Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The frame is much stronger than it looks......50mm x 50mm x 4mm angle....it has 16mm holes at 100mm centres (offset down either web of the angle iron).

The product is the brainchild of a Gold Coast engineer......although it has yet to make it to market. It's called C-System.

The simplest description that I can provide is that it is like Meccano......you simply bolt pieces together to make anything you want.

We mainly use it as a prototyping tool. Once I'm satisfied with the size and layout of what we want, we'll get it welded up out of RHS or similar. The C-System is then dismantled and the pieces are set aside ready for the next project.

Hi,

Today, I filled up my collection of satellite pots, tubs and trays.....with a variety of media......to form my first real aquaponic (outside) growing systems.

Prior to today, I've only had a couple of leggy silver beet plants which only received the morning sun. I had them sitting over the fish tank in the doorway of the shed.

I planted cos lettuce, silver beet, tomatoes, capsicums, hot chili, parsley and thyme.

I'm trialling a variety of media types and combinations including:

- gravel over clay balls
- gravel over perlite
- coco peat

For your interest.......I got a weight (per litre) on each type of media:

- 10mm drainage gravel - 1500gm
- Hot Rocks (clay balls) - 500gm
- Perlite - 72gm

I'm trialling the combinations so that I get the plant-holding capacity of gravel with a weight that I can lift. For example, one of the black 50 litre tub weighs 75kg when full of gravel. The combination of gravel and hot rocks (in the same tub) weighs about 40kg.

The weight differential is even greater with perlite and gravel. The weight advantage of perlite is even greater (so light that a strong breeze will move it around) so the gravel stops the perlite from migrating in high winds and provides a firmer base in which to plant seedlings.

While my system is (at the moment) continuous flow, using gravel on top of hot rocks or perlite, stops the media from floating........for those who prefer flood and drain beds.

I've retained my two small 65 litre bio-filters since they are the only likely source of beneficial bacteria in the system at the moment.

Garry, you've stolen my thunder. Aiming to do the same sorts of combinations of different media (with a few twists) for much the same reasons.

Glad to see others thinking along the same lines.

Keep us posted, pickies for comparison between beds would be good as they grow.

Many thanks for the weight/volume measurements, that will help heaps in figuring out what sort of support I'm going to need for my beds.

Good work and good luck

I know what you mean Garry - I find it very difficult to lift my 580 litre Murray grow-bed which must on your measurements weigh in excess of 3/4 of a tonne

Gary,
Looking forward to seeing it all up and working in a cuppla weeks

Hi Rupert,



Don't be concerned about my thunder (or anyone else's). While the general principles of aquaponics have been around for a long time, there's lots of scope for new discoveries.

Coco-peat (my favourite hydro media) is a good example. It's only been in wide use in recent years but I believe that it has enormous scope for use in aquaponics.

It has lots of benefits..........you can grow anything in it (including root crops)......it's easy on the hands and the back........you can use a wider range of lightweight containers (like satellite pots, tubs and trays) that may not be suitable for gravel or clay balls......

It's more stable than perlite.........it holds moisture better than any other media (except possibly rockwool) and it can be recycled as deep litter for chickens and then used as worm bedding.

Murray is (to my very pleasant surprise) using course coco coir in a full flood and drain system. I've used coco peat in plastic trays (660mm x 330mm by 140mm deep for a wide range of hydro vegetables and I've just set up six trays in my new growing deck.

I plan to trial run-to-waste feeding on a timer.........where the trays will get fed three or four times per day.....for about 20 seconds each time. My goal with this trial is to get things tuned to the point where only about 10% of the daily feed to each tray runs to waste (into small buckets actually) to the tune of about 50ml per tray per day.

We're all guilty of limited thinking at some time or the other, but Murray is a case of where not knowing too much about something has worked out for the better. Most people who have experience of coco peat would have rejected full flood and drain as a suitable regime but Murray decided he'd give it try and.....voila!......it works.

Gary

Ok Garry (or Muzz).... difference please in Coco Peat and Coco Coir...

I thought Murray was using Coco Peat.

Then I've also heard of Coco Shells and ...



Anyone shed any light on the diffences and/or benefits??

Hi Rupert,

There's no difference that I know of.....between coco peat and coco coir. I think coco peat may even be a particular brand of coco peat/coir.

It comes in several forms......in bricks, bags and bales......and in several grades.......fine to quite fibrous. The cheap stuff usually comes in wrapped bales (like sugar cane mulch) and is full of fine dust and will discolour an aquaponics system to marked extent.

CANNA Coco is a good brand....and like most thing that are good, it has a price to match.

I haven't encountered coco shells....sorry!

The stuff that Murray is using appears to be more fibrous than the Coco that I've used which may be one reason why he's able to use full flood and drain with it.

Gary

Hi,

Today, I finished off my new growing platform.

Since I last posted photos, I've made several changes.....to adjust the height and to ensure that everything flows in the right direction.

I've also added a shade cloth roof to keep the worst of the sun off of the plants. The seedlings that I bought from the "B" are a bit delicate to be planting out into hot gravel so I shan't be too surprised if some of them turn their toes up.

I've automated the irrigation of my five coco peat trays using a digital timer......so that they get several feeds of about 20 seconds' duration per day.

Using taps to regulate water is an interesting idea, I imagine they need a fair amount of maintenance to stop them blocking or flooding? I also like the idea of using a cheap pump on a timer to irrigate. Has anyone thought of cheap and reliable ways to control the pump rate?

i use taps to adjust my nift system and havent had to ajst in a month

coco peat is basiclly a mulch of coco coir. I am using a mix of the two which is basicly heavy in coir with some scraps mixed in. I am flooding and then draining the bed to the garden once a day to get the color out and then will hook it into the system.

This is Garys thread, so I won't hijack it by rambling on about coco peat, but I must say that so far it has proven to be very good, and when my shipment of it arrives in a couple of weeks I will definately keep using it as I expand my system.

Hi Murray,

Feel free to describe your experience of coco coir/peat.

I'm of the belief this media......and particularly your use of it in a flood and drain regime.....is one of the more exciting developments that I've seen around aquaponics.



njh......my previous set up was notorious for blockages, which I used to clear by blowing through the feed hoses.....which my wife found unattractive for some reason.

I'm hoping that the larger bore in my current fittings (12mm) will prove to be less problematic, but the jury's still out. I'll probably open each tap up to flush it once a week.

The purpose of my current growing platform is to gauge the performance of a variety of media......in a variety of containers.

Gary

thanks Gary for being the guinea pig on media types! I'll be putting the coco peat (I think because it came in small bricks - all I could get without added fertiliser) in the towers in a couple of days.
I think it's great to see this experiment in action.