Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I bought a Cycling kit form aquaponic source website, came with the water tester, ph up/down, powder seaweed ( i think its Seasol ) and powder ammonia.

Had 2 good pages on how to cycle system. followed the steps, and took my time, measured ammonia readings after about 30 minutes from dosing. I added 1 tablespoon at a time, till i got to 5ppm (yes i know, too high, was aiming for 4ppm), didn't realize at that time 4ppm was the upper limit of enough.

Got some stuff down this weekend.

This was the day i put the plants in ( about a week ago?)


Checked water conditions this morning, much better for ammonia.


Before digging


After digging. Wanted to get a sump in, and didn't want to spend the money or dig an IBC sized hole. So will build a second sump under grow new grow beds.


Working in sketch up atm, to make new plan for Grow beds.

Make sure to put a cover or lid over it if there are toddlers around.

Thanks for the tip, she isn't allowed on that side of the yard, its where we keep our chickens. But I will find something to cover it with so nothing happens.

Question at what level are the new Grow Beds going to be..

I have noticed that you have the growbed sitting on to of the FT..
If that is the height of the bottom of the GB's.. I would not of sunk the Sump that low.. Keep it as high as you can..

Juergen

OK, so instead of working on my current system, spent a few hours working a new system. Based on the idea of having trout, and needing more fish tank and grow beds in the ground, I was thinking about 1-2ft in the ground would be minimum required. The more the better...oh, and wood seems to be the choice of my wife..."Aesthetics" are important...so no IBC, unless its in the ground.

So here is the main section of the of what the back yard might look like. This currently is a 1:1 FT:GB+Sump. This will be the first part built and will have a green house plastic in the winter and shade cloth for the summer heat. There will be more Grow beds/sumps built later.

The idea is to have a sump, with the same foot print as the grow bed above it. Each sump will hold approximately 300 gallons or more, to maintain a stable temp, and be able to hold 2x the amount for drainage of grow beds.

Problem is, i have never built any thing large out of wood this large. I work on CAD all day at work so building things on paper comes alot easier. Any experts have some advice for a newbie to woodworking?

No, that is not permanent, when the grow beds get built, that will turn into a raft type bed that will constant flow into the IBC. To help filter some more since i would like clear water.

The grow beds will go above the sump and be made of wood, drain into a DWC like system for duckweed and maybe red claw...still haven't decided if i want a crayfish of some sort.

What are your temps like over there Sterfire? Do you have local suppliers of trout?

Might be too warm at times for trout.

Take a look at DecalsByJT's system thread, he shows how he built his and they are sturdy! I put together a frame for mine which is rectangular like your model. I just built the sides like a stud wall and put plywood on the inside. Covered it in plastic, by JT will probably warn you about burying wood because of the termite problem.

viewtopic.php?p=180302#p180302

The ground temp ( like 4in down) is around 64F over the year averaged. doesn't change much from winter to summer, so i have been told. The average summer high temp is around 79F while year round average high is about 70F.

Trout is stocked in most parks and lakes around here for fishing year round.

I really feel i am split between trout and tilapia. one i will have to heat, the other i will have to cool. I would rather make 1 system to handle the same fish year round. If i had more land i would go with tilapia and get a compost heater set up for summer time (lots of horses and cows in the area to get free compost from). Also i enjoy eating trout more then tilapia, but never had fresh tilapia...

Trout and tilapia both can be found locally since they both are found in the wild (with in a few hundred miles or so)

If i could split my fish tank or have 2, i could grow out tilapia when trout are getting ready for harvest, but this isnt going to be commercial and i don't want to freeze a ton a fish at one time, would rather kill a fish when i want to eat.

I will have to look into the termite issue, and see what options i have

I could make the sump and bottom of fish tank (everything that is in ground or lower ) out of cinder blocks, then build a wood frame on top of that. I just know less about masonry then carpentry.

That seems like the best option cost and long term use.

Good news,
My ammonia is down to 0 and so are Nitrates. Added 1 Tablespoon of ammonia and and is at 4ppm now.

I will soon be ready for fish....

I hope you do realise that nitrite needs to be zero as well. From your photo, your nitrite is still quite high.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

I understand, when i say "soon" i mean i am closer. I understand that all 3 levels should be 0ppm a day after adding ammonia, and that is when a system is fully cycled.

Still have some excess nitrites, but everything else seems good. Still pretty cold, was 50F when i got up this morning, so i don't even think blue tilapia will work yet.
So, was reading about fat head minnows being used as test fish for toxicity. decided to see if they would survive my system.

Added 10 to my system on Saturday.... they are still alive tonight.

They don't feed at the surface, but i feed any ways. I really have no idea how to feed them, but they should eat the algae thats starting to grow on side of tank?