Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I finally switched the two shoeboxes to one bigger box with a slightly bigger flout. It now cycles every 36 minutes which should allow more air to the roots. All the limestone gravel was switched out over the past few weeks to aerolite. My pH is still 7.6+. I haven't been able to change much water with rainwater as it has rained very little here this year. Most of July has been 100F+.

Tell me about it. I'd perform a rain dance but the kids won't let me.

Your new camera doesn't do video, does it? I'd like to see the new flout floutin' in the new floutbox!

Rick

I'll try to do video if I ever remember. Haven't done anything with the system in a while except add vinegar. But the amount is probably too small because the pH is the same but I don't want to risk it. I finally broke down and BOUGHT some water at the store that is neutral pH (since rains have been scarce here this year). Now to switch out the high pH water slowly. The one ivy is still getting a new leaf about every 3 days, the other ivy just lost all 4 of its leaves except one and looks like a new one about to emerge so it is still too difficult to say, but it is good that it is finally getting new growth.

are you still playing thorn?

Yeah, I'm still around...somewhere.... Lesse, a quick update.... The flout is no more. At some point, maybe too much beneficial bacteria built up on the flout unit so it no longer worked, but it did work for a good few months. My flout unit was about a one inch plastic cube. I didn't have extra weight on it so I couldn't take any off (to account for extra bacteria on it??). Never would have thought about the weight of bacteria being an issue but when you miniaturize like I have, you run into those types of things.

So I switched that out for just a loop siphon made of the yellow latex hose a little bigger than the drinking straw. That is still in service. Loops just seem to be die hard and always work easier.

On a good note, I have slowly gotten the high pH limestone hard water out of the tank and replaced it with bottled and rain water (only a 10 gallon tank here). The plants have all started to grow (2-3 feet high) and I have 2 serrano peppers ready to pick. I also had 2 green beans a couple months ago. I need to put up a new picture. Right now I have about 10 blacktail minnows in it. It seems the plants were stunted at the seedling stage for a year because of the pH. Geez. At least some of them never died. I also turned on the ceiling fan on high to help with plant hardening, this may have been a contributor to low production (from what I've read, biosphere 2 anyone?).

aaahhh, so we learn that pH is of critical importance! well done! [:

heys, hows this little system of yours doing?

Last night I gave in and switched to a real water pump. The airlift mini-geysers worked but did have to be cleaned every couple months or they'd get stuck. I have come to the conclusion that the major headache in a small system is the 1/4 inch tubing. If you can go bigger, then start bigger. The 1/4 inch outside diameter drip tubing is okay at the beginning, but once a film of beneficial bacteria build up on the inside of it, it constricts the flow even more, which helps gunk build-up.

The serrano plant is still going, just got some new flowers on it this week. Hasn't had flowers the past month or two with the cooler weather in the house. It was producing a few peppers each week last year. I do still have the water heater in the tank, ceiling fan on high to help the plant harden from the wind. I still add a gallon of bottled Ozarka spring water every 2-3 days (no limestone in that and slightly lower pH than neutral). Some minnows have come and gone, have one left as of last month and just added 4 smaller guppies last week. They have not learned to play together yet and keep to themselves.

Since the new $15 water pump is kinda strong compared to what my growbed had before, it does not appear that the 1/4 inside diameter latex siphon tube is up to the task anymore. I have the pump near the top of the water so it'll quit pumping till water returns to the fish tank. I'm thinking I may switch out the growbed for a slightly larger one with a bell siphon now that my water flow is up to the task. The flout was a fun venture and I may still try one in my bigger system once I add the second tank but still need water pumps for that system to get it going this year. I've been slacking.

Okay, it's been a month, another update. I'm still in the process of revamping my small system. I just hadn't planned on it taking this long but is leading into a new era of exploration once I get there, hopefully this month. It is still running on a slow water feed as the cheapy pump I put in does not have much head flow. Once it is revamped, it will still be a 10 gallon tank along with transferring the serrano plant into a picnic beverage cooler with lid removed and new growbed media testing (more details a month or so after it gets going). It will have a Pondmaster 3 with valve control to slow it down a lot. I got 3 of these so I can move them between the small and large systems if need be. It will have a 5 gallon flood tank. This is the part that ended up stalling the process as I have returned to design of a 5 gallon bucket flood tank.

