Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Sweet. I'll do it that way next time.

Ok. Update.

HSM grew, but is over for now.

Drain is plumbed. Catfish are in. Lid is on. Sump tank is set with some gravel in it from HSM V2.0

One of the gravel gaurds in the bottom of my barrel halves apparently colapsed or something. Good thing I was sitting there when the bed started overflowing. lol

Anyway, had to remove gravel and fix that, then put gravel back in.

Test result for today, after a semi water change:

ph-7.2
NH3-1ppm
NO2-0ppm
NO3-20ppm
ambient temp-66.5
water temp-77.5
time 7:00pm

Later,
Steve

ok. I think I have had enough with the flush tank setup, and am going to go to a constant fill/siphon drain setup.

Would the easiest siphon to set up be a loop siphon off the existing drains?

I'm going to be working on it this weekend, unless I have more problems between now and then.

Oh, and I will be taking new pictures soon that will include my sump/crawfish tank.

Just planted some sweet banana peppers...Tasty.

I tried the paper towel idea, but is there a specific way toe wrap the seed, or just wad them up in paper towel? I kinda folded these up in paper towel and tried to put them in as straight as possible.

Thanks,
Steve

I think the idea in using cotton wool/paper toweling is to keep the seeds damp for germination while the GBs F&D all day, that being the case then there would be no specific way required in depositing them in the GB

Just tossing the seeds straight in the gravel works for me. Wrapping them seems like a lot of work

What's a sweet pepper?
AHH a capsicium , ok. I was thinking pepper tree , seemed rather large for an AP grow bed ,, but you never know.

I get my seeds started in egg containers ,with a peat moss/shredded news-paper/ sand mix before planting in the garden , assume this would be ok for AP also.

I tried this with some lettuce seeds, and had sprouts in my fish tank, and the opposite grow bed.

But out of the five seeds I threw in the system, all five sprouted, and three of them ended up where I wanted them.

Maybe just the really small seeds need to be wrapped.

I'm learning as I go.

Sorry Chappo, didn't mean to confuse anyone . Around here a capsicum could be anything from sweet (bell peppers) to really HOT (Cayenne, Chiltepin, and Thai peppers)

I prefer the ones rated less than 10,000 on the scoville scale myself.

I was meaning small seeds

Being married to a Thai , I have got use to those HOT HOT HOT chillies.
Capsiciums ,, ( Bell Peppers? ) I love but they have to be hot roated and have the skin removed to get the best flavour and less burps.

I don't really wrap the seeds in the paper towel. Just kinda set them on a bit of it above the flood level, the wick brings up enough moisture that the seed can be physically above the flood level and less likely to wash away.

Another method I did for lettuce was to dig a little trench in the gravel (so that it was just at the depth of the top of the flood. Then I sprinkled some worm castings in the trench and sprinkled lettuce seeds along there. Seeds are sprouting about 4 days after planting and once the plants are big enough, I might push the trench closed around them.

Water Test Results for 5/12/08 6:12pm

pH- 7.4
NH3- .5ppm
NO2- 1ppm
NO3- 5ppm
Water temp - 74.9F
Amb temp- 69.4F

Will go take some more pics right now.

Ok. Here are some pics.

What is wrong with this fish? My first casualty.



Anyway, on to the goods:

My setup, top tanks are not pictured, and I hope to get rid of them this weekend anyway.


The overflow pipe in fishtank. notice the inner pipe.


More to come

this is the overflow coming from the FT into the Sump/crawfish tank


And one of my small arugula sprouts, or atleast I think it is arugula.

Jesus look at that fish

i think it has just been dead for a long time....now im gonna have nightmares

But it has lovely plummage

Clovis, nice setup...just a couple of minor points:

I take it the water is rising between the 2 pipes and then overflowing down into the inner pipe to the lower tank

1) I would like to see the outer pipe being a bit larger so that it is less inclined to clog and restrict water flow up between the pipes

2) The screw holding the outer pipe in place would be better if they were shorter...Murphy says "if they are long enough and in a position to catch objects - they will"

3) are the screws stainless steel...normal screws will rust out very quickly in AP water

have I made your day