Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone,
I am brand new to AP and am currently researching and planning my system. I've been a typical gardener for years, so I'm used to growing. Always wanted to raise fish, never hassled with it because of the mechanical filtration needed. Awesome how the fish and plants co-depend on each other.
I have learned alot and enjoyed reading the post on this great site! I will be posting lots of pics as I do my build, as I have enjoyed all of your pics.

G-day Kevyrev, lookin forward to those pics even of the "site to be". Have you got any tanks pumps etc yet

Thanks Tea20! Not exactly sure of the site area, still thinking. The only thing I have yet are some pumps and PVC pipe. I believe by seeing your test that you did that I'll be convinced on making a flood and drain system.

Awesome greenhouse you have by the way!!

Howdy Kev, . Will be interested to see your plans as they develop...

Welcome, Kevyrev!

The idea of creating a simple recycling biosystem is pretty intoxicating, eh? Neat stuff!

BTW, if you modify your info to show your city folks will have a better idea of what you are dealing with as far as local conditions.

Hay there and welcome!

This is addicting but at least it's a healthy hobby.

Thanks for all the generous welcomes!
I did some digging for salvaged items today and found a few items I think will be okay. I had an old acrylic garden tub from a bath tub remodel that I kept, wondering If it could be a FT or ST. I gathered lots of salvaged 2x4's as I plan to build a wood frame greenhouse . I also found a cool all glass storm door that I'll use on the GH!
I plan to buy a few IBC's soon. Just want to get the GH built and be ready for them, also need to find someone to haul them. Found a black plastic barrel that was for water too. It has a crack in the center, so I will turn it into two small GB's. Cool being able to recycle stuff.
I have three bilge pumps that are from a boat. I was wondering how they would work for AP. I think I'll probably need something more durable. I am planning the GH now and will start construction on Wed. Jan. 5th. I will post my first pics of site and first days progress! Can't wait to get started.

Well this was the much anticipated day that I would start to build my greenhouse and layout a few things but..... Rained all day long!
Oh well, I managed to change my design of greenhouse so at least everything wasn't wasted. I found a few videos on how to make a bell siphon. Seems like its a great thing to have but may require alot of "tuning" of resistance to get the right pressures to make it work. If anyone has any info on this or experience, I'd love to hear about it.
With any hope I will be able to get some pics tomorrow.

One tip on siphons: it is far easier to make them stop cleanly if you have a small air line connected to the bell/top. It should be a bit too small to break the siphon by itself, but should stop the siphon from restarting (slurp, slurp, slurp) so that the growbed never fills. Took me a year of frustration before I gave in and tried it. Adding the air break gives you a really large range of flows that will still work fine.

Thanks Hydrophilia!
Thanks for the input. That is the type I saw and liked, the kind with the tubing going into the top of the bell. The guy gave specs on his siphon and mentioned that it took him three months of fine tuning to get it right. Went on to say it worked without flaw for the remainder of the season. I'll post pics of mine as I build it and definetly give feedback as to the performance of mine. But first things first... I'm still just planning... have a way to go still.

Hey.....

sounds like your getting things ready to go.....

as far as siphons... I did the regular bell siphon in an old smaller system, but have since converted to all Affnan siphons, no fine tuning at all.... first time I set them up, they worked first time and every time since.....

my first two were static affnans and the second two I put in my GH AP system were adjustable, just in case...

jT

Welcome Kev
Looking forward to seeing your system develop.

Dui.

I was ready to get started yesterday with laying out my GH, but it rained all day. As for today though it looked much better. Sun was out and a bit warmer. I had a few things to do earlier today and took care of them so I could get started on laying out my GH.
As I started on my third cut with the saw, the entire north county I live in lost power. I blame my saw directly !
I was able to lay out the bottom plates and set up one set of wall studs.
The GH is going to be smaller than most 12' x 12' with a 9' offset roof peak. I will add on it as things develop or just build a much nicer and larger one next year. I'm using all salvaged items so far. Found alot of stuff and couldn't refuse it.
Snapped a few pics and quickly found out that I need to resize them. I will need to find another program than what I'm using. Will post them soon.

I was thinking of the grow bed media and have a quick question. I am thinking of filling the lower majority of my grow bed with river rock pebbles 1/2" size, and then toping it off with pea gravel which are much smaller. Would this provide better for the roots at the top and allow more air and water to mix at the larger rock below? Thought it maybe would allow for solids to move around better. I'm wanting to do a flood and drain system. I'm starting small at first to get a feel of it, and will expand. Is there good reasoning for this or should I use one size of media, is there any advantage over large or small media?