"I personally am partial to metal halide because 1) I like my babies to be short, stocky with tightest inter-nodal growth possible and nice thick stems, and I grow a lot of day neutral plants (peppers, tomatoes etc)...So I can flower just fine with…"
A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners
-
AJ Grottke
- 24, Male
- Orfordville, WI
- United States
- Blog Posts
- Discussions (162)
- Events
- Groups (11)
- Photos (36)
- Photo Albums (2)
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AJ Grottke's Groups
AJ Grottke's Discussions
Side/Side Experiment: Hydroponics/Open-Loop Aquaponics
Started this discussion. Last reply by TCLynx May 4. 4 Replies 0 Likes
I am going to be running a side by side test run indoors under grow lights. On one side i have hydroponic greens and herbs and on the other side same plants but i would like to try a open loop…Continue
Fish Memory Article
Started this discussion. Last reply by LogicalHydro Jun 3, 2011. 2 Replies 0 Likes
Cleaning Media Post-Harvest
Started this discussion. Last reply by TCLynx May 3, 2011. 7 Replies 0 Likes
My question is geared towards people who use reusable media in net pots either in NFT or DWC. I was wondering what other people do with the media (ex. hydroton) and net pot after harvest? Do you…Continue
Root crops in Aquaponics
Started this discussion. Last reply by TCLynx Feb 28, 2011. 3 Replies 0 Likes
My question is whether or not it is safe to eat root crops grown in aquaponics. After all they are submerged in fish waste. I have had some people say never to do it, and other people say it…Continue
AJ Grottke's Page
Latest Activity
Jon Parr commented on AJ Grottke's group Artificial Lighting"I get CMH bulbs here:
http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmed18.htm
4) 400 watt bulbs for $166 shipped to my doorstep, 3x$52, 4th free, $10 shipping no matter how many you buy."
Jon Parr commented on AJ Grottke's group Artificial Lighting"You might try a HPS bulb called a chrome-dome, or a gavita. They have the reflector inside the bulb, so no need for an external hood to block sunlight. I have had luck with hanging vertical bare bulbs, but that style is better suited to tall bushy…"
TCLynx commented on AJ Grottke's group Artificial Lighting"Hetal halide is probably the way to go to get the most bright without blocking natural light.
I'll let people who actually use artificial lighting to direct you to the formula for how many/what wattage you need to cover specific spaces at what…"
Ralph R. Zerbonia commented on AJ Grottke's group Artificial Lighting"Hi, I am working with a school system that owns a greenhouse and wants to turn it to Aquaponics. The greenhouse has two sections each 22X54 ft. We are in Northern Ohio and want 12 month growing. What kind of supplementary light would you all suggest…"
Jay Wolf joined AJ Grottke's group
Artificial Lighting
Grow light discussions; HID, florescent, LED, and anything else that isn't the sun itself.
TCLynx replied to AJ Grottke's discussion Side/Side Experiment: Hydroponics/Open-Loop Aquaponics"Well, I don't know that there are any really super cheap yet still effective methods of removing solids from your effluent water from the fish system to put into your hydroponics system. See a fish system with a healthy active bio-filter…"
Jonathan Kadish replied to AJ Grottke's discussion Side/Side Experiment: Hydroponics/Open-Loop Aquaponics"By your definition all aquaculture is aquaponics, all that fish waste always goes somewhere and grows something. Nobody is saying you can't or shouldn't do what your doing, it sound pretty cool. It is just not aquaponics, and if you keep…"
AJ Grottke replied to AJ Grottke's discussion Side/Side Experiment: Hydroponics/Open-Loop Aquaponics"Well, ive seen this debated plenty of times, but i still believe "open loop" is aquaponics. I dont feel the definition of aquaponics contains the fact that water MUST be recirculated; plus i want to take some water out because my…"
TCLynx replied to AJ Grottke's discussion Side/Side Experiment: Hydroponics/Open-Loop Aquaponics"Open loop aquaponics, isn't really aquaponics, it is just using your fish water to water your plants.
And, adding hydroponic nutrient to up the EC values to what you expect for hydroponics is really going to defeat the purpose of a side by…"
David Schwinghamer commented on AJ Grottke's group Artificial Lighting"Ive been reading about the great growth you can get from blue led lighting, can you tell me some products that give bright light output?"
David Schwinghamer joined AJ Grottke's groupArtificial Lighting
Grow light discussions; HID, florescent, LED, and anything else that isn't the sun itself.
