Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZWX8NrGpz8

Just wanted to share with the forum my short video.

thanks... for sharing your vid....


was wondering if you could add twice as many pots? seems like enough room

jT

I, originally, was going to put them closer together but was concerned about the roots getting all tangled up and blocking the system. It may not really be a concern, but I just played it safe.

Thanks for the video. Another idea to add to my system. Does it ever end???

Nice video. Did you start out with seeds? Your tomato plants are enormous compared to mine and I planted my seeds on March 11th! You can see the tiny plant below the pak choi on the lower right quadrant.



Also are sewer pipes like that pricey? I've only seen 4" pipes at home depot. What are the temperatures like for you right now? It's been 45-60 here with the occasional 70 degree day and 1 day where it hit 80. I looked at some pictures from last year and the growth here is abnormally early due to our warm spring.

I started with the small 6 pack starter plants. I want to start from seed next season.

I picked up the pipes from a guy on Craigslist pretty cheap. I think I paid $15 each for them.

Temps here are in the high 60s to 70s I think. It feels pretty good.

My last response was quick and too the point. I didn't have time to respond "nicely"

Mikeym, I love your Home Depot bucket system! I have thought about doing something like that too, only I have a 20 gallon rubbermaid tote to use. I also am collecting kitty litter buckets from a buddy that has cats.

More about the costs of 8" sewer pipes. The end caps and accessories are expensive, which is why I used 2 gallon buckets from the paint department to put over the ends. They are secured by two hose clamps hooked together. The buckets were painted dark to prevent light transfer inside the grow tubes. Each end cost me about $4 whereas a PVC cap would have been over $50.

It's a fun addiction

It's all good with the short response. My adventure into AP using buckets taught me a lesson to never do that ever again! haha I seriously miscalculated the flow of water to my buckets and by "miscalculate" I mean the thought process of going "hey I think it will work full speed ahead"! I had to rig my inputs by sliding a 1/2" pvc pipe drilled with holes down the length of the 1" pvc pipe that I use to feed all the buckets with water. Otherwise all the water would just flow in/out of the first bucket. I actually realized that would happen early on but I already purchased most of the materials and figured I'd just figure out a way around it. I originally intended on putting all of them in a setup like configuration and daisy chaining them together which would have worked with how they were designed since the output of each bucket would always be lower than the input. Then I decided to connect them the way they are now connected. I need to paint my buckets like howyou painted yours to keep light out of it but I've been having trouble finding a paint that will bond to HDPE. I had read that krylon makes a paint for plastics called fusion but I don't want to use spray paint for fear i will wind up getting it all over the place and into the water. The reason my design is so weird is that I could not decide until how I was going to set them up until I actually connected them and built the table. Oh well it is what it is and it is functional at the moment. I just need to figure out if I have a nutrient deficiency. I sent the pics to a friend whose brother graduated/works for Cornell's dept of horticulture so perhaps he can give me a bit of insight by glancing at the pics. =P

Keep posting pics of the progress of your AP. We all love pics!

Mike