Goldfish in DWC

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shawnbfromjersey

Member
Well I was thinking and I thought if fish water is great for a dwc. Then what if I put a couple goldfish in my dwc. So I went out to petsmart and bought a couple fish for only .26 cents and some fish food and threw them into my reservour. The water should be fine for them, I'm using a quickgrow nutrients which is a no frills ebay aerogarden nutrient powder. I have read before of people doing this and the plants had small yields, however the people that did it didn't use any nutrients. I will continue to use my nutes. And if the fish die it will be fine, there rotting flesh will become fish emulsion and they will bring benefitual bacteria. Tell me what you guys think
 
Alarm Clock

Alarm Clock

Well-Known Member
shawnbfromjersey said:
Well I was thinking and I thought if fish water is great for a dwc. Then what if I put a couple goldfish in my dwc.
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Your logic is flawed. I love my leather moccasins, but I'm not going to stick my foot up a cow's ass for an even better version of them. I love pussy, but I'm not going to cram a bunch of tampons down the front of my pants. Correlation does not prove causation.
 
mistaphuck

mistaphuck

Well-Known Member
I keep multiple aquariums, occasionally ill give my plants water from them, but they're in soil. organic you see? but goldfish are omnivorous and will feed on the roots as well as drive the ammonia up, for any kind of hydro I'd stick to what works.
 
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shawnbfromjersey

Member
And to the guy that said I should read a book on cultivation. Needs to read a book on aquaponics. That's right just google it. Aquaponics is growing plants using a fish tank as a reservour.
 
mistaphuck

mistaphuck

Well-Known Member
shawnbfromjersey said:
And to the guy that said I should read a book on cultivation. Needs to read a book on aquaponics. That's right just google it. Aquaponics is growing plants using a fish tank as a reservour.
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yeah but with filtration and specialized food and something that wont be tempted/unable to eat your root system. I'm just saying goldfish are the worst ammonia producers I have ever known, and ammonia will make your bud not smoke as good. just get a cheapo aquatic carbon filter and like a school of tetras or something that wont get very big. and use less of whatever ferts youre using as they will most likely be toxic, because while your correct that rotting fish emulsion will benefit your plants, it wont benefit your sense of smell.
 
itinerantbluez

itinerantbluez

Member
shawnbfromjersey said:
Well I was thinking and I thought if fish water is great for a dwc. Then what if I put a couple goldfish in my dwc. So I went out to petsmart and bought a couple fish for only .26 cents and some fish food and threw them into my reservour. The water should be fine for them, I'm using a quickgrow nutrients which is a no frills ebay aerogarden nutrient powder. I have read before of people doing this and the plants had small yields, however the people that did it didn't use any nutrients. I will continue to use my nutes. And if the fish die it will be fine, there rotting flesh will become fish emulsion and they will bring benefitual bacteria. Tell me what you guys think
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Lol. I think your plants will enjoy decomposing dead goldfish. Ftw
 
Alarm Clock

Alarm Clock

Well-Known Member
Balls to the wall, dude. It doesn't matter if you don't have anything other than hope telling you the fish will help. I'm happy you're fortunate enough to have a plant to irrationally experiment with.

Rock out with your cock out and let us know how it goes.
 
Alarm Clock

Alarm Clock

Well-Known Member
As a note, everything I just gleaned while googling said that fish emulsion is cooked at 180 degrees (lowest I found) before it is sold to kill all the putrefaction bacteria. They also add acid (usually phosphoric) to drop the pH to an acceptable level and prevent fermentation (fermentation usually produces heat from chemical process). They also don't use the entire fish when they make it, and skim shit out of it. I'm just being anal at this point. I will in no way argue with the practice of throwing fish in your planting holes, but again, that's different. Just letting you know. Have you ever smelled dead fish, by the way? You won't have to worry about the weed smell.
 
Mister Greengenes

Mister Greengenes

Member
I ran DWC on goldfish water years ago. Of course it worked great. I didn't put the fish in the bucket though, I used the water from their aquarium and put it in the bucket.
 
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shawnbfromjersey

Member
Well dead gold fish really don't smell. I know I have had plenty of them before. Ok I saw some really interesting youtube videos on aquaponics. It seems it reallly does work. I even seen a few cannabis aquaponics grows. I have notice that all of them seperated the fish tank from the plant reservour except one girl who was growing lettuce with the roots going right into the fish tank. So what I will do tomorrow is put a piece of plastic with small holes in between the roots and the fish. That way they won't nibble on my roots. In the mean time I put a old shrivled fan leaf in there in case the wanted more than the plant food.
 
