Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi there! well if you come by this area, please stop by and see us. my friend lesia (said just like lisa) is from port charlotte/englewood area
and knows all of that area s her folks were born down there too.

my sight issues. argh! well it took almost 4 years of guessing and surgeries to finally get some idea of what caused it and where it will lead. some say this , some say that and none concur

finally some doc i got to see, says its chiari malfromation but not what stage. i had another do 2 surgeries and what he did was not even near to what is my issue. come to find out he had done quite a few of "not even close" surgeries. then he wated to surgery my better eye and i refused. he got mad and got FBS to dump me

well he bailed out of a perfectly good aircraft out in nevada a few months ago. he wont get to do that anymore. what comes around does go back around.

right now im waiting on fla. blind services again to send me to neurologitst to interpret the newest mri pics i have. one doc says ill be blind sooner or later probably sooner, another says my optic nerve is dead and the other is going. so they all just guessing as usual i feel. meanwhile i sit here worried if i wake up from a nap
and be total blind.

sure wish some senator or the fed gooberment would make a bill to bail me and the crippled grrrrl out. even just a wee bit would be just fine hehehehe. it will never happen. they will bail out gm or ford and cut services to blind peoples i bet. i have already had FBS tell me they could not come out becuase they not have the gas money. state of florida cant get a full tank of fuel. if thats so and not fabricated excuse, then i need an ap rig or 3 yesterday



this all started when my john deere loader rolled over on me while i burying a friends horse that had surcame to enceph. was not huge tractor but even little jd lawn tractor is too heavy to have on your neck much less a 4x4 loader. in reality im darn lucky to even be typing at you. maybe its why im so prolific and rambling also. i dunno


ssi says blindness not disabling. go figure.that. yes i have adapted some, no thanks to any of the docs or FBS. just in the last month has FBS agent even come see me. and that was not until i mailed charlie christ. they came out brought me some markers for stove and microwave. a red tipped cane (i wont use becuase predators look for such) one of main reasons i stay looking like mansons cousin but h did bring me a talking watch thats pretty cool and very helpful. no longer do i have to wake lesia, so i can find out what time it is

lesia is totally disabled and in wheelchair. i had a house and she got the land so for now we not warehoused in grouphome. we met at states attorney as both of us were being
id thefted/frauded. she has had a total of 35 surgeries and procedures now. just lately were we blessed with quality surgeon.

dr. john stevenson attached to gainseville regional and othepedic specialty center. he is top shelf and renewed my faith in the whole medical system. not an easy task to offset 35 years of quackery and production line medicine. if you ever need back or spine surgery. he iis the very best and talented surgeon a person could ask for. my gal can stand and lwak on her own thanks to dr. john

lesia's fraud woes was unique for the time. one of the very first victims of wardrivers (the use of electronic sniffers that can read your cc numbers while they are still in your wallet or purse)

we are totally commited to all forms of self reliance and frugality and making do. we have to be but even if we had oprah or gates sized green we still would be on same path. finding AP was a blessing and now part of our mindset. all in all we do pretty darn good for what we are. only 9k in total debt including land and cc and her truck. even in this econ decline, we are still plodding forwards.
i sincerely think (and i not mean to anyhow offend) but many ppl's probs are their own creations. needing and wanting is 2 different donkeys. one you ride. the other will ride you. that why we get along ok. we subscibe to this simple mindset

im hoping to get a system running asap and refine it to where i can run it if at all possible if and when i do lose all my eyesight and to have it wheelchair accessable for lesia to also enjoy

i really think we can adapt ourselves and our AP. AP already alleviates many of our gardening woes by just its nature and setup. few weeds if any. the beds are elevated so she can work on them without bending or stooping. few bugs , lack of water issues and such.

plus we know whats in them (veggies) its awesome and im hooked
on ponics , and so is lesia now that she has seen this forum

btw is this rambling offtopic novel number 26 or 27? my apoligies to the mods and forum citizens for all.

its very nice to meet you trixie . post some pics so lesia can see your system and please stay in touch. do come by and have a glass of iced tea one day if you can. maybe we can eat a veggie salad from our AP

highest regards and brightest blessings. john and lesia

I agree with TCL, with some further thoughts:
Apparently those folks did the ornamental pond exactly the wrong way: the most vulnerable layer of plastic is the top and new added layers will keep getting punctured. If you are going to use 4-mil or 6-mil poly, use black (the clear degrades fast and releases "interesting" chemicals) and use at least two layers (assume the top layer will get punctured, but protect the lower layer(s)). You are better off with the EPDM liner, but it can work (in a temporary fashion) with the cheap stuff. One place the cheap stuff works fine is in proof-of-concept systems you only intend to use for a year or so for your education. It also works ok for growbeds: as long as you don't puncture it while loading it with gravel I see no reason it would become punctured later.

