Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey All,
Setting up a small system here. Have always kept fish, but new to AP. Live on a Military base right now so can't set up a large system. Until I do..I wanted to learn, so heres my start. Please tell me what I am doing wrong, what I could be doing better. I am going to be another same size GB in a week or so, have some seeds starting for that bed.
...sorry for the phone pics, my camera is actin a fool...
Ok, heres the scoop..
-20 gallons of water in a sump
-pumping from sump to growbed / constant flow (output runs through some filter sponge into the GB)
-Growbed is 18x24x12, with two 12x12 net baskets. Outside of the baskets is filled w/ bio balls covered with pea gravel, inside the baskets perlite and pea gravel
-GB fills, then overflows through pvc to Bioball tower, trickles though tower, through filter pads, then into fish holding bin
-30-40 gal bin for fish (6 comets ranging from 3-7 inches)
-From the fish bin flows through filter sponge to sump, trickles into sump
GB has 2 Cayenne pepper plants, 1 Banana pepper plant, 1 Habanero p. plant and a little bit of Greek Oregano.

System was started with all cycled tank water from my indoor 150gal, all filter pads came from wet/dry filter (dirty,dirty)
Started system, Plants were transfered about 4 days ago to the GB. Plants are full and have already noticed some growth in the past four days. Had to move it out of the full sun, gets hot here in GA.

Anything I should be thinking about as far as pests, sun, pruning..... I am new to the whole gardening aspect of this







Thank you

Have a read about CHIFT PIST systems. Might let you simplify your future systems and avoid having to run the gunky fish solids through the pump. Grow beds make really good filters themselves and then you might only wish to give the water a slight polish before returning to the fish if they are in a nice display aquarium.

A system that small is gonna have trouble with your summer heat and then your winter cool there. Most of us use some shade cloth over grow beds in the summer. When you build a bigger system, aim for at least 300 gallons of fish tank and you will find the temperatures will be a bit more stable.

Welcome!

Thank you, I do have an empty 300g acrylic waiting, but they just won't understand here on base, lol. I moved the system in the back corner of the patio, which is shaded all day. A couple of feet away is full sun though. I will keep an eye on the temps for now, wonder if there are some things I can do besides shade to inhibit a big fluctuation in temp...
...About to search CHIFT PIST right now

a larger water body

Ok, I'm about to go read my restrictions handbook ...I'm very good at talking myself into pushing the envelope a bit
I might just go ahead and put my 300 gal on the patio and go with the CHIFT PIST sys
What species do you think would do well through the winter in a 300gal, temps basically get down to about 40F, occasionally dropping to freezing a couple times throughout the season.
Koi may be an option, although I'm very interested in trying something a bit more tasty

MMMwaaahaa Rainbow Trout

After looking at Savannah, GA weather info....

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimat ... rom=search

You might consider some channel catfish. They will tolerate the cold, but thrive in the heat. Trout are somewhat at the opposite end of the spectrum, thrive in the cold but suffer in the heat. Trout may make it through some winters but won't like your occasional 70-80 degree F winter day. Trout would be seasonal at best.

And thanks for you or your family members service to our country.

I'm sure trout would be tasty..but I do notice they won't like the warmer temps ....maybe go with a couple koi and a few channel catfish

Thank you jdphish, service has been a lil bit of a rocky road for the whole fam, four more years and I think I'm gonna call it quits and put 10 active Army years to rest

Well, took me almost two hours to figure out I'm gonna try to put up the 300 gallon tank with a CHIFT PIST on my patio

Channel Catfish should do fine (mine do anyway.) Trick is not to put in more fish that the amount of growbed you set up can handle. But you keep fish so you know about watching the stocking and water quality. If going with only flood and drain media filled grow bed, you can probably do about 5 lb (grown out size) of fish per 25 gallons of grow bed. If you add other extra filtration you can probably up the amount of fish but will need to clean filters and perhaps do water changes to deal with nitrates until you can get more grow bed going.

When are you leaving? When I originally got channel catfish, most of em were pretty advanced (already well over 7 inches long) and we ate some less than 6 months after we got them but usually I would expect to have a channel catfish for almost a year before eating it if I got more "normal" size fingerlings (between 3 and 7 inches.) Channel catfish like lots of aeration compared to tilapia or goldfish/koi but they are otherwise pretty easy to keep. Just a fair flow of water continually splashing into the fish tank on a CHIFT PIST set up seems to keep them happy so long as they are not too overcrowded. I raised most of my first batch in a tank that had 300 gallons of water in it and a constant flow of splashing water.

I'm leaving in November. Thats a good calc to know, right now my main goal is to set up a system and learn how to get good quality vegetable growth. I will be happy with the fact that I have my fish growing nicely. As far as how many fish I have, I'll be happy with just a well balanced good healthy system to learn with. Eating a fish that I've raise will be a definate plus.
I guess for now I will figure out how many beds I can fit in my space allotted with the 300 gallon tank, then will just add enough fish to support a well balance.
.......now in a couple years, that'll be different, bring it on, lol

Hi All, just wanted to share that in the two weeks since i posted the first pics Ive had some good pepper growth. Two weeks ago there were no signs of any peppers at all and now I have about 18 peppers some at over 3 inches.
Almost like I can watch em grow....anyways I though it was cool

Very cool. Very satisfying, eh?

Good onya Joe, keep sending more pics...