Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I love how the backspace key has the random chance of taking you to the previous page in the middle of a reply...

526,
The tomatoes that I've got growing are a determinate variety that I salvaged from a cheap hanging basket kit that I purchased just outta curiousity. They've grown to about 12-18" within a month, but I have no further details.

Let's see if I can remember what I just spent half an hour typing out...
About how high is your ceiling? My winter temps in my plant room are about 65-70F on the cold side and 75-80F under the 400W HPS light covering my peppers. It's only about 18-24" above upper leaves but they seem to like it. Generally my peppers and tomatoes have grown faster and larger when given warmer temperatures. This is something to consider when you decide on what to buy/grow. Even with the similar power output of your planned 8x48" T5, you'll be getting maybe half of the heat for the same distance.
Definitely a bonus for the leafy greens, but when the temperature drops, the other plants might take issue and not grow as fast as they would otherwise.

I think the light you've chosen will generally suit your needs, if for no other reason than the sheer luminous output for the area covered. If you were just growing greens, Id almost call that overkill or recommend that you add more growing area. The 6x48" in my garage is doing wonders for the 3 x 3 broccoli patch growing out there! For your peppers and tomatoes though, keep the density low enough to ensure that all the plants are receiving sufficient light.

Unless anyone else has any refinements, I'd say you're looking pretty good.

Thanks for the help! Thats been a bigger help than thedozen or so threaads ive read on the subject.

I look foward to watching your aquaponic setup progress!

No prob at all!

For more info, check out the "Growing under lights" and "hydroponics" forums at GardenWeb.

Slow progress...

but progress none the least

One point about Florescent fixtures instead of HID is that with the florescent fixtures you need them really close to the plants to get good even growth so if you are growing a variety of plants this can be difficult and the smaller or slower growing plants will get even less light as the fixture is moved up to allow space for the larger plants. The HID is probably a bit easier with the variety.

Love the cucumber photo.... now that's aquaponics taking over....

hilarious cucumber! - nature will find a way!

Isn't that cuke getting a bit friendly?

Hey Sars,
Still around? How's the AP room coming along? Interested in your progress because I am in the planning stages looking to put my system in a spare bedroom inside.
Aaron