Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ohh! That is very good advice. I need to discuss that with Todd to see what, if anything he has planned for that. Thank you very much.
I will be sure that there is something in place before we put the fishes in there.
You probably just saved some poor fishes lives, unless the husband already has a plan for this, which he may, he tends to think of most the things I fail to on a regular basis. He gets a great deal of amusement out of my sudden realizations about things he has already long ago thought into the equation.

Sweet info!
Thanks again.


Thank you.

We have plans for two 1 1/2 inch pipes plumbed at max low for fish tanks.

Thank you, that is great advice. We will be sure to watch for this as we get things going. I think our current plan is to control the amount of water into the beds with a valve.
We are putting a T fitting with a valve that will be able to control how much pressure goes up into the grow beds. We are putting it on the part of the T that doesn't go to the beds, so it doesn't cause a lot of back pressure on the pump.

To start with we are not planning on having siphons and are going to simply have continuous flow through our beds. I know we will be most likely playing around with siphons in my experimental bed at some point, so I am sure the wet feet will be coming soon.
Pictures of toes!
I would need to stand on my head, on a ladder, with someone else taking the photo to get photos of my experimental system. I am reasonably sure that would only happen accidentally, and I would seriously hope there were no photos.
Many thanks to you for such great info.
You guys are the greatest!

Thank you very much.
But as far as frightened fish, you don't know the half of it.
One horse use to catch them and toss them out onto the ground when he was young, thankfully he outgrew this about the time we bought him, but his previous owner said she couldn't keep any fish in the tank without him tossing them. She said he went through over 20 of them before she gave up having them in there.
Currently I have 2 that are sisters that like to put their front feet in and paw at the water. The water splashes above their heads.
Maybe this is the horse version of I think you need more air, let me help you with that?
Thankfully they have only actually pawed one fish out of the tank that I didn't find soon enough.
I would think these fish are going to be feeling pretty pampered moving into a nice quiet greenhouse.
Maybe they will be telling each other fish stories about how bad they use to have it?
Thanks again, we will keep going and see what we can put together.

Pampered gold fish, well at least till they are in a tank with trout bigger than them!

If you are talking about using the 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks as fish tanks for trout, you will definitely need to sort out some fish trampolines, as in covers that will bounce the trout back down into the shallow tanks since trout don't give you much time to get them back into the water before they won't make it. (Unlike goldfish, exploring dry land is not something many trout survive being thrown back in.)

For small fingerlings the stock tanks are fine and I am using a 300 gallon stock tank now to grow out Channel Catfish but I kinda wish they were deeper for use as fish tanks. I really like them as deep grow beds though. (Just giving you ideas to feed the Aquaponics Addiction, I can see already that you will be designing the bigger better systems for the new greenhouse even before this one is up and running.)

I finally remembered to take a photo of the pump my father in law gave us. I think its serious overkill for our size system, but perfect for the next one we put together for the trout.


While we didn't get the final plumbing hooked up, nor enough supports cut for our fish tanks, and... well this could be a large list, so I will stop now. I did get some photos of where we are now in how things look. The 3 troughs at the far end will be where we house the fish and the closer 3 is will be for the sump.


And from the other end.


I had a major surprise yesterday. Todd wants to get us Hydroton for our grow beds.
I totally didn't see that coming, I thought I would be still washing gravel for months. I will be sure not to ask for anything for Christmas. Geez I feel so loved!
And he found it for a great price. What a husband!
This is such a surprise, does anyone have suggestions about it?
Is there a best way to clean it?
Am I now about to be spoiled for life?
Well, maybe that has already happened, maybe a long time ago even.

lol! I am not sure I have the heart for that, but in thought it is well funny. Trout are such munchers that you have to be careful even with their own kind if you get much size difference. I don't want to ever hear, honey, did you harvest some fish? I thought we had 100 in there yesterday, but today there are only these 5 big ones.

I am in hopes that we won't be raising trout in the stock tanks, at least not much bigger than fingerling size anyway.
They really do like to jump, and you are entirely correct about not being so hearty as the goldfish. I am in hopes when we do have trout, that we can design the system with more like a net around a trampoline that will bounce them back than having to cover them over all the time. Great info though. Thanks.

