Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Rupert,

Surprisingly little wind is needed to turn it though we tend to get results when it picks up over about 5 knots. It's quite big and so has plenty of inertia but once it gets going she ticks over easily. At about 10 knots its spinning quite steadily. The secret to it is consistency not so much strength. In flukey/gusty wind it struggles to keep momentum but this doesn't happen very often with the Roaring 40s pushing over us all the time. I don't know much of the specific details of it but will check the specs of it to let you know more of the tech details.

Jimbo... you must be after the Moebius Strip cap with matching side stubby holders right

I have to say I'm Jealous..

I love that you have the EGE 4000.. A very nice unit..

It is the unit that I want for my self..

I think that the system[Design] is the best solution for urban power.. Nice a Quite..


Juergen

Went today and had a great discussion with Tasv at the highschool and learnt a lot and asked lots of dumb things i reckon but it was great to actually see a working system!! Thanks to Tasv for showing us around!!!
and tolerating me newness !!

Only dumb question is the one you don't ask! Was a pleasure to meet you and show you around.

Cheers,

Simon

Update: We ripped out all the old parsley in the two left-hand GB the other day and have now planted one of them out completely with strawberry runners. As we pulled out the parsley we noticed just how dense the roots were that remained in the beds so we are trying an experiment. We raided the worm farm and put a small bucket of composting worms into one of the beds to see if they break all these roots down and spread throughout the bed. This is new to me but I am reassured by the search function here that it will be a success in this FD system. Do you guys that keep worms in your systems target feed them or just let them subsist on what gets delivered from the FT and the decomposing roots etc?

Another problem we were having is that the roots of the plants are growing so densely and extensively that they are making their way through the substrate screens around the Affman Siphons and filling up the space between the standpipe and the substrate screen compromising the auto siphon's function considerably. Now I routinely go around and just rotate the substrate screen a couple of turns to break off any adventitious roots but I was shocked at how clogged it became.

The parsley roots were so straight and clean and large that they looked like white carrots... got me thinking.. how do root crops like carrots go in FD system?

We got our permit in to Fisheries today to go out and catch the blackfish for the system. So far the date is set to Wednesday next week after school to take a few kids fishing to see what we can catch Pics will follow... if we manage to catch anything A big thankyou to Tas Fisheries who have decided to waive the cost of the permit due to the educational nature of the project. They really are awesome for all the support they give us!

Worms are the secret weapon in AP TasV...

No need to "target" fed them... they'll happily live and multiple to the amount of solids/roots etc


Indeed, one of the few, but most essential maintainence procedures necessary in AP systems...

Surprised that the "supplier" never mentioned the need to do so.... perhaps they're just selling the "boxes"... and assume that people will work it all out for themselves...

How do the fish like the 'worm tea'?

I'm sure there's some benefit to the fish from the tea.... but it's diluted constantly by the recirculation within the system...

So it's hard to quantify...

Cool! We are planting autumn crops here (caulis) this week... is all happening...

parsley root is good eats.. and beneficial!
http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/10/23/it ... sley-root/

New to rafting... did I do it right?

I don't know if we've done this right... but I had a holder for slotted pots that came with the system, with a tray that it's meant to sit in that water is added to. We were meant to add vermiculite to the pots and start our seedlings in them. I didn't want to do that so I chucked the holder into the FT to see if it floated. It did but right down at water level. After a bit of scouting around I found the fish boxes we got our marine fish in were exactly the right size so I cut out a floaty for the tray and attached it around the top of the tray. It now floats about 1cm above the water. I can add more foam to make it float higher if necessary. The vermiculite pots stay pretty wet.

I was wanting to get some strawberries started in one of the growbeds but it didn't stay wet enough to keep the runner crowns hydrated enough. They were just runner crowns with only one or two very small roots that we cut off plants growing in raised beds in other sections of our gardens. I figured if the leaves were cut off and the crowns stuck in the raft they would stand more of a chance of getting going. Sorry for the lousy photo... all I seem to have on me when I want to ask a question is my phone. I was outside the compound fence and had already locked up when I thought of photographing too so I could not get the wire cover off to photograph properly. I think you can still make out enough detail???

This is just an experiement we are trying with 10 strawberry crowns to start with. If it works we'll do more. The empty beds in the background are what we want to plant out.