Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

EB,
if ya don't mind me asking, what is your ratio between grow bed volune and fish tank volume? reason i ask is that i have a dwc system, and i've found that a 1:1 works well between fish tanks and grow system.

I was using diameter instead of radius me mate put me straight haha.

Errm, your post has a couple figures in wrong place too EB had me confused.

I understand now the numbers...

What is 1:1?

Did I.....? yeah well, as I said, only one coffee by that stage....

I have a ratio of growbed to fish tank volume of about 1.5:1 (50% more growbed volume than fish tank). An optimum figure for very high stocking levels of fish is about 2:1 (2 growbed volume to 1 fish tank volume), of course this is based on a flood and drain gravel growbed system and this can allow you to have stocking densities up to 6kg per 100L, though 4-5 kg is a more realisticaly achievable figure..

What sort of stocking levels of fish can you have in a 1:1 DWC AF, I haven't tried DWC yet though I'll be keen to one day...

Ah, the penny drops

Thank you so much people, this stuff is crucial and my maths is obviously over everyone's head rofl.

A potential 2400 litres medium (growbed) E&F system could be supported by a 1200 litres tank. 2:1. Stocking for amateurs like me at 4 kilos per 100 litres.

948 litres growbed (medium) supported by 1200 litres is approx 1:1.
Stocking for extreme amateurs like me can then take place at up to 2 kilos per 100 litres.

I'll add up medium, pipes, and plumbing (lots more fittings), to see how the costings stack up with vertical growing. Then I have to try it and see how it goes!

I'm very happy with those figures more water = more stability for my fish as I learn.

This will provide a nice safe buffer to explore with as well. See how many strawberries and lettuce you really can grow off of 2 tired old goldfish and an ADHD snail.

I'm not so about the medium content of bed systems now that I know what a radius is.

EB,
before we get into stocking levels, let me take a moment to describe my system. oh, sorry, i see that ya'll prefer the metric system here, but being in the US, i just can't to it.

my system is indoors and starts in my living room with a 55 gal show tank, and 2 10 gal tanks for feeders. in the 55 gal is an approx 20 inch clown knife fish, a red tailed catfish that is about 12-14 inches, and a 8 inch oscar. what do they weigh? i have not the foggiest idea.

there is a drain line that runs from the fish tanks, thru the floor, and down to the external bio filter in my grow system. water then runs into a pump rez where it is then pumped thru 3/4 inch supply lines to the grow stations, which are 10 gal tubs. the tubs are plumbed back to the pump rez via 2 inch drain lines.

there is also another pump that is constently moving water thru the bio filter.

now for those stocking rates. this is where i use the feeder tanks as a "dial" for the system. i shoot for a nitrate level of about 100 ppm in the
grow system.

if my nitrate is a little high, i'll either cut back on the goldfish food, or thin out the tanks a bit. if the nitrate is too low, then i'll either up the amount that i feed the goldfish, or pick up some more.

sorry to make it such a long answer, bit i didn't know how else to answer it.

AA,
finished building a mini yesterday. 10 gal fish tank, 2 - 5 gal grow tubs, and an external bio filter. it's a single pump, gravity feed system, and came out cool as hell.

also working on another design using a 5 gal tank and an internal bio filter for growing herbs.

recently contacted an "invention corperation" to see about getting patents on some of this stuff. be nice to walk away from the roofing biz.

Yeah roofing can bo so tough when the winds up. Mate got lifted by a 5 metre sheet the other day went "oh shit" let it go while 2 feet off ground and travelling and it wound up about 200 metres away cut through an electric fence.

I hate the heights but help them lug iron on the big jobs it keeps me fit.

Gots to get some photos for y'all my Greenhouse is sexy.

Saw makings of Tank on top system yesterday it's looking nice as well but he plumbed the spillway through the back instead of the bottom...

Spillways ROCK!

Mini systems sound great, post what you can where you can and share de love!

What size is your bio-filter, and pedigree?

I think a bio-Aqua hybrid is easily patentable and it's our/your design so totally, do it! I've other directions I wish to pursue (clean agriculture). That is if you want to reproduce DWC recirc. you may have your stream concept in mind.

What I'm trying to say is you were there all that time noone else was and whatever came out of it you can use as you wish and will. Be it your or my ideas I have no problem at all with any of it concerning you.

I'm thinking if you make a system, and coincide it with the release of my articles for Gypsy, and run an ad right next to the article...

Best have a cold beer ready when I come visit in a few years!

I thought you'd be better in politics actually - 2 years planning...

