Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm defiinately going to try this on the out door system could have them lined up side by side against the back of the shed wall! Did I read correctly that one bag of hydroton filled 4 100mm Tubes, what hieght were they, if you can remember!

Ummmm...can't remember the exact height maybe......1.5 meterish.....but yes 1 bag of hydroton was all I used for them

Looks good Bundy Bear. . . What's your lighting source? I like the styrofoam growbeds- very economical. . . I'll definitely remember that, I don't think I've seen anyone else do that!

Others have used the polystyrene boxes before... and found that over time, sunlight and moisture degrade them rapidly...

Just natural light from single laserlight roof sheet above system and the window positioned behind the system.
I was wondering if the polystyrene boxes would degrade over time. I will persist with them anyway since they are readily replaceable and if the first one does become an issue I will probably remove them from above the tank and give the hole system a good clean out. I would like to replace the timber lid I have on top o the glass tank with some smaller sections of either wood or glass to allow for more strength and better access to the fish tank. I would probably not use the blue metal as a grow medium again because there is a lot of weight in that first GB. Hence my tentativeness to add another heave GB to this system.

Oh and N8 as long as i'm not going to be entering a world of hurt through copyright and such I would like to post a few pics of my filter medium tower designs, Just early stages yet though.

What if the styrofoam boxes were given a layer of waterproof and light proof paint/sealant...?

Alright I would like to share my new filtration tower design with everyone. Firstly I was trying to find a similar filter medium to N8's Vertical HD towers, and although it is not the same I did find a similar aquarium filter sponge which I ordered in 500x500x100 square sheets, 2 different densities 10ppi and 30ppi. The 10ppi is a much more porous foam with lots of space between the fibres for roots to grow and bacteria to hide and very similar to the foam filter pads that come in most pumps. The 30ppi is a much finer/dense foam and probably not suited for my purpose.
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
Out of the sheets I cut a 100x100x500 square column. I then set about making a similar PVC tower to gnash06's strawberry towers. I made mine out of 90mm SW PVC because it is cheaper and also when I squash the foam column in to the PVC it fills out the little grow pockets.
To make the pockets made some slits across the pipe and then I used a small butane torch to heat the pipe and a hook to pull out some pretty nifty little pockets.
[img][/img]
Then I put some slits in the square foam filter column along the long corners, this is where the seeds/seedling will be planted. Then lining up the slits in the foam with the pockets in the PVC I stuff the foam inside the tube and bobs ya aunty, a Spiffy Little Filter/Grow Tower!

Still cant work out how to do photos properly! but here's the rest!

Cool, love the idea BB

Yep, looks good BB.... had a similar idea, but never got around to it...

The question will be whether the plants grow... before the filter material becomes blocked...

That stuff traps any solids pretty well.... or are you/going to... pre-filter???

Was going to try it both ways. N8 says he doesn't need to prefilter, and I'm hoping that the 10ppi is porous enough for the solids to work there way through. If not I can always prefilter solids if need be.
The 30ppi will most probably need prefiltering as I think this would clog very easily. On a trial run of both mediums the water flows way more easily through the 10ppi than the 30ppi due the the density of the foams.
Though I that I could plant seeds in the 30ppt and then transfer seedlings to the 10ppi as it was hard to plant the seedlings in the 30ppi with out too much damage to the roots. The 10ppi however spreads apart nicely even when stuffed in the PVC tube.

Re photos.... only three attachments per post allowed on this forum... other forums allow 5...

Look good bb,
looking forward to the end result

Matt

Great execution there BB But do prefilter I think, no harm in it, in any case if you don't the medium will get slogged up sooner or later and cleaning it, especially with plants still in it, would be quite a pain

Hey guys, this little project did not go so well, planted Nastertium seed in 2 towers but they just did not grow. Also did not have a lot of time to really make more towers and try different things.

Since then I have moved the remaining SP in this system to my sump tank in the Expansion System.

Heating over winter was quite expensive, so was trying to keep heating to a minimum and also maintain 16+ water temps didn't really work.

I have a new plan in terms of heating but i'm not sure if I should use it on this system or do a large scale version for the Expansion System.

My plan is to solar heat the water using a pump, timer and some black poly piping run onto the shed roof; Pumping out of the ST or FT and circulating intermittantly during the day. ie: after 12noon once water has had some time to heat up pump for 10 mins to move water from AP system around solar piping and back into system. Perform this at maybe 2 to 3 times during the day with one long heating period from say 2-4pm ( the hottest part of the day) By doing this it will hopefull heat the water sufficiently in the afternoon to prevent massive temperature drop during the night.

I could then possibly run barra during summer and trout during winter! Like some other lucky climates.