Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Its looking really nice, one thing that helps is completely new rather than adapting to something you already have.

I have the same problem with my tomatoes as you, anywhere the cucumber leaves get close to the tomatoe leaf the tomatoe leaves shrivel up and seam to die off, also some of the guides wrap arround the tomatoe stems and squeze the life out of them. Next year they will be planted apart as it seams something in the cucumber affects the tomatoes.

As an experiment I cut off a leaf from the cucumber and placed it on a couple of tomato leaves well away from the affected area and sure enough the next day the tomatoe leaves were starting to shrivel up.

Probably some sort of natural defence against other plants taking the space from the cucumbers.

Video Overview to the Aquaponics Greenhouse.




Matt did a really good job on this aquaponics greenhouse and associated systems!
If you are in France or UK and need advice / help, I would strongly recommend Matt (aquamatt@outlook.com)

Nice looking handywork there Alister, really looks good and funcional. I'm intending to put in some towers for next year(winter project) and i would be interested in finding out where you got the reducers at the bottom of the towers, here they tend to use solid ring reducers rather than the funnel type you have. Also, do you have a smaller pump running to pump the water to the nft and towers or is it a bleed of from the sump to FT line.
thanks
Derek

They do have the solid ring reducers in France too but they look susceptible to leaks and the funnels look cooler! They seem to be in most hardware stores although it is not so easy to find the 100mm to 32mm ones as we have.

All systems are running off a single pump (9500 l/h) so that includes the NFT and Towers. Taps on all of them in case we need to selectively modify flow.

Thats a good idea as the water from the sump should be already filtered for particles before going to the nft and towers.
I'll try to find the reducers here, if i can't find them i may be in contact again and buy a few from france.

I have some spare 2" uniseals if needed, they are harder to find in Europe too

I really love your system. I hope your proud of your achievements because I think its a great example of quality and good layout.

Well done.

Thanks Charlie. Matt should get the credit as he designed and built it!

Week One update on the Nantes Aquaponics Greenhouse




And yeah, I know the parsley isn't in the NFT but really in the towers!

So, one month update on the Aquaponics Greenhouse.

Been seeing wide swings in temperature in the greenhouse. This is mostly due to a large fall in exterior temperature (been down to 2C) but often with sunny spells.

The water analysis is looking good. Nitrites have just recently dropped to zero and the Nitrates are coming up. Just added some more Ammonia (no fish in yet).
pH - 6.8
NH3 = 2 ppm
NO2 = 0 ppm
NO3 = 30 ppm

Bump.

Hi All

Any of you guys to still at this as just about to embark on a similar journey. Would be great if anyone could give updates on their progress.

Cheers