Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah, I can hear some similarity in the two. FYI I went out to Youtube to listen - the other video is blocked in the U.S. for the one you posted. Here's the link to the YouTube version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v63TYgNtOV0

Damn I hate it when they do that....

There were some more popular songs but they had averts and you couldn't embed them... ANother good one is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8zXYeeHz0k

Sorry for going off topic Karen...

Nice tour video again, windstorms are no joke over there. Seeing the sizes of the ap, raises questions:

Can 200 rainbow trout feed this much salad leafy greens?
I cant run my system on full scale because lack of nutrients. And the scale fish/greens looks even worth in your system.

The 200 trout is quite on the limit for the 1000l FT.
What is your pump size, airator size? What does planned the backup system look like. What is your worst case scenario? Are you planning to change the FT to a bigger one or at least maybe double it later?

Is the filtration enough?
Im not an floating raft expert, and I know there has been some discussion over this topic, but the amount of fish makes me uncertain...

Any plans for hospital/fingerling tanks?

Cat Empire! Cool!

Zsazsa, good questions. I can't answer some of them, as I'll just have to wait and see.

According to the Friendly's, their system can support 0.3lb of fish per square foot of raft. That puts me at 270ish fish at a 1.5lb harvest weight for each of my greenhouses. So I would be a bit low here. I've also been planning on brewing up compost tea for foliar feeding, as my pH will cause iron lockout, although I'm working on that. I'll see if I can find a balance.
Also, they're using tilapia, and I'll be starting with trout, which according to everyone here, are particularly poopy. So maybe they'll make up for the lack.

I fully plan on adding more IBCs. Current plan is to have a row of them feeding into the same water line, so I can take them on and off line as needed.

I'm using the sweetwater 1.7 pump, one for each greenhouse. Pump curves available here:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories ... ency-Pumps
This is the pump the Friendly's use for a similarly sized system.

I'm using the sweetwater S21 regenerative blower for my aeration, again, one for each greenhouse. Curve here: http://www.aquaticeco.com/images/static ... es/S11.gif
Again, on the Friendly recommendation.

My backup system is two 6V deep cycle batteries on a trickle charger, plus a generator. All this has been purchased, but isn't in place yet.

I have enough raft space, according to the Friendly's. The big question will be solids removal with my gravel + worms. But I can add more gravel beds, if necessary.

Yes. It's on the list.

It's all one giant experiment! As my conditions are completely different than the Friendly's have in Hawai'i, I'm going by my instinct (honed here on the boards and on my hobby systems) and careful data collection.

Wow, sounds like you did the research. Cool!

Cant wait tos see how its developing. What does you water test show?

wow, cool system!

May I ask where one can get IBCs in our area?

Maybe in the spring I'll be ready and can afford some.

check craigslist

The cround is hungry for an update!

exactly you can't leave us in suspense.

What is the water depth in your fish tanks??? The S21 doesnt have much pressure so make sure you have taken that into consideration (water depth + 10" resistance for diffuser + friction losses from blower to diffusers). Also, that seems like a high stocking density for normal aeration (anything over 1/3lb/gal gets extremely difficult)...did I read right? 200 fish in 250gal of water and growing them to 1.5lb??? If so, no way your gonna accomplish that with a blower (hope I read that wrong).

Ryan,

Looks like Karen is planning on using a series of tanks.

[/quote]I fully plan on adding more IBCs. Current plan is to have a row of them feeding into the same water line, so I can take them on and off line as needed.
[/quote]

A long overdue update!

My trout order is on hold. The fish supplier tested positive for a specific bacteria last year, and they need a clean test before the DNR (Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources) will let them sell to me.
The tests have been taken, but the results aren't back from the lab yet.

Which is kind of a bummer, because my tilapia died last night and today. Two died overnight, and I took out the remaining four today:



They're in my freezer now. That's the end of the Rocky Mountain Whites I got via Miami Aquaculture -> Janet -> GotFish?

On the other hand, I'm still working on getting my aeration system up and running:


So until the aeration is up, I couldn't take the trout anyway.

The biggest problem I'm having with the aeration system is how to keep the PVC pipe sunk in the troughs. I'm using 2" pipe, because the runs are so long. Filled with air, those things are seriously buoyant! Currently, I'm using sandbags filled with my gravel. Any other ideas? I don't want to strap them down, because I don't want to add more holes to the liner, and I want the pipes to run underwater so I don't have to insulate them, and because I don't want the rafts to rub against the air lines.

Since my last update, I've also built my first seedling table.
The location:


Location in relation to everything else:


It's just made of 2x4s and plywood, and it's insulated:


Not that the insulation is currently doing any good, since it's uncovered, and the water isn't heated:


I'll get a pic of it populated by seedlings soon.

I've also prepped the other side of the greenhouse for the other two troughs. Hopefully, I'll build one on Monday, when I have a friend coming out to help:



With the end of Daylight Savings up here in the northern Hemisphere, I've started having to work in the dark:


And a couple more friends:



The poor kitten (whom I named Geyser) was abandoned by her mom. She was about 3 weeks old in this pic, so I took her to the Humane Society.

Cousins of Dave's (via Janet) tilapia too! Do you have any fry leftover?

Maybe put a coupler on the end of your pipe and then something very heavy and then a cap on the end to weigh the pipe down?

I think the gravel bags sound like a good way to weigh the pipe down.