Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well, many hours of gravel rinsing has paid off and my system is now up and running. I'll try to get some pics up this week.

Right now it is a 125 galon aquarium and a 12 site ebb n grow system with pea pebbles as the grow medium. I pulled a peace lily, some ivy, syngonium sp. bronze beauty, and red anthurium from my other aquarium and planted them for now. I have it set for a 30 minute fill cycle and a 90 minute drain cycle at the moment. The transplants look pretty good so far.

I will be adding a 2' X 4' continous flow growbed on top of the aquarium for wasabi in March when I get my fish. I have to wait for the feed store spring fish delivery for my 30 hybrid bluegill and 5 carp.

Do you guys start your seed directly in your system, or sow them in dirt and transplant after they get a certain size? I should be getting my lettuce, herb and tomato seeds this week.

if you get seeds you can plant them directly into the bed (I did ) or do the transplant thing, whichever works best for you. If you plant the seeds directly, you may need to water them a few times with fish water to get them started, depending on the depth of sowing and the height/depth your growbed fills to.

Hey Anna, good luck. Pics pics pics please.

Hi Anna, my aim is to use seeds as much as possible, the one problem to be aware of (as Jaymie said), make sure the seeds get wet - what a few of us are doing is flooding the beds once a day if the seeds have not germinated.

My other intention is to use my small hospital/isolation setup as a nursery to grow seeds then transplant into the main system when established. I am trying to keep my system "dirt free" as much as possible (no real reason other than I can boast doing it I suppose )

I can't wait to see your bluegill Anna, I am interested in growing some too. Keeping warm water for tilapia is constraining my plans somewhat.

Here are some pics of the project so far. You'll have to excuse the mess, but you get the idea. I am planning to set another flower pot w/a more light forgiving plant in front of the controller and move the tubes to the back of the aquarium. Once the top growbed is in place you shouldn't be able to see it at all. I am also going to take burlap and tie it around the pots with twine to tone down the white PVC as I personally find it very unattractive at the moment. We'll see how it works, I'll figure out some way to disguise those buckets if it kills me.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice tank

Well, my bucket beautification project is complete. I will try to post some pics of the finished product this weekend. I also got all the supplies needed for the growbed on top of the aquarium. The growbed has been painted to match, drilled and installed. BUT, one of the fittings is leaking all over the place. SO, after 1 failed attempt at stopping the flow....I am going to get some silicone this afternoon and apply liberally before leaving it alone for a week to let it cure.

I was planning to stock with hybrid bluegill, but DH's argument that there is no way the kids are going to let me kill and eat their pet fish persuaded me to go with a "pet" tank. SO, I got a pair of Oscars, 5 long eared sunfish and a couple of koi for now. I also got a group of Kitumba Frontosa fry and am going to try to get a few more (they are SO dang expensive, when you can even find them). They are currently housed in my 55 gallon until they grow up enough to put in the big tank at which time the koi and sunfish will go to my bosses pond and the oscars will be moved to the 55. I will also post pics of the fishies later. If I can eventually get a breeding group of Frontosa going, it could actually make my little endeavor financially self-sustainable, if not profitable.

Questions: The growbed is completely covering half of my tank now and there is no room for the light making that half completely dark. Anyone see a problem with using one of those LED submersible strip lights for that part of the tank?

Is there some kind of DUH thing I am not doing to stop this stupid leak?? I have tightened down the bulkhead as tight as it will go, I sealed it once and it still leaked. I don't think I let it cure long enough (24 hrs) so I peeled it all off and will try again. I am seriously ready to cuss!

Could you post a pic of the offending part? Any available o-rings or rubber washers laying about?

Hi Anna, does the bulkhead tighten up all the way or can you still spin it around? I have had to cut threads off of PVC fittings using a miter saw so they would tighten up enough on thin-walled containers. You might also try teflon tape on the threads?

My girls (ages 4 and almost 7) were terribly opposed to eating the fish at first. I generously offered that we would save 4 (my breeders) to put in the aquarium and that we would eat the rest. That has solved the problem for now. We'll see how it goes the first day I fry some up. Both girls are fascinated by it all, and tell folks that we eat fish poop (amid great sqeals of laughter). Today I had a helper for doing a water change on an aquarium, and I often have to do an extra water test just so they can help read the colors.

Frontosa are such cool looking fish -- good luck with them. I've never even seen them in person, only drooled over them in my fish books.

I see no harm using the LED lights.

I was unable to get a decent pic of the offending fitting, I need an extra arm to hold the bed up, keep myself from falling off the chair AND snap the photo, lol. I did see if it would spin and it did not, it seems tight. I got 100% silicone (the other I used first was latex) and will let it set several days before trying to fill it again.

Janet- I will be interested to know how your little ones react when you have your first fish fry. It's my own fault, I have told mine since they were tiny and I caught my boy with his toy fishing pole over my tank that we don't eat THOSE fish, THOSE fish are "friends, not food" like Nemo. We EAT the fish we catch out of the lake. The Zaire frontosa sell for $25-$30 per 1" fry and upwards of $150 for an adult, so it could theoretically be a profitable alternative if things go well. They are also a popular eating fish in Africa where they originate, but at those prices I think I'll pass! They are slow growers though and it will likely be 3-4 years before I see any babies if ever. Did I read you ordered your wasabi starts online? I would like to try some in the growbed if it ever stops leaking.

How bad is the leak Anna, several people have found that small leaks quite happily seal over in time with a layer of bio-film

Great looking system there Anna... Strange.. When I glanced at your first picture I thought you had many small white pots in your fish tank..

Sounds like you may be on a winner with the frontosa, I donlt think you will have the slightest problem with an LED light in the tank, the fish don't need light as such, it's more just for our enjoyment of seeing them...

I used brush wood to cover plant pots outside my house, might work in your situation, though indoor it might not be as nice.......

Yes, I ordered wasabi from Washington. I'm discovering that it wilts when the water hits 85F on a sunny day, and needs heavy shade. Tilapia love hot days like that, but if I want to keep the wasabi going, I'm going to have to cool down the water a bit. It also seems to be a heavier feeder, and appreciates more trace elements than something like beans or bok choy. Give it a try and see how you do. My experience is limited to 3 plants in a newly established system. If the frontosa would like water about 75F, that might be good.