall inevitable write a checklist, which will inevitably be too simple-minded for many cases necessitating a flowchart, then a feedback loop, then a graph, then graph generating rules... It is all math. So long as the user can write out steos they do by hand logically, then... mayhaps a mimetic programming system for a robot arm be more intuitive than C programming, despite being more complicated? Might a radio beacon or avoltmetet or a radar be more useful than an internet connection esp32 for monitoring a plant's growth, despite being simpler? You be ask how to program, but you want to ask instead how to think, and the most intuitive way of expressing this man's systems, if a limited expression system, is the lambda calculus first order logic, specifically in the form of GNU Guile... whence you will come upon exactly zero software libraries of interest to you. However, teaching logic makes easy what this man is doing.
I love listening to someone that is so smart
"I'm gonna put a 500 gallon tank here. That's half of a thousand" 🙏 Beautiful
Matt - great project - I like it. I do want to built one and yours looks very sound. I just have to many projects going before I can get to the automated feeder. But this is a great first project for people. Right now I am on the fast track to finish off my towers and get to growing. Getting my 3-D parts printed to seal off the inside of the 4" fittings and allow electrical and water to be in the same unit is my next step.
Did you ever do a part 2? Would like to see what he ended up doing
Was thinking the same thing!
I third this.
Same , does he have a company how far along is he with the advancement in the IOT ??
Same. 🥺
I agree!!!
Excellent work, self sufficient automated gardening.
The system looks awesome, but i'm shocked he had Koi/Carp in that sized container? A bunch of people are gonna jump on this comment like they know something about fish, but that is way way way too small. I hear later in the video he talks about upgrading the size... For those fish, it should be a minimum of 1,000 gallons...
Will Eberli It's okay because they're hooked up to the Internet.
Will Eberli Agree. That stood out to me. Cool system but ... I couldn't sleep at night knowing I'm running a small fish alcatraz.
Will Eberli Fish carrying capacity is based not only on size of fish, but water volume,filtration and oxygenation.
In a good aquaponics system the surface area is huge and includes waterfalls and/or bubblers so oxygenation is near max , the actual volume of water includes all the water in the system and the plants are much better at filtering waste than any mechanical filter.
I found that my aquaponics system could sustain many more inches of fish than the tank by itself with normal mechanical filters and bubblers.
Michael Clark I understand the water is sustainable for them, but I feel like space to swim is important for their well being too. I'd hope my fish were at least happy with their environment. Just a personal feeling of mine.
Good point. not meaning to sound heartless but maybe it would be better to use a food fish like channel catfish or tilapia, you would get more food production(the fish) without any emotional attachment.
never forget the love our plants bring ...seedlings setup for breeding high level soil grown genectis in 2020...small little family farms in 2020
This is the only guy i know that can make gardening technological and awesome. Way to use every bit of resource you have!
This guy is way too humble - "It's not hard"... "You don't have to be a programmer"..... He's a genius!
Kirsten, please revisit this guy ... this whole system is brilliant and those towers in particular are just *pretty* in terms of design quality. Rik has so much forward momentum in his explanations and I'd love to see his progress and what else he's come up with in the last 3-4 years.
Looks good to me. I have a concern for reliance on PVC as has been previously mentioned. I would also recommend placing your electrical equipment (shown near end) above your water sources. It's never a good idea to have electricity below water in case of a leak.
That said, you've shown a lot of ingenuity, very impressive! You've inspired me to work on something similar, thanks!
Somebody please invest $5 million into this man so that he can start his own company and do this on a tangible scale. Watching this my only fear is that he will not pass this knowledge and ability on to lots of other people.
Thanks for the support - I have now started down this path. Maybe that investor will see me in my booth at Maker Faire in San Mateo, May 17 and 18th. Just got excepted to demo the working tower units with all the new supporting tank and filtration designs to make it a total system now. Maybe there will be a video from the show. I will keep you posted on developments here. makerfaire.com/makers/internet-of-farming-arduino-based-aquaponics/
Rik Kretzinger Good luck! We're going to be buying land in the next year or two to start building a house. If there's space I'll let you know.
He can launch a kickstarter campaign to raise money...
Vincent Hu That was my first idea.
