Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah, simple fix, replace the elbow with a T and run a pipe down to near the bottom of your tank with big holes in the bottom of the pipe.. Or you can put a T on the bottom of that and run a pipe out either way on the bottom of the tank with holes or slots cut in it..

Ahhh, I was thinking about some way to do that, this gives me something to do on the weekend.
I don't know if this is a stupid question but do I need to remove the solids or just let the grow bed filter them?

Thanks!!!

Dear Newbie/Snazy,

hi i live in saudi arabia and been doing aquaponics since jan of this year
successfully planted bittermelon and have used tops and fruits for my cooking
basil, bell pepper, sweet potatoe and okra also love being in aquaponics
for the fish i am having tilapia, pangasius, koi and goldfish in separate tanks of course
you can check out my videos in youtube if you search aquaponics in jeddah

Nice system mgermino. Different looking fish some of those, but the big black one looked like a black moor ??
Welcome

Heres my sloppy setup in its final day during the fall in minnesota.

I went from a dual bell siphon system with the fish tank full to a flood and drain system with very little water(because it still worked) basicly i was testing the limits of aquaponics and learning the ropes. I had the pump on for 2 minutes off for 13 minutes. Two airstones and various plants most of which had died off by the time this video was filmed. The two large plants are comfrey and they were very well established, I tranplanted them into the ground later on. the ph was around 6.5 and i hadn't used ph adjusments since mid summer, I was hoping it would lower itself but it prolly wanted more fish to do so. I also barely used any liquid fertilizer besides twice during the intial weeks. I think it did alright next year I'm hoping to build a rammed earth greenhouse with a larger system which should be just amazing and able to go just about yearround even in minnesota





here it is in the begining..



Heres a even smaller system i built with a friend for his terrarium that houses a female chinese water dragon.




can't figure out how to embedd the videos :/ Looking back i really wish i had gotten azeolla (SP?) incorportaed into my system.

Jashun - to imbed videos just hit the 'youtube' button and paste the video code inbetween the brackets. i.e. for the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqMX6enr5yc you would write this (without the spaces) [you tube] MqMX6enr5yc [/you tube]
freoboy

Awesome idea with the terrarium! Does it pretty much regulate the humidity as needed for the lizard? Does he munch on any of the plants or is he a straight up insectivore? I'm guessing people don't eat anything from in there since reptiles tend to carry salmonella.
Got the gears turning in my head, now...

this is one of mine

I've just finished my Micro CHIFT PIST AP system with a 3 gallon FT, 2-1 gallon GBs and a 2 gallon ST. This is of course an indoor system setup in a kitchen window. I'll be growing herbs and such. It already has some green onions brought in from a pot on the porch. Being this small it has a few guppies to make the fertilizer.
Oh, and its supports and such are built with LEGOs!


Full story below:
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=11308&sid=900383c0e7929b03cdea347cc927fafa

Just finished building this setup - it's my first time trying my hand at this. It's made with about $75 worth of materials from Home Depot. Haven't gotten any fish yet, and the seeds have yet to sprout in the Jiffy starters.

-45g/170L storage container as a fish tank.
-Two 30.5in x 4.5in x 5in deep (6 gallons total, approximately 22L) window box planters for the beds.
-40gph table saw pump.

The pump runs constantly, drizzling water over the beds. The water drains directly out of the bottom of the planters and back into the tank.

I think I'm going to need a bit more grow bed. It looks like I could fit another two planters on top, and maybe another four under those.

i would have never thought of the cups thanks for the idea this forum is the best

Here is my System. A 125 gal pond, 50 gal flood tank and 3 18 gal grow beds full of pea gravel. Right now I have peppers , lettuce , spinach, tomatoes and Straw berries. The tomatoes are suckers that I removed from my dirt garden, and the strawberries are the babies off a hanging plant. The spinach has not come up yet but every thing else is up and growing.






Here is my blog that chronicle my system from conception to now:
http://newwavegardeningexperiment.wordpress.com/

Hi, this is my 5ft aquarium system, the fish tank is approx 280litres and has 2 x 80l growbeds filled with granite 20mm chips.
The actual aquarium was a chrome metal framed one which i have surrounded with a meranti frame, the pump is a Hozelock cyprio 1500l/hour one, running an autosyphon system which is on from 7.30am to 9pm
This is my first system and is located in my conservatory so is hopefully going to be easier to look after than an outside one.
I currently have tomatos and chilli plants in the gbs, but i also scattered a load of lettuce, spring onion and carrot seeds directly into the beds and they are now germinating and sprouting well.

My small system - built to fit in a windowsill and to be as cheap as possible (11$ in new materials so far).

Tank is 54 litres and houses ca. 20 Endler's Livebearers.



All the best,
Kasper

Here is my small testing system. Couldn't decide on what media to use so I'm trying Pea Gravel, Growstones, and Clay Pebbles. Each grow bed is 14 gal (~50L), Sump Tank is 30 gal (~100L), and Fish Tank is 55 gal (~200L). Each bed is using a Bell Siphon. For fish I went down to a local lake and caught some pan fish. They are extremely resilent. I just got Nitrite readings and a cold front is moving in. Hopefully with the extra insulation I've added, the system will cycle on normally without much impediment from the cold weather. I threw some Arugula seeds in the beds to see what would happen. They pretty much took off. I keep finding more seedlings popping up.





Bigger system in store once I figure out all the little kinks.

Today I got a little ansy and planted some of my seedlings. My tomato plants transfered well except for one. I think I damaged it a little while planting. While the others wilted a little, most of them came back quick. Once of them seems to need a little more time. Basil completely wilted away. My one onion that sprouted, did damn well. Black seeded simpson lettuce did well, but still have one that I'm unsure of.

Guess in the future, I definitely need to wait a little longer but such is life. Sometimes experience is the best lesson.



Since I am trying three different types of media (clay pebbles, growstone, and pea gravel) I found a problem with filling the growstone bed with water from the surface. Because it has excellent water absorbing abilities, even minimal contact with water will dampen the entire stone. I had found that a lot of the stones started to develop algae. So to prevent that I just extended the drain into the media so that the surface would stay dry. In the pea gravel, I noticed some but not like the growstone.



I found a wooden pallet at work and used it to make a workstation for my AP setup. Used three 2"x4"s and some extra burlap I was using for insulation the last time when we had a cold front move in.