Now that is just mean! I love it!
I know, I know. Its like I caught this disease or something. At least it leaves me feeling good. Its like the next system will actually be our real system and this one is just practice so we do our real system better.
I showed this little doodle of another greenhouse idea for trout to my husband the other day. And even it is somewhat outdated already as I want the water for the fish tank to go all the way around the sump area so the trout can get plenty of exercise.
Hopeless, completely hopeless.

Do a little research on that pump. Any metal other than stainless steel is generally a bad Idea for aquaponics and if there are seals and lubricant that could kill fish if it does leak, I might avoid that pump except for moving water around for utility purposes (as in only very temporary use in contact with AP water.) I got a very inexpensive sump pump that I used on a float switch for a while, I think the warranty was for about 3 months. It quit working at about 4 months and when I pulled it out, any metal was all nasty and corroded and I'm probably very lucky it didn't leak anything to kill my fish.

In searching for pumps, ya want fish safe and do a little extra research cause spending a little extra money up front can actually save you quite a lot on electricity bills down the road and pay for the difference big time. Some overkill on the pump is good but ya don't want to blow the fish out of the water and if you up size the plumbing from a small pump you can often see some improved efficiency from them.

Hang in there, It is quite an obsession you have coping with. Luckily it is generally a healthy one that gets you eating good food and feeling good. Just wait till you get to eat food out of your system, that is such a great feeling.

Oh, and something many people have done with the clay if the price is just too much, use gravel in the bottoms of the beds and the clay on top for easier planting, I haven't tried it yet but sounds like a great idea to me.

As to washing, depends on your water situation. For gravel I usually swish a plant basket of gravel in a bin of water then place in the beds. This can make a couple bins of water go a long way and get river pebbles quite clean and not be very wasteful. I've seen people fill beds with the Hydroton and just leave the drains going to waste while they fill the bed and swish it around then let the water drain out to the ground. Perhaps a little more wasteful of water but probably a faster way to get it done so if you can direct the wasted water to some dirt plants that want it, then perhaps not a bad thing, just try to avoid sending too much dirty water back to fish or sump tanks where it will have to settle out and might stay suspended in the system till the bio slime builds up in the beds enough to re-capture it.

By doing the gravel swish in a couple successive bins method, I was able on my own, alone, in extreme heat, to fill a 100 gallon grow bed in less than half a day's work so two people dealing with the clay could probably do 400 gallons easy in a day and probably much more depending on the layout and how many breaks ya take.

Those lines of barrels look so great! The hubby sounds like a quite a guy, appropriately rewarded he should be for his ingenuity and hard work I feel.

We just spent our AP budget yesterday, so will need to either make due with that pump for a bit, or wait for a bit to get things started.
I don't think the husband will want to wait, which I think is why I am not washing gravel.
But this is very good to know. I am certain a better pump is in our future, now to figure out the best way to not hurt my father in laws feelings by not using it. He was really excited for us to have it.

Neither of us can wait for that. I hope we can get our system up before the cold takes out all our fall crops in the dirt garden and that they can handle a move to a much warmer place. Which would put some favored greens into our green smoothies much sooner than if we need to grow them from seeds.
That is a great idea, unless the beds need to be cleaned out frequently. I would think separating it to get the big ones back on the bottom might be quite a bit of work.
We felt fortunate to get the Hydroton for a good price, at least good in comparison to what we had seen previously, I think best price I had seen prior had been 27.00 plus shipping, but we found a source local for 19.00 a bag. We were both shocked and really happy about it. I can't wait to get my hands in it.

I think we will do it pretty much this way, other than the excess water we will temporary plumb to go outside, its been pretty wet recently, so I currently do not have any plants that need some extra water.

Awesome!

I really want to thank you for how much help you are providing me with. I really appreciate it.
Even the part that is helping increase my obsession.

dont worry about having to clean the beds out, a handfull of worms in each bed will dot hat for you
gravel washing, my favorite part of setting up and AP system

Thanks, I think they came out well also.