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gobbly

Well-Known Member
Alarm Clock said:
Your logic is flawed. I love my leather moccasins, but I'm not going to stick my foot up a cow's ass for an even better version of them. I love pussy, but I'm not going to cram a bunch of tampons down the front of my pants. Correlation does not prove causation.
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No, but it doesn't disprove it either :) Before I get to the OP, I'll lightheartedly and in good spirits, point out why in this case it doesn't match these analogies. Cows shit on the ground, someone or something picks it up, sterilizes it, and composts it. In the aquarium the fish shit in the water, bacteria completed the nitrogen cycle (this is the compost step), and there is no need for sterilization because the whole thing is in an isolated environment, and you will be using a commercial fish food which you know is uncontaminated. To your second analogy, I love my cat too, I certainly don't love his shit (just because it touches pussy, doesn't mean it is pussy :D)

Anyway, to the OP. There was a post a while back where someone did something similar, He and I got into a 2 page discussion about it, and there is a lot of good info if you're interested (https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/335318-fish-tank-weed-7.html). As mentioned, one of the keys is going to be ammonia, and you will have to take specific steps (like those I outlined in that other thread) to handle that.

You would certainly need a number of fish to produce larger volumes of nitrates, but goldfish are a bad choice. They like the water too cold. They don't handle the ph you want a hydro/aero system running at, etc. The best idea I have heard for companion fish are some of the south american's which live in soft slightly acidic water (and maybe take a whole day to acclimate), or female betas which are some of the most hearty fish you will find. Whatever you go with, carnivores are best. Best system I have seen before is where you have the res as a sump to a fish tank, and that sump feeding your hydro as well.

If it's not necessary to mix the systems then you can just put up a fish tank, gravel vac it for water changes, and run the removed waste through a cheese cloth, use that water to water your plants. Regardless of how you do it though, you will want test kits, since you have to know where you are at in nitrogen cycles, as well as test nitrogen levels of the water you use on your plants.

I have been keeping fish and invertebrates, fresh and salt, professionally and then as a hobby for some 20 years. If you have any specific fish related questions, feel free to PM me. You'd be hard pressed to come up with a question I didn't know the answer too :)
 
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shawnbfromjersey

Member
Good info thanx. When I was at the pet store I was really considering getting a beta fish. I think I will. and about the ammonnia I don't think it will be a problem because I will be changing the water as I normally do every 3 to 4 weeks
 
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gobbly

Well-Known Member
shawnbfromjersey said:
Good info thanx. When I was at the pet store I was really considering getting a beta fish. I think I will. and about the ammonnia I don't think it will be a problem because I will be changing the water as I normally do every 3 to 4 weeks
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I highly encourage reading the last few pages of that thread I linked. Specifically the breakdown of the nitrogen cycle. The thing is that your fish are your nitrogen source (in the form of nitrate, a soluble form of nitrogen). To get this nitrogen you have to have bacteria converting ammonia, so you are not relying on water changes to remove ammonia. In fact, in most tanks the purpose of the water change is to remove the nitrate, as it is the result of breaking down ammonia and is not removed by bacteriological processes. In your situation you want the nitrate because it is your plant food (normally you would water change to remove it to prevent algae growth). So normally you would not require water changes (as I said though, test regularly and if things get out of whack the water change is the first line of defense). Anyway, to do this properly you will want to do some at least basic reading on the nitrogen cycle, dissolved oxygen, and in general, nutrient management in the aquarium. Don't neglect the fish side of your system or you will not have success. Think of this as taking on two new hobbies at once, and if you think that's going to be too much you're best off sticking to one or the other.

Also you want to understand that what you are doing is harder than buying hydro nutes, a TDS meter, and RO/DI filter, and just setting up a hydro system. This is not a 'better way to grow' or a 'key to increasing yield'. It's simply another method. It's neat to try, and could be quite rewarding if you get the whole thing running and producing well, but it's more of a hobby type of thing than a strategy to grow a better crop. Props if you end up pulling it off, I wish I had the tenacity to tackle something like this :)
 
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