Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How dare you sir! Good thing this is on your thread...

I offered to brew him a cup with freshly ground fishfood I can imagine the smell would be intoxicating!
-- to a cat maybe....

Maybe I should post some pictures....

All tilapia in the US are inbred to some degree. My original shipment had some with mis-shapen mouths.

There is a way to tag fish by inserting little thread markers, but I don't know how to get those.

Coffey works better if you put it in the other end...

smells just as bad though

Yeah, coffee and beer.
Two things invented by fool people who were too arrogant to admit that they were wrong and it tasted like crap.
Problem is they were probably both powerful enough that ppl drank it out of fear, or support!

nb: This is a totally biased and unbased hypothesis.

Just caught wind of this thread via a post on S&S Aqua... the solaroof build caught my attention. I half read the full thread and browsed for pics and saw the few of the earliest build... anything more recent? I see the thread started only last spring... it's taken me 3 years to get to start on my frame, so i'm not going to be the one to push for updates but if you have any it'd be nice to see!

Rob

Just in case this hasn't been posted... There has been some successful validation of the solaroof design. A team at a small university had won a couple of small grants in 2007 to compare a couple of designs, basically the solaroof design vs. the sunnyJohn SHCS system (subterrannean heating and cooling). The tests showed promise and they won a much larger grant (~$75,000 USD) to continue and redesign in 2008.


http://www.sare.org/reporting/report_vi ... =2007&rf=1

http://www.news.appstate.edu/2007/04/16/greenhouse/

Enjoy.

Thanks Poppa!

No new pictures. Sorry. I've been busy working trying to earn enough to finish the project.

I just got back from a two-day job to notice that my female tilapia has a mouthful of eggs. Unfortunately, they can't be fertile because I took the male out three days ago because he was beating her to death.

So now I have to wait another two weeks.....

Our garage is almost full of plants so I HAVE to get at least one greenhouse finished soon. The big solaroof greenhouse is taking time, so I think I'm back to cobbling together the small 20 x 24' greenhouse out front. I was going to make the sides roll up for ventillation and just let my wife grow her flowers and vegetables in there, but we've got to make room for the fish and plants.... so we'll end up with two AP greenhouses. I can't run a pipe over to that greenhouse for heat until the ground thaws so I'm planning to put a big tank in the middle, hang some lexan from the roof and pump water from the tank to the roof during the day.

And I'm thinking about a raft system instead of the gravel growbeds. Unfortunately, all the fish I have: Tilapia, goldfish, koi, pacus, gourami -- all love to eat roots. So I'm thinking about hanging a net (or window screen) about 12" below the surface of the water so that my plants have some room for roots. Big plants like tomatoes and squash will try to grow out through the screen, but the fish will keep them pruned. I'm thinking about putting a bunch of airstones on top of the screen -- may not be necessary. And I might have to get a couple of oscars or jack dempseys to patrol the root zone in case I get some herbivore invaders.

I'm thinking that the easiest way to build the net might be with PVC pipe filled with sand. Once the pipes are filled with sand, I can make a framework and then attach the netting to it.

Any thoughts?

hey emsj, very nice system! loved the video

regarding your hps heat, you could make a hood(covered with glass) for those lights and vent the heat directly to where your want it and the moist in air too along with it, just a thought

keep up the good work!

I have the lights in my garage. No problem with heat there. I'm running a hot water pipe loop from my hot water heater through my tanks. And I've got electric heaters to keep the temperature stable.

Hi ya Ems.... how'd that system of yours go through winter mate.... got any pics