Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey ya'll. My name's Ryan, from North-east U.S. A friend on a survival site linked me to a large project on this very site, which got me researching like crazy. With every bit I found on aquaponics, I just kept looking for more.

I finally decided I needed to know for myself if this miracle system worked for real. Using 55 gallon barrels lying around the barn, an old pond pump, some recycled landscaping gravel, and bits of hose, I managed to throw together a system in a short amount of time, and get it up and running. It runs as a continuous flow with a siphon loop. I have quarter a barrel planted as lettuce, another as cucumber, beans, and the last is open for transplants, like tomatoes, peppers, etc.

I have been shocked by the results of a simple proof of concept. The lettuce seeds that were supposed to take a week or two to sprout broke the surface in two days. A tomato snipping that was placed in did nothing for a week, and then exploded, with roots spreading everywhere. I'm about 5 weeks in, and the set up is running strong.

It's all still one big experiment, but it's official: I'm hooked on aquaponics.

Nice little setup there RM ! Congrats on getting it all up and running.

I hope you can accept that you're going to want to build a bigger one now, if you don't already !

What sort of fish do you have in there ?

G'day Ryan, nice little set-up you have is that a copper pipe at the back of the growbeds...(and maybe your GB drains) if so do your self a favor and remove it asap its nasty for your fish (if you have them)

Thanks CD. Indeed, I just got this one up, and I spent an hour yesterday going over ideas on expanding it. I'm certain to expand it, the current reservoir needs to be changed. That'll come later, however.

I have three happy goldfish in it at the moment, each about 4 to 6 inches long. I was surprised how accepting they are of people - they'll come up and nibble on a persons hands when they go to clean the filter.

Gnash, the drains do have a piece of copper. I tried using PVC, garden hose, and a few other pieces, but this was the first to work without leaking. I'll try some PVC again when I can pick it up, but that might be a little while.

Also, I'm gona read around here a bit, but I noticed late yesterday the edges of some of my lettuce turning brown and drying out. I didn't think much, but more of them are turning brown today. Not good!

Welcome Rocketman!

Thanks Dave!

I did some reading around on multiple sources. I found that "Tip-burn", as it's called, is often caused by inconstant watering - watering regularly, and then allowing it all to dry out again before watering.

I was confounded by this, before realizing that someone had unplugged my system sometime on Sunday. I didn't get home until later in the day, when I restarted everything. I hope that, since now it's all back to normal, the plants will pull through it all.

I'm thinking of getting an algae eater catfish to throw in (after a good quarantine, that is). There's a little bit of algae on the sides of my barrel, and I'd rather take a preemptive strike than wait to clean up the mess. Heh.

Finally, I've seen mention of placing worms in an aquaponic system's growbed. Would that not cause the problem of dead/rotting worms in the water?

Hi and welcome Rocketman.

I think you will find that Gnash was confirming if you were using copper pipe before telling you it is toxic for the fish.

Worms will live happily in the grow beds, and if they do make it in to your fish tank they will continue to do so unless the fish eat them. Just need to make sure there is plenty of dissolved oxygen.

Welcome, Ryan!

Thanks for the welcome, guys.

Arbe, understood on the copper situation, and thanks for the reaffirmation of the worm info. I would have thought they would drown, but I guess not. Next time it rains, when they come to the surface, I'll round some up. Heh.

My father donated a solar panel from where he works, so we're gona try to hook that up as soon as we can get a pump that runs off of 12v DC.

In addition, I'd like to grow duckweed. I tried before, but they only place I had to leave it was in a bucket, and it died rather quickly. I'm thinking of altering the system when we get the 12V pump. First, I'd like to add a sump tank (to grow duckweed) to the left of the reservoir, a smaller barrel sunken halfway into the ground. I'd place the pump into the sump, have it pump to the current fish tank, which'll let the water flow over to the growbeds (I'll have to lower them).

This would give me easier access to the growbeds, allow me to attempt to grow duckweed in the sump, and make it easier to add additional growbeds later on.

Is it alright to mess around with the system while its growing? I could wait until fall when I take the system down for the winter, but honestly, I'd rather hop to it. The biggest problem would be moving the heavy growbed stand, but we have myself and my father, and two several-ton rolling car jacks I was thinking of using.
Thoughts?

The worms to use are not earthworms or night crawlers that come out when it rains, the ones to use in grow beds are compost worms or red wigglers, eisensomething foetida. Around here 7-11 sells these as bait worms.

Nice work! Welcome to the forum.

You could probably more than double your filtration if you just fill your growbeds to the top instead of only halfway. Most of the volume of a half blue barrel is in the upper section. The more filter medium the Better. Any reason they are only half full? Run out of gravel? Or more likely got sick of washing the stuff...

Ah. Well, I can manage that. Thanks Donely. I'll try to pick some up when I'm out and about again.

And Brian... To be honest, that's pretty accurate. I'm recycling some gravel we had around for landscaping, and I've had to wash it a dozen times to get it to what's passably usable. I'm continuing the collection and such. Next planting I'll add more. Thanks for the advice.

Also, playing around with the material, I can add a sump tank without changing anything very easily. I will likely add the barrel to the left of the system, and let the FT drain into it, before pumping back up to the beds. Should work for duckweed. Next planting/season/whatnot, I'll likely change the whole system up.