Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

...and here we are coming into shorts and thongs, interesting to see how the vegies fair during the winter season DRD

Is that a Beagle in those pictures? What a lazy sod... They really do get lazy and fat when they get older... Ours was 15 years old and like a barrel...

yep she is one fat lazy beagle~ she does sweep up under the growbeds a couple times per week though

got a lot of herbs planted at the moment some lettuce i know not how to grow properly some broccoli thats bolting some cabbage that is looking good. near mid February thru mid March I will be starting a lot of plants

wow time flies... was sickly for awhile then repaired the bathroom post recovery three months since I posted. Not much been happening down in the basement laboratory. Was recently given a 55 gallon aquarium that I just finished hooking into the works. I could add about four half barrel growbeds at this point. pictures oh yea

are you feeling better now Dan?

not sure of my patch job here

much better Jaymie thanks

yo man long time no time. Hope all is well, summer is cummin, get the AP hummin.

Howdy all... been a bit delinquent here abouts.
Got a growbed with effluent running into it finally. Yea I know June is about over already. i work real slow...
before hooking up the pump I had some fish swimming in the spa. The water was @ 7.6 pH, ammonia about 2 nitrite zero. decided I better keep whatever fish might live through that alive a bit longer.
got some (less than half the bed) gravel in the growbed and had the pump running overnight ammonia 1 nitrite .25 pH 8
yesterday added 2 buckets of gravel from the seasoned system in the basement and filled the rest of the bed with gravel.
Today the readings are ammonia 1, nitrite .5, nitrate 5, pH 8

not sure if I want any more of this gravel it is small largest about 1/4" majority is around 1/8" and has tonnes of fines to remove

but I am back in the grow of things that is most important

How the heck are you doing?

1st of july and the readings are:
ammonia .25
nitrite between 2 and 5
nitrate 10
pH 7.8
got the flat on the ox cart fixed so I am ready to wash more gravel for growbed 2

Hey Dan, good to hear from you. Sounds like ur nearly there cycling that system. Wouldn't worry too much about the pH unless u intend to grow acid loving stuff. My setup sits in the mid 7s and hasn't moved for nearly 12 months. Most things grow ok.

Seems to be cooking along real good TT yes the pH is a bit high. Not such a concern now that I have a biofiliter in place. Was just concerned with the very high ammonia level at the start. The water temp warmed up quickly when the growbed came online.
July 2 the readings are:
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 20
pH 8
h2o temp 32

The fish are looking a bit more lively now. Need to get some plants put in place and get the other beds online. Should be able to get that accomplished with a couple days off work this weekend.

Still a little bit woosy from last night what a party
July 3 the readings showed system up and running fine with
Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 and nitrate of 40 pH inbetwixt 7.8 and 8.0.

Water temp has come down some and was sitting at 24 yesterday afternoon.

Growbed 2 was filled with gravel and added to the system on Independence Day. I was unsure about the capacity of the pump. The pump I am using came with a fitting for a garden hose and another for supposed 1 1/4" barb. The barb fitting was more like 1". Anyway I had been using the hose fitting with just the one growbed online and the flow was just enough to trip the bell syphon. Was pleasantly surprised the 1 1/4" pvc I connected to the pump provided plenty enough flow for the second growbed also with about half the total flow returned to the sump/fish tank for aeration. Should be plenty of flow available for the other two beds when they are added.

The solitary goldfish was found on the ground this morning. Musta tried getting a closer look at the fireworks last night. Was found about four feet from the spa. Flying Goldfish Firework Show

Bummer when the fish try and check out the tank on the other side of the wall only to discover there isn't one.

I just managed to get through all your thread. You are one great scavenger, I find that very little on our local Free cycle and craigs list free stuff is all that good (or if it is, it's gone before the post actually hit the net.)

How is the design going on the solar heaters? I think your idea of the stock tank in a stock tank is actually a kinda good one. In your climate, insulation around the outside and top of the outer heat collection/storage tank would be a must. It might not be a great exchanger method but I would be a good heat battery and if you have access to the stock tanks but not the other possible heat exchangers, then why not.