I have been searching the internet for info on aquaponics. I have a fish tank that I inadvertently put a small pruned branch of a miniature rose in the filter compartment a few years ago. I was upset because I accidentally cut off a branch with a gorgeous bloom. The only thing I wanted to do was keep the bloom fresh for the longest period of time. After the bloom faded and dropped, I forgot that the leafy branch was in my fish tank filter. A few weeks later, I noticed something unusual. The leafy branch had more leaves than I remember and a few flower buds near opening. I looked closer and the branch had rooted quite profusely. I ended up repotting the rose and I now had two beautiful miniature roses.

Later on, I tried putting a small heart of romaine lettuce in the same filter compartment. The water moves over the media in the filter and is highly oxygenated. Also, the substrate in the fish tank is crushed coral/shells. So the water content is high in calcium. Anyway, after a few days, the romaine lettuce heart had started rooting and it wasn't long after that when new leaves began to appear on the heart.

So recently I had been thinking about hydroponics; however, I found out that the art of raising fish in a tank system and watering plants on a regular basis with the nutrient rich water was called aquaponics. I searched for 'water culture' on the internet as well and it took me here to an old article in the forums. I read it with great interest but it was from back in 2006 and no one has mentioned it again. I searched the forums for any info on aquaponics or hydroponics for orchids and have not found any info.

What I'm wondering is this: I recently bought a Miltoniopsis in near-blooming size. I would like to use the water from my small 5 gallon fish tank to set up a system of watering. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could achieve this? I am a bit concerned because the fact that the water is high in calcium means that the pH is also over 7.0 - probably 7.5 or so. However there are aquatic plants growing in the substrate already, so I know the water has sufficient nutrients. As well as the fact that it's the same fish tank I used for the rose and lettuce a few years ago.

Does anyone have any ideas? I know orchid growers sometimes use hydroponics so I would appreciate any info anyone has on the subject. The thread on water culture seems to imply that you can keep orchid roots submerged in water and they will thrive, however, I want to be completely sure that I can do this. If I can find a way to submerge the roots in the filter compartment where highly oxygenated water flows back into the tank I would like to try it to see if it works. But I didn't think it would work with orchids. The 'water culture' thread seems to imply that it will work, but I really would like more opinions/advice before I try this.


Thanks,
Snert