Ok so long story short, I live in a massive basement with no natural light coming in, and no outdoor space in which to do this...
I wanna make an aquaponics system in my basement apartment. Yes, I have gotten permission to do so... my question is regarding the lighting.
I've been reading up and apparently alternating between cool white and warm white lights is optimal, but the light bulbs are expensive as fuck and need to be replaced every year and a half or so. Any more permanent way I can do this? It'll be hooked up to a car battery, because I'm cheap as fuck, my car has a mini generator for an alternator which I can use to charge a second battery every day, and I'm cheap as fuck with my electricity bills.
Wait.. did you just say that you're regulary charging batteries with your car because you want to save money?? You must be kidding..
>>906451
Why not pick a hobby that fits both your wallet and your living situation?
>>906451
2 things, 1 I GUARANTEE that you're paying more for additional gas to run the second generator than you would paying for electricity.
2, if you want more permanency go LED, they'll cost more but last a decade or two. Also cost less power.
actually, WHY are you using a car battery?
are you doing ebbflow or nft for the hydroponics side of it?
And before you get started doing all this, consider asking around the neighborhood, someone might be down with you paying for use of their backyard with a few tilapia fillets and some tomatoes.
>>906451
>light bulbs need to be replaced every year and a half
oh, my sweet summer child.
Sorry for the late response...
The reasons for the car battery thing is because 1. I can't afford a regular alternator right now. I had a small generator with the same average voltage that gave more kwh than an average altenator, so I figured I'd run a second battery to charge with it, and never got around to getting a proper altenator. Also, electricity is expensive where I am, and my circuit breaker trips when I have anything over 3 appliances running at once. So the motor can't run with my fridge, pc and screen at the same time (it's a 10 amp breaker).
The reason why I'm doing this is because I plan on selling vegetables at the local market eventually. And the reason why I'm not asking neighbours is because crime is high here, and most people are extremely anti - letting people into their yards.
I have grown plants indoors with nutrients and outdoors in an aquaponics set up.
The light you'll want is a Gavita LEP. Best light for veg growth. They'll cover 1.8x1.8 m2.
It'll be better to spend your money on a polytunnel and using the sun.
>>906520
Ok, do you have ANY windows in the basement? Because if you do, my suggestion is to not deal with aquaponics (fish poop clogs up pumps, other issues, ph balance, algae bloom kills the fish) and do a simple DWC and make a reflector for the tiny window airstones for it would be like 0.1A collectively. Since reflector is cheap as fuck (cardboard and aluminum foil), it's unlikely to be stolen, and cheap to replace when vandalized.
The small generator is, I'm sure, at least $0.30/kwh. You may want to look at a trickle charger for the battery in the house, and using the battery to power intermittent flushes.
(I'm assuming that you're going with ebb and flow as a hydroponics system. NFT is supposed to be more efficient, but I've heard way to many stories of the plants at the top of the ramp choking off the flow)
Here's a relatively cheap way to control things if you end up with a wall plug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGfV9IUcFxE
If you go with a mechanical system, here's a way to have an automatic flush using a tiny pump running constantly, instead of a big pump running intermittently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXaruS5z_Xc
>>906812
I just have a koi pond and know people with basement koi ponds. If your setup is maybe 200 gallons or more you are probably going to also want to run a dehumidifier and soon its just not going to be worthwhile. The water requirement that are good for plants are not so good for fish. Although people make it work their are many conflicting things about these systems that are very confusing to me as a koi pond keeper.
>>907214
Well the theory is that the fish create waste for the worms as food, the worms create the nutrients for the plants and the plants filter the water for the fish. All you need to do is feed the fish, balance the PH levels and on the rare occasion, add nutrients like calcium (crushed oyster shells in a bag fixes this) and iron for the fish.
Beyond that, algae is usually a problem but I haven't found out how to fight that yet
>>907252
Add a pleco or two and they'll eat most of the algae.
>>907468
Yeah, there's an idea... but should I add them in every stage of the system? Or only the fish stage?
