Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Police already paid a visit even though I am only using T8s with very little power draw. I assume that the 100s of websites I have been visiting and emails I have been exchanging with people (some with less than legal crops) perhaps they were keeping tabs. Showed them the growing when they showed up and they left. After being pissed off at first, I laughed it off soon after. TCL, thanks for the advice of lowering the bulbs, significant growth difference over the last 48 hours.

That approach is just wrong in so many ways.

"It's a Datto 120Y with a turbo rotary"

Chappo its a T3 VW 'fastback' with a Hellbug oxyboxer and gearbox, and it handled very well until one of my sons friends blew the engine.

The rote turbo is in the S1 rx7 (not exactly a sleeper), was going to call it Speede until I realised I might get pulled a few times

I understand and agree that their approach is extreme and soilent green and all but can you possibly comment at all about the vertical technique and possible applications. Vertical AP is untapped. Vertical HP, been done, but vertical AP not that I know of. I suppose I was hoping for more constructive crticism than just outright objections.

Personally... I thought it was pretty neat. Vertical is a great way to utilize a small amount of land. I've been playing around with a commercial type greenhouse design based on a 53' geodesic dome with a central water tower that would then gravity flow to beds at different levels, but the real bugger is that I wanted to do it utilizing the sun as much as possible. The angles make things much more difficult and even with reflectors... lights/electricity are needed. Just can't go vertical without technology.

Vertical AP has been done here in Australia Elston... I'll try and find the link for you... it was dubbed "the ferris wheel"...

In all honesty I don't know, haven't heard if it ever got beyond prototype phase... they were asking an aweful lot for it...

Been done by several people. THough for the life of me can't remember where. Someone had PVC pipe over the fish tank which you could rotate around to access the plants, then rotate back so they were up against the window. SOmeone from the US....Jay or someone?

Someone else has set up pipes which run around the fenceline, they only had one level all the way around, but there is nothing stopping you having multiple. Was that Angie?

So use of vertical space has already been looked at. Take a look at the strawberry towers somewhere on this forum. Or look for those systems. If you're happy using lights and only want one crop then it would probably work. I've got decent weather, so all my stuff is outside in the sun.

Here you go...Ecocity Farms up in Nimbim... won a "New Inventor" prize... http://www.rivendellorganics.com/ecocity.html

I see they're now also calling themselves ... http://www.urbanecologicalsystems.com/i ... Itemid=123 ... and that their new plans seem to have done away with the "ferris wheel" in favour of a more traditional model...

As I said... I'm not aware of anyone who has actually taken up this approach and set up a "commercial" operation... and that's after several years sine they debut it... from memory, they also claim to have "invented" aquaponics...

"I was hoping for more constructive crticism than just outright objections."

Not from me (re the outright objections)
Here's a link you may be interested in http://www.ecospecifier.org/knowledge_b ... t_lighting

Problems with these systems is the root space which limits the plants you can grow and the messing around adjusting light height or bed height. Assuming just growth of fast growing mainly leafys you may consider mylar sheet to capture all the light, sides and top. To me that 'plant factory' was wasting light.

If you want to grow tomatoes check my mini system for vert nft
yes you can't really stack it but it takes up a small footprint. This is still being tested and I shall see how it goes next summer.

If ever there was a company that was just trying to ride the green movement to get VC money... just to sell it off... this would be it. These people destroyed the high-tech market with their "our products do this one patented idea that really is no different than the others" and then in a few years they were nothing but dust. I would really like to see a fully operating company with profitable AP systems offer consulting. This has dot.bomb written all over it... suits and all.

/2 cents

Don't be offended- some here have an unusual sense of humor- I ran afoul of it once myself. I took a double take before joining the forum when I read about what seemed like an obsession with bare feet and toes.

Personally, I think it is a very good way of growing seedlings for stocking into AP raft systems and one of the things I am planning for my own system, as it frees up room in my lettuce raft system for a continous 4 week finishing system instead of a complete seed to finish production system, which is 6 weeks instead, and more labor intensive- if I rearrange plantings as the plants grow or a waste of space, if I leave the rafts, as is,to continue throughout the growing cycle.
I think it is also a great way for growing conveyor style green fodder for livestock.
I found something that may even be more shocking than growing plants this way- how about raising fish in vertically stacked tanks.

Juvenile Halibut are Growing Up
It consists of nine horizontal trays
stacked vertically in groups of three. Each
raceway is 2.4 m long and has a water depth of
7.6 cm and a tray depth of 12.7 cm.
http://www.aquanic.org/newsletters/docu ... INov05.pdf

Pumping to head might be a problem with shelf systems. I know the water can drain down but that would depend on what the top levels of plants take out.

Agreed, this would be a very complicated manifold indeed. I was also wondering if might be possible to go indoors, but modify the ceiling of the structure with pitched glass and use reflectors and simply use the lights as a supplement as during the winter here we get very little sun. I am looking at growing lettuce, spinach, and possible two other crops but am currently unsure which may yield the best results. If I keep all the lights around 6,500k that would be limiting, but if I could also add 4,500k range maybe the possibilities would be greater.