Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Greetings,

Decided it was time to hang up the poker hobby for a spell and take up something new. I actually got started because I thought an auto siphon was cool as all get-out and wanted to make one, needed a reason. Voila.

So I picked up two 27gal tubs, a 400gp/h pump, some pvc and some tubing from Home Depot, 3.5cu/ft of 3/4" river rock from a local Agway and six goldfish (would have preferred something edible but my daughter is a vegan and she blanched at the idea of eating an animal we would come to know to an extent, can't say I blame her).



The tubing is currently feeding up through the wire in the shelving unit and just dropping down. I'll be cleaning this up with a proper ball value in the next day or seven.





Pretty easy peasy auto siphon based on Hallam's (sp?) design. Inner stand pipe is 1" PVC IIRC, no funnel adapter. Bell is 2" with a ton of holes drilled in the bottom (no additional air break). Outer guard is 4" PVC with a ton of holes drilled, more toward the bottom, and a threaded cap just because.



For the curious, I used an electric conduit and toilet gasket assembly for the bulkhead passthrough. Oddly enough, Home Depot doesn't have such a beast in their plumbing dept which just strikes me as bizarre. I'll get pictures later but the two pieces are 1" to threaded (one male, one female) that fit nicely and the gasket just sits in between. I chose to put the gasket on the underside to prevent contact with the bell -- screwing together the assembly made the gasket flare a bit and it didn't quite fit into the bell but in hindsight it probably doesn't matter at all.

I'll post pics if anyone would like.

I cleaned up the rock with a hose, loaded it up, let the pump cycle through for a few days so everything could settle, the plumbing could get worked in, etc.

Started with six goldfish, each ~2" long. Added a ~$30 water heater designed for 30gal but in this 27gal, the second-to-lowest setting brings the temp up to 68F pretty quick, I expect it'll serve even when winter hits but we'll see. The area the grow chamber is in gets pretty bloody cold, it's virtually uninsulated despite appearances.

Let that run for ~a week, then put in a couple of romaine seedlings and a bean seed in a discarded aerogarden plug (the plastic, made my own insert with coir and netting).

Also added ~2tbsp of seaweed extract for the last two days, will probably stop that for a week or two.

ph is ~8 which has me a little worried about nute lock-out for the new plants but I figure they'll be fine while the system ramps up and the load increases.

I'm also a little worried about light, the window is large but faces westward, not sure if that'll be sufficient for growth. I can always supplement with fluorescent if necessary.

Looking forward to getting romaine, mint and basil from my porch and not the grocery store for insane $$. =)

Advice, thoughts or questions are welcome.

looks great, although that flow looks pretty heavy for the fish, maybe you could tone down the pump a little?

The photography might be at fault there, I think that's shot at like 1/4" or something, looks like an absolute torrent. I've got it set to as small a flow as will kick the siphon.

I was a bit worried at first myself but the fish seem utterly unperturbed at the flow. Will keep an eye out tho, thanks.

Its an autosiphon so turning the pump down wont make any difference to the drain flow. I reckon if you are only going to grow leafy greens, turn it into a constant flood bed and the flow should be much less.

Oh yeah...


You mean just remove the bell and keep the rocks always flooded? Won't that rot the roots?
And in any case, that means the very reason I made this !@#$ing thing will be for naught!!

Maybe break up the fall a bit with a piece of mesh or something with holes in it, to make more of a rain effect.

you can put seeds/seedlings in now
good luck!

I dont see a problem with that sort of flow cascading onto the surface of the fish tank. Nice set up

Hm. Seedlings, I get, I've already done that with six romaine seedlings.

But seeds? Is there a tried-and-true method of starting seeds directly in the river rock?

Thanks much in advance!

Quick update!

One week after starting I've got elevated ammonia levels (0.75ppm), almost zero nitrites and 5.0ppm nitrates. I didn't expect this for another 1-2 weeks.

The six heads of lettuce I planted are showing signs of vitality and have clearly taken root.



The single bean plant I planted using a discarded aerogarden plastic insert with a coir plug came up today too.



And three of the pea plants I started in coir in an eggshell carton have sprouted, I'll be moving those over in a week or so.



Lost three fish but the rest appear not only active and healthy but they are bulking up which seems unreal.

So far, so good.

Sorry these pictures aren't really up to spec, the lighting is terrible and the only fast lens I have is a 50mm f/1.8, had to make due with my stock 18-70mm f/crap. =P

Lost a few fish, perhaps one every two or three days, and I kept chalking it up to less-than-vigorous specimens but with the largest of the bunch in respiratory distress, and ammonia levels creeping above 2ppm, I decided to purge the entire water supply and start anew.

Hopefully the plants can take a bit of chlorine while it bubbles out over the next 24.

Also re-engineered the water exit so the tub wall absorbs much of the force, not sure if the energetic discharge was causing them some problems if not insomnia.