Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am finally getting the GB filled up and ready to go. I am using a mix of media for my grow bed. I started with some course river rock that is about 1 inch size. On top of that i put a layer of hydriton, because I like the surface area that the clay balls have to grow bacteria.




On top of the clay balls I added a couple of inches of my chunky perlite. Here is a close up of one of the pieces. It should be big enough to hopefully not clog up anything in the system.





I also added a ladies nylon over my stand pipe to keep it as clear as possible. On top of the perlite I added a couple inches of pea gravel to keep the perlite in place. On top of of the whole mix I put a little more perlite. I like the white color for its reflective nature. This is very important for my artificial light this winter



Now I will get some help bringing in my fish tank cage and then the tank itself. Add a little water and then I can start plumbing and playing with my pump etc.

OK the whole system is put together. I played around today with some flood and drain. I changed the outlet to the GB as a wide open 1 inch drain would not allow the bed to fill. I put a cap on the 1 inch tube abd drilled a hole that workrd pretty well. I am only runnuing a 400 gpm pump with about a 3 foot rise, so I am sure that the gph is half at the lift I am asking for.




Give me a little help on timing. I am filling in 20 minutes and about 40 to drain. Is that OK? Too long to drain? Give me some input on some times and it would greatly appreciated. Here is my solid outflow. I threw in some pond water and I am doing some water changes with the aquarium to add some ammonia and some bacteria.





I will keep refining and adjusting.

Looking good! 2 comments:
1. you;ll want to add more GB space later. You might not have enough cycling available with that small GB. It also won't let you stock the fish at a high density to get hi nitrate levels.

2. The nylon stocking might be a bad idea. It might clog easily.

Still have some concerns related to possible "collar rot" and algael slime build up on your perlite...

Time will tell.... please keep us posted

20 fill and 40 drain is fine but you might have trouble finding a timer that will do that round the clock unless you spend more for a repeat cycle timer. but there are threads about building repeat cycle timers though.

Anyway, with a cheap timer, you might wind up having to do like 30 minute fill and 45 minute drain time.

H newbie I am limited in space on my winter porch, but I do have a 50 gallon fish pond I may drag in and use as a GB. To supplement this i want to run my outdoor pond filter at night to supplement the lack of grow bed space. Next summer I want to use the outdoor pond as a sump and put some grow beds in my garden area. The stocking pulls off from the top and I wanted it for the first month or so. After everything settles it will probably come off.


Rupert, the top perlite rarely gets wet as I stop my flood level at 1 inch below the surface and I am not sure why algae would like perlite better then clay balls or gravel. This is still a complete experiment and we will see how it goes.

with some more runs I am more like a 20 fill and 1 hour drain. My cheepie lowes timer accommodates that real well. I just programmed it and plugged it in an hour ago. I am gragging the pump and bio filter up from the pond to cycle the water and get some bacteria grow. I'll throw a few goldfish in the tank in a week or so to test the water. I have a couple of orchids I may throw in the GB and sprout some basil and spinach top get things started. I am pretty excited now.

The water retention of the perlite... and exposure to sunlight... can result in the algael growth Hautions....

Commonly happens in net pots filled with perlite when used in hydro...

Thanks for the input Rupert. I'll try to keep the top layer as dry as I can to combat that problem. My media must be getting a little more saturated, as I had to cut down my fill time from 20 to 15 to lower the fill level a bit. Still 1 hour between fills. That uses up 19 segments in my 20 segment programmable timer. I'll let it run for a while and see if it needs any more adjustments. Thanks all for the great info and interest.

I did some calculations today and it has convinced me I need some solar heating for my big tank to make it through the winter, if I am going to be semi efficient about it. I have also concluded my outdoor pond needs to be warmer earlier and hotter overall to make my tilapia happy. Since I need something for both applications, it makes sense to buils a 4 X 8 panel now, use it through the winter and then move it to the outdoor pond in the spring and summer. I am pretty pumped to incorporate this in to my system. I have to get to work now and research some economical panel designs.

Couple things to keep in mind about solar heating design in relation to fish.

1-most metals other than stainless steel are to be avoided around fish systems since they can be bad for the fish and the fish water can be corrosive to most metals.

2-If using something like small plastic tubing (like for pool heating panels) fish water tends to clog up small tubing very quickly and effectively with bio-slime.

These two things often cause people to run some sort of heat exchange set up rather than actually running fish water through the solar heater.

Good luck on your designs.

Another point: I don't know what heat loss you figure from water surfaces, but I've come up with something like R0.12 experimentally. HUGE heat loss..... *NOT happy*

I wonder if it would make sense to run some experiments on heat loss/oxygen/CO2 with various configurations (like keeping an insulated cover over it, adding air slowly, and aggressively recirculating the trapped air)?

I have given the heat loss from water a little thought. There was some good information in a long thread here called Jackey's Jungle. She had a cover on her fish tank in the winter. It was some sort of bubble wrap from what I remember. She used a similar 3 season porch and lives in Pennsylvania with similar cold temperatures in the winter. I believe you have to leave some opening in the cover for surface water to be disturbed even with an air stone, as the breaking of the water surface not the bubbles create the oxygenation. A full cover defeats that purpose, but a partial opening for the water to drain in creating a splash and an air stone under the opening might do the trick. The room is cool, but not real cold. I would like the solar to heat during the day and limit electric heater to a few hours at night. Some interesting data to be collected for sure. I really need to get some cyceling done here so I can add fish.

I put some seeds in the media last night. Simple things like basil and cilantro. I added a couple of hot peeper seeds as well. My ailing orchid went in pot and all, with some babies off the spider plant that I know will grow anywhere! I want a little growth while I am waiting. That reminds me, I better do some water tests on the crowded aquarium and my new fish tank. More later.

A quick update on water tests in the IBC tank. Amonia .5 Nitrites .25 and nitrates 5 PH 8.2.

I tested the aquarium and it was OK, but Nitrates were 1. I would like them lower.

Hautions,

In my imagined system, one would have at least a few inches of air space between water and lid, allowing for turbulence etc to mix air and water, if that is needed. An external bubbler or venturi would bring in some fresh air. Internally one would have air mixed in with splashing water, or an internal (within the insulated space) bubbler recirculating air. The key is what CO2 and O2 air concentration will begin to give trouble: I know it is far different than ambient, but how different? If one can run the same air through water multiple times (essentially 100% of the heat loss takes place on the first pass) there is a huge benefit in terms of heat loss......if air can be run through ten times before exhausting it, one would only add 1/10 as much fresh air as normally and lose 1/10 of the normal heat....

Easier to have cool-water fish. *sigh*

Hydro, that is an interesting concept. It would still be a valid comparison to calculate the losses of a 16 square foot area that was insulated with some form of blanket with a one square foot open area to accomplish the same overall results. It may be closer then you think.

I thought about simple gold fish or local blue gill as a fish option, but I do enjoy a challenge, That is often half the fun of these projects. I hope your long distance fish management goes better. That is a perplexing problem.