Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What do you guys think? I am looking for critique as I am very new and I just threw this together because I prefer the hands on approach to learning.

I grew up near disney world and was always fascinated by epochs aeroponic setup at their "land" pavilion, so I figure why not start with a low pressure aero setup.
My rail is a piece of PVC downpipes gutter(lol) that is about 40" long with twelve 2" sites and 10 180 degree fan misters up top spray toward the root zone.
My pump is a 400gph turned on low with a sponge filter(the tank itself has other filtration of course)

I have a few of my own concerns but before I go rambling on, what do you guys think? Nightmare setup or something I can work with?

Stand by for pics I ned to load them from my phone.

Welcome to the forum RJD2 .

If you need help with loading pictures on the forum - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754

Cheers

Hi Scotty thanks for the warm welcome!

I think I got it figured out, at least enough so you guys can get a visual of some kind anyways haha...thanks for the link, I got to get used to this resizing thing

Here let me try one:



This is the inside.(captain obvious)

Alright here's there rest

Anyways I had a whole big message explaining each pic typed out, but lost it last night.


My immediate concerns would be the high PH(those rocks are limestone for the cichlids as they like high ph/ hard water)
The PH that comes out of the tap is about 7.8. I've had the tank set for about 6 years and it pretty much just stays at 7.8. Is that too high to grow salad greens like lettuce and kale? I live in Houston TX and I would like to use this indoor setup for mainly lettuce since it doesn't grow well in the heat here.

If need be, I could probably take the limestone rocks out(the sand is not aragonite so I don't know how much limestone it contains if any) and I am thinking that over time the PH will drop, but which is better for the plants? A PH that gradually drops, or one that stays 7.8?

My next concern would be keeping the sprinklers from getting clogged. The only filter is a piece of filter sponge that fits inside the pump itself. Should I make something else? Maybe rig up a wet/dry filter mechanical filter bag around the pump kind of like a reef aquarium, or is there something cheaper/easier?

I'm not totally opposed to raising tilapia in there. How many could I put in the 125 gal without running into problems?

Pics aren't loading. Try using imgur.com to host them.

It's better if you can load them here, sometimes when other sites change you wind up with threads and no pictures anymore .

As far as your pH - Having a pH that high won't be a problem for the fish or the bacteria that process their waste but it will cause some problems, mostly with Iron not being available to your plants. You can get around this by spray applying the iron directly on the plants. For most people the pH comes down over time.

Sorry I was trying to get around the whole resizing thing.

It is a pain, but I guess it does improve the long term quality of the thread

Not sure how much quality there was to begin with, but here goes:

So I agree the 800x600 size is more forum appropriate.

I did a lot of research today. I admit I kind of threw this thing together with vague knowledge without doing much reading....so yeah after reading on here and other sites, it would seem this setup is more of a NFT setup than aero, since the "mist" in my system is actually more of a spray. Would you agree?

With that being established, I think I am starting to realize some of the benefit of the drain and fill technique that seems to be the staple on this site. I kind of like the idea of a bed to plant seeds in VS a hole that I have to use a cutting or seedling in...plus I was doing some reading about root zone temps

Is it worth converting my setup to a small drain and fill at this point, or should I continue with what I have?

Another option is make a small drain and fill setup to run in tandem with my "gutter system". I actually have 20 liters of expanded clay on hand...The addiction could be starting folks

I have a 400gph pump which powers the sprinklers in my current setup just fine when turned all the way on low. How much flow would I need to divert to he drain and fill be with 20L of substrate? I found a #5 plastic storage bin at a store nearby that measures 12 X 18 X 6, which is a nice small size that would easily fit in tandem with the gutter using that same lighting. Here is the container:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sterilite-18-Qt-Latch-Storage-Box-19848606/204724980
I could build a frame around it for support if needed.

Thoughts?

Alright, I decided to ditch my old fish and I am going to buy 25 1-3" tilapia tonight!

I'll have to move the limestone decorative rocks out of the tank to catch the fish, so I will go ahead and leave them out. What about the sand? Should I go ahead and remove that as well? I hate to get rid of all that surface area for bacteria to grow, but there's a strong possibility it does contain limestone...

Alright I got my hands on 28 tilapia last night( I realize this is a bit over 5 fish per gallon. I am hoping some die off...he brought extra without me asking)

I'm going to get some media for my bed after work today. I got rid of the gutter system I had. The sprayers were already getting clogged after cleaning the tank out for the tilapia.

I am wondering how much bed I should go with to offset the bio load(nitrates) from 28 fish? is there a certain formula you all use to get within the ballpark?

Assuming you plan to harvest/eat your fish when they reach 'plate size' (that's usually guesstimated as 500g or 1lb), the usual rule of thumb that gets bounced around here is about 25 L of wet media per fish, or about 6.5 gallons. That would be 180 gallons of media for your number of fish (plus however much you need to form a dry layer on top of your media beds). For new systems (and new people!) it's best to have more so you're not pushing the limits of your system.

If you can't set that much up right away, you should be fine for a little while as your fish are still small... but I gather that tilapia grow fast, so you should plan to either reduce the number of fish or expand to full size as soon as you can!

My pump is a 400gph turned on low with a sponge filter(the tank itself has other filtration of course)

I dont know anything about aquaculture outside of aquaponics, but does this other filtration affect the nutrients that the plants use?

Perhaps a better question is: does that filtration affect the bacteria that most systems rely on to convert ammonia into nutrients?

Short answer: Nope!

Long answer: Aquaponics needs both mechanical filtration (takes the lumps of poo out of the water) and biological filtration (bacteria grow in the water and on the surfaces of your setup and media, and process ammonia -> nitrites -> nitrates). It really doesn't matter how this is happening so long as it is happening. You could have it all happening together in your media growbeds, or have filters doing some of it and the growbeds doing the rest, or you could get fancy and have everything happening in filters and bioreactors and no media growbeds at all. As long as the fish wastes are being processed and the nutrients are getting to your plants, you're golden.

The only ways I can think of that filtration could mess up your system is if you killed off your bacteria (cleaned your filters out too thoroughly or in chlorinated water, and they held a significant percentage of your total bacterial colony) or removed nutrients from the system (big water changes, or maybe if you filtered out all the fish poo and removed it immediately without it getting processed by the bacteria).

I suppose technically it may be possible if someone is using a nitrate reducing media or filter designed to harbor anaerobic bacteria to convert the nitrate into nitrogen gas...but 99.9% of people probably aren't using that.

In my case it is just two hang on back filters, both pump about 500gph through a mechanical media(I use pillow stuffing. It's inert poly) and then though a biological filter. One uses a biowheel and the other uses porous balls.
I used to have some large venustus cichlids in there. Maybe about 12 in the 6-10" size range and the filter kept up with them fine although they did produce a lot of nitrate...

Okay it looks like I WAY underestimated the amount of grow media I would need!
As a result I have made the decision to switch to 2/3 lava rock on bottom to not go into outer space on the budget, which I have already got up and running(pics to follow. I scrapped the gutter idea.

So let me ask this; You say people can get away with a portion of the filtration coming from specific filters and the other coming from grow beds...so since I have filters I could maybe get by using a little less media than usual? What about nitrate accumulation?