Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Learned an important lesson today. After believing I had a massive nitrite spike, salting and doing a 1/3 water change, I realized that I had used the dirty test tubes and that there is still 0 Nitrite like there has been since it cycled

Just though I'd share.

J.B.

looking good!

Hey, J.B., everything looks great!

I actually had pretty much the same thing in mind for my system, but I'm only going to have one fish tank and one grow bed. I have a couple questions for you, if you wouldn't mind.

1) Do you think the deck would work if it just big enough to support one fish tank, or does the second deck section provide needed stability?

2) Ballpark, how much did it cost you to build the deck and grow beds? I've been pricing mine with plywood because I didn't know if strand board would be solid enough, but if it works with gravel it'll work with hydroton.

3) How thick is the strand board you used?

Thanks!

Thanks for the questions AShrewdLawn.

1) It is all one deck, 4'x12' that supports the two FTs and has the middle 4' with removable sections to service the below grade sump. If you are doing just one FT and no sump I would probably just use concrete blocks to raise the tank and support the grow bed as necessary. However, a 4'x'4 deck with a 4"x4" post at each corner would easily support a full IBC. No span is over 4' unsupported, I made sure at full load I was only putting 40-50 PSI on the 4x4 posts and concrete footers (Sandy soil here). They can take a hell-of-a-lot more. That's just where I felt comfortable there would be no settling after all was compacted and installed.

2) I budgeted $1000 for this. Came in under by about 25%. Yes, hydroton would be uber light; each grow bed weighs about 4500lbs each at max fill

3) I used 7/16 OSB. Standard 16" framing. In hind sight, my grow bed walls may have been a little weak in design, but they are holding decently. I used 3 coats of oil paint on all exposed OSB surfaces. oil bites into the wood. will re-coat in the winter and early summer. We'll see how many seasons they last.

Hope this Helps.

J.B.

Thank you, it does. I am planning on having a sump, and I plan on partially burying it like you've done yours. I already have a couple IBCs and my grow media, I just need plumbing and the materials for the GB. I got a hold of some barrels, but the lumber and pond liner method seems like much less aggravation in the long run since there's only the one bed to drain.

Great systems and setups, neighbor! The first setup is what I am ultimately going for as a second system as soon as I can get ahold of some IBCs. Making GBs out of wood was what I am going to do as well to make more grow room for my first system as soon as I get a few bucks. Did you get a good price on the liner? Evereywhere I have looked it was about $15 out of my pricerange at the time.

Hey TomKat,

I think I paid about 130 for both liners... had to get the 10'x15' size because of the 16" depth... a lot of waste.

On my raft bed, it is still 4'x8', but I used 2"x12"x8' untreated lumber (cheaper than treated) for the walls. The 7'x10' pond skin liner fit nicely with very little trimming. The 7'x10' runs about 40 bucks and is usually in stock at the Orange or Blue Hardware Store. I had to order the larger ones online. Sometimes a net search will bring them up cheaper or on sale.

Ultimately, the 2"x12" walled bed cost about the same one of the other beds did to build as it required more 1"x6" and 1"x4" corner, base and top moldings to suit my aesthetic need.

Will post some detail pictures of each to highlight the differences this weekend.

J.B.

Some quick updates. Planted black eyed peas, and butternut squash. Doing well.





Fully cycled the biofilter and raft system. Planted it with kale and spinach. Tested above the 160ppm limit for nitrates... it was time to get some seeds in the solution.

The "empty" bed has just been planted with collards and some more black eyed peas. Time to start thinking about my fall plantings.

Still need to wash the media for the raft pre-filter beds.



On a side note, I have mealies and BSF galore! Now that the wild caught fish are taking pellets, they have an influx of live supplementation. Expecting some good late season growth out of them.

J.B.

Things look to be ticking along nicely JB...

I lost one of my larger catfish this morning. It appears he rubbed himself to death on the pump guard. I don't see signs of a fungus infection, but there were tiny round worms in the meat. I don't know if they are and after effect or the cause of the itching. You can see on his skin that they definitely were itchy and was scratching every where. Please let me know what you think?

After reading this site, I am of the opinion that they were detritus worms and were an after effect. http://www.fish-as-pets.com/2007/11/pla ... swers.html

I also have some of the conditions that allow large populations of detritus worms, i.e. the build up of decaying organic matter through leaves and excess feed that collects in the gravel bottom of the tank.

As this was perplexing me, I did more analysis and have my new unified theory of how this fish died. After netting some detritus off the bottom I have confirmed that the worm are detritus worms.



Being that my pump guard is a hasty metal lath cylinder with a rather jagged hole for the pipe to exit, I suspect that this cat tried to enter the pump guard, or tied to exit it and got hung up on the sharp metal thrashing most of the night to free himself. The gouging and raking of the flesh is consistent with this hypothesis.

So, in summary, my hastiness to not have to clean the tank of leaves as often lead to his demise.

Lesson learned.

System is still healthy I am just my own worst enemy

If the metal is stainless steel it might be ok but I would recommend replacing that metal guard around the pump with something else!!!!!!!! Metal corrodes and leaches into the water and can cause long term fish health issues as well as being dangerous to the fish in the short term.

Thanks TC. I have removed the guard and cleaned the tank. Learned a lot in the process though about the host of micro fauna that can inhabit the systems.

Learning is always a good thing. And you don't get to be a fish farmer till you kill some fish, we just generally hope you get to kill the ones you are going to eat.