Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A 3 Outlet power meter.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... rm=KEYWORD

Mine may have been cheapies, dunno...

g'day eb how are the tadpoles going have they turned into frogs yet ?

Mov

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Moved some in to the waterlily pond today, no frogs yet and no legs either but they are getting big.

Trial System Data & Progress Photos 10-10-2011

Damn...

Big discrepancies between the feeds this week because the feed container for system three was dropped in the gravel and some was lost.

We also had one perch die in system 2, the first fish loss and no obvious visible evidence as to why it may have died. This is possibly the reason for the nitrite reading, it wasn't found till it was floating.

Hi rails/earthbound

I was wondering if you could occasionally give a verbal comment on how each bed
is performing.
Small differences are difficult to pick up in the photos.

cheers Lou

I think EB might be reluctant to give reports.

The problem with asking for a comment, is that it appears the BYAP standard system setup is probably outperforming the others. And some parts of the internet love to scream bias even where there is none, so its probably best for any customers who actually go into the shop and see it "live and up close" to report on which one(s) are outperforming the other(s).

So has anyone seen it recently?

Hi Trout,
I will make an effort to give my input, for what it is worth. I am guilty of taking photos and not getting to put them up here, I have been picking from the systems almost daily since the rabbits have been eating us out of house and home. The celery and parsley has been extremely prolific and the more that I pick the more it seems to grow. I do however try to pick about the same from each. The celery is getting close to its end and is developing a little of what appears to be rust on the older leaf tips. The parlsey is thinking about going to seed, though I just keep trying to stop that. The clelery on the flood and drain system has been the most vigorous performer the stems are fuller and longer. IMHO.
You know what though, the celery just grows. I set some slug traps last night and the catch in the second bed was another huge haul. Once again, my belief is that the slugs like a continous flow system. Perhaps I will go and get a photo for you.
It takes a fair amount of time reporting and testing these systems every Monday ar thereabouts and there is always lots to catch up on after the weekend. So I apologise if my photos have got lost, they could be with the chicks, rabbits, quail or bug pics I might not be very good at filing sometimes

I had a look on sunday and Timed Flood and Drain looked the best. The plants looked just that little bit fuller.
All systems are performing so closely to each other tho.

I know what you're saying, but do we really care what some parts of the internet love to scream about.

I've only been into AP for a relatively short time but have come across plenty of experts
who profess to know everything but have done no experiments to back their claims.
At least EB has the guts to setup a good experiment that could actually improve the
overall general knowledge.

When I first saw this experiment back in August I changed my system to mimic it, but
using the single fish tank.
So far my CF bed is way better than the F/D and auto-syphon but I also planted into my
wicking bed.
Now, the tomatoes in the wicking bed is the best by far but the parsley in the CF is the
best, so my results are a bit all over the place.

I was going to expand my system considerably but have put that on hold until I get
a better handle on this new information.

Hence my keen interest in this experiment.



Thanks Faye, I appreciate any input.

And thanks krozbolt for your observations.

cheers Lou

I'm a little sad that the bell siphon isn't a clear winner. I love my siphon

I have an unnatural attachment to it, I think because when I made it, it actually worked

I still use one, although I've adjusted the breather pipe high so that it breaks the siphon almost as soon as it starts

Its the siphon you have when you know you should really have a timer

It just makes such a nice gurgling sound

I should set some slug traps on my big CF bed as I am sure it has the most worms of any of the beds. So it might also have the most slugs

Systems are pretty much of a muchness at the moment, I think that after the winter we have some deficiencies which are showing because of reduced feeding rates, or possibly also some salt damage to some plants.

Ok, some slightly larger pictures so that you can get a better idea of how they are growing.

Sys1

Sys2

Sys3


Sys1

Sys2

Sys3