Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a daily comparator(?), veggie seedlings have been planted in dirt (wife's) garden from same punnet, even C1 noticed the difference in the 2 sets yesty
Ell

return pump failed last night- i don't have a big enough sump for another of murrays sump pumps so it will have to be something smaller from him or another pond pump.... didn't keep my receipt of course

hey guys if i have 2 tanks about 10m apart joined by 20mm pipe at the bottom should the level ov this tank rise and fall with my main tank levels and should the water in this stay fresh enough?

That's a tricky one beeso. Tecnically, the level will be tidal, yes, rise and fall to teh level of the first tank. As for keeping the water fresh longer, could you divert some of the return water into both tanks? VB had some dramas witrh his 2 linked together re water quality in the tyidal tank I think

i'm running out of space out the back but was thinking of adding in a small tank on the front deck for the purpose of relieving muzza of his ecsess cod... might have to do a contious flow tower instead....

10/9/06 5/10/06 qnd 14/10/06 i had no bacteria when i did my first auto cycle on the 10/9- talk about living proof!

Another way to solve the two tank issue is to set the tank that is farthest from the grow beds the highest, pump return water from beds into this tank and build a center drainpipe inside of it to scavenge the fish waste as it flows down to the next tank (the blue one with the statue) and another center standpipe in the blue down to the grow beds. One pump in your sump send it back to the top on a timer vs. float. Have to have a large enough sump equal to amount of water in grow beds.

Know how you feel -it just goes with a bang for sure, puts that warm fuzzy feelin' inside ya every time you view it

the more I look at that stunning red bed of yours , the more I like it - looks almost like a display model, type of thing you would see at a show of some sort!

Everybody loves boobs,LOL

oh yeah, there is that too

hey guys i was wondering if anyone else is using small diameter gravel, my growth seems alot slower than it should be but i'm also wondering if i have enough fish aftr having a wander through the forum. I've been resisting fiddling too much this year cause we were going to buy a house but my fingers are getting itchy

Hi Beeso,
Many of us are using about 10mm gravel, but there are some folks with a few sand beds. (I think Jayme has one.) I would expect that if your gravel was too small, you would get low DO in the beds, and a bigger problem with plants rotting out. If growth is slow it could be low nitrates (iow, low stocking level) or even low light. In your pictures, your growbeds always seem shaded. Is low light perhaps a problem? Are there certain plants that grow better than others? Can you get a nitrate test, and maybe remind us of your tank size, growbed size and #fish?

I use a mix of sizes...
At the bottom I use a mix of 7 to 12mm stone, then the top third I use a layer of 4 - 5 mm stuff... in my one experiment the rate of growth and seed germination has been best in the smaller stuff...
Pluss the larer stuff at the bottom seems to help drain the GB quicker

my system has doubled its water since i had overflow problems and used a 2nd tank i had, about600L now i really think i need more fish