Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah, it has really taken hold and got going in the last few days, very satisfying to see
In fact everything is doing really well, I planted GB3 with lots of Chinese Kale seeds.
One of the bonuses of having a micro controlled GB, I can purposely overfill GB3 to ensure the seeds get some water, as they grow up, I can reduce the fill height to normal, i.e. just under the media.

Wanting to make a much bigger system again now


Dui

Hey guys, hope you all had a good xmas.
Just a quick update, with pics

Things all going well, apart from an algae bloom.
My water went cloudy overnight, same as Tony in Tas, brown and milky at first, then turned green.
I have had no fish deaths, presumably because I am way understocked.
FT and ST fully covered during the day now, and I think the algae is clearing, but slowly.

Interesting to see how much greener everything is than my big system in Surin, due to the much lower Ph I assume.

GB3 now fully online and sowed with seeds, took the flowers out of GB 1 and sowed some spring onion seeds 2 days ago.

Electronics still looking messy, not got around to weather-proofing it and tidying up the wiring yet.
Good enough is perfect is my motto

Hey guys,
Harvested my first beans today, only 2, but a milestone nonetheless!
I planted them around Nov 13th, seems a quick time to harvest to me, but I am not an expert gardener, quite the opposite in fact.

I also added a sand filter which is fed by one of the GB outlets.
Plan is to try NFT or raft, sand filter was added because the outlet water from the GB's has lots of little "bits" in it, including tiny little white worms 5mm long.
I read that NFT needs all the solids removed and thought it would be fun to try.
The water from the sand filter is absolutely crystal, ideal to send to an NFT or Raft system.
Will probably go for raft at first, hardware easier to obtain.

Pics coming tomorrow once the new bits are finished.


Cheers for now.

Dui.

Hey guys.
Some pics.





Water flows by gravity from one of the GB's into the sand filter, then into the raft tank.
The micro controlling the whole system then turns on the pump to pump back to the ST.
If the raft tank is successful I may chain some more together with the pump in the final tank pumping back to the ST.

Next task is to source some raft material.

Cheers for now.

Ao,
Your English is very very good.
Also, we have a saying in English "A picture paints a thousand words"
We only need pictures

Start a thread, post some pictures, if you need help with English words PM me.

Dui.

===================================
Better continue our conversation in this place.

Thanks for your help. My be I need you to translate some Thai words to Eng.
OK I'll Post my new system soon.

โชคดี
+
O

Ao,
That's great, I look forward to seeing the pics

I sourced some raft material from a Hydro shop, bit pricey, but there ya go.


Chinese Kale looking like it's preparing for battle to take over the mooban....
They got so big !
I pulled them today, one of my neighbours was eyeing them and saying "Aroi Aroi" - or "Delicious", so I pulled them and did the neighbourly thing and gave them to her along with some beans



Found a new electronics shop that carries a much wider range of bits and peices, so am in the middle of throwing together a new controller.
This one has many more inputs/outputs so future development is ensured, the last one ran out of I/O, but at the time was the only one I could get.

Cheers for now.

Dui.

Hi Dui
The cale is great, very big compare to mine.

Is that PIC?
Which Series? PIC16xx?
Have you tried auto fish feed using controller?

Cheer
+
O

Ao,
The Cale was slow to start, then just seemed to go crazy one day.

It's a PIC16F877A, lots of I/O, perfect for this application.

I haven't made an auto-feeder yet, it's on my list of things to do though, one day !

Cheers

Dui.

Dui,

You have a schematic/code for that new controller you are making??

I think code & schematic are not applicable if you use difference hardware

I think code & schematic are not applicable if you use difference hardware

John,
Both code and hardware are very much work in progress.
It's fairly simple stuff, apart perhaps for the servo control.
The code for that is very hardware specific for the timing.

Having said that, I'd be happy to share it once it's slightly more developed.

Cheers for now.

Dui.

Looking good Dui

Thanks Abdul

Another of my fish died today, I pulled him out as soon as he died and took a couple of pics, it's not a pleasant sight....
Half of his face has been eaten away.



The pic of his underside is even worse...



Anyone able to advise what in the hell might have caused this?
In addition for the last week or so, the fish have been really off their food.

On a brighter note however, beans looking and tasting great



Also I bought a small solar panel yesterday just to power the controller, I calculated it will take 7.7 years to pay for itself at current prices.
I didn't really get it for the money, just interested in the technology.
Sadly though, today was very windy and it blew the panel off the mount and it smashed on the floor
Now the calculation for payback time is very easy, just the value is hard to display

Will get another bigger one tomorrow and fix it more securely this time !

If anyone has any ideas about this fish mutilation, please reply.

Thanks.

Dui.