Foreal im 25 and want to do this as a living. One day. Turn and program a systen were everyone can do this with ease
This is amazing. You inspire me. What if you made a lil drone with a charging base to look at all your plants when you're on vacation. Or maybe even a robot that harvests crops. Hahaha this is genius. Glad I clicked on this!!!
How I wish this guy would use the term network instead of internet. LOL.
Take a shot every time he says 'internet'
But the network's name is... INTERNET. The guy was right.
This man was so ahead of his time…
cool features...
but you can have reduced the amount of pumps you use, by positioning the plant rows above the fish tank, and add a bell siphon to them. that way you dont need to pump the water from the plants to the fish tank, they just fall gracefully to the fish tank, when the plant rows are full.
less electricity and less management by the arduino.
Bingo ... the fewer parts there are, the fewer there are to fail. I noticed that he has some of his electronics below his fish tank. That would seem to be of questionable design. It's pretty much a statistical certainty that he will, eventually, have a leak or spill.
I am still considering designs, but I have in mind to mix plants above, fish at mid level and mushrooms in the humid shade beneath, all within a hoop house frame with supplemental heat from composting. (fish waste is high N, the neighbors discard, literally, tons of high C fallen leaves each autumn, straw is readily available and reasonably priced and I can add humanure to the mix on a regular basis as long as the city doesn't catch on -- part of the reason for using a hoop-house is to hide the composting operations from the city). I intend to use run-off water from my metal-roofed garage to feed two large cisterns of 10,000 gallon combined capacity with potable water (through sand filters) that can be pumped as make-up water for the aquaponics set up and also for household use. The finished compost will be used in my raised bed garden. I'm trying to figure out what size system it will take to harvest 20# of fish per week. I want to cover all of my own needs, plus have some to distribute to needy neighbors. When the SHTF, good relationships will be worth their weight in gold. Until then, they are still worth having.
In Detroit, in raised beds set between two garages (the neighbor let me paint his cinder block garage wall white so it would reflect onto my garden), I grew, organically, quite a bit higher yields than this gentleman with all of his technology seems to be getting. I was getting as much as 2 bushels of green beans a week from 60 square feet of bed. From that same bed, I had canned over 200 qts. of tomatoes (and given literally bushels away) the previous summer. I'm not sure how much cilantro he plans to eat, but those tomatoes lasted my wife and I about 8 years despite giving away numerous quarts of juice. I had two other beds which produced well, remarkably well, but not as well as the bed next to the cinder block wall.
I'd like to do that again down here in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. In fact, with the tilapia, I'd like to be >95% food self-sufficient on my 1/4 acre of heaven. :~)
@@wcanaday234 I ran across your comment and it piqued my curiosity. I would love to learn more about your set-up and experience. I'm thinking about starting down the food self-sufficiency push myself but am bewildered/overwhelmed by the number of possible approaches (raised bed gardening, indoor/outdoor hydroponics, indoor/outdoor aquaponics, etc...). Thanks fur any guidance you can provide.
Very difficult to give you a useful answer without knowing where you live and what your other circumstances are. IF you are in America, your county DOES have an agriculture department where you can pick up reading material, classes and expert advice. Your state agricultural college (land-grant college -- every state has one) will be more than happy to (for a very reasonable fee) test your soil. Ask them for an organic analysis. Although I've read some on the topics, I've never done either hydroponics or aquaponics. If you are going to garden organically, I suggest that you look up "Humanure" by Joe Jenkins online. It is available as a free pdf OR as a bound book. Even if you never compost with human manure, it is an incredible guide to composting ANY waste organic material and well worth the price of admission.
You can get all "Rube Goldberg" if you want, or you can feed your family with little more than a trowel, some seeds, a spot in the sun and a healthy imagination. The Garden of Eden was 100% organic with next to no tools.
My best, and final, recommendation is to just simply start somewhere and, as you learn from that, try new things.
@@bill65761 Thanks for the response, information and encouragement. I appreciate it.
Great setup, have nearly the exact opposite needs in Ireland but a great system and a very cleaver (near foolproof) method to farm with. I love the simple plug in expansion, scalability from 1 seedling to towers and towers. Great video!