well it was just a thought. i also thought about the huge plastic sheets the local mobile home builders use. im thinking its vinyl and some thicker than 6 mil , same stuff i used to line the the backside of my self built tonado bunker.

i found a local that will give me all of the goldfish i can stand so i may try a test pond with a few.

the sandy soil here if dug out right is pretty pure below 2 feet or so
and carpet pad remnants worked before for an onemental pond i did at my old home place.

i been really sick lately so all i have gotten accomplished is finding some sorces.

found food grade barrels for 15 dollars but they are white. and some larger dark red screw top type barrells for 15 dollars. they are the same style as my rain catchment barrell

i did find 2 big MH grow lamps but its doubtful i can afford to run them plus one needs a ballast and the other needs lamps. thats big money when the sun is free. i had though about setting something up in the shed so i could keep it heated but i cant stand the extra power bill for now, maybe later if ssi ever decides im actually sick. i have also heard the some of the new flourescent (sp?) are much more economical to operate than MH or HPS lighting. these are also 277v and the ballasts have the multitap removed. so they are useless for me i guess anyway

most likely i will just use my big koi pond , the 13 totes , and the medium (56 dollars per ton) i found. i think i can put that together cheaper than buying the barrells and trying mr. hugheys barrell method. at least i have these already. i just need a pump with enough head height and some warm temps again. i ordered the master test kit from a pet supply store in madison florida

unless i tear down some other structure around here and salvage
materials again i wont be able to build winter greenhouse. im tired of working with salvage. it will work but its double or triple the labor to make things correct.

all i want to do is hopefully supply extra groceries for us now in these uncertain times.

i hope all of you folks are well. im not so well. er doctor wants to put pacemaker in me now and i dont think i trust them enough as a quality plumber

anyway im still paddling. highest regards and much respects, rambling john

take care of yourself Johnny

+1

Sorry, Johnny, for not making myself clear. I think that the 6-mil black polyethylene *would* work, if used in multiple layers. The good pond liners would be far better, but more expensive. I would worry about using industrial
vinyl sheeting, but pond grade is probably pretty ok.

Digging in that sandy soil sounds wonderful. Our soil is expansive, rocky clay: like rock in summer and glue in winter. Dig a hole, at great effort, and rocks and lumps will probably puncture any light liner. The place we rent is ripping apart right now as it lifts unevenly as the soil gets wet from the first rains. And none of the doors shut right until the water soaks the soil under the house as well. *sigh*

The white barrels seems to work just fine, but I would trust the blue to hold up under sunlight for longer. I like them better than screw-top barrels since the tops are welded on.

For your winter garden it may be a lot cheaper to grow kale and other frost-resistant goodies rather than build a greenhouse. If you are looking for more sunlight (but not more hours) try a reflective surface to the north. I've used carpet glue to put aluminum foil onto plywood to make a reflective wall. Seems to work well, but I'll want to take it out in the summer. You could probably even use that white plastic you mentioned, tacked onto a frame: cheap and will probably increase your sunlight 50% (mirrors or aluminum might give 80%...but the numbers are just a (conservative?) guess)

Hey, my dad is in the shop for a pacemaker (7:30 am tomorrow it gets planted) and my cousin had something similar a decade ago. Go for it! What's the worst that can happen?

omg!your dad in for plumbing tomarrow! very best wishes for him. i pray for that.

irregualr hb is my issue since i was a young swine.
mom and dad both had issues so much the vending guys in hospital
knew my name, adress and phone number. even before greys anatomy and scrubs tv shows i really really loathe hospitals

im a bb indian and really dont fear dying but i much prefer it to be natural like granny drops her cigar and runs over me in her towncar or a lightning bolt while im adjusting the tele antenna to some doh! (homer) move by some surgeon cause his surgical nurse ran off with the pharm rep from glaxo or something

i solved the white barrell prob. fusion spray paint is flawless.it does not flake nor will it embed deep enough into the barrell surface to cause chem bleed thru to the inside

reflectors will surely help. i still have some partial pieces of chrome
plexiglass and can buy the "drops" by the pound in jacksonville
thanks for the idea on this

with my land being sloping im thinking about terracing down the hill with dug beds and using a pto driven pump back to a top FT ;D

i cant use my saws any longer so a swap to the neighbor with the bobcat loader for the digging might just come about

please keep us posted on your fathers progress. my best wishes brother. john

For reflector, a white painted surface often works quite well but if you don't mind really reflective, you can go for the cheap mylar emergency blankets they sell with camping emergency kits, in the same area of the store you can usually get them individually. They are usually a fair size 5' by 6' and last time I bought some they were less than $2 each. Cheaper than tin foil I think.

