looks almost like a straightforward hybrid of aquaponics and reed bed filtering …
Most of the land based aquaculture technology is basically re-invented waste-water treatment stuff. It always astonishes me when they try to sell stuff as innovative when it has been known and widely used in waste-water treatment for decades (bio-floc for example).
While you’re not really wrong (most waste management systems are trying to emulate natural processes using less resources, whether they be space, time, energy, or maintenance) the core idea discussed here was initially studied in the 80s, so also decades old. It’s not that it is innovative, it’s that it was set by the wayside when simpler growing techniques such as hydroponics came along. Of course, those simpler techniques don’t have a waste management system built in.
every novel growing technology Ive seen has just been shown to grow the kind of vegetables that have 5 calories per serving
This is a good point. I hadn’t thought about it like that before. It would be great to see some more calorie-dense crops represented in these kinds of projects.
Are there any websites or wikis that dive in to this more any lemmings would reccomend?
The best source I found for Sandponics, unfortunately was r/sandponics.
You could glance at it with https://teddit.net/r/sandponics if the ethical qualms in that didn’t prevent you from doing so.
It’s new to me. This looks interesting: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15291-7
I skimmed this paper, but it’s interesting.
One thing to note, is that their salinity (ECs) are good, but not great. Generally, you want them under 2 dS/m in growth media. 3-4 is considered fair, but with some limitations, so they might have to refine their desalinization process a bit more, or you know, use freshwater fish.
The N input from the fish manure (I feel weird just typing that) is actually pretty good. About 100 lb/ac, which is the upper limit requirement for most crops. They would most certainly need P amendment, though, and that could cause a lot of issue with their aquaculture if it makes its way into the system.
Doesn’t the salinity mainly come from nitrates in this case?
EC is more closely tied to the presence of metals in soil. Most of the N applied would be in the organic fraction, I’d imagine.
Well… we are talking about artificial water logged sand here however.
True. Like I said (or was thinking at least), it’s still a really cool idea, and functional, just needs a bit of refinement to really get going.