Anyone can watch a 20 minute video and find faults or problems... no!!! No no pvc!! Not enough plants! ! You are using some grid power so your whole idea Sucks! !!! What About This Or That . ... this guy is a doer, not a critic. He is incorporating technology to solve problems. I am gone a lot, and could use help with watering my garden. He is kicking ass in my opinion. Keep it up.
Its a design patiently done, and it very good - sure both fish and vegetable benefit. Well it will cost, but its worth for home living. You feel succeeding in what you did, if you see it doing well. Healthy plants...
The only thing that bothers me about this brilliant system is the reliance on PVC and plastics. PVC in particular, I wouldn't want my food or fish absorbing anything from it. I know it is cheap and available, great for DIY, but it's also the toxic garbage.
Good point - I've done proof of concept aquaponics in the past, but worried about leaching. I've been looking for other materials - clay/terracotta but you need to be sure there is no lead present - which led me to looking for an easy DIY way to test for lead contamination - that's where I'm stuck at now.
HeliosWorksAV try cpvc. Someone else mentioned it in another comment. It's more costly, but it's safe for potable water so it should also work for hydro/aquaponics.
HeliosWorksAV /watch?v=BLmycZ2nrt0
This may help you
hemp ? hemp plastic
...or bamboo ?
Apparently, you're not aware that PVC is being used for domestic water pipes all over the country right now. Exactly what harm to you think comes from it?
Rik, hat's off to you. This has to be one of the most intriguing videos I've seen on the subject of aquaponics and automation. As others have mentioned, I would also be interested in seeing your ideas come to market. The tower design is great and I like the modularity of it. Let me know if you decide to go the Kickstarter or other crowd sourced funding.
You know, I remember seeing this a while ago, was hoping there would be an update. What ever came out of this? Wasn't he expecting to expand? And what about those units on the side, the verticals? Does he have a RUclips channel?
I tried looking for a site. Cant find anything yet.
He also did the Filtration wrong. But the automation looms spot on.
@@zachhodgson4113 agreed. He should have used less sump pumps and took advantage of gravity. Too many moving parts and sensors to perform tasks that can be simplified using gravity.
I just googled him in 2022, looks like he works at Gilead Sciences and continues to blog and post about aquaponics. The last thing I could find that he posted was in 2021. I bet ya could join one of the forums he’s on and ask him!
This guy should be the US Food Czar! Amazing!
"Grandpa!! Are you stressing your asparagus on the internet again?!"
tazno1 - the tubes are 1 " PVC pond flexhose hose purchased at Lowes. Do not use the anything else. The large black ones are 2" PVC flex hose. I use black to keep light from getting inside and allowing alage to grow and plug things up. Has worked well for well over 4 years now. Check them each year and replace when needed or you will lose all your water if one breaks. rik
I grew up on a farm in Iowa then studied Lean Manufacturing in college. Lean thinking emphasizes automation, vertical integration, and watching moving markets. Sounds like you are right on track with this project. This is amazing. I see this as a game changer.
Do you have an update on the last year's progress? Are you planning on making this open source?
Thanks!
Wow he was doing all this back in 2013. Can see the guys head is shooting all over the place hoping everything has come to fruition for him now!
This guy is my hero :)
I hope this guy succeeds. All the best.
Seems no one cares about the poor fish being stuck in such a little container that is way to small for them.
Tilapia are hardy creatures. But yeah, maybe not the greatest life.
Correct.
You must hate aquariums too and abstain from eating poultry.
@@joebopp3958 and hate everything not you. Because that's where you are heading.
@@cod5testaccount Yeah I'm that egotistical. They are focusing on a very minor problem when this is a solution to saving all of the fish in the ocean. See the dead zone in the gulf of Mexico.
This guy has what it takes to go large scale
This is cool. He's definitely an introvert. :)
Sir your are amazing. Thank you for sharing. You should open a class room for the weekends 2 days classes. If you Build it they will come from all over the world as tourist just to learn from you at the same time. You just need a van to pick up your students at the hotel, supply lunch and a web sight where we could pay for your 2 days classes before. One more thing just scale it down like how you did it.
I love this idea but how about installing inside the green house with solar energy to power up all this gadget with self timer, this is so awesome. I love to create this in Thailand for rice & herbs plantation,.
love to see updates on this, very impressive
Very nice work and smart =) keep up the good work.
