Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

PLJ-
Thanks for the comment. Feel free to borrow anything you like and ask questions about any particulars. This whole design is a borrowed design from bits and pieces of numerous board members' systems.

Mattyoga-
I liked the idea of having 2 pressured loops from the sump feeding the GB's and FT seperately.
Like you realized, you can cut off one side for maintenance and keep the loop going on the other side. Got this idea from Dr. Storey Bright Agrotech on Youtube. Through the FT, I'm pumping about 1.2X volume per hour (~300-310 gph). Hadn't measured what volume goes thru the GB's, but the fill time is about 10-11 minutes and the drain time is about 2-3 minutes ( +/- 30sec - 1min on either side) using 1" standpipes and 2" bell syphons feeding it with 1" pipe cut down about halfway with a ball valve. I'm using an Algreen Superflow 6000 pump. 120 watts. I think they were a bit generous on their head rating but it seems to be working well enough for what I want right now.

I put a couple more pieces of lauan (really thin plywood) on the outside of the ST to keep the dirt from piling in on it. I was in a hurry and did not do it properly with pieces of tin. I regret it already but I'm gonna have to see how it works.

baconbacon
I plan on enlarging the system once I get the hang of it all using the same 260gal sump. 1 or 2 more fish tanks with a biofilter and maybe a couple more growbeds or small deep water raft system. With the force of the GB's emptying into the sump it really puts alot of O2 into the water (appears to anyway, I don't have a meter to check it). After it gets fully operational I was gonna throw a handful of crawfish (yabbies for you non-USers) in the sump tank to see if they will survive.

Pics of growth taken 1 week ago. Probably about, but not quite, twice as big now......

Tomatoes on left, Purple Basil and Sweet Red Pepper on right. Small Banana Peppers seedings inside.


Strawberries front right, cucumbers along the back.


Long view. Constructing a growth wall trellis right now for the Toms and Cucs to climb on.

Looking great! I like the way you used the IBC cages.

Tom and Cucumber trellis done! Pretty excited about it. All plants seem to be doing well (still cycling fishless). Pulled some Tomato suckers off 2 days ago and shoved them in the rocks and they seem to be still green and perky today.

I love the neatness
are those pipes at the top for overflow incase the bed floods?

I have been having good luck with the suckers. Mostly just pinch them off with fingernail and shove into rocks. They look like crap for several hours, but they soon look like nothing happened to them. A good amout of my indoor system is suckers started by a few seed started tomatoes.

You can plant suckers very deep - rip off the leaves for about 20cm and then plant right up - makes more roots

"are those pipes at the top for overflow incase the bed floods?"

Yes. Before I constructed the concoction that I have, I was watching a youtube video where a huge root ball clogged up one of the bell siphons of a growbed causing an overflow and about pumped all his water out on the ground overnight.




I GOT FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went and picked up about 50 mixed size Tilapia last night. Most are 2"-3", a couple almost 5" long. Dumped them in and they seem to be spry and happy. I noticed some baby babies in there so evidently one had a mouthful of 'em when she hit the water. Hadn't thrown any food in there yet.

Day 1 of my :E-Z-Clean Dual-Stage Radial Flow Filter" seems to be working really well. I added a little outer ring on the top to try to divert the water out of the 5 gal bucket a little for a little more fines filtration. Will post of pic/vid of it in use in the next couple days. Got a good bit of poop in it right now and they hadn't been in but about 13 hours.

Hey Guitarwes,

Very exciting first fish time


P.S. Did you know how to 'Quote' in a forum?

Pretty good growth so far. Looking at it everyday you don't realize the growth until you look at some pics from a couple weeks ago. Wow.

Seems like the Toms are taking their own sweet time fruiting. LOTS of blooms. No fruit. The Cucumbers are doing really good. Lots of blooms, lots of little 1" cucs.
Added some Lemon Balm, Parsley, Jalapeno Peps, and more lettuce seeds to germinate.
Still having high Nitrates. Guess I don't have enough nutrient sucking veggies yet.

If you have an old electric toothbrush, hand pollination of the toms is a breeze. I generally have a good bee population here, but I still like the consistency of hand pollination.

I've been bumping the plants and trellis about everyday since they've been blooming hoping to help out with pollination.

With the electric toothbrush, do you put it right on the bloom and turn it on for a second or two? This is a new one on me.

Looking good Guitarwes! I haven't even finished my system yet (still need more growbeds!) and I'm already planning more growbeds and another fish tank. I'm just not very patient but i will probably wait to see how this little system does first..........

I turn it on and leave it on, then give all of the flowers a quick buzz. You know it is effective when you see a cloud of pollen around each flower afterwards.

Worked ok with my red chili peppers. Plants themselves didn't want to flower, but the ones that did I hit with the tooth brush and the next day they had wilted. Then a few days later I stare to see some fruit developing. Crap plants though. Only got 2 ripe peppers before I gave up on them. Tried growing from a dried chili bouquet that was a few years old.