Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Guys,

I got some 4x4s to raise the GB up and support it (the plastic was sagging in some areas), and lengthened the siphon. That was all it took! I guess the extra height difference between the GB and the FT made the siphon's flow rate stronger. So it was enough to make the flood/drain cycle work good.

Awesome news! Can't wait to see your system pics as it matures.

Oh I'll post some soon. Right now my plants are tiny, so I pulled some weeds from the yard and put them in the GB just to have some nutrient drain.

I read once that in a flow/drain system, you can put red worms in the GB for additional nutrient decomposition and fertilization. Anyone tried this?

Yes. I just went to Walmart a few weeks ago and got two of those packs of fishing red worms. One for each of my grow beds. With my last system I ordered some composting red worms from online.

I read up on worms several years ago. It is amazing stuff they are capable of for soil. Their gut is a literal bio reactor. Growing your plants in worm juice is a really good thing! People pay big money for worm castings.

They will keep the beds clean flowing to prevent dead zones/trouble too. I hear getting a few night crawlers from the yard to throw in there does not hurt either. They will do the same in a different zone. I had them in my last system. I will get some night crawlers eventually for this one too.

Anyways... I waited until the gravel in my flood/drain beds started to clog up from poo and uneaten fish food just under the inlet spout. As soon as I saw water get redirected a few inches in each direction under the spout I got them. Placed them on the gravel directly on top of the clog so they would know where to get to work. The next day the water was flowing like on day one again.


Marty

Edit: The worms will have a tendency to travel if there is no food or something is off. I would occasionally find a red wiggler on the roof on the inside of my old greenhouse. They were making babies inside the system and everything. The babies would usually be inside the root balls of my plants. So they were even keeping the smallest roots clean/clear.

So I've got the thing up and running, and boy has this been a learning experience!

I've attached a photo of the complete system. It looks like a pile of garbage, but from what i've seen on this forum, appearances are of minor importance.

The GB is of lava rock, but I found that small seedlings were having trouble getting root traction in such large and coarse media, so I started putting them into their own pots filled with perlite. This seems to help.

My water was initially too alkaline (due to my municipal water supply), but eventually it evened out, I guess because of rainwater or a few falling leaves decaying in the GB. I also seem to have an Fe+ deficiency, so I recently bought some chelated Iron to help with that.

I bought 30 blue tilapia fingerlings and a couple of goldfish. I realize that there's a risk the tilapia will freeze, but I did get an aquarium heater for the coldest nights.

The system is a flood-and-drain CHIFT-PIST system. I recently added that PVC pipe at the top as an experimental trickle-over-roots component. We'll see how that goes.

We're between gardening seasons here, so I stocked the GB with some uprooted summer flowers and some of my early winter garden seedlings. The seedlings now are Kale, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, and Lettuce.

Here are my two biggest observations thus far:

1. Since the nutrients all come from the water, normal rules of soil space don't really apply, so I wish I'd have made my GB shorter and my FT taller. I just like the idea of the fish having more room, oxygen, and system shock resistance.

2. Honestly, I don't really even see the point of a grow bed at all other than providing the minimal structure plants need to stand up straight. In my next system, I think I'll design it with more of a hybrid GB/NFT system.

3. Rather than try to balance a siphon system (which I accomplished, eventually), I'd have preferred a float switch that would just flush the GB all at once when the water reaches a certain level. That'd allow use of a weaker pump and be more forgiving in lots of ways.

4. I wish I'd have built the structure to hold the tank up before the tank itself. The ground sank unevenly under the tank and that made it harder to keep the water level right.

Any other observations or suggestions? I'd like to hear if my thoughts are crazy or if they echo things ya'll have felt too.


Peace amigos.

On your siphon break, instead of dumping straight down (assuming) add an extension arm and have it point uphill a bit to create a bit of back pressure to aid in the break.

I also added a ball valve to the supply to find the sweet spot and further ensure water was not being delivered to fast and be allowed to break.

Adam

You can add a layer or PH neutral river rock around 3/4" in size to the top of the Lava Rock. That is what I did in my beds. They are 12" tall and about 2/3 filled with lava rock and 1/3 with smooth pebbles.

Thanks, guys. Here's a couple photos of my system:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wbiA4n28NHdbCo7C3

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BupVKCoSrxWLKWwt2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ba5bPcI5R152Ibk33


Those photos are a couple weeks old - my brussel sprouts were getting much bigger.

But Unfortunately, some varmint came around 2 nights ago and ate all of them! I'm so mad.

I'm going to build a little cold frame around it though with 2x2s and some greenhouse plastic. I figure if I'm going to build something to keep out the pests, I may as well add some frost protection for the plants and fish as well.

I left a few blue tilapia in my system to test their cold tolerance. I think Lakeway tilapia claimed they would die at 45 or 47 f... Mine became very inactive near low 50s and we're dead before it hit 50f so you will want to keep water temps mid to upper 50s at a minimum but they won't grow unless it's closer to 70, preferred 80