Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just started up my first system in December 2015. This will be a thread about it.

Still working on the finishing touches on occasion until it get her done. My system has two 55gal drum fish tanks, one around 75gallon DWC/raft bed, two halves of a 55gal flood/drain bed, one 55gallon wicking bed, two 5gal constant flood buckets filled with river rock, and I plan on adding in several small towers to fill in the gaps. All running off of 1 pump.

There are gold fish & fathead minnows in the tanks for now.

Lettuce, tomatoes, chives, garlic chives, oregano, strawberries, sage, etc. in the flood/drain beds.

Been brewing compost tea to inoculate the system with. Already some worms in there too.

I plan to add more videos when I get the chance. Hard to keep up with 10hrs commuting per week... a whole yard being turned slowly into permaculture, young kids, and career advancement.

https://youtu.be/jpAGB-gGuVM?list=PLmx2 ... YZtmQuumRG

I'm finding it very hard to imagine how you could fit all those plants in such a tiny greenhouse "Slowly filling my 6" x 8" greenhouse".
Once you put your hand in there, there's not much room for anything else!

You must think I am a giant!

As I said this is my first system. So I am learning about every growing style... every plant... I can... and the pros and cons of each before I move up to something bigger and have a monster I don't like. This could save me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of work... and hundreds of hours of getting an ear full from the wife for having a major failure/lapse in judgment.

For now I will have a mini lettuce and herb factory that will make the wife happy. It is only going to cost me $23 a year in power(did the math). I am attempting a few winter tree clones as well. If I can clone some trees I will be able to expand my orchard at an exponential rate at almost no costs.

My next system would likely cover the massive concrete slab/deck behind the house...


Thanks,

Marty

If I spread my fingers it easily fills a 6 inch X 8 inch area I suspect your GH is really more like 6' X 8' (feet) though

You could probably grow a few brassicas- broccoli, cauliflower etc in spring and autumn too.

NIce variety of styles/equipment. I'm in the same region and have limited space so I'm Interested to see how each works out for you. I hope to have a portion of my system (building now) operating only in the warmer months and keep a kernel of the system alive through winter.

I also saw you plan to get bluegill. Do you have a supplier in mind? I was thinking either bluegill or perch from Zetts in PA or WV. I got my bullhead by mail from Zetts in PA last year--shipping is expensive though.

Watch those quotes, we've got the occasionaly brutal spell checkers here Marty . I just check for content but apparently Gordon is looking for Time Lords or messed up units of measure

Anything in inches ", or feet ', is messed up, it's time you guys moved to the metric system!

Lol. Nice. Now I feel like an idiot. Didn't even get the joke last night when I replied! Side effect of getting the kids ready for bed while reading/typing I suppose. Lol

haha I didn't see it either, my OCD must be waning. I try and put both inches and centimeters to keep me on my toes, but everything here in in imperial measure making it hard to switch. Imagine going into Lowes or HomeDepot and asking for a 60cm pipe?

Great08, good to see a fellow Virginian on the forum for a change. Looking forward to seeing your progress as I plan
my 12'x24' greenhouse build. Or put another way, my 3.6576m x 7.3152m build. I would also be interested in where you are getting your fish.

I don't have a clue as to where I am getting my fish just yet. Found out two days ago that I am only getting to stay in the area for one more year before I am up for transfer again. I may end up sticking with goldfish/minnows until I find out I get to stay for longer. Guess this means that my bees, chicken, and duck plans will be on hold for a bit.


At least I will be able to bring the system with me... or leave it for renters until I get back into my home in about 5 years when I retire. I do get one more year though. Long enough to play with the system till about May 2017.


For now... my system is looking VERY promising. It is already stabilizing.

On the 4th Feb 2016 I did a test of the water and these were the results...

KH = 7 (So the PH swings will start slowing down)
PH = 7.8 (Was higher but slowly bringing it down. My tap water I originally used started it off at over 8. Using rain water for refills now to avoid problems.)
NH3/NH4 = 0ppm
NO2 = 0ppm
NO3 = 10ppm
Ammonia = I forget. Pretty sure .25ppm

One month prior(05 Jan) the NH3/NH4, NO2, and NO3 were a mirror opposite.


Marty

Edit: I am leaning towards hybrid bluegill. They are poor breeders... but pack on the weight a LOT faster than normal bluegill from what I have read. If I ever build a larger system... I will likely use normal bluegill since they allegedly breed so much that they will need to be harvested heavy enough to keep the fish from over populating/shrinking in max size. If they make more than I can eat I will stock the neighborhood pond if nobody wants them... or maybe sell them online as live fish/or filets. I will figure that out when I get there. May even do Koi if in it for the money.

I just realized that I had not posted an pics of ANYTHING!

So here are a few of the 10 day progress of one of my flood/drain beds. Obviously half of a 55gal drum. Paid $10 for the drum. So the bed shell cost $5. I cheaped out and only made the top 4" expanded clay pebbles. The majority down deep is heavier granite gravel.

06 Feb 2016

https://flic.kr/p/EeULUz

17 Feb 2016 After a few cloudy, rainy/snowy, and cold days.

https://flic.kr/p/EcGo9m

Looks like this site may not support pics... How do I do it?

Marty

Marty,

It looks like those fotos at Flicker are too big to post here, but these instructions explain a couple methods of posting images:

A quick tutorial on adding images to posts

Nice looking fotos!

--
Sam

Update: I just took the first harvest off of my system last night. The largest leaves were removed from my Butter Crunch Lettuce. Could not make it to another 10 day photo since they were choking out everything.

oh wow looks delicious