Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Trial System Progress Photos 22-11-2011

Note: Last panel of system three, parsley flowering like mad, hence the almost indistinguishable photo.

>"Note: Last panel of system three, parsley flowering like mad, hence the almost indistinguishable photo."

re: BYAP GB's
just by way of interest, are the beds divided into three sections and how does that effect the way water moves.. ie are there gaps at the deepest level of the beds between the three sections of each bed?

Does the BYAP style 15 mins per hour drain all the sections to empty in that 45 mins that the pumps are off?

Ok just read the whole thread in one sitting and the impression I got was Start your system up using the CF method(skip lettuce altogether when warm).
Use timer F&D after system cycles.
Once system is mature growth rates appear similar in all systems(peppers and chiles seem to prefer CF or F&D and beetroot prefers siphon.
Overall I would think the timer method would be the cheapest electricity wise but would like to see the actual usage data.
The auto siphon method appears to be the most prone to failure however I agree with the poster who said they like the sound. I have a small windowsill setup in the living-room that lulls me to sleep.
CF method appears to attract more slugs by far and for this reason alone I would not use it. I have enough problems with them without enhancing their presence.
Until further trials or additional data sways me I am going to do the timer F&D method. It appears to be the most bang for the buck overall.
For future trials I would like to see entire grow-beds of one particular crop all planted at the same time in fully mature systems. This would be a pretty good indicator of which plants perform best in each different system.
i.e. 3 grow-beds of nothing but chiles or nothing but celery etc.

I have all three types running in seperate systems and as for slugs, they are in all of them but yes the CF does seem to have more

Might also depend on your climate.

I've got all three types of beds attached to a single mature system and I haven't noticed any slugs in any of them. I do have snails though but they so far seem to all be aquatic snails and they don't seem to be attacking any of my plants though they sometimes cause issues blocking the holes in spray bars or caps.

It could also just be that they take a while to move around if there is no reason to.

They are kind of slow after all. But in the case of the constant flood, it's in the middle, so it's less likely to just be because it was the closest point to were ever slugs come from.

But I've had pot plants all in a row that took 6 months to see slugs in them all. It must have taken them ages to spread around the world to those places that didnt have them. It's lucky for them that we humans love helping things like snails move around.

A most, excellent experiment and thread, great job!


I'm grateful because I am only using (so far) CF systems, and back the front, from what I've gathered.... but....
Yesterday I had someone who (I don't think has aquaponics), telling me it should be the siphon and/or flood and drain system, and that my systems were not finished, because they know someone who does it that way, a successful lettuce farmer (real cutie) too, such a lovely man, so he was convinced this was the way.
Even included this explanation in our introduction when I arrived at said farm!

Funny how a comment can make you question what you're doing........AND keep you awake with insecure indecision................!!
Thank goodness I found this thread 2:30am this morning, because I LIKE what I'm doing, and I'm not going to change except from mt own personal experience and research, which is what's it's all about.
I don't do what I do because of opinion, show me facts, show me something real, and I'm there! This thread rocks

Can't wait to suss out Townsville after Christmas!
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Have I mentioned I love this site yet?

Wow. Great thread EB. Got me thinking about a lot of things.

The plant growth has changed a bit over the past couple of weeks.. The weather has been extremely variable and has knocked the plants around a bit.

I'm going to post up some larger photos of one end of the beds. Constantly flooded is streets ahead of the others at the moment and the system 3 (15/45) is lagging, it really seemed to suffer over a couple of hot days, plus 2 of the tomato bushes got off to a slow start, damaged as seedling.

Sys1


Sys2


Sys3




Sys1


Sys2


Sys3


Today we are filling the gaps in each bed where we lost seedlings in the hot weather.

Thanks for the feedback in the thread, it's good to keep things motivated. I notice the results haven;t gone up for the last couple of weeks, we have them written in the book, will try and put them up soon.

Hi all
Awesome Trail, keep up the good work!!!!

I have a question about air pumps used in trial, what is the capacity and how much power do they use ?

Would i be right in thinking that, theoretically, the power consumed by the water pump in system 3 ('F&D') is 1/4 the power used in system 1, and in system 2, as pumps in these systems are running 24/7?

Keeping all these records gives an idea of total cost to run system for a year, in feed , power, water, great to know!!!



anyway thanks and
have a good week end people!

This is a fascinting read. Fantastic work EB and team. From reading this thread i have gone from virtually no understanding of some of the finer details to almost no understanding

The desire to start my own system grows by the day! Hopefully before too long i will be able to contribute some useful data to everyone too. I like playing with electronics and such things

Thanks again and keep up the great work.

How is that black hose, bringing in the FT water connected to the PVC? Is it glued/screwed in?

Also, where are the holes for the water coming out of the pipes on the GB? I can't see them & I'm about to redo my set up in a similar way.

I just watched a vid of Faye putting together an IBC so, I think, to answer my own question, it's a "non-kink hose" to a threaded connection to a "T" in the grid. Nothing is glued, I was surprised at that.

In the vid, all the drilled holes along the grid face down, why is that?

Hi cjinVT nothing is glued so that the grid can be pulled apart if/when roots grow in to it, eg for regular maintenance.The water trickles from the grid and we want it down in the media, if it is exposed to sunlight algae grows.

I changed over to timed F&D a few days ago and I'm already noticing water usage is much higher than with constant flood. Your trial data shows the same.
Any theories as to why this is so?