+Josef grafen - thanks, many more things to come on this
Great video. In case of power outages, you could integrate solar panels and battery storage.
8/10 for the mechanics. -2/10 for animal husbandry.
Way too small volume for size of fish, yes?
you know the fish are ina pond now right?
With a well designed system you can run a decent size system with minimal power use. You just pump it up to one spot and use gravity to do the rest. Also in an aquaponics system you only use/lose 10% the water compared to conventional gardening/farming.
Not to sound ignorant, but when a vertical tube with holes is filled with water, does the water not just come out the holes before the sensor can be reached at the top? Wouldn't it make more sense to water from the top?
Kevin Maillet Actually, they do water from the top./... the sensor is for quality or valve stuck etc... the water drips down.. or you can run a tube down the middle and put sprayers on it.. or you can put sprayers on the inside of the tube with a small pipe to each.....
There is an aquatic plant called anachris that you could grow in a second water holding tank to supplement feeding to the koi. It grows like an invasive weed, and I'm pretty sure that people can eat it also. My koi and goldfish used to love eating it.
I'm very impressed, great video, great project. Keep it up!
ok, empty those plant towers are light, but I imagine they'll be unwieldly and heavy when full of wet produce,..like you'd need a special truck bed to xport them vertically to the farmer's market (hopefully just down the block)...just popping them up out of the socket, when full, looks like it would be a back breaker. That's a cool idea, your vertical farming tubes,..I think it would be perfect for a "pick n pay" farm. I want one!
he should call himself "mr. wizard".
u can setup ocean going liners & plant food on route to feed cities and densely populated coastal areas that are sandwiched between the sea and the hinterlands, after capital cities have alienated themselves from farming communities in-country. Or you can render commercial/industrial farming obsolete & thus have more room to expand inwards
This is what I call over engineering prone to any kind of disruptions
+Mohammad Karbaschi Or everything is under engineered :)
+Mohammad Karbaschi Or everything is under engineered :)
+Brotherhood of Steel -- I have found that over engineering is always better on prototypes and more cost effective than under designed and lacking in a total solution. First versions are only that a first version - version 2.0 are always 100 percent better and much more efficient with substantial cost savings. Fact is you have too start somewhere or everything will be stuck in design with nothing ever getting built. That is my view on this thought -- rik
Rik Kretzinger Ah, I was trying to understand what was going on, I think I figured it out. I was making a Joke that everything else in the world was under engineered compared to you're system. If that's what you perceived.
I prefer over engineering as well, it's sort of like drilling holes in boards. You can always take off more material, but you can't as easily put it back.
Just a side question, how do you feel about plastic Christmas trees?
Merry Christmas :)
@ninjracer1, not all of us live in a place where we can just go throw seed in the dirt and expect it to grow. Also, hydroponics/aquaponics are far more efficient with water than conventional agriculture. If you live in a place like TX, NM, AZ, NV, or UT and wanted to grow your own greens, this would be just about your only option. Another slightly more traditional method would be a keyhole garden, which costs less, but is more labor intensive. Keyholes are not automated, portable, or scalable ei
I like aquaponics, and I have a system 1000L system, but I think this system is massively over engineered. Bells syphons dude, bell syphons
Your awesome dude. Way to go, keep doing what your doing. That you for sharing all this, it's guys like you showing its possible that makes me want to start my own.
This is awesome! Are there any updates?
wonderful, work of art. Lots of thinkinking, very advanced, and looks very efficient. Creative art farming. I love it. Wish you all the best. I found the computing part most interesting. if you want you can view this nice kickstarter link for greenbox, it is bright too, the funding was unsuccessful but they are still runing and in the market. I hope to see you on the markets soon too :-) .
You really need to give those fish more room. Even though this is supposed to be a eco friendly way to grow, this doesn't mean you should cramp fish in a tiny tank. Get them a 400 gallon tank so they can move around.
MerksX209A they're fish.
MerksX209A yes he needs to carr for those fish that setup is unnecasarily cruel
Edgar Rios they are also the ones giving him the nutrients. its only fair lol, but if you choose not to see it that way its alright. bigger tanks=happier, healthier fish and in turn that would help the plants grow faster and healthier.
