Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Folks, Thanks for all the good information posted on this forum. It has been helpful to me though I'm still trying to learn your acronyms. I've just finished putting together my first system. It seems I'm bucking the trend here with a raft system, continuous water flow, with aeration of course. We just planted our first seeds last Sunday.
You can see photos of the work so far here. http://picasaweb.google.com/lori.lenz/A ... eat=email#

Comments and constructive criticism are welcome.

Stephen

Nice setup ya got there!!

Would love some details, especially on the solar plans... That for the pump? Also, how do you handle solids. Saw the tanks on the side, just curious what your solution is and how you plumbed it.

Again, welcome!

CB

Get a cover of some sort over that fish tank. I've had too many tilapia jump out of fish tanks that don't have a huge amount of space between the top of the water and the top of the fish tank. Even catfish can jump out if it is only a few inches.

I've used shade cloth effectively as a cover to not only keep fish in but keep sun out.

It isn't that people here are really against floating raft systems, we just don't have much expertise in that area to be able to give solid design numbers for creating such systems. I know how much flood and drain gravel bed is recommended to support a given amount of fish mass. I don't really know how that equates to a raft system and what other parts, solids removal and separate bio-filters, settling tanks, degassing and aeration needed for raft systems.

Good Luck with it. It's good to see so many new Florida members.

Ah yes the details.
One pump a 3.6 amp 12V circulation pump made by a company called Sequence. It is rated for 3.5 gpm but puts out much more at the low head I have it set up at. I also have a 12V air pump which is right now only aerating the grow bed but will soon also be in the fish tank.
I have the luxury of a pond on my property with plenty of tilapia in it. I am able to just keep adding fish as the system balances out. There are only 8 approximately 1/2 to 1 pound fish in the tank now. I have spiked and come back down on ammonia but not with nitrite yet. I would like to just keep pulling fish from my pond to basically fatten up for the slaughter in my fish tank. All for my personal use. This way I should have a fully stocked system (once it is ramped up fully) for growing veggies which I hope to have a few extra to sell at some point.
Back to the system. Gravity out of the 450 gallon fish tank (which does have a bird netting cover on a pvc frame) through 3" pvc to the first 55 gallon drum which is my clarifier. The water drops through a piece of window screen stretched across the top and down one side of a baffle and up the other side to the outlet. I have a drain on the bottom to drain off the settled solids.
Into the plastic "pickle barrel" (that is actually what was shipped in it) which is my mineralization tank. It has bird netting stuffed in it to collect the remaining solids which will hopefully break down further in the low DO environment. Out the bottom of the pickle barrel and into the raft tank. Out a stand pipe and into the drum on its side under the end of the raft tank. That barrel is my sump (not big enough I have discovered) my pump is not a submersible but is plumbed with a flooded suction and there is a float switch in the sump that will shut it down if it gets low on water for some reason.
I have been able to most all of the above for less than $500. Most of that for the pond liner which I still have enough left to build two more raft tanks. The rest I either borrowed, scavenged or bargained hard for.
The solar panel and batteries did not come so inexpensively. The panel is 140 watts and is paired with a 180 ah battery which is adequate for a power failure but not to keep the system off the grid which was my desire. I need to double the size of my solar system to get this system off the grid entirely. that will cost me about $850 more which is not currently in the budget. So I have a 300 watt power supply/battery charger powering the system now.
I worked for the Monterey Bay Aquarium for 8 years and currently work for a Marine and fisheries research facility. So I am very comfortable with and have good resources for taking care of the fish side things. The plant side is, for me, completely a learning experience.

That's the details for now.
Thanks for the interest.

Nice system, Thanks for the details.