Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

this was 9-23-09 hot hot hot

Welcome!
Those blue barrels might need bracing! they tend to bow out a bit especially from the middle at the top.

ok, i got the plumbing completed,got a pump and timer [flood for 15 min., drain for 1 hour. repeat.] here it is last sunday....

so we took some seeds, sprinkled them in, labelled each barrel, and here it is, one week later......

the beans and cukes popped up on wednesday! holy cow ! So I got to thinking, how will I support all this stuff if it really takes off? I got some chicken wire, screwed some screws in the top of my structure, and laid it across the top. then I took some paperclips, tied string to them, and hung them from the chicken wire. It should work good...as the plants rerequire support, just tie them up.....

I was gonna ask what kind of white string beans you were growing...

Had to add the strings Sminfiddle... cos they're "stringless" beans ...

ok, here is the progress report. It got mighty cold this weekend, [well, cold for south florida].........these plants are at 13 days old now....[attachment=0]IMG_8844 (Small).JPG[/attachment

the water is cold but crystal clear. I ordered 3 aquarium heaters for my 5 tilapia friends. they were hungry on sat. morning [still hot], but that cold front came thru, chilled the water, and they didnt want to eat or be active at all on sunday.

I run some water through a coil of black tubing laying in the sun during the day to help warm up my water sometimes. Just gotta make sure to unhook that before the sun goes away or it will chill the water more overnight.

well, I figure 2 heaters in system 1 [top pics,square tank] for the tilapia, and 1 heater for the barrel system. that way the fish stay warm and warm water for the plants. I would need a pretty big coil to do the job the heaters will do. of course, the cheaper the better, but the welfare of the fish are more important to me than the savings of NOT heating the water.

another update....here is everybody 7 days later, or about 21 days after planting.

it almost feels like everything has stalled.....but maybe I;m just anxious.

system 1 is chugging along with its basil and tomatoe cuttings,a dew carrots,lettuce and 1 cauliflower...