Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Setting up a 5 bed (1000L each) grow. My beds are 11ftX3.3ftX1ft, from what i understand fluorescence are the cheapest way to go for a startup. If im using a T5 bulb system how many bulbs should be involved to cover a whole bed? Would i need 2 4-foot cases?

I also have the option of reshaping my beds, is there an optimal shape/width/length i could consider?

So, first off... hello and welcome

Now, grow with lights... you can either set up a "set it and forget it" system or an "adjustable system".


Set and Forget:
Pros. (simple and also provides light for the room)
Cons (slower production and less yield)


Adjustable:
Pros (max production and yield, best "use" of electricity)
Cons (cost more, more lights, high electric bill, potential for plant burn)


So once you pick which one suits you...
S&F will use roughly 2 ea 4' x 4 light T5s placed 2' above the top of plants on your 11' x 3.3' x 1' beds. Will work great for leafy plants like basil, lettuces, flowers, and even cucumbers.

Adj will depend on the starting plant height. So, figure an additional T5 at each bed and make the bed 12' long.

* Now one thing to remember... its strongly recommended by most indoor growers, that fruiting plants will require a stronger light (HPS or HID) [My favorite was HPS] For max light, color spectrum, penetration, and also heat.

But if you can put up a quick sketch we might be able to figure out a better layout for the basement/room.

As far as 'set it and forget it' Vs 'Adjustable' goes id like to maximize my profits and yields. So if the increase in energy usage is compensated by a higher output that is favourable.

4X4 lights for a bed thats 3.3 feet wide? From what I've been learning is that fluorescent's illuminate the area DIRECTLY below the lights? To compensate for that i changed my bed dimensions to (2x18x1) because most of the t5 fixtures I've seen are 2 feet wide. Is that valid logic? Therefore needing 4 4x2 fixtures, and one 2x2 fixture per bed.. Also i keep hearing to put the lights 1-2' from the vegetables, do you agree with that?

Ill include my draft design for the 25x25 area, T# = Tank, G# = Grow bed. The middle beds are stacked vertically for which the second design was made, and the outer beds (1 and 10) are not stacked to allow space for tomatoes and things of the sort. Would it be acceptable to use vertical fluorescent lights for those?

Here are the lights I've been considering, one set is adjustable which i thought might be useful..
http://bit.ly/1hQX2tj and
http://bit.ly/1fSoU9v

My next concerns are with the type of media I'm using, for the ground level bed i was thinking 19mm gravel and the upper beds would use hydroton to save weight. However my plan so far for my beds to to build them out of wood and fill it with a liner of some type.. Ive been told billboard tarps work well(http://bit.ly/1o4MYdL), but I'm afraid that the gravel might rip through it, any insights?

My last question (for now) is how do I know how much of a certain vegetable i can grow in 'X' sq/ft? I need some rough values for revenue calculations and the best i could find was for lettuce at 1.7 heads per sq/ft, I've seen a lot of people with varying numbers for this as well..

Designs here: http://xomf.com/g/bgdpk

Appreciate the help, love this forum