They are nothing more than inputs and outputs.
Input food, output poop.
more water for the fish means your diluting the nutrients that are cycling through the system.
The Internet of Things for Automating Food production is key for Future Abundance. ^^
"The internet of things"
It's driving me crazy.
Seriously, I also wanted to say that. :)
Its a cisco marketing thing
internetofeverything.cisco.com/
www.cisco.com/web/tomorrow-starts-here/ioe/index.html?Buffer
Stop saying thTHATHAHTHATHAT
Rik, great setup! I truly believe things you are doing whether they already exist or not have to be duplicated by the millions in order to count for the projected growth our species is experiencing in the realm of feeding everyone. Just think if you never had to go to the grocery store again for fish, fruits, and vegetables! Have you considered LED UV lights to supply the plants UV rays overnight to double the growth?
DeezMistaReez - thanks for the kind comments! - I am using LED lights for a indoor system presently. They are not UV just straight up Red/Blue LED's. Looking to build my own at some time in the future. I have played around with UV LED for sterilization in a tissue culture hood setup. Being used to sterilize the delivery tube from the blower to the work chamber. More work to be done as time permits.
You shouldn't keep fish that big, in a container that small, with a lid on top
Rain can add 5 to 8 extra gallons of water depending on the storm. Anyone doing this factors this in and must watch water levels during storms or automate.
Imagine how much pot you could grow!!! The mind boggles.
ya, and people use hydroponics to grow weed, its very efficient.
Hydroponics is great for weed or just about any plant. I've successfully grown several varieties of cacti hydroponically. Hydro gives you precise control and ability to change conditions quickly. Much easier to maintain. Chemical nutrients are already chealated making them available to the plants, unlike organic nutrients which need to be broken down by bacteria.
Aquaponics is trickier. Aqua is great for leafy green crops, vegatative growth.. To get any heavy blooms you need to start adding nutrient as fish don't produce it in the right ratios for bloom. Aqua requires a balance to be maintained which must be gently coerced when levels need to be changed- however it will keep itself sustained without water changes much longer than hydro- when done right.
Too much nitrogen, not enough potassium or phosphorus.
Dont bother with flowering crops.
This system wouldn't be good for Weed. In the budding stage weed likes potassium (K) and aquaponic systems don't produce a lot it so you would have to find a way to introduce it to the system which ruins the point of a closed system like this.
Potassium can be added directly to a tank as pure chemical (KNO3, K2SO4 etc) if you know what you're doing. Problem with dumping in a load of potassium though is algae blooms.
Can fish handle that?
No worries! It's easy to fudge the arithmetic on area conversions, and I can only speculate as to the accuracy of Bunkloo's reported crop yields. I've found there's a lot of people in permaculture with impressive claims that don't always correspond to reality, so it's usually better just to take most unverified figures with a grain of salt.
I quit at the start when he shows the fish in the lidded tank as a part of the "system"...too cruel and fucked up for me.
You sir, Rik Kretzinger, are a genius,!!!
Internet of things :) Made me giggle.
Just came across this comment and internet of things (IOT) is all the rage today
@@brycecox8249 Wouldnt say "all the rage". But sure some devices can automate some house hold tasks.
Awesome! Great project, and I really see myself in this guy; having all sorts of ideas and projects thought through and planned, and interested in automation, electronics and control. I can barely keep my mind still, im allways working with the next idea, its such a rush!
Everytime when i have an idea, in this case, autoregulating an AP setup with sensors and Arduino, some guy already did it. And in this case he did it good.
Good job, man.
Wonderful, I'm begining to work on something similar for the small greenhouse I have at home. Great job sir, a true inspiration :)
Smart
Christine Felixon Not too bad, yourself?:)
Christine Felixon Good to hear, still just working from RUclips here :)
Mr. Kretzinger, could you make a video on how you created / fabricated your Food Grade PVC (?) towers shown at about the 2:30 minute of this video? I'm aware of the temperature / heat softening technique but, I would really like to see the task being done. A picture being a thousand words, etc. Thanks for sharing this great knowledge.
Race first of use PE pipe not PVC.
Your welcome.