16 years putting on roofs, i've had so many close calls that i can't count them all. back, knees, elbow, wrist, all shot. been lucky tho, no major accidents.

yea, it's a recirc dwc. it's basically a scaled down version of my basement system. couple of minor changes, but nothing major. i'll snap a couple of pics after while. woman's taking a nap, and i'll most likely need her help getting them posted.

built the bio filter out of a 15 qt trash can. it was the smallest one that i could find with a lid. water level set at about 2/3, meium level at 1/2. had the levels higher, but couldn't get enough venturi action going on, so i had to drop them down a bit. bio medium is (red) lava rock.

funny thing about this system is that i started out building it for a 5 gal tank, but like everything i build, i got bigger than i intended. you should see the pick-nic table i made, weighs about 300 pounds.

thanks man, that means a lot to me. a lot of what i know about this stuff came from our conversations.

and, there's always a cold beer in my ice box. drop by anytime. hell i may even be able to pay you a visit one day, now that i know where new zealand is.

mmmm, good luck with the patents, there have been many many people experimenting with this sort of stuff for years, I was following a fair few discussions about various DWC systems using fish. These were on some discussion groups about 'those plants'.. I know that people were getting very excited about their systems, and there were a fair few different methods that were being used...

I think the trick is to jump the market, have the system, give it a brand name and push it. Aquaponics is a huge learning curve for the noob to fish and hydro, and so a 'beginners kit' for hobby growers would fill a niche where nothing is presently available.

I envisage a kitchen herb garden on top of a display tank as a nice niche seller.

It's the folk prepared to do something about it.

Something like 3000 people read the thread where I discovered Aquaponics. Of them I know of 4 attempts at Aqua systems and 2 who stuck to it. So many of those folk talk and talk and talk and, well, you get my drift.

You need to have the bug, if you got the bug, you got passion, success is a good plan away, and patience, and if I know Aquafan, he's the man for both.

A line in an article I'm working on now.

"A minute spent in activities concerning the journey is a minute spent on the journey."

The small aquarium idea is a great one, and there are some available that I found online acouple of years ago but they were $300 each for a plastic aquarium with a tray above it for 4-6 small herb pots...

Here is a small aquarium system, but I couldn't find the same one I have seen for sale before.. It was a bit of a rip off and can be done much better...

I don't want to start an argument here, but I am keen to express my view. Advancement of these sorts of things comes from discussion and mutual sharing of ideas. I personally do not think that talk about patenting assists in this regard. I would not like to see people holding back their ideas and experiences for fear of somebody deciding that they will patent them. Besides which I seriously doubt that this would be possible as the idea would need to be distinctly different to others that are around/have been put in practice or a significant variation on the theme. I am no patent lawyer, but I thought that something does not have to be patented to be recognised as existing previously for legal action.

In terms of the Australian experience, there are numerous aquaponics and similar setups in existence operating on a commercial basis and I am sure they all have variations on the theme. Also, while I expect that some readers of the forum will never get systems up and going, I think many will and I hope that we will continue to share our experiences, successes, failures, ideas etc.

me too. I reckon there is enough room for many more people than would ever start up and without idea sharing and without the openness of people on this forum, people will be restricted in the success of their systems, whether they be backyard or otherwise. Without this forum, and the free sharing of information, I would be lost, as my immediate circle of friends and family, although perplexed and somewhat interested are of the eye-rolling brigade, and with the limited information available to us about this sensational way of growing food, I feel this forum is an invaluable learning resource. In time, I hope when my system gets up and running, I can put as much in as I get out. And as I remind myself every day, if I'm lying in bed thinking about ways to do something or another, it has probably been thought of before, and certainly for me and aquaponics, I have seen this happen a couple of times on the forum. Joel is the perfect example of this. The backyard aquaponics manual (wgich I have andhave read and re-read) is a perferct example of this. Pantenting implies a completely original idea. Watch the new inventors and see stuff people actually invent and the winners on the show are generally the one who blow the judges away and receive comments such as "I can't believe that hasn't been done before"
The person who invented aquaponics probably could not even be traced (correct me if I'm wrong, weren't they doing a variant on the theme centuries ago) and therefore not credited with the invention or rewarded for it. VB, You are right, without information sharing, ideas such as aquaponics would be much harder to perfect (and I suppose because of its reliance on nature, "perfection" whatever that is will never be attained). I had a guy say to me I can't believe you put the photo of the milk vat on the website, or the drawing of the greenhouse, but my opinion is if I can contribute in any way, let me, and if anyone wants to know how to find an old milk vat for scrap metal price, or wants a drawing of how I am going to build my greenhouse (which is by no means an original idea, only a variation on a theme) so they have somewhere to start on their own design, bring it on
OMG, I hope that wasn't too intense

Monya