Concept

[Timbo]

Alright so this is a concept of a setup I have been considering building. I have in the last couple years been looking at a method of fish / vegetable farming where they use the fish water to fertilize the vegetables and the vegetables or whatever plant is growing filters the water quite effectively. This method is called aquaponics. recently my wife and I have been talking about purchasing a blue tongue skink and I have also been wanting to set up a tank with an aquaponics filter but we have limited space so this is what I'm thinking. so what's happening here is the fish tank water will gravity feed down into the sump (I'm not sure if i want to put media in the sump?) from the sup it will be pumped up to the aquaponics filter. It will flow through the aquaponics and come out hopefully sparkling clean down into the skink enclsure. The skink enclosure will have a drain set for about 1 inch and about 3 inches of gravel for it to flow through which will also act as another filter and bedding on top of that. what i want to do is have it so that i just dig away a low spot for the skinks water source but i am wanting to be sure that this won't just kill it. and from the skink enclosure it will all go back to the fish tank and start again. I want feed back to see how to make this work.


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[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Seems like a good idea, but what type of animals would you use? A five-lined skink could live in that enclosure, and maybe a fire skink, but definitely not a blue tongue skink, for instance. And also, the type of fish you use is important too, what if like an amphibian, it secretes a toxin into the water? Good idea, but plan the animals that you get carefully

[Timbo]

Why not a blue tongue?


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[Timbo]

As far as fish goes o was actually really wanting a pike cichlid


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[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Why not a blue tongue?


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Blue-tongues need a lot of space, at least 30 gallons for one, and for the Pike cichlid, another 30 gallon, but it is recommended for them to have an at least 55 gallon tank. Here is a care-sheet on the Pike cichlid btw: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...e_cichlids.php

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

And plus, Blue tongues love lower humidity, and all that water won't help keeping their enclosure dry and low humidity. They love the 40%-55% range apparently. I would look into getting a fire skink though, they are a beautiful species, and here is their care-sheet: http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care...an-Fire-Skink/

[ericbrookey]

One issue I can think of is you wouldnt want the roots submerged in water all the time in the top portion. The aquaponic setups I've seen have a basin below with a pump that fills the plant basin periodically, but then the water slowly drains out. Otherwise, your terrestrial plants or veggies roots will just rot away. If you are thinking semi aquatic plants, different story. I'm not sure how it would work out if you wanted a continuous flow throughout the whole system.

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[Timbo]

Blue-tongues need a lot of space, at least 30 gallons for one, and for the Pike cichlid, another 30 gallon, but it is recommended for them to have an at least 55 gallon tank. Here is a care-sheet on the Pike cichlid btw: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...e_cichlids.php

Alright so I was planing on having both those tanks as about 85 gallons so size is not going to be an issue. I have a vivarium with a waterfall right now and if I turn of the mister for a bit the humidity level goes down to 40% so even if that's wrong I was thinking with no waterfall and a vent fan on a humidity switch it might actually work. What do you think? Thanks for the care sheet.


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[Timbo]

One issue I can think of is you wouldnt want the roots submerged in water all the time in the top portion. The aquaponic setups I've seen have a basin below with a pump that fills the plant basin periodically, but then the water slowly drains out. Otherwise, your terrestrial plants or veggies roots will just rot away. If you are thinking semi aquatic plants, different story. I'm not sure how it would work out if you wanted a continuous flow throughout the whole system.

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Ya I've seen those systems as well. I have actually seen this method success fully used for full scale farming. As long as it's air acted enough it seems to work


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[ericbrookey]

What kind of substrate are you considering for the planted top tank?

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[ericbrookey]

Correction on my part. I was thinking more hydroponics not aquaponics. Did a little research so I see the difference now. Will you be stacking all the tanks like in the drawing?

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[Timbo]

I hadn't really got as far as thinking substrate yet. Any suggestions? Right now I'm just trying to gather information and look at people concerns and try and problem solve. I laid out the image so it was very easy to see where everything was going. I'm thinking if I actually build it the water line will all be strait runs for less clogging (this was another suggestion given to me) and I was considering putting a carbon filter between the fish tank and the skink tank


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[ericbrookey]

What size sump are you thinking? What kind of plants?

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[Timbo]

I was just thinking like a 10gallon sump any suggestions. And as far as plants go I was going to try to research what would be safe in case it got eaten. Again ideas?


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[ericbrookey]

For an 85g tank I'd probably go with a 20g sump...more water volume is better. Who would be eating the plants if they were in a separate tank?

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[ericbrookey]

[QUOTE=Timbo;267317]I hadn't really got as far as thinking substrate yet. Any suggestions? /QUOTE]

Found this that might be of help.

http://organicdailypost.com/buying-aquaponics-systems/

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[deranged chipmunk]

For an 85g tank I'd probably go with a 20g sump...more water volume is better. Who would be eating the plants if they were in a separate tank?

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Agreed. I would actually go a little bigger for the sump, possibly a 40g, definitely not the 10g as planned.

It's an interesting concept Tim. I have seen similar setups before, but without the vivarium in the mix. I think the key is going to be keeping the skink tank so that the flow of water never slows.


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[Timbo]

It's an interesting concept Tim. I have seen similar setups before, but without the vivarium in the mix. I think the key is going to be keeping the skink tank so that the flow of water never slows.

Thanks man I have some ideas of haw to keep the water flowing. And thank you guys for the idea on the sump. Oh and as far as the aqua ponies plants go. If I grow anything worth eating I will be the one eating them. I thought you were talking about the plants in the skink enclosure. I have considered just growing non eatable plants but that doesn't sound as fun. K guys my 2 biggest concerns with this concept it mould in the skink tank and will the skink possible pass salmonella though the system. Ideas?


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[ericbrookey]

I don't know anything about skinks and salmonella but you will definitely get mold with the humidity and any wood you put in. It will usually come on the first couple months then subside. I can't speak to whether or not it would cause any concerns with growing edible plants but I kinda doubt it. Maybe put a UV sterilizer in the sump? I definitely think you will want media in that sump though if you want to keep fish in numbers and a place for some carbon/purigen.

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[deranged chipmunk]

Oh!! You plan on eating the plants in the aquaponics portion? That's a whole different ball game. I would eliminate the skink from the equation. It's just not worth the risk. The aquarium with sump are safe. Better yet, a freshwater refugium set up would be even cooler. I would just err on the side of caution as far as the skink goes.


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