Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just a quick jump back to this idea.

First, put the air pump up on top of something so that it is higher than the water level in case the power goes out it can avoid siphoning the water out of the tank through your air pump which would be bad for the system AND the air pump AND the floor.

Second. Very low stocking densities in such a system could work with a fish type that won't eat the plant roots but it will be difficult to feed the fish below the raft and there could be issues with the plant roots getting fouled by fish food and fish waste. But for a very minimal trial it might kinda work though I would always recommend having the plants in a different container than your primary fish just to make things a little easier to deal with. But of course we must always work with what we have and if it is a choice of trying it as the pic shows or NOT doing it at all, then do what you can.

I've always had far better luck with rafts that get fed by the water coming out of media beds. Ample aeration is generally a key to good raft production. (However I currently have a 1' wide raft bed going that doesn't have supplemental aeration and the plants seem to do fairly well with the highly aerated water coming in as long as there is little to no gunk in the bottom of the trough. I have only been growing the plants small in those mini rafts to do a living lettuce mix though, doesn't seem to work well for full size or even mini heads.)

Thanks for the tips TCL, I didn't thought through feeding of the fish , now the idea sound less viable, think I should go with a separate trough. What is the minimum depth of such a trough for say strawberries?
I would like to do this indoors with fluorescent growlights and indirect natural light, will strawberries and various herbs work?

hydroponic troughs are often only 6 or 7 inches deep. The shallower the trough the more air stones you need to spread about it seems.

You may find that using florescent lighting blocks out all the indirect natural light because your florescent fixtures need to be so close to the plants 2-3 inches from the leaves and you need them to have pretty much the same foot print as your growing space.

If you want to utilize fewer fixtures and allow some natural light to the plants, you are probably better off using some type of high intensity discharge light like metal halide that you can have further away from the plants.

I would like to stay in the range of 6" troughs if possible, hope my airpump will work. I would rather go with florescent fixture as they are cheaper to aquire and run, HID is way to expensive for such a small test system.

Lowered GB standpipe by 10mm last night, the peas got root rot, think they were planted too deep. Beetroot is growing fast, didn't think they would survive. Got a ladybird on the tomato plant

Some pics.

I don't see that a 400 watt metal halide lighting system is going to be any more expensive than 2, 2' by 4' 4 tube T5 florescent fixtures and then once you figure that you have to replace the florescent tubes every 6 months to maintain plant usable light, the difference between the two seems a bit more minimal. I know that most people feel a bit more intimidated by the HID lighting but it really isn't that much more difficult to deal with in the long run.

I have a few florescent fittings lying around that just need balasts, the only other reason why I would rather go with florescent is the power consumption..... Electricity is very expensive in SA and running a 400w HID for 12h per day would cost me almost 250ZAR, not worth it at all.

Maybe I should run the piping outside and keep the FT indoors, that should solve the light issue.

The aquarium system has been suspended for now.

Nice Jaco, the photo isn't that clear. What type of snake is that?

Its an olive house snake, its about 90cm long. Came out of burning rubble at work, has a few burn marks all over. So far its still alive so I think she should make a full recovery.

Burning rubble at work... What do you do?!?

Ah Olive House Snakes are gorgeous. I used to keep snakes as a teenager and always wanted one. Hope she makes it.

I get paid to do IT on a wine farm, but help out with everything that requires a bit of common sense.

Martin, you have to see an Araura house snake or a skaap steker.