Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello all, im new here and today i took the plunge and try myself a system. for about 15 years i have kept 2 elderly old koi in a 1000 gallon poly stock tank.

so i decided to try my blind hand at growing some groceries to.

im legally blind guy now as my loader tractor hurt me
a few years back.
so im stuck at home. i really want to garden and have tried for a few years. the soil here is typical for florida
and very sandy and yeilds minimum amounts with maximum labor and efforts. to make things worse my acre is very shady escept for a small area. the only way to get anything to produce is to plant in containers. i always used the water from the koi pond and they did very well.

my friend is also disabled so she cannot weed a garden and i cant see well enough to do it either. so weeds are a plague for us. not anymore i dont think though

i stumbled upon a wiki link to aquaponics and ended up here. right now im gathering anything i have that i might can use or think i can use

not having but one income now . i tend to use a lot of scrap and recycled materials too. making do - is not a bad thing as it helps make us resourceful imho.

already having the big stock tank is a blessing ,today i came up with 2 - 45 gallon, 3 - 30 gallon and 10 - 25 gallon rubber totes that are rectangular. a 55 gallon
food grade drum (was my rainwater catcher) and also
a 20 gallon round rub

a mag drive type pump (not sure what GPH size or if it will even run) and a little giant pump with a bio filter. i bought all 3 for 15 dollars at a yard sale a few years ago . the little giant is a big one and i think the man said it was 1500 gph

so thats where im at as of now. i would like to learn to set this up and hopefully have some sucess in growing veggies.

im happy to be here and thank all of you. best regards, johnny

hey Johnny, it's great to have you here with us.

Do you have your computer set up so you can read enough of the forum? How much can you see?

The grow beds should be a huge blessing for you both

hi, yes i have assistive pc as much as i can get it. its old pc but i run ubuntu and their orca reader

i can still see a wee bit from my left side. i have large monitor and also sometimes use the magnifier.

still its really slow to post or reply. the original post was over an hour to compose. its pretty frustrating but im still learning to be patient and im hopeful the blind services will someday help me get into a better pc

this is old 500p3 from like early 90's

im really excited about my aquaponics project and do think it will not only make some nice veggies but will give me something productive i can enjoy doing again.

ibest regards, johnny

Johnny, what part of North Florida are you from? I spent a few months in Jay Florida 50 miles north of Pensacola, working on some compressors at a sour gas plant that used to be owned by Exxon.

Welcome Johnnie... and feel free to PM any questions you may have.... or just post them here...

update: decided to abandon the small tote grow bed idea , due to 2 main reasons. the first being i have the ap addiciton badly and smallish totes will not feed my monkey

secondly im thinking the myriad of plumbing fittings i would need for 1000l of GB will make it better to go ahead and construct larger capacity GB in the start.

tomarrow ill price 20' lengths of 24" corrugated culvert
i figure i can split it either with sawzall or torch if need be and just fabricate some good water tight ends and line them. they are very strong and will need less support than rubber/plastic totes

still having the pump quandry but smarter AP folk than i will advise me im sure. i figure go ahead and purchase a good quality pump as its the heart of our AP systems. cant have bad heart and do a lot of tough work. this i know

so my pump choice will encompass solid handling capacity, gph and head height , energy efficiency,
ability to repair pump of choice or at very least being able to replace some wear parts, oh and a good sized
inlet/outlet

lots to consider with my new heart i decided to place max price i can pay at 300 dollars and to go 115v just for ease of install on the voltage

medium: the filler material mixed with smooth river rock

fish: found blue tilapia and catfish fingerling supplier
but for now koi and goldies and maybe giant groumis
(sp)

greenhouse for tilapia sited and will be built front north yard. gets winter sun and summer shade

no zoning/permit woe here. Ghouse will be tight
with ventilation/ therm controlled roof vent and rollup curtains and shade cloth for summer use.

still no reply after initial contact with the HP guy that was going out of biz. maybe thats good, i dunno but all stuff happens for reason so im not sweating it.

ima happy john thanks to ap , still need to address FT heater, 2nd FT idea and sump consids and to quit posting all over the forum with my newblet* questions.

noob: will never advance no matter how much effort and advice given

newb: will advance given time and proper guidance


my new years resolution: to not clutter forum and to post my wackyness only here in my pen unless super relevant to topic to keep my monkey on topic if at all possible heh

amen

secured 2 more FT they are behlen brand "fun pools"

another 9' 1000 gallon
and a 6' 350 gallon

total cost 500 dollars delivered



my tanks have drain plugs unlike the one on their website

so that will give me 3 good FT. also found 4-6" catfish for .25 each
from only 3 miles away

still trying to find corrugated steel culvert (for GB troughs) in lengths and prices i can handle. so far nothing but extreme steel prices. 1000 bucks for 20 feet i cant handle that.

kuda says shorter length GB are wtg so thats what im pursuing. right now im back to using the totes

im wondering if i will have to dig in my FT's more to get the GB down lower especially if i use the taller totes?

im trying to avoid GB that are too tall but still tall enough to get good flow back to FT . argh!

Hey did you get a family with those pools

hahahaha no or i would give each one a shovel. it sure would be nice to have some help digging. i have the 3 dogs but they are not ever focused on the target digging location

question: what test kit do you veterans like?

it seems like i remember someone telling me the API master FW kit was kit of choice.

http://www.azponds.com/test_Kits.htm#AquariumPharmaceutical


he has quite a variety listed including the API offerings.

please advise...

johnny the one we all use is the =Freshwater master test kit=

Yep API Freshwater master test kit here too!

Use the totes as you have them until you get around to building or acquiring something better. that way you will already have some bacteria started to spread around a larger system.

Sounds like you have found the ticket on the catfish, good price for those sizes and close by too! I have to drive almost an hour to get mine and they cost 30 cents for 3-5 inch fish. Trick is getting good at cleaning them without getting barbed but that won't be for a while yet in any case.

thanks guys, ill get the api fw master kit.

im sorta fearful of getting barbed by the catfish myself.
ill really have to be careful if i ever do clean any to eat

the man im getting the catfish from is a friend i have known for years. he is giving me a special price and is quite interested in the aquaponics try im doing.

he has a huge aquaculture venture going on in branford florida in an old barrow pit thats 115 acres. mostly cage culture. but quite a variety of fishes he raises there. he even has stripers. striped bass are a gorgeous specie of fish imho

he shocks these fish up with electric probe to capture the freerange stock. pretty cool to see it in action too.
it surprised me that it did not kill them but he knows
how much juice to apply i found out.

he told me to put my finger in the water. john declined i hate being shocked



dave whalen aquaculture is company name

Is that what they are... I've always wondered...

Hey Johnny a little trick we used for ANY aquatic animals with barbs is to break them off using a hollow steel pipe, first and for most ( or a pair of pliers ) Sting Rays and Mantle Rays like the one one that killed Steve Urwin.....we would never move off the boat with out removing the barb.....and they make great letter openers as gifts at christmas ( also deadly weapons )