Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ouch, sorry about the lack of spouse AP conversations, Todd and I talk about it all the time still, maybe not number one conversation, but easily in top 5.

I don't know if I ever could simply follow a set of directions without understanding. I think "why?" is my number one question. I know I have come to the same conclusion if I had just listened and followed I would have reached the goal quicker, but for some reason I just was not programmed that way. I think I near drove my teachers in school mad as a child, I spent a load of time in the principles office. Now I just know I have ADD and have mostly learned to live with it. But oh how much easier life would be sometimes if "why?" was not so strong in my life. I use to be so naive that I thought I would outgrow this trait.

I need to learn that phrase. "Oh, thats how you do it easy"
Please excuse me as I beat my head on this rock one more time.

Hi Beth,

I was looking at the picks near the top of this page and noticed the gravel looks pretty damp at the surface... you probably don't want this because eventually you will have to control algae build up (don't ask how I know this). You will probably have more troubles with fungus gnats as well. Having the higher water level does help for starting seeds so if that's where you are in the cycle

Oh, algae build up, we don''t want that.
Wonders which would be easier, to attempt to pull the very stuck in standpipes out and shorten them just a little bit more or add a bit more hydroton to a pretty much already full bed? I will need to experiment and see just how far the hydroton wicks itself.
Materials required.
One clear glass jar with a few inches of water in it.
Hydroton added in tiny amounts until surface remains dry.
Measure and repeat in beds.
I am so glad I measured everything the same and marked the outside pipe to the drain pipe length, I wasn't sure it would help at a later date, was just a perhaps, but looks like an already will help. Awesome! Thank you.

Currently the hydroton is about an inch over the water fill line and is wicking up through itself. And you are right, the extra moisture is awesome for the germination. If only I could talk my seeds into growing faster than the algae to block the light for me. At least I have a little bit of time to decide which is the best way to go, though more full sized hydroton on top of tiny plants is probably not a good decision. I will be doing some serious groaning if I have to empty the beds again to do this.
Even though they are not all planted yet, I was having a nice moment of thinking yay, I won't be doing this again soon.

And ok, I wont ask how you know that. But was it difficult to get it off the hydroton once you had it?
Or did just drying out the surface take care of it.
Thank you so much for sharing this info with me. You and so many others are so helpful to me, you guys rock!

I would have been having a serious "Oh Noes!" moment when the nice green carpet had bloomed if you hadn't. Too bad a nice little layer of castings wouldn't have been a good idea, that would have blocked the light nicely. Ahh, still so much for me to learn.
Thanks again.

Hey, Beth!

If you had uniseals you could simply push the pvc inside the bell siphons further down. If you can pull the pvc (you did leave it loose, right? *grin*), cut off an inch, then slip a modified coupler onto it.

The coupler (straight pvc fitting) should be cut lengthwise with a single hacksaw cut so it fits more loosely than an uncut one. This way it is a moment's work to slide it higher or lower to adjust the fill level in a growbed. Note: I believe 1" pvc works well instead of a legit coupler for 3/4" pvc and is far cheaper.

After being dry a week or so the algae will dry up. I'd say don't worry about removing it.

PS: if you do more plumbing, try uniseals. They turn out to be very cheap, fast, and effective. http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories ... /uniseal/0

Hi Beth,

The algae is mainly a nuisance but can use up nutrients and take oxygen from the water at night. Hydrophilia covered the removal Didn't look to me like you had any algae to speak of yet - once your seedlings get going then work on the water level don't worry about it until then.

Oh heck I'll tell you how I know - I had the top of one bell siphon wedge in so tight I couldn't adjust it so wound up with algae, moss, and fungus gnats. Moss is much more of a pain. Fungus gnats are really annoying but gnatrol helps with them.

