Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

concrete
tried adding photos didnt work

Might be the size issue... go to the downloads section and download the "imageresizer" tool....

Select your images and right click... select "Medium".....

In your post select "Add attachments".... browse and select resized photo

Add attachment..... repeat for a further two photos (max) and remember the quirk that the last photo attached will be the first photo displayed....

When finished select "Submit".

ok now I c what u guy,s r on about.
gone from 2 mins on 2 10mins
this was achieved by just adding 1 more 20 litre bucket of gravel
playing god is fun
added 10 more gold fish
plants dont seem 2 b making any progess?

give them a chance Hunter, you've only got a few fish in the pond and the bacteria needs to catch up

Hunter, from your picture it would appear that your plants are in a pot and/or a planter box.... one or both partially submerged in the gravel in the tub

Would I be right then in assuming that they are being "wetted" by the tub being filled to .... say gravel level????

ie. that the pot and or planter box are only partially "flooded" by the water rising in the bath tub.....

Could I suggest that you actually remove the plants from the other containers and place them directly into the gravel......

You could leave them in the pots/boxes if you were to raise the gravel level to the top (or very near to it) of the pot/planeter box and then "flood" the tub from the top down....

Flooding from the bottom (rising up) while it will supply the plants with some nutrients wont be as effective for several reasons....

One the partially exposed pot/planter surface will attract excess heat and add to evaporative losses....

Two, the heat may become too much during summer and a long drain period for the plant roots to deal with or survive...

Thirdly and much more importantly.... while perhaps gaining some benfit from the nutrient rich water, and the "flood and drain" oxygenation...

There's no way the trace elements and minerals contained in the "solids" in the pond water can make there way to the plant root zone and supply the plants with the essential trace elements.....

As I said above, you could remedy this somewhat by pumping the pond water into the plant containers directly and filling the tub top down.

IMHO, I think the plants would benefit greatly by being planted directly into the gravel.... and there's no reason why you can't raise the gravel depth to at least 12" or 300mm....

Thankyou o wise one
makes sense
how do u flood from above with advanced plants?
what about a garden hose with holes in it then u can place it anywhere in a loop, problem of holes have 2 face down,hey
what about damaging roots trying 2 get them out of there pots?

Fair idea, but the holes may block up over time.... maybe just a length with a few "tees" alternating along it



Bit of a concern.... just be as gentle as possible... and do it late arvo so that the plants don't have the double stress of coping with heat as well.

Maybe shade the plants until recovered as well.... (this way you'll be able to stake the tomato as well )

Transplants usually wilt anyway... until the roots become functional again and begin pulling water and oxygen up into the plant (bigger the plant, sometimes longer they might take).... thus the only process taking place is "transpiration" or loss of water from the leaves..... thus they wilt.

With leafy plants I often cut the leaves in half to lessen the "transplant" transpiration loss...... suspect that the constant flood cycle of an AP system dramatically lessens the time to recover.

If you don't want to transplant Hunter, then lower the pots, or probably better still, bring the gravel up to the pot rim level

more fun things 2 try
what about my chilli and aloe vera plant been told they dont like 2 much water where tomatoes do?

There's a couple of "chilli" experts on the forum Hunter, so I'll let them comment, but I'd expect them to be alright.

The Aloe Vera usually doesn't like to get it's feet wet for too long. Don't know if any one has tried Aloe Vera in an AP system....

Being fairly shallow rooted, I'd tend to think that as long as the water level didn't sit right to the top for too long... i.e the "drain" started about the time the timer turned the pump off..... that the roots should have enough time to dry. Particularly as your slow drain and timer cycles are about two hours apart.

Faye, our golden garening guru, might be able to give you some better advice on that one.

I know just do it
thanks

ok today the little buggers will be coming out of their pots
DONT try making a loop out of garden hose it doesnt work RUBBER

23 gold fish
11 white cloud
15mins run time @ 7,9,11,13,15,17 @ 40LPM
see what happens when u vote labor
the fish said they could not work under these conditions so more shelter was added

If the water is getting to hot might be worth raising the sheet of tin a bit more (I can see the pile of bricks in question!). If it is too close it might add to the problem by not allowing enough air flow, maybe :s

Looks good! Let me know how the white minows get on, have thought of using them in the past...

The aloe may struggle, being a succulant it thrives on periods without mositure as it stores it in the flesh. I have mine in a pot and haven't watered for 3 weeks, still going strong (that reminds me thanks )