Hydro/Aquaponics

I want to setup a very small indoor system to get a feel for this. I'd like to see how much plant matter I can grow from that. Probably just basil and oregano.

???

• How much can I grow?
• What grow medium
  • lava rocks
  • perlite
  • gravel
  • expanded clay - this seems to be preferred
• Do I need a filter between the fish tank and the plants?

It looks like the ratio is the gallons of grow bed to gallons of tank it's somewhere around 2:1.

If I make it look good, it might be nice to keep in the front room.

http://www.greenhousegrower.com/production/crop-inputs/managing-air-temperatures-for-basil-growth-and-development/

Components

• Fish tank : I have the old 10 gallon fish tank, though it may make more sense to try with a plastic container.
• Pump
• Beds
• bell siphon : simple to make from pvc
• auto feeder (for fish)
• Lights : I'd like to use LEDs because that's what I'll want to use in the long run.
• Timers
• secondary tank ??
• heater
• air pump

The fish tank is the primary tank. It over flows into a secondary tank. The pump uses half the water in the secondary tank. Water recirculates right back into the fish tank.

I'd like to run everything right through an Arduino or RasPi. The later would be better to log data.

The plants benefit from a warmer environment, so it may be worth setting up a thin plastic container over the plants and maintaining air temperature in there as well.

I can get a ph sensor to monitor the system. I should also set up power monitoring so I can figure out the real cost.

Lighting

It looks like the ideal color spectrum is 6000K-7000K

1W and 3W LEDs are really cheap and I can run them with a simple switching power supply. Forward voltage is about 3V, so for 1W it's 0.3A. So call it 10v plus a resistor for 3 or 20V for 6. And they can be wired up in parallel. A 12V 30A costs about $20 and could run 270 LEDs.

Versions

Start small. Something with the 10 gallon tank.

The upgrade criteria is that I need to have auto-water quality in place (not a criteria for starting) and I need to have been producing food - all for a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAUv5YxIkS4&list=WL&index=33&t=0s