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I'm planning a home growing system combining aquaponics and aeroponics and am trying to understand if I can find another use of the aquaponic water setup and specifically for aeroponic systems with either misters or sprinklers.

Do you have experience with such hybrid systems?

Thanks in advance!

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  • Why do you think misters/sprinklers will add to your system? Please be careful thinking NUTRIENTS are food for your plants. They are not and need careful consideration. High humidity/moisture is a surefire way to get fungus among us. Have you great FANS?
    – stormy
    Mar 2, 2017 at 2:22
  • @stormy, my logic was that an aeroponic system uses a water tank in which you need to add the nutrients and then the water pump would move the water (which contains nutrients) either to the bottom of the aeroponic growing container where you have a mister dispersing the water into the root area or you have a system with sprinklers which directly water the roots.And since I already would create a nutrient rich water with aquaponics, is it possible to use the aquaponics water for my aeroponics roots? (This is related to my other question about ph levels)
    – kr3t3n
    Mar 2, 2017 at 9:56
  • Oh now I understand better. My oh so immature opinion or knee jerk reaction would be to minimize RECYCLING. Keeping your plants on a few completely separate systems would be far more safe. One of the down sides that worries me cause I am a soil gardener, is how easy disease or problems once in one plant are spread. Wait until one of these others who do this stuff regularly give you an answer. 'Nutrient' rich is better stated chemically enhanced with possible unknowns...YOU are in control of the chemistry and to recycle chemicals makes it even more difficult to KNOW what your plants get...
    – stormy
    Mar 2, 2017 at 17:50
  • You are right, I am not experienced and pest and disease control are things I am still clueless about. Theoretically, pests should not be a big problem as the system will be almost completely isolated. Diseases, however, would probably be a problem of the same magnitude.
    – kr3t3n
    Mar 3, 2017 at 9:40

4 Answers 4

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The problem with using aquaponic water is that it is full of solids and fines. These have to be filtered out otherwise your emitters are going to rapidly block up. If you can filter it, I don't see an issue for using aquaponic water for an aeroponic system.

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  • Thank you Graham Chiu! That was my thinking as well. I am planning to use filters and already have a couple of ideas on how to make the water clean enough for the aeroponic system. However, I think it might be a bit easier using a fogger instead of sprinkler system.
    – kr3t3n
    Mar 4, 2017 at 8:58
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I am using the aquaponics system nutrients water in a vertical grow tower by supplying the nutrient water by pump. The water drips from top of the tower along inside walls and taken up by the plant roots. I have grown the largest heads of lettuce and chives , compared with gravel bed and deep water culture DWC. Really pleased with this method

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  • Any chance of a diagram or photo of your system Keifer?
    – user27864
    Apr 13, 2020 at 11:15
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I am considering this too. The problem as I see it is that the aquaponic water has ammonia in it, with normal aquponics this is then converted into nitrates ie plant food by the bacteria in the system. Normally the bacteria live on the clay pellets I think. With aeropnics where do the bacteria live ? Normally an aeroponically grown plant is in a basket with not medium to sit in, its not an issue here since the water has the plant food included. In your proposed system I'm not sure how the ammonia would get converted.

I think some kind of medium would be required, but not sure on the best way to set this up. I guess clay pellets in the basket might work. Something to experiment with and see if you get the results you want.

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My view is a tad different to others. Plants with aerial roots service with the roots being in the air. They do not expect or rely on fertilizer being sprayed on them.

I suspect that both water and the nutrients in it will probably damage your aeroponics. The suggestion here is to have a very weak solution sprayed just on the roots for a very short period of time.

Feeding
Aeroponic systems have a unique way of feeding plants. Small nozzles, like tiny sprinkler heads, produce a mist for a brief period every 10 or 15 minutes, 24 hours a day. The nutrient solution mist covers the roots of the plants, where it clings long enough for some of the nutrients to be absorbed. As the liquid drips off, the roots get a chance to take in oxygen, which they also need, until it’s time for the next round of spray.

From Aeroponics & Feeding Your Plants

There's a similar suggestion here

How Aeroponics Works
The Aeroponics system utilizes a sprinkling method of feeding plants and plant roots are suspended in the air.

The system has small nozzles which are made up of tiny sprinkler heads. This generates the mist for a short period. Set the sprinkler to sprinkle nutrient solution every 10 or 15 minutes per day. This misting will engulf the plant roots where it hangs long enough for some of this nutrient to be assimilated.

Once the mist stops, some of the nutrient solutions drip off to give the plant root a chance to receive oxygen. So they use this brief moment to take in oxygen until the next round of misting continues.

From Aeroponics Nutrient Solution Recipe

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