Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All
The system running fine, the plants are happy, the duckweed has filled the bottom two trays to more than a 3rd…doing very well and summer is only beginning.
The plants I have been spraying with brewed worm tea once a week and the fish I have been feeding worms and (+-25 grams per day) Kio pellets.
In the worm filter/sump the worms are doing well and I am finding eggs in the media
So up to now I am very happy with the progress I have made…slow but ….getting there
Yust me thinking

roots and

I would never have thought of using shade cloth to make a bag to grow plants. Damn fine idea Francois.

Made if I remember right….120 of these bags and used them +-18 per grow tray.
Worked ok.

Francois, what a fantastic thread and display of ingenuity, will follow with great interest

Hi All
I went into reverse gear for a bit.
I found a water snail in my top grow tray’s in the water 3 days ago and after looking for more…man what a %$##@$%^^%$#$%%...lots of snails, eggs and baby’s…lots. I stripped out the 2 top trays and washed/scrubbed them and put them back. So the 2 top trays are clean for now….
I am busy taking the plants out of the stones and washing the roots, cleaning them checking for the snails and then replanting them into my new way of doing things…lot less and lighter work. I have never grown plants this way so I will see how it goes. Under the polystyrene I want to still ad HDPE cutting witch I have but have not had the guts to clean…
In the bottom 2 trays there are some snails but not as bad as the top trays were.
In the bottom trays with the duckweed I want to add snail eating fish to keep them under control and the top I will watch and try to control. Reading up on the snails is an eye opener and if I had to start again I would really do things different. Once in a system it is very difficult to get rid of.
To clean the system means starting from scratch and cleaning everything.

These snails come from the duckweed I never quarantined and that was very stupid even if I have to say so myself. I can kick myself. This is a 1st of this type of problem so very new to me.
I will see if I manage their numbers….but………

Hi All
Today I finished of my rafts and planted some of the plants that come out of the baskets…quiet damaged but for now o.k. still have the spinach in the basket to plant out. I have sort of prepared for this so I have new seed that I have planted coming up and I will add them in stages but I think for now I must keep some of the bigger plants in the system to do what they have too.
I have planted beans and peppers in bags with stones and they are doing ok.
Even the peppers are growing well….I had them in media in seedling trays but they came up and then stopped growing…I was going to dump them because they were not getting bigger and then thought to put them in the system and see what happens…3 days later I could see the difference so now I have kept a few plant in the system.
The rafts were easy to make and I used a steel cup to burn my holes…worked like a dream.
I then used the inside that I burnt out…added a tapered hole and these went back into the holes
I made and I think they can work well for lettuce…..I will try them now with the new seedlings.
Getting there slowly…the fish happy….I’m happy

the tools

the holes

with plant

Hi All
Update on my system
Plants doing very well and look healthy…..peppers and beans ( white healthy root systems)
I have 2 different age beans in the system and today I planted a third batch of beans…
The 1st batch planted 10 10 2011
The 2nd batch planted 23 10 2011
The 3rd planted today 1 11 2011
The peppers have been in the system from 11 9 2011
The fish I have started feeding duckweed/worms and pellet +- 30 grams per day
31/7/2011 I added the first fish…so the system has been going for 3 months.
So far I have added iron 3.5 grams every +-21 days…… total so far 7 grams
Epson salt 50 grams +- 30 days……total so far 100 grams
Worm tea I brew once a week and now adding directly into my system before my outflow into the grow trays
Getting there slowly…the fish happy….I’m happy
Yust me thinking

the peppers in grow bags

pepper seedling directly into polystyrene ring and left

2nd batch of beans planted 23/10

Looking really good Francois