Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello Thanks for all your input in my previous thread, this is my first setup i started collecting and getting random parts and pieces through the winter and have recently got it cyciling first with a 30 min on 30 min off cycle now i gota spendy timer that does 2 mins every 13 mins. 1200 gph pump, I currently have no filter I was using some green bristle brush but that has gotten clogged seeming..

I just put in a dozen goldfish two days ago, i have used comfrey, tea nettle tea, rejuvelace or rye sprouts water to get the bacteria system built. I've been using lemon juice and ph down salt to keep the ph levels down. Also threw ten worms or so into the hydroton, they wiggled down in.. what do some of you think about vermiponics?

Theres two comfrey plants, rye grass, an onion a baby dying tomatoe plant, three blackberry bush root pieces (unseen) and some kamut seeds (unseen). I was told rye grass helps establish the bacteria and figured comfrey would help too. Let me here what you think!
http://youtu.be/gQv1qP3hXrI

Looks Great Mate!!!!! I love the idea of the returns to the Tank having endcaps with holes for airation very effective.

Only Small criticism is Why Siphons?? if your running timers etc, Running Timed Flood and Drain would be much more reliable and From what the Trails show, More effective at filtering, growth and cycling period.

a 8mm Hole in the bottom of your standpipes and a cycle too fill beds and overflow for a min or two then switch off and come back on when the beds are drained.

But looks like you have things well under Control.

Good Work My Friend and Welcome!!

Looks good.

What PH do you have?

I find its better not to mess with PH as its really the swings that do the damage. PH will normally settle after time. I had a system that was high for a long time and I was constantly adding PH down but it would always come back up after a few days. When I actually let it go for a while it settled down by itself.

Nice simple set up

Very clean setup no muss no fuss. I've had spray holes like that clog before but that was with small gravel, to fix it The holes were made kind of like a clover with a larger center hole to let larger bits out.

Hello jamey, I gota bit confused reading your reply, my understanding is that I am running flood and drain, with a bell siphon. You think it would be better to be consantly flooding once the sihpons have emptied the beds? I currently have the pump off for about 12 minutes then on for about 2mins repeated etc.. Instead of siphons I would be using just gravity draining? Please explain a bit or link me up what the difference is?

Charlie, The ph gets up around 8 or.. as high as my tests go O_O I think i will try letting it sit more a week or two see where it goes now that i have fish in the system.

Dave, The PVC is dry fit so as long as i check it often i dont think thatll be a problem because i can remove any messes easily enough.

And a quick question I just read something saying you should not flood and drain during the night or dark period, is this the case at all for aquaponics or more specifically my setup?

Thanks again!

? I know some folks might try to mitigate heat loss during the Winter by not pumping at night but since you're in the US keep it going.

Slow Drains or on here know as Timed Flood and Drain Dont require the Bell Siphon, Rather they slowly drain over 30 Mins rather than Fast drain over 3 or so mins Via Gravity if you Like.

It has been Discussed on here (and proven by many) that the longer retention time of the water and medium actually filters the water better, also that the slower draining may not disturb roots as much and will also allow you too run your pump less often therefore saving on power usage. Timed F&D also is more reliable than using siphons, and using siphons and timers kinda cancel each other out.

But if it works and your happy, Keep it up

so can i jsut use my timer to set the pump to stop when its right below max level then turn on for a moment later, 30 mins? Should i add air pump to the Grow beds?!?!

Typically if you run a timer you just set them to 15 minutes on 45 minutes off. You can run more in the heat of the day and a bit less at night if you want to.

As long as the beds are not stagnant for more than an hour then no you don't need to add air to the beds.

Lookin good Jahsun

If you remove your bell housing and drill the proper size hole(s) in your stand pipe, you will have a traditional flood&drain system. That's probably the route I'm going as well, although I may set up a siphon in one or two of my beds just to play with it and also to try out some plants that don't like it so wet.

Sted

Thanks makes sense now, I had too big of a pump so i used the timer for shorter intervals. And so what is my sstem called if not flood and drain? or just not timed flood and drain? so just one 8mm hole in each pipe and using the timer at 45 secs on 30 mins to 40 mins off? This sounds simple enough to try, thanks again all.

Would probably be better to go 15 mins on / 45 mins off... or 15/30 if it's hot...

ok, question; if using F&D with no bell siphon, I'm assuming the drain (or drains?) would have to be much smaller than the inlet, just so the bed can fill to max level, is this correct?

Not if you use an overflow standpipe.... any excess inflow merely flows over the top... the flood level in the grow bed is controlled bya ball valve...

OK....ty Rupert........off to figure out ball valves, used to have them in my cattle troughs....prolly not the same.....