Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,
having been told by exasperated partner that i'm not allowed to risk breaking my carport roof with heavy plastic containers for growing vegies in soil via traditional methods, I'm considering a pipe system on the roof irrigated by my aquaponics pond water. I was thinking of filling the pipes with some kind of fibrous medium like coconut fibre and drilling then planting in the little holes like they do in hydroponics.
i'm fairly familiar with EB recommended specs and measurements for a gravel mdeium grow bed setup but i have no idea about what is ideal when using pipes with a fibre medium. Any thoughts on number of plants per metre of pipe, how to measure bacterial load capacity within the pipes - or even what are the best size pipes for the job?
Any links to this kind of info on the net?
Also ive already got a heap of seedlings just sprouting in the little seedling trays in an expandable seedling medium - could I sqeeze them straight out of these and into the pipes or would the seedling soil clog the pipes?
Cheers
Aeon.

aeon if you were to use this sort of method it would be similar to the vertical pipes that are in use, eg murray and I think aquaaddict has one running as well. I would not neccesarrily use something like coconut fibre as I think it would be fantastic physical filter and may well end up clogged. I would go with either the gravel the murray is using or something like the hydroton balls because they are light weight.

My other idea for this situation would be NFT gullies with a seperate bio filter with bioballs. each has advantages and disadvantages.

Nick

I'm also planning to use pvc pipes with drop in pots filled with clay balls or similar, but as Nick suggests I'm going to otherwise keep the pipes empty. I figure you can add, take away, harvest, or move the pots as required, and also inspect or trim the roots so that they dont become one big tangled mess. I think a seperate bio-filter is the way to go. I haven't been able to find much info on the net RE size of pipe (I think I will use 90mm) and spacing of plants etc. but I'm hopeful someting will turn up here. But dont listen to me, my system is still in my head and on paper.

The crew in this house before us grew some pot on the garage roof...until the cops flew over.
Apparently it stands out like the preverbial on zinc sheets.
Silly buggers........

Lesson learned? Never design your growing system while under the influence.

Hi king erik and aeon glad you brought up the subject i got these pipes at the recycling center and was wondering how to use them[ this kind of pipe is available someware ] i think i like eriks idea pots with clay balls in each hole is the go [ would like comments from the forum]

I think the idea of the pipes is a good one, with net pots etc, but consider using a gravel grow bed as your biofilter and solids filtering, it kills two birds with one stone. Howeveer, for aeon, on the roof this may not be an option, however you could have a gravity feed from your grow bed/biofilter into a sump then a small pump (obviously with required head rating) to pump from the sump through your pipes, then a gravity return from the pipes to the fish tank. . Just a thought

I think this will work too.

You won't be inspecting roots once the plants really get going though ... they'll be bigger than your holes so you can only pull them out when you harvest.

A growbed filter is the obvious solution to some previous problems I'd encountered growing in pipes.

Ok... having absorbed all that brilliant info I think i will buy some cutlery rinsing containers from coles ( very cheap) saw them in half so they are shorter and stubbier, fill them with some kind of fibrous material, and sink them into pipes on the roof- thanks for reminding me that i can also plant vertically as well! -I will leave the rest of the pipes free so the water doesnt get clogged up and i will send the down pipe back into one of my 4 very large grow beds that will sit over the top of the pond ( ToysRus green plastic sandpits) and use this as the obvious biofilter. i think the water would be especially clean. Although i'm wondering...
I thought the bacteria had to break the effluent amonia down into nitrogen ( is it from nitrite to nitrate?) and THEN it would be taken up by the plants. If i am pumping water straight from the pond up into the pipes would it not be converted into nitrogen till after it had flowed through the sunken plant root pots and into the grow beds - what i'm asking is, can the plants use it prior to it being broken down in the growbed/ biolfilter?
OR if there are clayballs/etc in the root pots then I would imagine these would have their own colonies of bacteria develop and would they do the job for the plants?
Hmm I think I am making the nitrogen cycle sound more complicated than need be. Even after thinking about it for ages i still get confused.
Aeon

Aeon, this one think where people need to really think visually and certaibnly not in a "process line" manner. Short answer to the question : YES. Long answer below

Firstly although the biofilter or gravel bed may perform the majority of the nirtification bacteria will be present everywhere in the system where there is a surface area for them to colonise. Although strictly speaking there would be less ammonia and more nitrate after the biofilter, i doubt that you would be able to measure it with a simple colour chart. This makes sense when you think about where you measure your water quality from, your "sampling point" if you will. The whole nitrification cycle is a continuous process probably taking many loops through the main biofilter. My suspicion, is that once the ystem is cycled and stable the billions in bacteria work in parallel to process large volumes of low concentration ammonia and nitrites (read that last line again until it makes sense).

This is so clear in my mind, but i'm probably making a pig arse of explaining it.

aeon, I meant the water goes from pond to gravel bed, then gravity to sump, then pumped through the pipes on your roof, then gravity to pond and so on... hope this makes sense

Having said all that, although you can have it pumping straight up before the biofilter / gravel bed, you may get much more solids entering they grow system than if you pumped it post filter!

"Having said all that, although you can have it pumping straight up before the biofilter / gravel bed, you may get much more solids entering they grow system than if you pumped it post filter! "

Ahhaa!
I get it now... (And I thought it was going to be simple).

you could always give it a go Aeon, not much to loose except 4 weeks and a few head of lettuce

Ahhaa again!
I like this simple but messy approach - i will try and filter out the solids before they get up there.

I also like your description of all the bacteria acting like a big amorphous organism to break down the amonia all through the system - just like scary little borgs arent they?

Thanks guys.