This is a great post, thanks!
Just in case you didn't know, we don't have siphons in our beds. Initially we thought to go with constant flow, but then decided we didn't like the cost of running the pump 100% of the time, so then we put in a timer. Our beds flood and then they drain. Our outer standpipe is a bit overkill in size, so looks like it could hide a siphon in there I bet.

I wish I could say I am never going to do more plumbing, but I don't think I could pull it off. I am going to look into uniseals as I think some things in life really should be cheap, fast and effective. And especially if those things are PVC (toys of the wealthy) fittings.

And also thank you for your algae info. I do not have it currently, but there is always a potential as I bumble along trying to figure things out.
I love your signature, I think I suffer from that as well.

I think all the people who use siphons are really, really brave.

Early on we talked about siphons and the final consensus on our decision was I would worry about them all the time (not Todd, I don't think he knows how to worry, but I do more than enough). Like in the middle of the night or whenever I left the house. I would have felt the need to install remote cameras and alarms to go off if something failed. And then if you mulitply this worry times 12 (our bed count) well that is a lot of worry. For me it would have taken all the fun out of doing this. I know, I know...I worry way to much. Thankfully Todd knows this about me too, so we didn't attempt any siphons. I do think they are cool though, I'm just not brave enough to trust my plants and fish to them.
I knew that algae takes the oxygen out of water at night if in the fish tank, I had never thought about it doing the same in the beds. Do I need to start thinking of my beds and fish tank as one thing?
But the main reason I don't want algae is because I want all the goodies to go to the plants. Some of the raft beds in my experimental system has algae in it, I really look forward to Summer as I am going to be sure to go find myself some crayfish to put in them to eat it. And maybe they will even help create nutrients for the plants I am wanting to grow.

Yep, I have siphons on one of three systems. Timers do give a more complete flood/drain.

So the height of your standpipes determine the depth of flooding, right? So my advice on adjusting height of drain pipe (I spoke of autosiphon, but just replace that with "standpipe") should still work. And having a slip-fitting is the easiest way to adjust it; uniseals are TIGHT and it takes a good grip (from below?) to adjust height.

Oooh! one of the brave ones.
I was just out there looking at things and caught it just as the timer was coming on, I thought the surface looked fairly dry, so maybe I am going to luck out and not get algae on the surface. I am currently on a run 15 min every hour cycle. But if I need to I will do what you are suggesting and pull out my drain pipes and shorten them just a bit. I was thinking about 1 inch of hydroton higher than the top of the stand pipe would be just about right but with the surface tension at the top of the pipe, I would say I have only 3/4 of an inch.
When we put more beds together I think I will be suggesting to Todd that we try the uniseals.
Thanks again, very informative.

The sprouts have sprouted, the sprouts have sprouted! Ok, maybe I am just a little too excited about sprouts. And no, I do not remember 100% what I tossed in there about a week ago. I think I will be able to tell once they start getting their secondary leaves. Hopefully.
Here are some photos of the little ones. They are mostly romaine lettuce and other great greens, including carrots and beets. Future green smoothies.

I am also happy that the chard and the beets that were so covered in aphids are still doing well after their last transplant. I would say that there are maybe 10% of the original amount of aphids bothering them as before I applied castings to them. So I would say they were a good help to jump start their own immunities. Not sure how long that effect will last, but hopefully the aphid numbers will continue to drop. I have not touched these guys since I transplanted them, I was having to spray them with water near daily to knock off part of the aphids.



And here is a little spider, well big to me, that I found with a web full of adult aphids the other day. Go aphid eater!
Its in a great location too, I scarcely put my head up in this part of the greenhouse.

The avocado is still growing quickly, it seems only just a few days ago these buds were still tiny.

And I have a few orchids, that I was reasonably certain I had killed, but I had the space so stuck them into a couple of the beds. One is sending off a new flower shoot and the other is getting a new leaf. I was so surprised.

what's up with the green smoothies you keep mentioning? I may regret this, but do you have a recipe for them?

Nice setup by the way. Keep up the good work.

Nice spider...