Initially I devised one that works but could not fit inside a 5 gallon bucket and that one has been waiting to be used in the big system. But since none of us can ever leave well enough alone, I am working out the final details of its operation now, and yes, it does operate reliably for the PM3 pump at full force and at only a trickle. Depending on how testing goes this weekend, I am pretty sure at this point that it can even take a lid on it to support a raft tank above it (as in the barrelponics manual). A 10 gallon system with flood tank, who knew?!

"Hello, I'm thorn, and I have a pvc addiction"

It's that time again for an update. I think my first attempt for a 5 gallon flood tank worked for a week then became unreliable. I may have still been trying to use a double float design. A 5 gallon bucket is just too small for a double float setup, especially with a lid on it!

So I spent the next two weeks coming up with a completely new design. The following two months after that I spent testing it many different ways to prove it was reliable. And I felt it was worthy of its own thread: http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10066&p=284915

As for the rest of the system, it has been well in the ice chest grow bed. The little seranno plant has had hundreds of blooms but less than 10 peppers. I think the big bucket next to it is hindering the ceiling fan wind so it can't harden up like it use to so it isn't producing. When I think about it sometime I will change the fan wind to an oscillating fan. I'm still picking off some dead leaves as the plant gets use to the change in lighting. One light became a flickering hassle so I am now only using one light and trying to get the plant to veer more towards the window.

The ivy plant has taken off and really needs to be put into a raft tank which I haven't felt like building. But I feel secure enough in the flood tank operation to where I will not have to open it up anymore to where I can put a 3 gallon raft tank above it. The ivy leaves are as big as your hand and the roots are taking over the 10 gallon tank. The minnow and guppies are still swimming around.

Another update....
The oscillating fan has worked and there has been less evaporation of water in the system since the ceiling fan is not blowing all the heat away from the tank anymore. The seranno produced a few more peppers when the pH was good. It's high now although I transplanted a chilepetin plant a week ago which now has new leaves. The serrano is barely hanging on. I moved all the ivy roots from the fishtank up to the settling tank up top which also still has some duckweed that somehow hasn't completely died since last year. I figure it needs warmer water. The heater is in the fish tank. So the ivy is doing very well as it is not bothered much with high pH.

The flood tank surge device is doing well aside from having to support the bucket sides so it doesn't rest on the pvc coming out of the bottom. It put too much stress on the cheap 5 gallon bucket and cracked. Now the bucket has wood on left and right sides supporting the edge of the bucket instead. I am currently working on another bucket this week to totally encase the pvc inside the bucket, which should reduce me from about 3.5 gallons of water to around 3 per cycle, which would be better for my 10 gallon tank anyhow without a sump tank.

I haven't really mentioned this yet but since I switched to the ice chest cooler growbed, I have been running quilters poly battying (100% polyester) as a new grow media test. So how does it offer enough plant support? With the half size glass blocks I put on top of it to weight it down some! This makes for a very lightweight and cheap growbed setup. Seems to be doing great. None of it has ever ended up in the fishtank. Once I did pull some away from the drain hole but it has not developed that issue a second time. A couple times, I have pulled out very little dirty batting that caught stuff that made it past the settling/duckweed/ivy root tank up top.

I recently have only seen the one minnow and one of the guppies about the same size. I figure maybe the others have died or been eaten and this could be contributing to my higher pH right now. I really need to take the terracotta pot and spawning mop out to verify. The spawning mop is only in there to provide some hiding places for young guppies (which I guess haven't been smart enough to stay there) and to give me good bacteria starter to throw into the big system outside (hopefully I can get it going this year now that it is raining more regularly).

PS: not sure why the pictures are no longer displaying on the first page of this thread. You can still see them if you right click and open them up in a new browser tab.

I finally got the redesigned flood tank completed. You can check it out here (with measurements and pics)...
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12210

That is really awesome idea. Particularly the work with plastic bottles I really got inspired.
Thanks for sharing such a nice information.


Keep it up.

tulip, welcome to the forums and thanks for your kind comments! There are many people here who have done a lot of research and testing and I'm sure all sizes of systems have been tested. Ask around if you have a question, abuse the search feature, and checkout an exciting study of the BYAP Trials thread here which is directly comparing 3 types of systems: autosiphon/continuous flow(flood)/timer.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=8621&hilit=BYAP+thread

Hey, pictures?!?