Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi! I have my system setup, minus plants, so I though I should start up my thread to track my progress.

Fish tank: I have an indoor setup with a 75 gallon tank, only filled about 3/4 of the way. I am a little worried about bowing, it is an acrylic tank and has already started to bow.

The tank has currently 2 fancy goldfish I'm using for cycling. I might add one more and maybe some type of bottom feeder.

I am using a 240 gph submersible pump. Works great. Lots of water flow. (I believe that's a good thing?)

I need to buy some more pvc to attach to my pump tube. If I keep it as a constant flow, I want to spread the water flow out around the bed in a type of grid to disperse the water better and avoid dead spots.

Grow Bed: My grow bed is a 54 gallon tote. Using hydroton as my media.

I had some trouble with my media guard, so I took that out along with the bell siphon. It is currently being run as a constant flow, my drain pipe has a media guard inside of it since my larger media guard failed. I may try an ebb and flow again if time permits, but it would require emptying my grow bed which I don't really want to do.

I plan on buying another large bag of hydroton before planting as well, since it's a little too shallow.

Lighting:
Indoor, so I have 4 grow lights, 4 feet each.

Any thoughts?

System looks great!

Skipping the gravel guard will bite you. Looks like your using the slotted end off your hang on back filter for the standpipe? GG's are needed to access your standpipe for cleaning when roots and fish waste clog it up.

Keep the water about 1 inch below the top of the media. Make you standpipe adjustable to change water level if possible. Wet media on top equals algae and other issues.

It looks like part of the rim is cracked on the top left of your tank. It's probably a good idea to keep it low. You could add a ratchet strap for back up.

What do you plan on growing? I would recommend starting off with greens like lettuce and herbs. Lower your light all the way down to within a couple inches of the top of plants. Raise the light as they grow. If you try some bigger vining/fruiting plants they will stretch up to the light and be very spindly. It is hard to get fruiting veggies to produces with just fluorescent. Especially in a small system.

Yeah I am definitely bummed on the gravel guard. I need to find some way to silicone it to the bottom, but the bottom of the tank only has one flat spot, and it's about 4" by 4", so it's hard to get it to stay away from the sloping edges of the bottom of the grow bed. It's a really strange tote with lots of ridges and stuff. Anway, so media was getting under it somehow and making things difficult, getting hydroton stuck between my drain pipe and siphon so the siphon wouldn't move. I'm gonna have to fix it eventually, since I do want a flood and drain system ultimately.

I was planning on keeping the water 2" below, is that too much? I think one more bag of hydroton will do the job.

Yes, the top left is broken, I am hoping it all holds together well. The other tank I had was worse for wear, so hopefully this one holds up.

I plan on growing mostly lettuce, kale and herbs. I want to try doing some pepper plants as well. Bell peppers and jalapenos. I will eventually do tomatoes, but I think I will save those for a different system (if I can get this one working.)

Thanks for the input!

Oh and yeah the light is adjustable! I am going to keep all the plants in this bed to about the same height so that I can keep the light low to the plants.

What's the best way to get plants started in aquaponics? I should be getting them started next week, was just wondering how other people go about starting up?

Hi celkins,one of the easiest ways is just direct seeding,literally just sprinkle the seeds over the top of the media then just gently with the palm of your hand just move the media so as to let the seeds fall in the void spaces.Another way which is the one i use is to flood the bed then drain it,i pull the stand pipe so as to get the water to flow out quickly,this has the effect of pulling the little seeds into the media slightly,any stuck on the surface can then be persuaded to go just under the surface by gently moving the media,quite easy with clay balls.
In you situation with your tote you could use a seedling starting tray filled with the appropriate seedling mix and then plant the seed you want to place in your tote and germinate them in a warm place the same as you would for any other situation.When they are mature enough to transplant,gently remove them and wash the potting mix from the roots,you must be careful at this point not to damage the very delicate roots or the transplant sock will knock them back.I use a bucket filled with water with the chill taken off and use a liquid rooting hormone in this water,i then put the seedlings in this and let them soak for a short time,this helps dislodge the potting mix and helps with transplant shock.To place them in the media just pick your spot move the clay balls to give you an indentation making sure the roots touch the area where the water is wicking to and just move the media gently back around the seedling,clay balls are kind to your fingers and the seedling for this.
Finally you could go to the garden centre and buy the seedlings you wish to plant,the beauty with this when you are starting out is it enables you to pick out nice strong looking plants with which to grow,just follow the transplanting advice above for these as well.

@celkins- Hi, you definitely don't want to glue the media guard to your GB, you would need to turn it from time to time to dislodge/cut plant roots that made their way to your stand pipe. You would need something heavy on top of the media guard to weigh it down so it wont float during your flood cycle.

If gluing is your only option, some members here have a media guard that is big enough to put their hand through to get at the roots.

2 inches above the highest water level is fine, i had mine at that height too i think.
Since your system is indoors you might encounter the same problem i had before i move mine out under the sun. If you find that the top layer of your media is wet/damp you might have to drop the water level a bit more.

You can take a look at my system linked at my signature for some advice given to me. You might find it informative.

Regards

Awesome, thanks for all the advice! I am waiting for my husband to get on his off days (4 on 4 off) so that I have a car to use to go get what I need. I will update once I get some seeds going or hopefully my media guard back in place.

Hi Celkins,
I have always used silicon to secure my media guards to the GB. Mine are wide enough to be able to get my hand into to remove any roots. I had 1 become dislodged, & it was difficult to reset.

I have pretty small hands, so if I did glue it I could probably reach in pretty well.

Got the media guard back in. Still running constant flow, tempted to throw my bell siphon on there and see if it works. Time to go experiment!

Hmmmm I'm under the impression that the siphon is working...however, the siphon drains for a minute, and then stops for about a minute, then slowly starts draining for about 30 sec before doing a large drain for about a minute before slowly dying off again for 30 seconds before it stops completely. Is it because I have a pump that's too high powered and filling the growbed too quickly?

So essentially the whole drain cycle takes about 3 minutes give or take a bit...

Hi Celkins,

I don't glue my media guards, I use an end cap and drill a hole in it to take the tank fitting and that way it's held down nice and tight and doesn't move.

If you ever need to take it out then it's just a matter of undoing the lock nut on the tank fitting and removing it without having the problems of levering it off if was glued.

That's pretty clever. I'll definitely do that on my next system, or if I ever remove the media from this bed. So far so good with a weight on top of it to keep it down. Thanks for the idea =)