Arduino Aquaponics Closet Grow Room - Setup & Advice

Hey everyone,

I am planning an aquaponics closet grow set up that will be controlled through an arduino micro controller. I already have my aquaponics tanks designed, but now I am working on lighting and ventilation. Closet is about 3' wide 15" deep 7' tall. I'm not too sure how many plants will fit at the moment, but the grow bed is a 10 gal Rubbermaid tub. There is additional room that I will use an aerogarden (thrift store find) to germinate and get some seedlings going. The plan is to have the arduino read the temp and humidity and turn on fans or humidifier why levels aren't where they should be, also the water pump will be automatic and it will have a moisture sensor to be sure it doesn't get too low.

Lighting:
I actually was able to get a 150 watt HPS light at the local thrift store for only $8, pretty sweet. Anyways, I wanted to ask for opinions and advice about the lighting. I want to use this 150 watt HPS and I was thinking of supplementing with some CFLs for more light and to add more to the spectrum of light. Would adding CFLs be beneficial and if so does anyone know which type of CFL to use? e.g. wattage and type

Ventilation:
For ventilation, does anyone have suggestions? Currently, I have bought two mini fans to keep circulation within the closet but was thinking of either getting a nice inline fan or cheap bathroom ventilation fan to put on top and discharge outside. Would a typical bathroom fan be efficient enough for a closet?


Thanks in advance for any advice.

Lighting: 6500k for veg and 2700k for flower
Ventilation: Bathroom fans should be ok depending on the cfm rating.

Thanks for the advice. I think I am going to rig up 4 Sockets for CFLs, 2 on each side of my HPS lamp.

for the bathroom fan, my closet is in a basement so I was going to vent it out of a below grade window. Any suggestions on making sure there's no strong smells coming out of my house?

Do you even know what your asking?

I've never heard of a aquaponics closet grow. Sounds retarded to me.

I'm working on using an arduino now, but not in a closet setup, seems silly.

I'm interested in aquaponics but from everything I have read having a small reservoir means very little buffer. 250 gallons was the minimum fish tank size recommended. Best of luck.

Hey, its been a while but I finally have a good set up put together. I'm going for a small set up, no need for 250 gallons. I'm using a typical 10 gal fish tank, a 3 or 4 gallon container for a sump and another container for the grow bed. once I get it going with fish I'll post a picture. I may just start growing lettuce until I get all the little details figured out.

I haven't used an arduino for anything yet, but eventually I'll have that set up so it will time my air (water) pumps, fans and lighting.

Anyone else out there have a 'smart' grow setup?

Don't have a 'smart' setup yet, but I'm planning one very soon.. Hope you post a grow log so we can all learn something. Automating lights and fans doesn't really require any 'smart' micro controllers, but if you wanna go advanced with sensors and such arduino is da shit !!

Hey,
Yea, other than the timers I'm going to add some sensors. Temp/Humidity, Moisture, and I would love to add a ph sensor if they weren't so expensive. The ultimate plan is to have all the info displayed on an app for control through my phone. Also, there would be automatic controls in place... i.e. the humidity is to low, turn on a humidifier.