Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am not to concerned about these plants. They are kind of just a test, and to keep my water clean while I finish my system. Which will probably take at least 3 months. So if they die, it won't bother me any. If they live that would be great, feed for the rabbits and the chickens. I only got about 12 fish in my 1550 gallon tank right now, so I am expecting very little nutrients.

Got back home from offshore. One of my temp grow beds was not siphoning. After trying many things, I found that the pump was not pumping enough water to that bed. So I put a valve on the water on the other bed and restricted it a little. Both beds are now siphoning properly. Got lots of sprouts going, more in the bed that was siphoning properly. The one that was staying flooded all the time has a lot less growth. Not sure if it is coicedence or not.

Still have not put my cinder blocks in. Have to finish the house remodel first. But the temporary grow beds are doing good.

Managed to harvest the first planting. Here are some pics.



Letting the peas grow some more, but planted new stuff.




Eggplants coming up



Also found some algae eaters that are big enough that the bass won't eat them. Tried to put some goldfish that eat algae in there, but the bass ate 2 of them. Got the rest isolated.

Nice!

Thanks, the cinder blocks are going to be a pain in the back side. But once those are done the system should go quickly.

Pleco !

Yes, had to look that name up.

I harvest a bunch of plants last week, about 50% of my plants and my water got nasty. Had to pump out most of the water, got in there and cleaned it up and refilled the tank. Both of the algae eaters (pleco) are doing great. But I lost two more of the gold fish to the bass. Down to 7 of the gold fish. I will never harvest that much of the plants at one time again, water was clear and clean before I did that.

Also got my 12 volt DC pump ordered last night. Hoping it is in by Friday. It uses 6 amps max, and pumps up to 700 gallons per hour at 5 foot head. Got to get some batteries and a battery charger. Going to get the solar panels later. If this pump works good going to order 2 more.

Well my 12 volt pump came in today. Also picked up a battery, battery charger (will get solar power later, but for now will use a charger). Going to try to hook it up tomorrow weather permitting.

Somebody will undoubtly correct me if this is wrong but I think you should watch the brass fittings. Minerals leached from the fittings may be hazardous to your fish with the recirculating system.

They are the standard PEX fittings. There is no other option to hook pex to the pvc. Been running them for 4 months now on my other pump.

That's the coolest looking pump I've ever seen

Hopefully it works good. Cost over 200 dollars with shipping and I need 3 of them.

The usual pond pumps are magnetic drive so they don't die when they clog, make sure you screen well before the pump so a piece of gravel or stem or something doesn't stop it.

Are the couplers on the brass fittings aluminum? I suppose the pump case it aluminum and the guts are stainless?

Edit: Just read the posts on the 12V DC pump thread, good idea to change to plastic if possible.

Not worried about any hard debris getting to the pump. My tank is buried and the pump is up top, so no rocks can make it up to the pump. The pump is 6 feet above the pickup on the bottom of the tank. I am using the screen in the pick above.

Not sure what you mean by couplers on brass fitting. The brass fitting is a PEX fitting, and the clamp is brass, but it does not come in contact with the brass fitting.

The pump is stainless, doesn't say anything about aluminum.
http://store.waterpumpsupply.com/mppufrse316s8.html

Well took everyone's advice and got rid of all the metal fittings I could. One left over, and no way to get rid of it and still use PEX piping.



And finally building a cover over it to keep the sun down and the leaves and other things out. Not sure I am going to keep this cover, will probably build a better one later. Still not completely finished with it.