Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Great! Get an idea and make a start. Thats how ya do it....

Wow, you don't believe in starting small :-)

Nice to see that growbed getting a new lease of life as well.

Great work, looking forward to seeing your progress.

Did that pond sealer go on ok? I want to use it on a black plastic pond but was worried about it peeling off

Hi Chad

Take my advice, do a Timed flood 15on 45 off, I ran bells for several years. One or two is ok but 4 or more is a headache!!

Timed flood has IMHO;
Much more reliable
Lower power consumption
Better water controll

Whilst bell look great, sound great, provide an awesome RUSH of water, i don't think they are worth the effort, and setting them up can be very time consuming, I nearly got divorced the time i spent on them. If th ewater flo is low they don't start if the flow is too high they won't break the syphon, the window between too low and too high isn't very large either.

regards and welcome to our world of mental illness!!

May be beginner's luck, but with the flared top I put on my standpipes (using a heat gun and shaping the PVC over a metal funnel) I haven't had to do any fiddling with my bell siphons at all. Just stick them in and they work! Search for "Affnan" in the forums, if you haven't seen them yet. I couldn't find the 1" to 2" adapters, so I used the heat gun/ funnel trick instead. (It's cheaper, and as a bonus, you get to melt stuff! )

Well I've been sweating my ass of the last few days, everything is plumbed up except for the pump. The bells are working perfectly and no leaks or dramas so far. Going to get pea gravel tomorrow and a pump then I guess it's time to cycle!

Also remember it will take some time to grow the bacteria and "Cycle"the sytem. Don't do what i did and get it running and plant it out.

My last 4 Growbeds i left for 3 months before planting in them.

regards

I don't know of any reason not to plant right away. It's only the fish you need to wait on, isn't it?

Yep... and you don't really have to wait for the fish either....

You mean I've been forcing myself to have self-discipline all this time, and I didn't HAVE TO?!?!

Just shows how good you can be

I've got an aquarium that's got filthy filters that I'm going to wash in the ap system

Who said bell siphons were hard work? Loving this! Although time consuming and my wife would kill me if she knew the total bill so far!

Pump and air (with backup) plumbed in, all grow beds are taking about 50 mins to fill, 5 to drain, but I am guessing when I put the pea gravel in that it will be more like 40 mins fill.

Should I add a bit of seasol in now?

You can do Chad. I would mix at the rate on the bottle and apply to the rootzone, or the foliage, but after the heat has gone out of the day. You don't want to burn the leaves.
Have you planted the growbed?



I'm a bit miffed as to why people think that you shouldn't or can't plant straight away. I realise that there aren't much in the way of nutrients, but the seedlings put out roots and are ready waiting for them when they begin to flow. Of course planting seedlings in to a hot media bed in full summer sun will require some protection initially and perhaps a good reason to run constantly flooded beds.

And most seeds/seedlings utilise ammonium in their initial growth... which there's plenty of when you begin cycling....

I'm not going to buy into the fish, or fishless cycling debate... but there's just no reason not to plant immediately....

Personnally... I plant... and add fish... immediately....