Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Maybe "The Possum"?

Down here, it would probably get shot at. Possums aren't popular.

Jimbo, I DO NOT GET why your plants are already doing so well!! Could that bottle of bacteria have made that much difference? Growth in mine has been very slow, and if I don't add Seasol weekly, the plants really show it...

I am so ENVIOUS!!!!

Blythe, I didn't start from seed, but from store-bought seedlings. Cheater! I may have got a jump start on the bacteria, but letting the algae bloom mess up my pH set me back a little. I was irresponsible not getting a lid on the fish tank. Now that I have, the algae is thinning out and hopefully I can get back to some water testing that means something.
We are going into spring here and everything is growing, growing, growing-AP and soil. Been warmer than normal this spring and have gotten regular rain.
I didn't expect the strawberries to take off so fast, though. I should plant more of them.
Supposedly I get to go fishing this weekend, so hopefully I'll catch some smallish catfish and bream to add to the tank.

It has actually been in the 90's a couple of days lately, so the peppers have started setting flowers.


The top one is a red bell pepper, the 2nd picture is a jalapeno and then there are the strawberries:

hay, Finally got to read the thread.
Yea I want a tractor too. (of course if you have a tractor and put forks on it, you might not mind if the gravel is heavy, just fork the grow bed onto the truck to move it to the next place.)

I think there may be a niche market for this guy. Of course that market is full of us "I bet I can get it free from somewhere....or make it myself with a barrel, some solder and a washing machine motor..." types.

The fishing was lousy-a cold front came through the day before. Oh well, that's why they call it fishing and not catching. Pulled up lots of weeds in the pond and eventually noticed tiny little translucent round things on some of the stems. Fish eggs? Sure looked like them. So, I grabbed a 10 gallon aqaurium and redirected an air line from the air pump(oh yeah, scrapped some metal the other day after some yard cleaning and got just enough cash to pick up a second air pump like the one running my airlift-running some extra bubbles in the tank for now)to an airstone in the hopefully nursery tank.
The IBC system is running along nicely but needs more fish to poop. The tomatoes are not getting what they want nutrient wise it seems, though there are some fruit growing on the cherry tomato. Of course the pH is still up around 8.4, but everything else is cruising right along. Usually getting a strawberry snack in the morning and alot more coming soon. The peppers are all growing and, except for the cayenne, setting fruit already. Also getting a few sprouts from the green onion seeds I sprinkled in a coule of weeks ago. I'll be picking up more comet goldfish this week to put in the tank. Also have a piece of driftwood and a sock full of peat pellets trying to soften up the water. Very hard water coming out the well, here.
Low Energy AP! Woo-hoo!

Picked up another 20 comet goldfish today from the pet store.
Also have a hydrangea cutting in the bed now. Accidentally cut off a healthy sprout when trimming back some dead stalks, so in to the AP it goes.

Learning things the hard way. Getting algae growth around the insides of the fish tank and growbeds. I guess I'll have to paint the outsides of these IBCs soon(maybe barn red? and the frames white). Put some of the leftover chicken shack roofing around the FT today since we are heading out of town for a couple of days tomorrow morning. Plus, the weather might be warm enough to relocate a couple of plecos outdoors.
After perusing some of the threads about tomatoes, I did some pruning. They look right now. Thanks for the good info on the forum, people!
Also grabbed a male and female Kiwi at the hardware store yesterday (plants, not NZers). Then after I got home, read the tag that says 25-30' tall and wide. Oops! No room for that in my little system. So, its either in the dirt they go, or I have to come up with some wicking beds for now. I've been thinking of a small AP system built around a trellis with a bench for a peaceful little zen sitting area. Maybe the kiwis are just right for that.

Hi Jimbo,

Love the airlift and am planning mine already for my next IBC system. Was testing pipe sizes with lift today in my pool to see how it went. I did have a question about returning the water to the FT from the growbeds.. With constant flow obviously water height in the GB's is dictated by the standpipe, so I was wondering is it crucial to get that height right so water from FT doesn't come back up the standpipe and flood bed higher than you would like. Hope that makes some sense.

I am guessing the FT constant water height is the level with the height of the water in the GB drains and up the standpipe. So if FT got lots of rain, would GB flood above normal height too.

If this makes no sense, tell me... I may have worded it poorly. i am just trying to get a mental image of my required plumbing before I start.... I did seem to get fairly good flow from 2 x 20mm pipes for the airlift I was testing today.

If a system is subject to heavy rains and could overflow, then add an over flow to it to send the excess water somewhere useful so you don't wash your fish and plants overboard.

Thanks TC - after more reading I am getting my head around it now. sort of....

No standpipes in the growbeds. Just drains-sink drains actually- and the GBs water height is regulated by the FT water height.
And yes, I have a crude overflow currently. Where the airlift pipes out the side of the FT, the hole in the IBC is too big. But it works great. I need to put an overflow in a more convenient location to plumb it to a tank somewhere below and use that water for the wicking beds I want to build or yard plants.

Thanks JB. When draining from the bottom of the growbeds are you finding much in the way of fines or solids draining back to the FT.

Thanks for a Great thread. I'll hopefully have my second system up and going along similar lines.

When I was setting up the system, I rinsed the charcoal in the grow beds(not a good idea). But it did show that any solids coming from the grow beds did make it around the bend and up over the top of the pipe into the fish tank. Nowadays I don't see any solids going down the drains or up over the return pipe, so it seems that everything is hanging up in the GBs.
Someday, when I'm feeling ambitious, I'll pull the elbow and return pipe and see if a bunch of junk falls out.

Bio slime tends to be great stuff for capturing certain kinds of stuff from the water. Brand new media that doesn't yet have the bio-slime coating will tend to let fine particles through but as that bio-slime builds up it will collect particles fairly well and keep them in the grow beds except when you really disturb and stir up the grow beds and even then it tends to re-clear and settle again fairly quickly.