http://www.backyardliberty.com/vsl/
This is a sales presentation, but the concept is interesting. It merges hydroponic vegetable gardening with fish farming. The fish waste feeds the vegetables, which cleans the water for the fish. Commercial aquaponics are expensive, which is why I never considered it, but this is a DIY system.
It solves a number of problems, like not needing to bend like you'd have to if you did traditional gardening. It takes 10% of the water used in traditional gardening. It's a source of fresh vegetables and protein. The materials (book/video) cost $37 and the parts to put the system together is about $190. It's a year-round system of fresh food for a very small maintenance cost. View the presentation and see what you think.
After I closed the presentation video, I saw that it is given in text and the price goes down to $22 on a "buy now" deal. It appears to be electronic only.
And then it tries to sell you four books. I passed.
THEN it mentions the water pump you need for the fish tank and offers a DIY solar panel information. I searched Green Energy Junkie and found a review: http://www.cheapsolarpanels.us/green-energy-junkie-review.html. It says it's #10 out of 10, meaning the reviewer thinks there are better ones out there. Depends on price/what you get, etc.
Comments
I have an acquaintance who has an hydroponic system. Aside from Tilapia, does the article mentioned other fish species that can adapt to hydroponic?
Yes, vertical makes sense.
It look quite elaborate. I am tempted to go vertical. It appear to save on space.
Here's what it looks like after the tank is cut. See what I mean about needing multiple tanks to be able to grow enough vegetables. There is a way to grow them vertically, but I haven't researched that yet. 285 gallons weighs about 2,280 pounds (less the weight of water that would have been contained in the 9 inches cut off, but plus the weight of the fill). You'd have to have it on the ground or on a concrete slab to support that kind of weight. If you don't have that, a floorless shed or greenhouse like he's in could be built, but that drives the cost up.
This is an IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) tank. These containers are used to ship products all over the world. It is a polyethelene (hard plastic) liner inside a metal frame (usually galvanized steel) and holds about 285 gallons, and costs around $100-$150 if used once, $100 or less if used multiple times. Get food grade, otherwise residual toxins (even after cleaning) can kill the fish. You can also use barrels. We used to get 55-gallon barrels for $10 from Pepsi, but then the laws changed and they couldn't sell them any longer. The top 9 inches you see him cutting off is inverted and makes the container for the garden plants.
I got the ebook and it's not as easy as they said, but that's because I have no building experience. I'd have to get help on that, but once the system is in place it's not hard to maintain. But there are things for which you would need redundancy (extras in storage): a submersible pump, a way to power it (solar panel), fish food, and nutrients that are lacking in the system. The size of the garden tray you make from the IBC tank (~285 gallons), you would need quite a few tanks to get a decent size garden and have enough fish ready for harvest as many times a week as you need. So, there's pros and cons. I think the price quoted is for one IBC tank, so figure on multiplying that by however many you will need for your size of project.
Another thought is that you can't move around with something like this, so you'd have to be where you plan to be.
Also, even though it can be built in a few hours, getting the media/plants/bacteria that will support the fish takes about six weeks, so it's a project that can't be put up the minute the shtf and expect a food source. The good news is once it's up and running, it can go all year long.
They are actually teaching this method in some Australian colleges - see link:
http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/practical-science-benefit...
The Mayan were using terracing as well as aquaculture to feed their population. It is coming back.
Aquaponics is a great concept being a sort of self sustaining closed loop.
I have seen this process integrated into a environmentally friendly house design somewhere - sensational!