Lake Water?

muleface

Well-Known Member
So I am sitting on a 33 acre lake filled with fish. I am close enough to just pump water out of it. Could I just use this for my plants? Would I even need to add anything or just run straight lake water? Isn't this basically aquaponics?
 

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
So I am sitting on a 33 acre lake filled with fish. I am close enough to just pump water out of it. Could I just use this for my plants? Would I even need to add anything or just run straight lake water? Isn't this basically aquaponics?
check ppm and/or send in a water sample for testing. it also depends on how clean your environment is around the lake... it's likely a very dilute form of aquaponics and i'd say you'd probably still need to supplement nutrients. but definitely should analyze the water before application.
 

chiqifella

Well-Known Member
I'm in a similar oasis, ain't it grand?
it could be aquaponics. you could set up a table plastic on top, or gutters, like a continuous flow or flood and drain for funs, herbs love this.

I was able to support marijuana plant growth but not to my expectations without supplementing with feed. that brought me to the point where I was was not confident of the items being added being totally cool with my pond. I raise thousands of fish commercially in that pond and its almost self sufficient, I didnt want to upset anything. any use of any oils or sprays are generally not safe for my pond water, or my plants. some hydro with that water unfiltered was out, dtw was cool but again needed supplementation
to meet my expectations.(with mj,tomatoes, peppers... however all herbs were awesome)
So I moved on to using the water for irrigation and grew in organically fertilized pro mix. Seasonal changes/ice/pump/storage etc posed some challenges, pond water pests did too, mostly to beneficial orgs strangely.

I ended with leaving my fish alone and watering my organically fed promix with the pure well water pump inside of my grow room.
I dont regret one minute of the experience but it was to work intensive for me even then.

have fun!
 

stoned-monkey

Well-Known Member
I would take a water sample first just to be safe. my sister has two tunnel greenhouse that she only waters with her pond water and she can grows very healthy and productive veggies. she never adds fertilizer other then cow manure and straw (both produced on her hobby farm) every fall.
we also put a "lazy river" type of trench for growing lettuce/greens on rafts that only get the pond water, no other inputs.
so I say if its clean water use it, but it will only be part of the equation. remember even aquaponic setups aren't usually growing heavy feeders. could be a good base water for aact.
 
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