If you are happy with goldfish and koi for the time being, I'd just go with your pond and totes you already have. Get some cool weather veggies going and don't worry about the greenhouse right away.

Only reason I've got things covered in plastic is cause I got Tilapia that would die if the water chills down. Next winter we probably will give up on the tilapia and just stick with Catfish so I don't need to worry so much about water temps.

TCL i know you guys got some really cold temps so far this year , did you lose any fish?

i want to ask you this also, which of these lights will be more economical to operate? a metal halide or high pressure sodium
and in your opinion would be best light spectrum for plants?

btw i do know better than to touch the lamps as just my skins grease will cause lamp burn thru. im thinking maybe the lamp heat will help warm smallish GH

and much thanks for the mylar use idea, thats even better than the plex and at 25 to 30 sq. ft. coverage.quick and also removable.
reflectors FTW!


oh i told a swiss army friend of mine about AP , we play an online game nitely called astroempires and share interest in heavy duty type trucks like pinzgauers, mogs, utes. and we chat a lot

the swiss as with most ppl from europe take fresh veggies very very seriously and

after seeing a barrellponics diagram i sent, he really wants to try a system and said he knew some swiss soldiers that will be cutting pvc and barrells today hahaha. go man go!

highest regards to all of you, john

All good so far. On the table at 7:30 am. I phoned up and caught him eating lunch at noon, then called after dinner and chatted re current news. The improvements in health care (acute care, not chronic) really impress me. So do the too-frequent screw-ups, but we are all human.

i am so glad all went well for your father and appreciate you letting us know too. i was worried and thought about it a lot

i have met some fine docs with all the ones lesia has to go see for her orthopedics care and procedures. on the other hand i have alos met some that i would prefer my vet over. lesia had one actually tell her "you have too many problems you need to go somewhere else"

thats just plain rude and unprofessional. i can be rude too and i was that day after he made that statement.

had another say to my friend that she was an addict. i not so politely told that one that "if indeed that she is, she did not create herself, nor has she ever stroked her own perscriptions, nor do i have a pill press or knowledge to use it, that it was you doctors that keep loading her up and slowly killing her with poisons that cost pennys and retail for max dollars"

hmm

they have a device out right now made by medtronics with electrical lead problems. we lesia had a spinal stim unit in and out 3 times and 4 battery malfunctions from same supplier. 7 surgery procedure not needed if thing had been done right first time or 2

it just still scares me that they call it "practice"

now to get back on some sort of topic of AP . i found some small bulkhead fittings locally . i went with 3/4" for the drains and overflow
for my tote GB . TCL pointed me to uniseals , these are not as good but same price and here now so ill try to use them. these are made by "scanlon" and have barb

here is link to man making up his own that is pretty inexpensive too. not as cheap as a uniseal though

http://www.truetex.com/bulkhead.htm

i need something running asap to putter around with . some sort of a start with even one bed and cold weather leafy green.

That looks to be right up this Redneck's alley, with that kind of setup, you could join two tanks together, no matter how far apart they are ..... Thanx for the link

hi jackalope, you are welcome brother but the uniseals are even less expensive than the homebrew connector and surely a lot faster install

i try my best to stay on topic as for medium do you have a custom fertilizer house of farmers co-op near you?

the filler they use as a carrier for the fert mixed with proper rocks will surely save big green to fill your GB

just make darn sure its a clean pile you load from and is not foulded with urea or amonium nitrate

i have planted in it (filler) before and it worked really well for plant support
and drains pretty good too. would be much better with the rocks and make sure you add bottom drain channel (cover) as this medium is pretty small but it sure is innexpensive at less than 60 bucks per ton

only drawback im seeing is i have to haul it and load it also and it sure wont be bagged . take your own shovel FTW!

best regards, johnny

was wondering if there is any calculation to figure the weight of a cubic foot or cubic yard of growing media.....

I know some items are lighter then the others....

say 1/2" (12.7mm) rock.....


does anyone know of a chart showing the different medium?

thanks
JT