Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks!

Ya I am not rushing the washing process for the stone/gravel. My main job here in the Philippines is to help protect the coral reefs but there are none at my site. Ive only run across a few pieces of coral that were dynamited back in the day. What we do have are shells and I have been picking those out since the would have the same effect.

Ya I was thinking that. i have been slowly washing rocks to make sure all salt is washed off but dont know if there is still a residue when transferring.

Im no expert but pretty sure any salt on the gravel would be well inside acceptable levels. Both plants and fish can handle a bit of salt. There is a way of measuring and a rule of thumb for levels but not sure what they are off the top of my head.

If it were in the budget, you can test with a salinity refractometer. I wish it were in my budget...

Ocean salinity is much higher than freshwater, I'm not sure where beach material would fall. Good idea to rinse well.

most pool shops will test water salinity for free, is there a pool shop nearby?

Haha ya. Papa said he might have one he used at his hatchery back in the day.

We have no pool shops to speak of. Our pool is in my back yard, the ocean. hehehe

Yesterday we added 16-20 talapia in to each tank and had pumps running for the full day.


Video of system running
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvgGDXLbJWw

Seeds sprouted but going to let them get well established before transplanting!


One of the things that happen a lot in my province is brown outs (Black outs). A few times they have lasted up to 6 hours. I know that this is going to be a little problem down the line. Luckily, Peace Corps dispersed my allowance for this month. Today or tomorrow going to buy a small generator to power. I was thinking about just getting a car battery and inverter but then we would have to charge it. The battery and inverter would cost the same as the generator. Why not power the whole house, diba?

Also going to purchase testing kit online since my capital city does not have this item.


All of this is happening because I have a Peace Corps seminar for 2 weeks at the end of February. If I am MIA, there's the reason. But i will still check the boards.


Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Yes!! So glad to meet another refridgerator enthusiast..

I use them too and love them. They are cheap (or free), VERY well insulated, easy to waterproof, and are good width.

We've found they make fantastic wicking beds and worm farms too, in fact they are even better suited to that than Aquaponics as they are already the right height (500-600mm high)

If you're worried about the look of them they can be easily 'dressed up' with corrugated iron sheeting around the sides and a couple of screws

One small point, in your video it looks like the surface of the gravel in the growbeds is wet?

If so, you might want to lower the maximum flooded height 20-30mm or so (cut off a little bit of the vertical drain pipe) which your plants will appreciate. The plants don't like to be too flooded/waterlogged.

Ignore this message if your surface of the gravel is dry

Ya i noticed that. I was going to top off the refs with gravel instead of cutting the pipe, which would accomplish the same thing i believe...


I love using refs for this project. Appearance isnt really important to me, i think it adds a little character. haha

One thing i need to figure out is the flood time. Currently it takes 10ish minutes to fill and 5 minutes to drain... I dont know if this is a good flooding time.

Yep, that would also do the trick.



That's fine. No problem. Quicker flood times are generally safer than excesively long flood times (plants may dry out in really hot weather). More important (for your fish) is how much water turnover your pump is doing per hour.

Higher water turnover = more aeration and biological filtration

From the looks of it your system is fine.

I love bamboo structures!

Move somewhere tropical Charlie, all your bamboo needs will be fulfilled.