Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So after several weeks of reading through the forums, I've set up a little system of my own. This was designed to be a trial system to get my feet wet, so to speak. I've used a lot of found or recycled materials, so that influenced how I put this all together. Basically it's CHIFT PIST, with a pre-formed pond as the FT (free to me), and a recycled bathtub as the GB. The FT had to be pretty high to keep the puppy out, and the wife also requested the GB be tall so she doesn't have to bend over while harvesting lettuces. I'm going to put some goldfish in the pond once it cycles.

The system wraps around a corner of the house, so the GB has southern exposure, and the FT is shaded in the afternoon by the house. I spent yesterday afternoon putting everything in place, washing the gravel and hydroton (not very well, the water is full of suspended sediment), and plumbing. And then spent several hours watching it fill and drain and fill and drain.

I'm using a float switch on the sump pump (since that's what I had around the house from another project), and getting the timing of the pump in relationship to grow bed siphon is kinda tricky. Ideally it would turn on just after the siphon breaks, and kick off when the siphon starts. I'm not sure how reliable it will be if the water level in the sump fluctuates with evaporation or what have you.

Still to do: I have some old redwood barn siding to cover the FT support, I need to figure out a more permanent arrangement for the FT inlet hose, and I need a little more GB media. And then I suppose I need to watch it fill and drain some more...

I like it

plain simple and cheap is the way to go. I got 55 gal drums from the feed store for $10 ea they make good gb's and tanks.

Nice dog........

Quick update on the system. I started cycling with a couple of goldfish. It's been slow with the cool weather here, and the rain has been doing some partial water changes for me, but finally saw some nitrate in the system this morning! Ammonium and nitrite are coming down, so I think I'm on my way. Seedlings in the grow bed will be happy to get some more nitrogen, they're looking a little peaked. I did a little thinning this morning as one section of the bed was seeded a with a little too much enthusiasm. It's a mix of spicy stir fry greens, pac choi and lettuce in the back.

Can't even begin to compare growth rates in here compared to my dirt garden! Planning to wait until system is cycled, and then add a few more fish.

Nice system, Madrone.

I'm curious though why you choose to drain the FT by pulling water from the top of the tank instead of using a SLO drain. It seems with this set-up you will have to manually deal with solid fish waste and uneaten food.

-david

It is a SLO now. Didn't post a picture of that change. I've got a larger piece of pipe around the overflow with crenelations at the bottom. The initial problem was the larger pipe is a scrap bit of waste pipe, and it has a foam core and floats. A rock on the top keeps it in place now. My inlet is also now new and improved so water gets moved around pretty well.

A couple of updates to the system. I rigged some shade cloth over the fish tank. Even though it gets shade in the afternoon, the algae was starting to grow pretty well on the sides. I was also coming home from work to find everything looking a little...stagnant.

My pump is a sump pump, and much more powerful than I need. I was having problems with the siphon and the pump matching outputs, so that the siphon would continue to drain as long as the pump ran. My initial solution was to rely on a float switch to turn the pump on and off, but that set-up is prone to get hung up as water evaporates, and the water level in the sump changes. I'm having to add quite a bit of water as the weather gets nicer, nearly 5 gallons a day.

So I finally ran a diversion from the pump back to the sump. I have the valve all the way open, and now everything works well. Siphon is kicking in and out like it should.

I'm still cycling, and have had high nitrites and no ammonium for about two weeks now. Nitrates have been low to undetectable, but plants are doing well, so I'm not worried. Today the nitrites finally dropped to 0.5, and my pH is finally down to 8.0

I tested my tap water, and it's pH 8.2. Clearly I have a hard water issue. Anyone have suggestions? When I set up my big system, it will include a rainwater collection system, but it's a little late in the season to try and capture any water now (no more rain until November once spring is over).

My system is finally cycled! I celebrated by adding some more fish, three shubunkin. And I made the mistake of not putting them in quarantine before adding them to the FT.

All my fish have Ich. I might have introduced it with the second set of comets, or it might have come in on these new fish. I've pulled all the fish out of the system and put them into a hospital tank, and they're responding well to 4ppt salt. As far as I can tell from reading about the parasite, it will die within a couple of weeks without a host if the water temperature stays warm, so I'm inclined to keep the fish where I can keep a careful eye on them, and just dose the system with a kelp solution (closest I can find to maxicrop here) to keep the plants going.

In any case, here's more pics of my progress. The GB is in need of a little thinning, and actually plant growth has stalled in the last week or so, which suggests they're not getting enough nutrients.

Oh, and my pH has dropped right down to 7.4 now that I'm cycled. There's something to be said for this patience business.

I likes the way the lady thinks...

re ich: I hope the ich in your system will die off in the meantime. If not, you can grow most plants with 3ppm salt. But not strawberries...

The fish in the hospital tank are all looking ich free. However, since the plants in the AP system were looking a little nutrient deprived I dosed the system with a fish emulsion/seaweed extract I had around. Good news is the plants are perking up. Bad news is I poured with a very liberal hand and now the nitrites are 5.0, nitrates 80. Oops. Good thing the fish are still in the hospital tank. Think I'll wait a bit before I put them back and let the bacteria catch up.

I am appreciating being able to make these mistakes on my little trial system while I learn the ins and outs of balancing fish and plants.

Yep a starter system is a great idea!

Did your water go really black/dark as well with the seaweed extract? Mitch stuck some in our systems here at the shop one time and the system was so dark, no one could see into the water.