Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Also, today after my kids all took off for Christmas celebrations at their other families' houses, I made some progress. First, Hubs helped me jack up the grow bed stand and re-level where it had sunk down some in front, because I hadn't put blocks under the front legs like I did in back. I found some broken-up pieces of granite countertop in the pile of rocks, landscape blocks, and concrete at the back of the property. Dunno where they came from, since all the countertops in the house are plain old laminate, but they sure make nice foundation pads for the grow bed legs to sit on. Too bad they're dug into the dirt, because they're pretty. Oh, well.

While we had it jacked up, I also added the sixth 4x4" leg I had left off in the middle front. It was nice having the extra space for crawling in and getting the sumps plumbed, but now that's done and I'm getting ready to add the second bed, I figure it will need more support.

Once all that was done, I got started on slicing up my last IBC and putting together grow bed #2.

I came up with a nifty way of making the standpipes for my Affnan/bell siphons, after hunting in vain for 1" to 2" adaptors. Instead I bought a metal funnel, and I use it as a form while I heat the pipe with my heat gun, to flare out the end:

Here it is in the new grow bed, with the gravel guard.

I made the bell (not shown) from a tall plastic coffee creamer container that just fits down into the gravel guard. (My hubs goes through the stuff like crazy, so I'll have plenty of them.) If you noticed the two blue strips sticking up out of the standpipe assembly in grow bed #1, they're for pulling out the bell, since it fits too snug for me to get my fingers in around it.

So, grow bed #2 is ready for gravel, but unfortunately the gravel and I have to go to work tomorrow, so it will have to wait a bit.

(The gravel doesn't have to work. I have to work. The gravel just sits in my truck and waits, like it's been doing all along.)

I still need to clean up the water. I didn't get the gravel clean enough, due to not relishing the idea of being soaking wet in the cold for even longer than I already was, and dying of pneumonia before I could even get my system cycled. So in the back of my mind I'm cooking up an idea for making a siphon/filter vacuum to suck out all the red dust.

Also, I decided I wanted to do catfish, since I don't want to have to heat my system. And also because I'm from Texas and Hubs is from Arkansas, and we both think catfish are delicious.

We have pretty mild winters, for as far north as we are, but it's definitely too cold for tilapia. So of course that's all I've been able to find for sale around here. I haven't tried real hard, though, since I've just been too busy to think about it much, so I'm hoping there are some catfish sellers out there and I just haven't looked hard enough yet.

Looks good! One thing though, point the holes in your distribution pipe downward. The idea is to keep the top of the gravel dry there sunlight hits it. Otherwise you will end up with algae on top. You know, that stuff on the north side of everything up there, AKA Washington State Green.

I love your flared standpipe idea (I think I might steal that if thats ok).


In relation to your dusty water.. Im not sure how you have configured your system but Id recommend running CF till things clear up (remove bells and run pump full blast), All the dust/dirt will settle to the bottom of your beds eventually. It may also help to put an old pillow case or something over your distribution pipes to catch all the crap as it enters the bed. You should see things clear up within a week.

Catfish are a great idea and they do taste fabulous. I wish I could get hold of some

I chuckled about your gravel having to go to work. I too have scrambled with having AP supplies in the back of my truck late in the night before I have to go "back to work".

Funny thing we do on our days off - we work. At least while we're setting up new GBs.

One thing I bought for my truck a few years that I never regretted is the Load handler truck unloader It makes easy the unloading of gravel, mulch, compost and even a pallet of concrete blocks from your truck bed. I highly recommend it.

What is the benefit of the flared edge of the standpipe?

Increase water speed through downpipe thus assisting the bell/syphon action.

Since when does being in shadow stop things from growing algae/moss in this part of the country? You've been gone too long, boyo.

Seriously, though, thanks for the advice. I'll turn them down once I've drilled them bigger. Right now I want to be sure they're not plugged.

Steal away! That will make me even prouder of it.


I have pantyhose over them to catch all the PVC shavings; they've cleaned out some of the larger grains (I always *knew* there must be a reason pantyhose existed!) I've also got a bucket with a hole in the bottom, stuffed full of polyester fiberfill, sitting under the inlet of the new (no gravel yet) grow bed, to help clear out some of it. I figure if I keep stirring up what has settled in the sumps and fish tank when I'm out there, eventually at least some of it will make its way there. Running CF isn't something I had thought of, though -- I'll try that too, thanks!

So I calculated how much ammonia to add to to my system to equal (approximately) 1ppm. As a result, I have come to realize that I have no comprehension of the immensity of a million.

1ppm for (very roughly) 1,500 liters is very, very small. 1.5 mL, or about a third of a teaspoon.



Sheesh.

A million is a LOT.

That is one of the coolest things I have seen all week. It has gone on my wish list. Thanks!


What Charlie said. And also to give me an excuse to melt stuff.

Wow, radish sprouts have amazing roots!

I finally got my second grow bed finished yesterday, on one of my rare days off. There's STILL gravel left in my truck, but before I can build another grow bed I've gotta build another stand, and before I build the next stand I need to bury the last sump tank, and before I have room to do ANY of that, I need to build some more workbench space in the greenhouse, so the lumber meant for that purpose won't be taking up all the space and keeping me from doing the other things.

Here's the system, in its current incarnation: [attachment=1:*now Paul, stop that*]
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[/attachment:*now Paul, stop that*]

Hopefully I'll start having more days off soon...rumor has it the missing coworker who's stolen all my holidays for the past month and a half will finally be back this week. (I'll believe it when I see it.)

Oh, I also got some actual crop-type stuff planted, in addition to the random things I've been sticking in the grow bed. There's now a whole section of radish seedlings, and I've got a couple of sprouting trays planted with 2 kinds of carrots, lettuce mix, pak choi, spinach, and other stuff I can't remember at the moment, all destined for the grow beds.

The "random" things now include some fake bamboo cuttings rooting for one of my sons, a fig tree, an avocado plant, a pineapple top, root sections from some grocery store Romaine lettuce, celery, and a couple of onions, an air plant, and an orchid. I think the growing conditions in a flood and drain bed have got to be just about perfect for orchids, but I know they require very weak fertilizer, and I don't know if aquaponic water is appropriate, so I decided to find out.

Here's how the Romaine lettuce is doing. It looks pretty happy to me: [attachment=0:*now Paul, stop that*]
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[/attachment:*now Paul, stop that*]

I'm having a dickens of a time deciding what my nitrate level is. 10 ppm and 20 ppm don't look any different on my color card, so I tried doing a half strength solution (5 drops instead of 10 of each of the solutions) and it still looks the same color. So I'm guessing it's closer to the 20 ppm level. I last dosed it with ammonia (1ppm) on Dec 27th, and the level is barely detectable now; just a tinge more green than zero, but not green enough to call it 0.25. Next time I have two days in a row when I'll be at home to do tests (hopefully this weekend, if the aforementioned coworker doesn't get a stubbed toe or something and have to take another month off) I'm going to do another dose of ammonia and see how it responds overnight.

Who's Paul???

Where's Wally?

Im confused................