You Might Be a Survivalist (or Prepper) If…

[Sniper-T]

Vodin... are all of those global bucket set ups?

[Vodin]

You can goto smaller bakeries. Or grocery stores try the bakeries there. The super walmart out here sells them for a $1. There are a bunch of places out here that use them all I can suggest to you is ask...

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What so you mean by global?

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I am container gardening ontop of pallets that lie on the raised bed gardens. This is done since I have used my garden beds for about 18 years now. The buckets have a net cup in the bottom. (I drilled a 3" hole in the bottom of the bucket and inserted a net cup) And the buckets rest atop a water trough. The net cups wick the water up into the bucket to keep the soil moist. I just refill the water troughs every couple of weeks.

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[Vodin]

Ahh just researched a global bucket set up. No this is simpler. Its sits on a water trough and it wicks water up into the bucket when the soil needs it. I built 6 water troughs out of a 6' fence board and 2x4's added a liner. Each water trough hold almost 5 gallons exactly. Less water useage since March I have filled all troughs 3 times (90 gallons of water)

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[Vodin]

Guess you can call it a different version of Aquaponics Got an AP system running in my basement for the last 2-3 years. Working on my 5th crop now. I have decided to grow lettuce and herbs.

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And Blue Nile Tilapia.

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[Sniper-T]

cool! half the buckets needed, and an easier watering system. I like that a lot, and might have to steal it! lol

What is your basement growing media?

How deep is your tilapia tank? Do you find it adds humidity to your basement? Got some pics of the tank set up?

[Vodin]

With the Garden set up you can easily move them around, pack them tighter and less of a struggle to water.

Baked Clay Balls Reason= Lightest weight (currently)

My stock tank is 150 gallons and ~2' tall.

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This photo was from the initial idea it has changed since then. I plan on building 3 more grow beds each with separate lighting. Each grow bed will sit on a shelf. The shelf system I use is gorilla and it can hold 600#'s of weight. So 2 shelf's and 2 shelves will be used on each shelf. They will be positioned over the stock tank so the threat of leakage will be reduced. (It can happen but has not)

All of this rests on a 10'x10' concrete slab in the basement.

Moisture I have not noticed moisture... I have seen the water pipes sweating. The basement is about 50-65F year round.

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The stock tank is 150 gallons. That is a 55gallon barrel on the shelving.

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This was the 4th build I believe.

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This is the current build.

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[Sniper-T]

I think you should start your own hydroponics thread and document your processes!

Given our short growing season, I see the value in this!

How many fish do you have in there??

[Vodin]

I have 5 Blue Nile Tilapia. 2 are about 6" they were 1/4" fry back in December 2014. and the other 3 average from 12"-14". More can fit but currently short on funds. Since the genders need to be separate. If they were together they would each breed every month and have 300-800 fry. From Fry to Plate is an 8month period. I wish to get another 150 Stock tank for the females and then a 20 gallon for mating moments

Quick definition
Hydroponics=Growing vegies with Water and chemicals
Aquaponics=Growing vegies with Water and fish pee/poop oh and worms ohh and microbes. It is an easier method and cheaper.

[jamesneuen]

So is aquaponics a sustainable thing if shtf? I've never looked into either of them. I agree though that you should start a thread and give us a startup intro.

[bacpacker]

Vodin thanks for the pics and yes please do a thread on this. Helo has one running o. His set up and has had a lot of traffic . Your set up looks to me to be quite different and smaller. I'm betting it'll get lots o traffic as well.