Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Half the mint was harvested and you see the other half :

The growbed from four more angles.

All these photos are taken at around 11:30 am (diffused sunlight). Since this is on the western side, really bright sunlight falls here only from 2 pm and fades away at sunset.

I covered one side with foil as the plastic tub and gravel gets really hot during afternoons ( I love my bacteria). The coconut shell halves - one is for weighing the foil down and the other to prevent evaporation at the place where water is pumped in.

The plastic mineral water bottle thing is the standpipe. I have covered the top with a makeshift torn piece of cardboard to keep algae away.

As in my first diagram, the blue-green hose supplies the water to the growbed.

The growbed is placed on a tall steel rack turned sideways for large top area and more stability.

In the third picture, bottom right area:
The pink-lid translucent plastic box is my simple 555IC timer with relay for controlling the pump.
There are two wires (blue and yellow coming out of box you can see) which sense the water level in the growbed and are hidden under the foil. (The current through the wires and water is in micro amperes or less and only flows when water touches the wires, at the highest level. The pump is then switched off and the level falls so current passes only for a moment. Thus I am not bothered about the wires electrolysing and dissolving, which hasn't happenned for the last 4 months anyway)

The last growbed picture (due to the three picture per post limit)

Two top views and another picture with my hand for scale:

The two fish tubs are covered. The newspaper is on a loosely covered plastic lid. The newspaper is there because the plastic lid gets really hot in the afternoons (direct sunlight).

The moringa tree which is frequently harvested for consumption (by us and/or neighbours). So it is kept small and pruned.
The houses at the back are under construction so they look like that. Our house is on the edge of the city, Bangalore city its really like a city, maybe see wikipedia images. It takes only a 5 km ride to go to the bustling city.

The two fish tubs with lids uncovered. Because of a previous ammonia spike, another goldfish died today . I have only 5 goldfish now not seven. (I'll wait to see if need to buy more). That goldfish which died today, was swimming at the surface for the last several days alone. All the other fish were active and playing. Only this poor thing for several days swum at the surface and did not even open its mouth much.
So its not a problem for the other fishies now, they'll be fine.

Just like in the diagram in my first post, the translucent tub has a guppy, 6 small tiger barbs and a big 2 inch one.
The orange tub has the goldfish (5 now not 7) and the black pump.
Both tubs have sprayheads from the aquarium air tubing which carries the water back from growbed, just as in the picture. (There is no spray now, the timer is waiting to switch pump on)

On the timer triggering the pump, the growbed fills in a few seconds (10?) and pump switches off. Then the water is slowly sprayed for 10 minutes after which the growbed is empty. There is another 5 to 10 min 'dry' time until the pump is fired again.

The tiger barb tank has a few water plants.
Some grass like thing (java fern? - I don't know but its like grass and sends out runners), and an elodia or some look alike.

You can see I've put some moringa leaves on the water so the fish can eat after it gets a slimy nutritious biofirm on it.

One photo has too much reflection on the water surface but maybe you can see the iridescent blue guppy.
The other photo shows the spray (in the goldfish tub)

The translucent tub actually has clear water. It looks dark because it has a healthy algae growth on the wall (its tranlucent anyway ! light = algae) and also because there is good dark mulm on the bottom on the gravel.

Brilliant Gokul!
What is the plant with the thick light green leaves (best seen on the left of pic dsc00077)?

Awesome Running well for such a small system

The plant steem asked about :
Oh there are so many herbs in India its hard to find out its English name. I googled using one of the local name 'sambrani' and I only got a flicker picture, no use. Can anyone find out its latin name if possible (not required though)?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patali/210831057

That plant smells really good and has medicianal effects my grandmothers must know. (I don't know for what medicinal property it's used).
Once I tasted bajji made with the leaves and it was marvellous.

The plant grows easily in bad places too. Once I had a big bush growing in a neglected corner of the roof where sandy silt, just half a centimetre thick, that accumulated after the rains.

bajjis are vegetables dipped in a thick batter of chickpea flour and deep fried.