Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,
Before I get started, I'm wondering how many days if any
I can be away from a working AP system?
I just want to know the reality before getting into the investment.
I have seen some talk of automatic fish feeders.
Is that the biggest thing? I know the fish must be fed daily,
so if you do have some automated fish feeding device, how
many days could you reasonably be away from a working system
without it going to pot? Is there more than a slight chance the feeder could
jam and cause your fish to die after several days.
I'm assuming also that depending on the amount of time, an educated
person might do other things to prepare for being away, like maybe
provide more shade to plants than they might otherwise need if you
were right there to tend them?

Thanks for any advice. I want to be sure I do this right.

Jeff I am in the same boat, but I have two dogs so dont get to leave much lol

My fish feeder design works fine with small koi pellets, but if I feed the regular sportmans fish food, it does jam at times.

What really worries me is that I already had one pump failure in the first 2 months. They replaced it under warranty and probably just a bad apple, but still worries me now.

Even if I left for a week or two and the system was running perfect for the last 6 months I would still worry about it.

We have a rabbit, but we can take her with us most places.
I appreciate your input about the feeder and the pump.
That's one thing about a regular garden or regular fish pond,
is you don't have to worry about feeding or recirculation.
I'm surely going to do an AP setup. I just need to do some more
research to determine how to start.

Thanks again.

Unlike us warm blooded types, fish can easily go a week without food.

Good to know; thanks. I wonder if like our bunny they would get pissed off and vindictive if
you miss their feeding by a few hours.

I use a feeder on my system, and as long as i keep it from getting rained on - it works perfectly. That is, until it runs out of food. Currently lasts about 10 days. When the fish are bigger.... it won't be as useful.

EHEIM TWIN Automatic Feeder, Battery Operation

The base of it holds the batteries - I recommend drilling a few holes in that base plate - as if the unit gets wet, the water just sits there with the batteries. Quick fix if you're going to use it where it might get wet.

I'm guessing I'll end up owning one of these. Thanks for the info.

Someone else recently posted about using an arduino to help monitor water temp. Remote info is pretty easy to setup if your somewhattechnical. You could set it to monitor your pump and alert you if there is an issue. Then you would just need a spare pump a buddy could plug in should aanything happen when your gone. These thing are really flexible and you can add any number of sensors. Anyway, just a thought. Google arduino if you want more info on it.

Thanks. I probably would look at something like that
if I have a very elaborate / expensive setup.

Fish can go a lot longer than a week without food. Food should be your last concern, unless you plan on leaving for 6 months. My bass only got fed once this winter, and I did not loose any.

Thanks for the reassurance helomech.

yep - worry more about over feeding your fish with auto feeder or neighbours! But do have a good backup system in place in case of pump failure - your pump WILL fail at some point in time.

Yep, we never recommend automated feeders here in our shop...

It isn't as efficient but you could consider running 2 pumps instead of the one... this way if it fails the other will at least meet some of the needed capacity... also a 12v air pump on battery with a powerfail switch is a must if going away a long time

Plan your system to give at least a couple of weeks without the need for a top up (or automate them with a top up valve) and you'll have some extra piece of mind. You can also stock lightly so that things don't get critical quite as fast.