It's awesome what you built.. but those poor fish, that is such a small tank for the number of fish you have in there.. and some are huge... idk seems kind of abusive to me. A lot of these aquaponics systems are all about the plants, and the fish are kept in dark tanks with dirty water... I think both need to be cared for equally.
Collgab2050 - since the video fish have moved on to larger pond. I was just holding them in that tank until they could safely be moved to a larger system to accommodate them.
Oh ok, that's good to hear :)
Its a great system, has me mesmerised. Thanks for sharing!
poor fish :/
Thought the exact same thing. All crammed into such a small space :o
Its fish after all. Like a piece of root bark, as long as the not constantly touch each other, they are comfortable with there enviroment.
The fish must lead exciting and fulfilled lives.
if only the fish had better life =D
Really cool stuff, the only thing that bothers me is "this is connected to the internet" being used everywhere for everything. "This is hooked onto the internet" sounds like something my grandpa would say when explaining it when really I'm the one who designed and built it all for him.
I'm sure it's a high level explanation that went through lamens terms dumbing down for a general audience, but I'd really like to see more videos like this targeted towards a technical audience.
real life Minecraft
Priceless video, what a genius guy, Thank you
Internet internet INTERNET!!!
I liked in what you explain , Kind of fun thinking... LOVE it
That's pretty sweet that you made your own regulating system, but all of that technology already exists with smart phone controls and what not. I am sure you are aware... It wouldn't hurt to acquire more plumbing/filtration ideas from the aquarium hobby. There are so many resources it is sure to give you more ideas. Do you seriously add no other fertilizers, but fish waste via the nitrogen cycle? I don't believe fish waste has all the essential nutrients plants need. They provide nitrogen and phosphorus and elevated trace amounts of carbonic acid from respiration, but little of anything else. I am astonished the plants are even alive. Great system nonetheless. All of the hardware and giant DIY timers seem a little over kill. That is just my opinion, I like to keep things simple.
There are lots of aquaponics systems that add little or no nutrients except food for the fish. Some even grow most of the food for the fish in the system. I don't know about his system, but it is feasible.
Roger Engle
Tiger worms eat about half their own weight in kitchen waste. They create a fluid which is wonderful for growing plants on and fish love eating worms. Win-win-win.
Roger Engle
Black soldier flies have a life cycle of about a month. One black soldier fly can lay approx. 900 eggs. A menu of black soldier flies and worms are sufficient to feed a lot of fish with.
@rick-- thanks for the ideas and resources to look into. YES to your question that I add nothing more to the system. More than anything I am farming the bacteria more that the fish or plants. Happy bacteria - more plants
I guess there are a lot of different techniques out there. I could use compost turn it into mineralized top soil and then in the grow bed do a wet/dry filter below the bed into the sump right? Then my plants would be in ionized soil and I could feed my fish the worms from my compost. Besides this what alternative foods offer organics that will decompose into all the essential micros and macros that the plants need. Rotten Tiger worms? any other specific animals or plants that offer the most nutrients? I would prefer to create compost and then mineralize it, but am looking for any other great ideas?
Rik, I am confused by two things. First, your grow towers, which by the way are awesome, will the towers be filled with any type of interstitial media or are they simply a hollow drip system? Second, are the towers hydroponic or aquaponic? Glad I bumped into this video! I was just beginning to look into what I need to do to get Arduino's into the garden and here I find APduino! Thanks!
that tank for the fish is too small for them.cruelty pure cruelty
+anthony whitehouse majority of aquaponics I've seen so far is just a fish prison. it's really inhumane. That's why i just do hydroponics. So many aquaponics systems also have enclosed prisons for the fish... it's like living in a dark closet forever. That's really really sad. As for THIS video, wow, it literally is a closet for the fish. That's probably the most inhuman form of aquaponics i've seen so far.
i just had sushi, want some?
i personally do not have access to a big piece of land but there is room enough for food production just outside urban area's, even here in the netherlands, i could produce for about 20 people, take in mind that i have disabilities and can devote just a couple of hours a week to do this, so someone without a disability could do a lot more, bottom line is we would need just a few hours of 5% of the populace to grow over 75% of our food locally sustainable and safely even without aquaponics