Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi! I've been lurking for some time, and I just know that I want to add AP to my future farming plans. (The plan is for 10 acres, and I just couldn't figure out what to do with the last one.)



Hope you like it!

thats one hell of a gravel bed!!! your gonna have fun filling that baby up
welcome

Cool idea, I imagine that because you have the GB the same volume as the FT (pond) you will be running constant flood, do you have a good source of water other than the pond? The rice will love constant flood but (please correct me if I'm wrong) doesn't rice need a dry period to ripen before harvest?

If so you will have to dump 122,000 cubic feet of water each harvest season, unless the pond has extra capacity to hold this. This also means your pond will not recieve any nutrient biofiltration during this GB dry period, and as you will require a fairly high stocking density of fish to ensure the rice grows this will be a dangerous peroid for the fish and you may risk killing them all.

To run your system with rice (if my assumptions about needing to dry off rice paddies as part of the growing process is correct) you would need a back up source of biofiltration and airation to ensure your fish survive.

Alternatively if fish production is your main aim and you were just using the rice paddy as a form of biofiltration then maybe a different crop should be investigated.

Do yo have any more details on you plans?

According to what little I have been able to find and read, the grain is dried after threshing. The species started out it's life as a tidal plant, which is what the flood and drain of AP mimics. I'm really going to be playing this by ear, though. I do plan on building a desktop system with goldfish and a small amount of rice to see if it's even feasible and to get the mechanics worked out, so before I plant that much of it, I'll know if it's going to work.

If rice won't work, my backup plan is to plant vegetables in the AP system and figure out something else to put into the rotation with the other grains and legumes. (The odd grains, like quinoa and amaranth won't work in my area because there's too much pig weed, which is so related to them that they'll crossbreed!) Maybe a fiber, like cotton or flax? Either way, I know from reading this forum that vegetables will work beautifully in AP, so if the rice flops, that's plan B.

About the water, I don't know yet. I'm still in the early planning stages, which includes things like saving money for a piece of land with a house on it. I won't be able to figure out the water issues until I know what I'm going to have.

I also need to find out if anyone else has done bass in their systems. (Every grocery store in the area has farmed catfish, and half of them have trout.)

always good to have a back up plan, there are alot of forum members from Texas who I am sure will offer you heaps of support, good luck, I will be interested to see your plans come to fruition.

And I thought my growbeds were big. I can see a few challenges with it. Cost will certainly be high, but getting almost an acre level will take some doing. Finding leaks could pose a problem also. Good luck, I will look forward to pictures.

6ft is a very deep grow bed, wow!

Welcome. What part of Texas? Austin here.
I've kept bass before but never farmed them. I don't know how they do in large numbers (densely stocked). I do like bass so I am planning an AP system with large mouths sometime.

wow!! the size of that growbed

i guess its right what they say

everything's big in texas!!!

Have you tried smaller system ?

I wanted the lake to be 6 feet deep because I think the bass like deeper water. I suppose I could reduce the number of fish in the lake, and reduce the depth of the grow bed by half. I know that the gravel has much to do with the filtration of the water, but I don't want to lose the size of the lake. And it doesn't have to be level land. I can do it in terraces, like they do in Japan, China and other Oriental countries.

Now this is the end product, of course. I am going to try and put together a desktop system by the end of the year, some goldfish and a handful of rice. That will be my start in learning the practical side of AP. It will take me many years before I can begin the AP acre, as I'm wanting to adopt a child first.

Sorry, TMI.

When I get ready to start the desktop system, I'm also buying a camera, so I can post pics. (This site needs a smiley with a camera!!)

Dunno how to add it to the list, but here is one.

Here's a basic idea of what I'm going to build to learn what I'm doing. (It shows some cherry tomatoes, but that's just for visibility.)

Now I need to make a grocery list of parts to buy.