Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Sorry EB I was referring to commercial systems.

I believe that your systems work because you stress the importance of not driving them too hard keeping the stocking densities and feeding rates relatively low.

Damian, makes more sense to me now knowing how light coconut husk is. It is used a lot for growing orchids over here although durability has been a problem with wetter locations having it break down within 18 months. Looking forward to hearing of its durability in Ap.

Woz

To avoid confusion Do you mean Commercial turnkey or domestic turnkey? This system is not designed to be a simple "recipe" plug and play type thing. I am thinking 2 men working with 50+ of these for a living. They would have to be trained and have a love for aquaponics for it to work best. They are commercial hydroponic systems around today and the first Ap systems came about in the 70s, that's more that 30 years out....

when it brakes down is when it gets better for aquaponics the thing is you cant use a fully continuous flow type system. I continuous flow water through my fish tank but my coconut husk bed gets a low flow through for 1 hour every day, it holds enough moisture and still allows for root aeration for the next 24+ hours giving my solar system enough time to power up. I use actual coconut husk cut up by hand it's 8+ years going and looks much like good organic soil till it dyrs out then it acts different (like oiasis blocks). Sometimes i water more/less often depending on whats planted and the wheater, i am gaining preference for planting parsley.



Ok i missed this one, When i look at AP from a commercial point of view i see couple problems
1. the fish waste is not balanced enough to keep up with commercial production on the plant side.
2. you need to maintain the level of fish waste (ppm) for plant growth and still keep the water clean for the amount of fish you have witch is often the highest stocking densities possible for commercial fish production.
3.The optimal feeding rate is increasing while optimal stocking densities is decreasing while the plant side requirements is like a bell curve.

so domestic Ap and commercial Ap is a different ball game For commercial we need more control over the two different sides of the ap system and we also need to rely on outside nute/filtration sources. you cant close the loop and be commercial at the same time.

would you need a permit or any other council approved solution to make such a system? they would also be earthquake and hurricane proof.

i also want to add that with time the earth worms change the grow media into earth worm castings witch is much more compact than coconut husk but has the same properties. so i just continual add stuff to the grow bed i just bury it in small amounts could be compost, fresh coconuts husk, table scraps, etc, anything the earth worms would eat. they love duck weed and water lettus alot.

Here is a look at the coconut husk/ earthworm casting media.

and the container.

I like to use aquatic plants as a natural buffer for nutes, the plants grow so fast and thrive in low light conditions. i currently use water lettus as a suspended solid filtration system. when they are in deep water they usually grow very long roots but when in a shallow water (3in)the form a tight fibrous root mat that water can flow through and be filtered. Whats better is that they are drought tolerant so you can turn them off for a very long time when you don't need them you can even let them dry right out then put them back into the media for a slow...... release of nutes.

A simple ledge of some sort in the container above the fish tank would be ideal for such uses. simalar to growing powers 3 level system but no water cress. maybe duckweed?

This thread contains pertinent stuff.

natmaka thanks for the link!

Been thinking i could get away with a pond liner for the fish tank part but the grow bed part needs to be much more robust(so i could use a trator to fill/empty media). I am looking at the stuff used to water proof truckbeds, any one knows the name got alternatives??????

Been thinking for the grow bed i would need a pretty tuff waterproofing membrain the aquablock rubberized, fish safe, trowel on stuff should do because i would like to be able to use tractor to fill empty the gb so pond liner cant work/wouldn't hold up.

Stuff sells for us$175 for five galls.
you get 35sqf per gall for a total of 35*5= 175sqf of coverage per 5gall pail.

The grow bed is 35 by 8 by 1.5 feet for a total sqr feet of.
bottom = 35 by 8 = 280sqf
(2) long sides = 35 by 3 = 105sqf
(2) short sides = 8 by 3 = 24sqf
For a total of 280+105+24= 409sqf
meaning i would have to buy 409/175 = 2.3 pails (5gall) @ around us$400+ labor.


My pond liner guy would sell enough liner for the fish tank @ us$400


So water proofing the whole thing may cost me us$1000 give or take.

Not Bad.

The ting is the head of such a system would be 7 to 9 feet, so i am looking for a cost effective way to deal with this.

11 meters of media @ $us50 = $us550 for media.

Damian,
Be wary of truck bed liners. In my research I have found them not to be safe for fish/people. Unless you have found a different compound.
I am enjoying your thread!
Thanks!
Brian

Nice fish tank

http://premiershippingcontainers.com.au ... pools.html