Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm sure there is a way, I'll be the first one to applaud the answer.

I'm thinking of doing some serious DWC work in my greenhouse. I'm just trying to figure how to keep power down, and aeration up. I don't like bubblers they're noisy, degradeable (well the junk the aquarium store sells me is) and get clogged up over time. Add to that another 'addition' to design, I guess I'm struck by the 'minimalist' AP bug.

What about an A-Frame style with PVC pipes? You could regain some oxygen with each step-down.

I couldn't get much joy from pipes. It was mediumless, and very hard to grow anything decent. That being said i think i just did it wrong, was a long time ago and before I'd struck success with design. Had no resources other than dope growing websites where 99.9% of folks were stuck on chemical hydro or ridiculously expensive organic nutrient regimes that read more like a terminal patients medicine schedule than a natural way to grow.

The S&S stuff at the time was hard to find, and seemed aimed at much larger systems than I wanted. I watched AP business spring up and vanish just as fast so had not much faith in the design. Was Joel who turned my head, his garden grew just as well, if not better, than mine was.

There were a fair few idiots floating round in the early days, so much bad information I eventually ignored most everything unless a scientist wrote it and missed out on a lot of the good. Then I just plugged away till I made something that worked.

Today I think the S&S model and the DWC recirc models are one up on the scientists - imo.

However, they're paid to show profits and high density etc, and when you got a million dollars to spend, how on earth are you going to keep costs affordable to the average Joe. The biggest problem with AP research is their insistence on being complex and adding stuff, instead of subtracting.

Nature has the answers, try to one up on nature you lose every time.

IMO the real keys to this are water flow, variety of species, and love.

AA, had a similar situation (root balls around stand pipe), this was caused in my case by planting the beans next to the pipe, this didn't cause a significant malfunction to the siphon and I didn't realise the extent until I pulled out the beans yesterday.

My solution in the future is to keep plants with lots of roots well away from the pipe end of the grow bed - beans and wom-bok (sp?) are 2 that I have found that have excessive root growth (so far).

One thing I tried regards aeration that may be worth a shot is this....

from the drain hose direct water into a bit of gutter sealed at both ends or a little tray . Into the bottom of the gutter or tray you would have predrilled a hole or some holes that are large enough to take some short lengths of black retic pipe with a tight fit.

The gutter fills up to the level of the stubby little black retic pipes and then cascades over them. Water exiting through the pipes acts like water exiting a bath tub ... ie. a vortex forms which aerates the water. Very efficient IMHO.

Hear me out on something:
Wouldn't it be better to grow any bok in a DWC table? I'm starting to shape the opinion that gravel-filled growbeds would be better suited to anything with a fruit, and leave leafies to DWC.
Am I way-off on this thought, do you think?
Or would bok and other cabbages actually be the exception to that, in that they get too heavy for floating?

bhsx, this is the bok I was referring too (obviously too big for the bed ), near on emptied the growbed of gravel when I uprooted it - you can also see the beans that were planted next to the stand pipe (hope this helps clarify)

Hi i have a little pipe in my nft system you can hear the water gurgling down it

more toes (on purpose this time I think )

You suposed to be looking at the idea not for toes

Sorry F&F, I got so carried away by the sight of your toes, that my question for you was forgotten...

Does the little piece of pipe stand upright, like a standpipe? or is it just sitting loose in the drain, as another surface for bacteria and water disturbance (for aeration?)

LKB, yeah, after I posted that I figure the bok must've been pretty large. Plus they hold so much water, those can get pretty danged heavy. So, yeah, my bad

F&F, you have such a gorgeous setup. But I was personally thinking more along the lines of a shower-head at the end of each step of the A-Frame, to force some oxygenation. I just don't know how efficient it would be for AA to try that...

Hi jaymie the little pipe stands upright its just a loose fit i put it there to give 1 in depth in the nft to start the plants seems to work ok in there

thanks F&F, I can see it properly now

Showerhead? I kinda get it. got a few ideas floating around. I think DWC is looking good for fruiting. My 'fruits' were very fat. I spent 12 or more months with powdery mildew problems and chased my tail around incessantly - it was the strain....

Hehe. Funny how you miss the obvious.

Aeration into the plants is easy in DWC Recirc - just add a venturi. If the showerhead somehow solves the problem of roots not allowing water to exit fast I'm all ears but can't for the life of me see how?????

I'm keen on many variations, time and resources will dictate how far I get (and my bad work ethic lately) - this is slowly improving as my head clears, especially after seeing Jim's (60 yrs and kicking butt) sterling efforts.