Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey guys, I'm new to aquaponics and would like some tips on a few things. I'm currently in the process of building a nft system 6x 3m 100mmx50mm pvc pipe. Two 250l drums, one for fish and one for redclaw then into a 40l swirl filter and a 40l sump tank. I'm planning on growing mostly strawberries. I aim to add a 1000l tank and more pipes onto it once I get the hang of it. Would it be ok to run 400lph through those tanks in order to get 1 litre per minute through each pipe? I've looked at getting a seneye digital fish tank monitor which monitors ammonia, temp and ph etc but not nitrates and nitrites. I would get a test kit as well as but the seneye looks pretty handy and it can send an alert to your phone if something goes wrong, it also logs the data so you can see changes. Is it possible to grow strawberries all year round if you have a controlled environment?
Thanks

Hi Kymbo

Welcome to the forum

How are you going to process / filter the output from your fish tank you will need a biofilter / gravel growbed

Nft systems and Deep water rafts need very clean water .

I grow strawberries they taste fantastic out of AP systems to extend your harvest use a mix of varieties.

400LPH through your tanks depends

In series or parallel ??? generally you need a minimum of 100% flow per hour through your fish tank more is way better , Always measure your flow into your tank pump Lph is affected by a whole host of variables , bends , length of pipe , diameter of pipe , elbows ect ect .

Tell us a bit more about your system design , photos diagrams ect .

I plan to run it in series. From fish tank to the bottom of the redclaw tank so the redclaw can help clean the solids then up and run out of a skimmer into a 40l drum which I was going to have just as a swirl filter or bio filter. Through the nft channels to the sump tank and back through. Its just that I have six nft channels and they recommend a litre per minute which is 360lph. Does the bio filter help the nitrification process by adding surface area or just by trapping solids? I know nft is probably not the recommended method to start with but for some reason I like it.

..
Again.. you need well filtered water and a circulation of one Fish Tank volume per hour..
Plus 10.. to more detail... series connection means the first gets the best nutrient, but that should not be a big issue if there is sufficient flow..

Plan on having a full flow filtration system and just divert some of the outflow to the plants
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The channels will be parallel. Six 3m channels side by side. I tried uploading photos but they were too big.

If all your interested in is growing strawberries why bother with Aquaponincs ?, you save your money on the seneye device so you can but a PH pen and a EC pen,do away with all of the barrels apart from one 40l and fill that up with Hydroponic nutrient solution,so much easier.Unless you really want to get involved in AP and then I suggest you read up on the basics of Filtration,especially solids filtration and how it relates to your situation.

Yes I see majority of strawberries are grown hydropinically but can you still keep the organic label? I'll start with lettuce till I get the hang of it. I heard its a bit easier and not so much to lose if I get it wrong. And yes Id rather do aquaponics as I'm pretty keen on growing some golden perch and redclaw. I will look into the ph pen and ec pen as I only google all my info and the seneye was pretty much the only one I could find the monitored it to detail apart from handheld devices. I also read that nft is touchy because of the low water quantity compared to the others. Which is why I planned on having so many barrels to help the nitrification process. I will definitely be adding a bio filter now. Just thought the redclaw tank with the skimmer would be enough to eliminate the solids getting into the channels

Hi Kymbo. I notice you're thinking about getting the Seneye. I have two and I'm fairly happy with them... particularly the out of water alarm. I find the temperature and ammonia readings are pretty accurate although one of the more experienced forum members recently suggested that they might not be.

But my experience of the pH readings is that they're a waste of time. Seneye acknowledges that they're inaccurate when you have low water carbonate hardness (low kH) - I can't get my kH up whatever I do. It's not a problem... a cheap pH pen from eBay gives me my pH when I want it.

All that said, the expense of purchase and regular replacement of slides probably wouldn't be worth it if I wasn't working FIFO - ie it's the remote monitoring aspects that attract me.

Good luck with your system.

PS maybe there are ways to grow strawberries and all sorts of plants more efficiently than aquaponics... but the fish are fun and taste pretty good too... and there's something very satisfying about the ecosystem when it's working well.

Kymbo,here is a good rule of thumb paper on Aquaculture/Aquaponics.
https://ag.arizona.edu/ceac/sites/ag.ar ... ponics.pdf

Thanks Dave, and thanks Andreas for the pdf, it gave me a lot of useful info and ideas. I like the radial flow clarifier idea and I'm looking at incorporating that into my redclaw tank which I've hoped to double as a filtration system. I will see how I go with the radial filter and might even try to put a bit of swirl to it. The aim is to have redclaw or something like them to scavenge on some of the waste from the fish tank. I also read up on aeroponics and it gave me a lot of info on root growth in different water to oxygen ratios