Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Greetings to all backyard aquaponians, I'm new to the forum as you can tell but have spent a lot of time generally snooping around and gathering info on what seems to work best and whatnot. So after about a year since I first bought an IBC, my system is finally set up and cycling as of a few hours ago. It was actually up for a short while last year but with exams and school and work and late night drunkeness I couldn't find the time to really take care of it, which is kind of good because in that year I've researched and learned a lot more about the whole concept and practice of aquaponics. Respect to all the veterans on the forum, your efforts are greatly appreciated by newbies like me.

My system specs:
GB - 80GAL / 290LT (36"x45"x11")

FT - 170GAL / 640LT (36"x45"x24"of water)
it could actualy be filled up to the 225GAL mark on the IBC but that's overkill considering it's only one GB

H20 Pump - Becket 575GPH / 2180LPH @ 0' head (I assume its about 300G / 1000L @ GB level)

Air Pump - 2 x Stellar aquarium pumps (flow rate unknown, each is rated for a 100GAL aquarium)


front view, the FT is totally covered by the old piece of ceiling board you can see there and by black gardeners mesh go back, the GB actually drains thru the mesh, this is to prevent leaves and other debris from getting in and clogging my pump (system is under a plum tree)


my lovely brown FT water, i see no sense in washing gravel as it all gets filtered out in a few days anyway. you can also see the air lines and the pump pipe with the horizontal valve for aeration, the hose going to the GB and one extra for running to some small towers i plan to build in the future


profile view, i know i shouldn't use clear tubing but that's all i could find at the time. the inside gets coated with algae occasionally but it all blows out when i put full pump pressure thru it. the chair is there to reach the GB, its just below neck height for me (poor planning i know) see some pineapple plants my mom is growing on the ground too. i love pineapple

rear view, more pineapple, electrical


electrical detail


the GB as its cycling, i know its way too full, i put in the wrong stand pipe but thought I'd leave it like that to wash out most of the gravel dust.

And that is my humble system thus far. Some more info: I'm running it constant flood for the cycle but plan to go timed F&D afterwards (had a siphon but after i read the BYAP Trials, F&D or CF seem to be the way to go), Tap water pH 6.6, will check it again as soon as water gets clear. The GB is 11" in total height and filled with (mostly) 3/4" - 1" quartzite aggregate, I'm thinking to make a 7" standpipe so it will have about 1-3" dry zone with 1" freeboard. Planned additions: some small strawberry towers made out of 4" PVC, 2-3 more growbeds when i have the funds/time to get them, and makeup some kind of backup system to run off a 12v car battery.

And thats all for now folks, let me know what you think.
One love from the West Indies
Peace

Looks just fine Mdmx...

Do you think the wood will stand up to your climate???

Yeah I have thought about that, when I built it last year my budget was kinda tight but its been there since and doesn't show any signs of weakness yet. I climbed up in the GB the other day and was jumping up and down and it was quite stable, I'll give it at least another year again. Next one will be steel for sure tho

Perhaps some of the paint that is on your IBC liner would add some protection to the wood supports. That is if there is any left.

I don't think the paint is necessary, it handles the weather quite well and in Trinidad it's either blazing heat or pouring rain so I think it'l be OK for now.
Over the past month I've been too busy with work and school to do anything with the system really but it has been cycling 24/7 and the water has cleared up enough to throw in some tilapia (which I'm in the process of sourcing)
One concern of mine is this, my tap water pH is 6.6, after the system is cycled for a few days with nothing but gravel in the GB, it settles around 7.8 - 8.0, I've buffered it down with some hydrochloric acid so it's just above 7 now. Do you guys think that the gravel might keep the pH too high or will it return to normal when I add the fish and plants?
I'm probably gonna have the tilapia in by the end of the week anyway and see what transpires, just wanted an experienced opinion on the situation

What kind of fish are you planing on stocking with? What quantity?

Tilapia, maybe around 20 or so. I was gonna ask about that in my last post, thanks for reminding me haha. But I think 20 should be good, seeing that it's only a single GB I can't have much more than that can I?

I wouldn't worry about bringing the pH down. Tilapia prefer basic water to acidic water, and they're pretty tolerant one way or the other.

So I see some posts got deleted while the site was down the past few days, no matter, nothing too important anyway.

Everything fine with the system so far, fish still alive, plants not wilting so I take that as a good sign. Only thing tho, I realized that something was eating the leaves off my hot pepper plants, read somewhere that tobacco is a natural deterrent for pests so I broke up a few cigarettes and mixed the tobacco in a bit of water and dripped some on the plants. None of the other plants have been nibbled tho, I guess bugs just like the spicy stuff.



This a pic of the GB that got deleted, thought I'd post it again for comparison as the system progresses.
No observable growth yet.



These are the first readings I took from the 15th, two days after I added the fish



These were taken today, 2 days after the first. I have no idea whats normal for a new system like mine so if you guys with more experience could tell me what you think I'd appreciate the feedback.

For reference, here's a timeline of the system thus far:

Thurs 11th Oct, 2012 - Tilapia Added (about 15)

Sat 13th Oct, 2012 - Plants in GB

1 cap seaweed extract added every day, fish food every other day

Mon 15th Oct, 2012 -
pH = 7.6
NH3 = 2ppm
NO2 = 2ppm
NO3 = < 0.5ppm
duckweed and some other ponds plants added

Wed 17th Oct, 2012 -
pH = 7.6
NH3 = 0.25ppm
NO2 = 5.0ppm
NO3 = 30ppm

P.S. don't mind the dates on the picture files, I mixed them up

I'd be really careful with the tobacco. Nicotine is toxic. People have gotten sick just from picking wet tobacco leaves (the nicotine gets absorbed thru the skin). Its called Green Tobacco Sickness. It only takes 60 mg of nicotine to kill the average non-smoker. Lets say about 1 mg/ kg of body weight? Wouldn't take much to kill an 800 gram fish.

Dropping a few particles of tobacco into the grow bed could have serious long-term consequences for the fish.

so its been about a month since i put in the plants and besides a couple dying everything else seems to be doing excellent. i also added pineapple, tumeric and tipitambo to the GB as well.


a view of the GB, whatever was eating the plants really slowed down its appetite. now i only see a little nibble every few days, i could live with that


my most recent readings, lately i've seen a drop in ph and a slight increase of amonia which i believe is caused by me overfeeding my fish a bit plus the heavy rain we've been getting over here the past few days, nothing too serious i think. one thing i realised tho is when the ph dropped is when my plants stopped getting eaten, dunno if its just coincidence or what. and another thing is the nitrates seem pretty high too, my colour chart is a bit faded but it looks like its around 80ppm or more, but the plants are growing good so i'm not too worried about it


and as you you can see my water has cleared up very nicely, i could actually see my fish now haha.

and thats how my system is going thus far, i really enjoy getting up every morning to go check on it n feed my fish n whatnot. i just started a permaculture course too which is going very good, its always great to learn more about plants and nature and how they affect the ecosystem, fixing what we have been destroying over the past couple hundred years.

thanks again to everyone on byap for the wealth of info available
peace

Ben

Setups looks great! Hows it running now?

Looking to set up my own, but still doing some research before i go in and get stucked

Hey man good system
good luck