Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How this all began. 2 years ago I was diagnosed as diabetic and needed to make a few changes first change was Lose the Mtn dew and fast food, Done! problem is porduce gets expensive in our neck of the woods so the diet has changed, still No fastfood or mtn. dew but the breads and pastas are creeping back into the diet and last blood screen showed it. So if im gonna go with the good stuff then Im gonna have to suplement it from My own garden space. Now all I have is a small backyard a traditional garden isnt viable especially considering the space is where all the Power and water and city sewer system come onto my propety. So I started researching raised beds and stumbled on aquaponics and wickening beds and have spent many nights reading this forum and another and going thru You Tube videos and with the space I have it is a VIABLE option.
My plan is to have a AP system in 3 stock tanks my FT will measure 2x2x8 and my beds will be 2x1x4. Then ill have 2 wickening beds that are 2x2x8 all covered in a 18x11 greenhouse.
fish that I am considereing are channel cats and possibly talapia although I have never tried them as food.
Ok setting up the AP system I have a question on cycling im shooting for a spring setup and I was wondering if I started the FT on a Homemade BIO filter that I use Lava rock as a media say a 55gallon drums worth could I then transfer that to my growbeds to Jumpstart cycling. Another advantage of this would be that the filter would remain INLINE in case something went wrong with the beds I could swap over and still maintain the fish till the problem is solved?
Many more questons to come as they arise

Sounds like a good reason to get started

thanks for sharing your story.

there is no problem using a media drum for filtration till you get your beds built, just be sure to stock your fish according to filter volume, we recommend around 25 fish per 130 gal, so for a 55 gal drum about 8-10 fish would be a good start.

goodluck

THanx charlie. Just read the thread on your system. hmmmm its july 31 wonder if i can get a harvest of habeneros by dec. LOL

If you build fast, you might just get those habs! My system came online at the end of may, and I have jalapeños and bell peppers already. Northeastern Nevada's temperatures are a bit wilder than San Diego's though...

LOL Just a Bit wilder Ron

Ok another question is nagging at me. Reading thru a couple more posts Chlorine popped up. Im on city water and our town clowns LOVE chlorine so much infact you can smell and taste it in our water.Now I get the fact it isnt good in anyway for the system. I understand gassing but my question is How practicle would it be to Have a couple barrels setting at ready to throw do a water change if needed?
Tanks since this is My space ( not my wifes space YET!!) Im going with gavanized corragated stock tanks. NEW not fresh out of the farmers field. some of the reading says the need to be coated do to ZINC bleeding thru I guess im trying to wrap my head around this one becasue these tanks are designed for water and also designed for livestock to drink from. I know there is a difference from a 1000lb cow and a 1 pound fish, But is this truly an Issue? On the Wicking beds would this be an issue do to not haveing fish in them?
OK brain Overload Im going out to throw some Pig in the smoker and drink a beer and try to get back to the K.I.S.S method

Our tap water is very chlorinated in my area too but I still use it for top ups without an issue. It would be handy to have some off-gassed water in bulk for water changes in the begining while going through the cycling process/nitrogen cycle.

In relation to the galv tanks, yea zinc is very toxic to fish, there is also magnesium and iron. You will need to either pond line or aquacoat them. No prob's for wicking beds because as you said, no fish.

Still doing research. Looking ay different coatings for the tanks and such. My lovely wife was talking to a neighbor about the ideas I've had and lo and behold she is attending a class at the local college about it, well this did 2 things the wife is now interested because it isnt just one of my schemes, and number 2 I get to attend a class before I just jump in.
Went by fish and game today to get a few answers on fish TALPIA are illegal in the state of Nevada. Redclaws are illegal. So bring on the brookies and blues. Fish and game was extremely helpful in the fact they brought out current regs and went over them with me then reccomended a hatchery. They also asked me to come back and speak with their fish biologist because he is also interested in aquaponics.
Overall it was a good day I'm thinking

Busy week Monday I went to a 3 HR class on aquaponics offered by UNR ( university Nevada Reno ) was good class for my wife but left me wondering. The instructor has never had an AP system and multiple times refered to this site. Needless to say my research was on par with hers. On a good note my wife now understands what I have been trying to explain to her LOL. Pulled 4 15.5 HR shifts at work so other than reading on different systems did nothing on planning my system. My Mrs woke me up this morning with "lets go shopping " now me being who I am I said OK ( I hate shopping ) she didn't catch the warning. After spending all day in town I came home with everything to put together a small system in the house to experiment with till we put the outside system together in early spring.
Indoor system consists of a 35 gallon Rubbermaid tote for a ft and 2 10 gallon totes for grow beds. It'll be an ebb and flow system using a bell siphon on one bed and a loop siphon on the other bed just to see which style I like better. Everything including 400gph pump and 3 cubic feet of pea gravel all fittings, hose, pipe, and tote run me about 150 out the door. Now to see what tomorrow brings

It really get up my nose that there are people out there doing this.. how can you teach something you havnt got any experience with?
I would have found it hard to bite my tongue.

I hear ya Charlie, the saving grace was it was she and I weren't in the same room, it was video conference style class. The one thing it did do was stir an interest in AP

That reminds me, I need to find someone that has never been on a boat to run a boating safety class...

Rock on K.Blunt, good luck with the new system. Also, you can try constant flood which should work as well but much simpler. It's great that your wife is on board too.

Testing equipment, setting up siphons, starting seeds something seems so wrong this close to winter to be starting seedlings and getting the garden ready.
FT is ready had to do some bracing on it do to the fact when full it bows, grabbed a couple ratchet straps and a couple of pieces of 1x6 and problem solved .
Bell siphon installed and works like a champ.
Loop siphon well lets just say the wife went shopping for parts the hose I got seems to kink when ever I get the right size loop.
While working on parts this morning I ran a test on the water our PH is about 7.8 also reading a high alkaline content and and water is reading HARD we do have a lot of calcium in our water. water temp reading 60f. when the system is set up in its winter location ill work on parameters while its cycling to bring them closer inline to where we need them.

Hard is not a bad thing in AP, in fact sometimes harder water can be good. Temp, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph are the main parameters we watch. Dissolves oxygen would be a luxury, and salinity is usefull.