Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looking at that eductor I bet you could heat up a pipe and squish it onto a wine bottle like I read on here from someone about making an Affnan siphon without the adapter. Could do that to both ends one smaller than the other and Bob's your uncle.

Here's a nice thread about DIY eductors, I'm sure I have the necessary fittings just lying around and there is a little pump I'm not using that can be hooked up. I'm on vacation this week so i think it's time to go fiddle with AP stuff now.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f151/ ... 23330.html

very interesting. havent seen that info before (although i have seen eductors before) now I understand a bit better. Look slike adding the tube adds 4-5 times more pulling power than just areleasing air into the water column. I'll have to get a test one going to compare. Cheers DD

Just a quick update, messed around with homemade eductors. Made one from a pipe heated with a lighter and pressed onto a wine bottle to flare. But the pipe diameter was too small. So made another one from the last section of 4" pipe and a weak pump I wasn't using. I have a kind of neat way to hold the pipe with nylon ties in tension. There are three holes on the outside pipe and six on the 3/4" pipe inside. The nylon zip ties are threaded through two holes in the inner pipe, and through and around the outer pipe. But for that setup the big pipe floating became an issue to manage. I tried hanging a weight on the end of it to make it neutrally buoyant. Anyway the flow seemed to be wide and strong, wider than the 3/4" pipe alone which was the goal.

Instead of using the eductor I used the wide pipe as another air lift. So the FT has four lifts in it. There is a long stone in the biofilter too.

I wired up the UPS from work, to hook up to the travel trailer battery we have. Turns out the battery is all dead, so I'll have to buy one. I was hoping to hook up the two lifts and the biofilter stone to it and get trout this weekend but no go. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

The covered flood table is being pumped to now from the little pump for the eductor experiment. Then it drains into the sump then the FT. This will keep the few minnows in there happier. It is on a timer to sort of flood and drain the bottoms of the pots. I planted them with beans.

Been actually using the plants from the system this week. Friday made a kind of herb mayo spread for lunch out of parsley, basil, and a little sage for a chicken sandwich. Used some basil on pizza Friday night too. This morning fried up the potatoes from the wicking bed, with onions from the flood table, and a little parsley. Saving up the green beans I'm getting from the one plant, to hopefully use them sometime soon. Also been using lettuce on sandwiches. The lettuce is big and I'll get some for salad tonight probably. The one pepper plant is a banana pepper, I had forgotten I planted it until I saw the peppers which are long and thin LOL.

Bought two posts for the troughs inside the greenhouse to be built before Winter. The order will be to put those posts in, then the perimeter edges, the back wall, the runway above the water, the troughs, the side walls, the front wall, the roof, the coverings. Net pots will be suspended on the water under the troughs and in the front row too.

Also planted the wicking bed with carrots.

The parsley plant is enormous. Does anyone know how to use up a ton of parsley? I have started putting it in bags and freezing it...

Also can PVC pipe be heated to soft enough with boiling water? Also thought maybe hot oil since water can't go higher than 100C.

Had a crazy thought while half asleep this morning. We have fenced in a small square area next to the deck for the dogs to go to the bathroom without roaming the neighborhood. I need to line it with landscaping fabric and then put gravel down. What about lining it with liner and flooding draining to a stock tank, and growing plants. Worms in the gravel could break down the solids. Either the gravel area could be planted a bit here and there or separate beds could be planted. I won't be doing this as I'm more interested in food plants and I don't want food from the dog waste, but hey might work for ornamentals. Might be a cool idea for a dog park if there wouldn't be nasty issues from warm blooded mammals like encouraging parasites or bad bugs.

Use some of the parsley on salads, it's nice for a little bump of flavor and change of texture.

Can also use some on sandwiches. Put some on each plate at dinner time to make it like a restaurant with a garnish on each plate.

Dehydrate some and keep in the spice rack for cooking year round.

That reeftank link has a trojan horse virus on it according to my antivirus software.

Yes...beware...my spyware picked up a trojan as well

Sorry about that guys. I'm on an iPad or Mac and didn't know those sites are infected.

you can use parsley the same way you make pesto with basil...yummy

Well that's an interesting idea, thanks BB! I was going to use up some basil tomorrow, I'll make some with parsley too. Do you have a recipe of sorts?

We always make tabouli salad and soup with the parsley, until we can handle it any more. Then I compost it, and wait until the next year, when I forgot how sick I got of parsley. It reckon it is a pretty bad weed the way it grows and spreads. And yes, it can get huge. I definitely wouldn't let it take up space in a growbed, when it grows anywhere and everywhere, whether you want it or not after you plant it once.

My parsley has been struggling here but probably cause it's too hot for it in summer here.

Great idea FB I've never had tabouli but it sounds good, I'll try it!

I just get heaps of parsley and chop it fine and use cook with olive oil and garlic and onion. I just make it like a simple pasta with aglio et olio (don't know if i got that right)...i used to like it with pumpkin too but haven't done that for a while..

Actually, pretty much any pasta will benefit from a cup of chopped parsley. also...eat it fresh to stop bad breath!

also, got off my behind and made a couple of airlifts on the weekend. Work a treat! With update my page soon with a few pics...

Good deal BB, thanks for the tips!