He is quite a guy! He has ingenuity of an old soul with the spirit of a 6 year old. Its mostly the perfect combination (especially since our kids grew up) He doesn't fit what my mind thinks a 50 year old man should be like.
When you say "appropriately rewarded" what suggestions do you offer for this fine term?
Going fishing is what comes to my mind. But right now his focus is really on getting the AP system set up, so not sure it would be the best time to suggest a fishing trip.
Thanks again!

Yesterday we took a quick trip over to Vancouver, Washington to a hydroponics shop that had the Hydroton on sale for 19.00 a bag. They are currently out, but are expecting another shipment in a couple weeks. Not sure what the price will be then, but sounds like they plan another big sale before Christmas. We set up an account with them and got big discounts off the other goodies we got as well. He even threw in a half bag for free, really nice of him.

We showed they guy at the store photos of our system to show him why we needed so much and he was really excited about it and even told us it was the best looking system he knew of in the area.

If anyone is close enough and wants their contact info, just send me a PM and I will get it to you.

Anyway, Santa came early, he must have seen the smoke from the wood stove. Or maybe he saw the half yard of unwashed gravel still sitting in my truck as he flew over and felt like I wouldn't get any green veggies soon if he didn't help out?

That picture of his on here doesn't make him look like a 50 year old at all! Astounding work you guys

I know! That is exactly what I think too. When we meet new people and they ask about our kids, they are always shocked when we tell them how old they are and even more at how old we are.
I am really happy that he seems to like AP as much as I do, its always great to have more things to enjoy together. I wonder how long it will take me to dig the hole for the trout system? hehe It seems so crazy that I only have water, fish and plants in my experimental system and the one we are working so hard on isn't even the one that I am dreaming about and willing to put even more work into.
Someday I will get to say to my husband, I love you so much that I dug you this big hole just so you could have some trout again.
But most likely he will look at me and say in reply, it could have been done a lot faster if you had rented a tractor to dig the hole. He doesn't really understand the enjoyment I get from the simplicity of digging a hole with a shovel.
Maybe I can start digging as soon as this system is up and running, I don't think it will be much longer now.

Thank you very much for your generous praise.


I have loads of worms, so that's no problem.
I have gravel to wash, any chance you will be in my area in the near future?
Thanks for your suggestion.

Gravel washing is AP's rite of passage, good luck with it

Take him down to the beach with grandkids once you guys have them, kids love digging holes and its infectious

Today I worked on the experimental system, I nabbed 10 curly kale and 10 dino Kale from my dirt garden and put them into some of the small beds I made. It was my first experience handling the Hydroton, that is some really nice stuff. 2 little beds and I am completely hooked already.
The strawberries I transferred from the dirt garden a couple days ago area still looking alright, so I don't think they are going to die straight away anyway.
I was really surprised and pleased that after turning on that system that overnight the water cleared significantly, I could see the bottom of the tank. But today when I went out, the water was even more clear. At that point it was only running through a small percentage of my experimental system, so I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.
Here is a photo of my experimental system fish, sorry it is not too clear. The fish are not very cooperative for photos so none came out very clear. They are fantails, the larger one I have had about 3 years I would say he is about 5-6 inches long, there are 3 little ones that are new additions and the size the other one was when I got him. I have never really fed him until now though, he lived alone in this 100 gallon trough with a water lily that grew huge from my unknown AP, he would eat the mosquito larva and the aphids that would get on the water lily for snacks.

And here is a photo of what they got to eat today. They all seem to go crazy for the worms I feed them.


I also worked on the water return for that system as well. I had been using a gutter under the beds, since it is all up at about 6' (who needs a stair stepper? Just put your grow beds to be nearly a foot over your head and check on and work on them frequently) but today I made a system of PVC T's that runs it all back nicely to the fish tank.
It is a constant flow system, at least at this time it is. It is kind of expressive and messy, so doesn't get a lot of photos. Its nothing like the precise work that Todd does when he is involved with a project.
But here is a couple of the strawberries I planted in there a couple days ago, these are in PVC gutters filled with 1/4 inch pea rock. The open area I am going to put some fuchsias so they can hang down with pretty blooms maybe.