Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Guys

Im thinking of expanding my CHOP system I have started, growing leafy vegies via NFT. I have googled, read these forums and been to Youtube

Will be using 90 mm Storm water pipe (have a heap spare) , questions are:

1/ How low do the tubs hang in the NFT pipe

2/ How high is the water level in the NFT pipe (make sure the roots can get the water - 3 - 5 mm or 1/3 full?)

3/ its gravity fed via CHOP so is there an expected volume of water flow? ie - 5 litres a min etc

4/ how high up the pipe is the inlet (does that mater?) and the outlet/return?

I understand that it should just be tilted down hill and the exit pipe can just feed back into the ST?

I don't know if I did it right, but it works for me. I have two setup, that are level with each other, 4" reduced to 2" flowing back into the FT. I just the them 90'd at the other ends, the water runs constant about 1/2 the way of the pipe. The water level stays the same, as it flows out of the 2" reducer, meaning the 2" is the water level.

The cups I used are just plastic dixie cups from the store.. Yes, the sun beats them down and they crack easily. It works for now. I poked holes in them with a nail, filled them half way with gravel.

It took a little longer for the seeds to sprout in the cups rather than the GB, but now the NFT is out growing the GB plants.

same kind of plants in both setups, this is my first system, trying to see which one is the best way so I can make a larger one this winter

kewl - thanks

Ive had someone come back to me who has it just under 1/2 full, but more importantly, the water level just under the base of the cup/pot

The cup needs to be in the water some, or there is no water getting to the seed. I put enough rocks in the cup so there is about an inch above the water level. The bottom inch or 1.5 is in the water. I wish I had the camera today, I just took a pic of the tomato progress, the plant is about 1 ft tall with roots about 1 ft.
pretty cool

very nice

The person I spoke to adsvised they use a strand of a mop as a wick - as in have the 2 ends dangling lower than the base of the cup/pot and goes up into the pot - this draws up the water

I think I will just submerge/suspend it by 5 - 10 mm and see what happens

You also run some sort of a solids filter - to minimise the bigger bits? What type of medium you use?

if you have facebook, look me up, chris taylor from whigham ga.

theres alot of pics on there that will kinda show my bio filter.

recycled and easy.

5 gal bucket
Filter medium is plastic brillo pads
2- 3 Gallon plant pots (cut one bottom off to use as the top)
4 PVC elbows (to swirl the water from the bottom to the top)

I put the 3 gal pots in it so I can easily clean the filter out when needed without taking apart the entire bio-filter.

kinda of the idea