Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Aup chaps, finally got pc connected to broadband so here's my 1st AP system.

As you can see it's less backyard & more back bedroom!

the grow bed is way too shallow & i do have lettuce in there but they look rather ill as left them in the propigator (old fish tank) too long! nevermind

this is my inital steps into AP, hoping i will learn a few things or two doing this.

The fish tank has gold fish at the mo, will add heating & hopefully get tilapia in here. the system is based on stacking the veg, there is two levels, the 2nd level is above the lighting for the 1st grow bed. need to get the 2nd level up running but have the issue of finding a way of suspending the lighting above it without putting holes in the walls or ceiling or the missus will be less than pleased! ( it took a lot of doing the dishes to get her to agree to having the setup in the 1st place)

the tank holds 170ltr happily, the grow bed is 115cm x 55cm x 7cm,

It is a drip system using basic garden hose attached to a cheap pond pump.

drainage was an inital issue as used a water butt tap, but quickly found that this wasnt sufficient (the carpet got a little wet, Shhhhh, she has no idea!) so added a couple of water butt connector attachements, drainage is working well,

The system has been up & running for 6 days now & the cucumber seem to be growing well, although my issue here is getting adequate lighting, as is currently running on a cheap 20w Energy Efficient tube, have found some 75W daylight tubes online but need to get the fittings & find a way of fixing them to the frame.

looking good!

spillage - I wont tell if you don't!

You could get rid of the carpet! Timber decking looks good.
It looks like you have room to expand as well.
well done Schtopp

Hi Schtopp
Looks good to me. How much water does the growbed hold?
Try to get the light closer to the lettuce if pos.
Luckily the days are getting longer so you should be ok for a bit more natural light before long

Thanks for the comments chaps, really appreciate it, sounds sad but have been excitedly talking to friends about it & everyone has been like " oh yeah, ok" & have started talking about something else, so great to chat with like minded folk.
the grow bed has 30ltr of expanded clay & has about 28ltr of water at any1 time. as it's a continuos flow system.

There is plenty of space for expansion, but it's not gonna happen!
So the plan is, as we have a decent size garden 10m x 30m, to put a 9m x 4m insulated shed in the garden, using a system based on what i've started, but with about 12000tlr of tank space, based on stocking density of tilapia will be about 840 fish at any one time. will have to googlesketch it & putit under dream systems.

So will the 20w FT i'm using be sufficient to get the plants growing?

Sctopp, if you're running continuous flow... make sure you have enogh oxygenation.

I can see you have some aeration going on in your tank, but continuous flow needs to be highly oxygenated IMHO..... as you're using drip feeders, your flow rate probably isn't that high... and your oxygenation may be correspondingly low....

Problem being with continuous flow your plants may not be getting enough oxygen to the roots. Over time they could develope root rot.

How high does the water level get in the growbed? Thinking maybe if needed you could add a timer in.... allow the roots to dry out a bit periodically before drip feeding them on the next cycle.....

Probably have to see how it pans out.... not sure if you've got enough light.... so it might be hard to tell if your plants suffer lacklustre growth whether it's lack of light or being too wet.... or a combination....

Keep us posted schtopp.

There is a how to hydroponics pdf some where on the forum that answers lots of these questions. According to it you should have 20-50 watts per foot or per .3048 square meters.

if its drip feed with no back log of water in the bed then he should be fine.

20W FL prolly wont cut it. at the very least go to an aquarium shop (a knowledgeable one) and tell them you have a 4 foot aquarium that you want to have aquatic plants in. what tubes (probably two) should you get.

Tend to agree with Steve.... asked the water depth question because the photo of the plants in the growbed looks very wet.....

If that's the case Schtopp, you can always drill another hole too add more/quicker drainage.... so the drip feeders are just keeping the growbed moist over time... not too wet

Most of the domestic CFL`s available in the uk are warm white rather than daylight or coolwhite.
Aquarium switchgear is safer than the normal florescent fittings, i find the blue white tubes (hagen lifeglo`s) is a lot more effective than the warmer (pinker) coloured tubes.

You may find it works out cheaper to buy a 125w or 250w blue envirolite instead..aquarium tubes tend to get pretty pricey when you need 4

thanks for the advice. there about 1cm of water running now through the system, reduced the flow, & have mounded the clay above this level with the seedlings at the to, hopefully this should help a little unitl I get a deeper grow bed.

I have changed the lighting for a tropical 38w FL tube with a reflector. & have lowered it nearer to the plants. ( will have to post pics)

So after initial changes, hopefully will see some growth.

Nice indoor system starting!
Be carefull of a spare room it can get very "lab" like after a while.
If you get a chance to go to a growshop around your place, they grow like mushrooms here, the guys in the shop won't know much on more than one plant but they have all the gear for indoor growers, i'd say to go for 2 envirolite 125W with reflectors and a ventilator gently moving the plants, probably more efficient if you use pannels on the sides of the system. They'll be less leggy and grow faster.
Have fun.

thanks for the info, have been looking at higher power energy efficient lighting, have seen some 65w energy efficient bulbs, which equates to about 325W, not that expensive either. have also been considering getting my hand on some mylar to wrap around the frame,

Been thinking about ways of getting my system outside, but as i want a more space efficient 'vertical AP' system I'm not sure on ways to do this, if anyone has any ideas?

(unfortunately it seems Northumberland is the only place where hydroponics shops havent popped up!)

Hello Schtopp,

I admire your courage! In the bedroom? I would have been divorced I think.
You can do a search for 'Growlush' lamps on Google. Here in Australia I bought one that is a fluoro, Has a 2" fitting and is the equivalent of 500w incandecent.
It only draws 100w but has a colour spectrum/temp of 6400k
Thats like bright sunlight......Great for growing indoors.
Mine cost me A$47.00 (about twenty quid?)
May be a solution for you.

Cheers, Ira

thanks for the info on the lighting ira, gona check google & see if i can find somewhere in UK to buy from, (reduce the light miles)!
Ok has sorted out some more pics so here you go.