AJ Grottke replied to George's discussion Hot weather salad greens"I second TClynx, try chard, toscano kale, collards, broccoli leaves, etc; they are able to take some heat, and i like them better in salads than lettuce anyways. Also my dog loves the large kale and chard stems, so i grew em from him (though…"
AJ Grottke posted a discussionSide/Side Experiment: Hydroponics/Open-Loop Aquaponics
I am going to be running a side by side test run indoors under grow lights. On one side i have hydroponic greens and herbs and on the other side same plants but i would like to try a open loop aquaponics system. Im running ebb and flow for both grows (2, 2'x4' trays for each grow style) with some plants in hydroton filled 3"net pots and some with peat-based soiless mix in 5"pots. Each 4'x4' area of e&f tray space has a 20gal res. For the AP side im going to fill up the res with water…See More
Dan Ponton joined AJ Grottke's groupArtificial Lighting
Grow light discussions; HID, florescent, LED, and anything else that isn't the sun itself.
Profile Information
- How did you find us?
- other
- Are you an aquaponic gardener already?
- Yes
- If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)
- flood and drain media, raft, NFT, vertical, combination
- How old is your system?
- Just started
- What type of fish do you grow with? (select all that apply)
- Tilapia
- How big is your fish tank?
- 3 100gal
- Please tell us something else about yourself.
- I run a micro scale mushroom farm growing shiitake, lions mane, king oyster, and other mushroom varieties. I also love growing plants, and fish too(still alot to learn there). Im in the process of building a 250gal fish tank and 4x8 raft for an indoor system. I removed my old system and moving huge beds of hydroton was a pain in the ass, not to mention there were a crap load of bugs breeding in there. SO im ditching that stuff(ill use it for hydroponics) and going raft; we'll see. I moved my old system because i needed more space for mushrooms :)
Check out our website: www.lotusgrowingtech.com
LGT
I run a company with my life partner Cassie. It is Lotus Growing Technologies (LGT) located in Orfordville, WI. Take a look at our website and let me know what you think.
AJ Grottke's Photos
Comment Wall (8 comments)
- At 1:51pm on October 19, 2011,
Jesse Hull said… - We should definitely hook up - you have my #?
- At 7:06pm on September 27, 2011, Jesse Hull said…
Hey AJ
Great seeing you here!
Jesse
- At 9:29pm on May 29, 2011,
Chi Ma said… - Any updates on your Red Claws? Mine are in the last stages of pregnancy.
- At 10:04am on April 8, 2011,
Burton said… Was looking for some detailed information on the moving bed filter and came across this, thought you would like to see it :)
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?119032-DIY-Moving-Bed-filter-in-AquariumI am debating aerating my BG's since 10" of it will always be under water, so I am brain storming to get ideas.
- At 12:07pm on April 4, 2011,
Nate Storey said… Hey AJ,
Sorry about the late response. My greenhouse is small and I use all natural light. If you try to do commercial with artificial light you will lose money. the market trial is going awesome. People love it. We keep raising our prices and people buy more each week. We're charging pretty high prices now, but because we're not competing with any other hydro. prod.s we kind of have a unique market position.
We do heat our GH during the winter months. It's mostly off of a boiler, so it's not too bad. When we build our large commercial greenhouses they'll run off of outdoor furnaces primarily with backup heat.
Nate
- At 9:24am on March 20, 2011, Nate Storey said…
- Sounds like it's slowly but surely. I'm starting to realize that that is how everything is with this kind of thing. We can usually cycle basil in 4-5 weeks, and then at 2-4 weeks after that again depending on how much they get cut back. . .. Hope you're having a great weekend.
- At 8:52am on March 19, 2011, Nate Storey said…
Thanks for the comments on the display AJ- I was just looking at your website. Very cool. I grew mushrooms for a while, but being a perpetual renter means that I have never had the chance to get into it in a large-scale way. When I was living in China I toured a lot of mushroom farms in my area. It was amazing- they were using human waste from the sewage ditches to grow something, and all of the farmers were very poor- people who had nothing but access to the ditches- but they managed to carve out a life for themselves. It was one of the coolest things I experienced there.
How long have you guys been around?
- At 8:39am on December 16, 2010,
Sylvia Bernstein said… Welcome AJ,
Thanks for joining the Aquaponic Gardening community! I hope you find it a fun place to explore aquaponics. There is a real blend of experienced and new aquapons in this community, so please don’t hesitate to get in there and start asking questions. Everyone is quite happy to help out new members – no question is too basic.
A great place to start is to read the “How to Use This Site” link on the upper right corner, “Start Here” section of the Main page. You might also find the “Aquaponic Gardening Rules of Thumb” guidelines helpful.
Please add a photo of yourself and participate!
If you can afford it I would also appreciate a donation through the “Donate button” on the right side of the home page. This helps me with monthly site fees, but is NOT a requirement of membership. If you can contribute… great! If not…no worries.
Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to getting to know you.
Sylvia
© 2012 Created by Sylvia Bernstein.
