Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

No yet fully functional but getting the pieces together!

Setting up an NFT system over a pre-existing 55 gallon aquarium and using the canister filter (sealed pump/sump) to move water about.

Details:to be added

Photos:Seeds to start trying:


Seed starter kit:


4" drainage pipe "T" x6
'

Cut "T"s


PLanter in "T"


Pre-glueing break down (4 " drainage pipe between each "T" + hose adapters and "Y" connectors


The "glue"


Post glueing:






3/4" hose to be cut down for plumbing to canister and back to tank


The Pleco.. Last measured at 9.5 inches (only 1/2 done growing):



You might have noticed a tiny bits of green stem plants between 1st and last photo... those use to be over a foot long.... Mr.Pleco there likes to eat any aquarium plants which is why I am trying aquaponics.. keeping plants ABOVE the tank to deal with nitrates (these fish make SO.MUCH.POOP). Actually growing something that can be eaten by the pleco or my family is just a bonus ^^



Will add more text, photos, and progress later.[list=][/list]

Looks good. I hope you used glue instead of just primer!

Dang I bet all those T's added up quick

Tees look nice but at the price I would have gotten a hole saw.

I used to have 14" pleco in a pond but waited to long to remove before the cold weather came.

Its hard to read since the photo is a bit blurry (sorry about that) but this stuff has a chemical reaction with the pvc tubing and basically melts and fuses it together.





Yes the Ts probably would add up more than a hole cutter, but i didn't look into how much those cost.
This is a combined project, I came up with the basics of whats needed, my husband figured out the more fine grain details and helped put things together. I had no problem with cutting simple pvc pipe holes but he found this more esthetically pleasing (now that its done I do too). Since it will be right outside our home office which we go in and out of a lot during the day, I wasn't going to argue against it. I let him now it would be a bit more $ but he didn't seem to mind.
That said though it wasn't too bad. I think $2.75 per T and $12 for the 6 or 8 foot piping (which we still have a ton of). If we'd bought the 10 (or was it 12) foot pipe to cut holes in it would be $20. I don't know how much the cutter is but we paid about $8-9 more than just getting a single piece of pvc so not too horrible.

If I got into the nitty-gritty about pricing, the canister filter would defiantly cost more than a sump ad pump most people use, but it's per-exsisting with the tank set up, and the aquarium was bought on a "dollar per gallon" sale, so $55 + tax.. though doing internal measurements its actually 48 us gallons.. lieing s.o.b Tetra company.

I'm sorry for your loss, they're wonderful fish (if you can stand having keep up with the poop mess/high nitrates). Did you consider making a fried catfish dinner with it after it pass? I hear they taste good but have never tried (not a "freshwater/sea food" fan). Do you know what breed or L name yours was?

This set up is only temp, if the aquaponics work well we will be doing a more large scale version for a home built 200-300 gallon tank for the pleco with a large home made sump filtration system. Glass prices around here are assinine but shipping costs (and initial price) on such large tanks are even worse ugh x.x Better to keep fish for food than as pets, but too late for me.

I have used that same seed starter. Though I no longer use it in it's original configuration. I now have a large capillary mat that holds 5 of the square trays plus two 6 plant punnets. The black cap mat that came with it is now outside on my raft to water the plants I am hardening off. And the clear tops rotate across the trays inside depending on which ones are germinating and which ones have seedlings already.

Nice looking pleco, I might have to get a couple more for my tanks, or maybe a gibby.....

Nice Pleco.

I have 4 Gibbi's ranging from >40cm (~16 inch) down to a baby 25cm (~9.5 inch) one.

I added 2 to my 2000L AP tank and they cleaned all the slime off the floor and walls in about 1 week.

No photos this week.
Wanted to correct a comment I made earlier, my husband did prime and glue the PVC , he had a glue already and I just mis-heard him and thought the primer was both (silly me).

Did a leak test and only found one bad spot so drying out the tube to seal it up. Also realized a minor detail forgotten: water pressure>gravity suction. Need to enlarge the outlet back into the tank to keep the NFT from flooding out the top. Got 2" PVC piping, 2" 90* elbow, and a 2" shutoff valve (holy [bleep] those things are hard to turn). Hoping this will give enough room for water to escape, and can use the shut off to adjust water level within the NFT piping (raise it). Have to put the new pieces on and seal everything up then do another water test.

For light I got t5 4' 2 blubs 6500k from a company on e-bay, apluschoice. Gotta say fair prices, good quality lights, but even better customer service! One bulb would not light even when twiddled in fixtures, and the company was quick to respond and ship out a replacement (free of charge and hassle). Will defiantly be buying from them again if/when I expand the system!

We also got the needed pieces to suspend both the lights and the NFT over the tank and will hopefully be putting them up this coming weekend.






Thank you ^^ I love my pleco but I never want another, so much poop x.x



Damn that's some big fish! How much gph or lph do you have for a pump to suck out all that poop? Mine will (if he lives long enough hopefully) get up to 18 inches in length. They're real good and cleaning algae but do eventually need substituted/added food to their diets. Mines gotten spoiled on zucchini and Hikari algae wafers, now he's a bit half-arsed about cleaning the glass/driftwood/stone in his tank. I've seen someone put a small pleco in a discus breeding tank that was pretty much impossible to see into (so much algae) and it cleaned enough to see in in 1 day, and the tank was spotless in 1 week (then they moved the pleco back to its main tank and let the discus have at it again).
They're defiantly cool fish to watch feeding though, especially when they do it on the glass so you get to see their big bellies and mouths.

5000 lph on a 15 min on, 45 min off cycle.
They live the AP tank, they get to chow down on all the uneaten food.

Was the lid for your seed starter as horribly made as mine? It absolutely refuses to stay 'closed' on the tray and bows inward, I can't get ti to set right and I'm rather sure the seeds/tray will dry out quickly because of this piece of [censor] product. If i had the receipt I'd demand my $ back for it (someone else bought it for me thoug), 20$ for something not worth $2 ugh
Going to go pillage the tuperware and gut the damned thing to make something useable.

I also had that seed starter. The capillary mat gave me mold/algae issues from being too wet. I also quit using lids which do the same from too much humidity and dampen off/rot seeds. I have had better luck just bottom watering but not letting water stand in the bottom and open top.

The top is just supposed to rest on the trays, not seal tight. And you are only supposed to use the lid until the seedlings pop up. Then you leave it off. As for the mold? Perhaps I just never noticed. I never smelled any, and my nose can pick up mold like no ones business. It blew my real estate agents mind when I could tell him which houses had a black mold problem right as we walked in.

System is up! Ditched the black hose and will re-use canister hose. Had to make the outlet of the NFT larger so went with 2" "L", shut off, and piping. Have small 3/4" drainage outlets capped off at each side.
Hope to have plants in this weekend
Still need to add cover to keep the T5 from turning the tank into an algae fest. and a light timer.