Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Don, check out Rocket Mass Heaters. Once the thing is built, the hard work is done. Then it's only a matter of "feeding" the heater only once a day with twigs and small pieces of wood. No cutting, splitting, stacking, burning big chunks of wood, just little stuff.

http://www.permies.com/wood-burning-stoves.html

Tonight we had some fish from the dirt pond and they were good eating. They came from the AP System when the pond was built. We caught 5 of them. The biggest was 64oz and the next one was 48 and the next three ware smaller. The camera problems caused me to not get to use my camera but some pics witll be sent to me later of the proof. Sure was nice to get to share with family. My two daughters caught the fish this time.

Finally got the pics to work. had to use 3 different programs to fix the pics. The scale is an antique that measures GR on one side and OZ on the right side. It showes 64oz and that is only the big fish.......

NOW THAT IS A WAGON LOAD LOL

Wow huge fish,
I have tilapia in my FT.
And my GB has celery,onion,sweet melon ,oregano and I have planted some papaya today.

Some pictures of my system.

Nice onions. I have to be very careful to keep mine above the water or they spoil. Only the roots can be wet.

When I started I put too many fish in so had to take some out. I have a 1100 gallon tank and I put in 200 fish (100 channel cats and 100 blue gills) which was ok but they started growing pretty fast. I had the big pond built about the time they were getting to be a problem so I put the cats in there. Now there are some that got really big but are hard to catch. This year they did reproduce so I have some about 4" long also.

Dang Don, just finished reading this from start to finish. Not in one sitting but sure learned a lot. I see that ups and downs are common. I've had a few but you win! Learned a lot form your experience.

Here is an update and I hope this one goes. I am having trouble getting it on before it goes away today. That is peas in the tire to try winter peas in the hoop house. Also have some in the gravel. That is radishes in the next pic. they are easy just spread em out and let em go. great snacks. abouit a third of a pack of seeds covers the barrel pretty well. the last one is a couple of pepper plants from a friend who said they were done in his pots so i transplanted in my garden and they are reviving. The one that looks nearly dead is birds eye peppers. the other one is supposed to be Cyann but it is not. they get too big and taste different. That is sweet Basil behind the peppers.

here is some more pics You can also see the larger pipes I put in to try to control the algae. The cover on the tank has helped with the dark algae in the tank but not the PH. It is still 8.5 or better most of the time. I am trying to design a collection system for rain water and if it works will probably use a lot of blue barrels for storage.

pic 7 and 8 are the tomatoes. there are 3 plants there two are grape toms and the other is supposed to be a large type but not so. I also put in a heater so when it gets to freezing here I can keep some heat in here. Hope that works.

Nice job, Don!

So far I am ok. the low temps here have been down to 17 and the hoop house was only down to 44. I did not even start the fire yet. I really do dread winter . I hate the cold.

Jeeze time flies when you don't watch close. Here it is June. I am still complaining about the weather. Finally got to warm weather and the rain stopped. 34 inches so far this year. Forecast says it will dry out the next two weeks. I sure hope the weather man is not lying again.

This winter we collected about 13 Cabbages, a load of lettuce and Swiss chard. A bit of Rosemary, some chives and mint too. English peas did good but did not last long. T

My pineapple top died and my purple Orchid died also. The bell peppers did not do well either this year.

For the replant we put in a few tomatoes. One Jelly Bean Cherry tomato in the truck tire in the corner which is doing great. Producing more than I can eat. Garlic planted in the tire died already. A single Jelly Bean in the AP and a Yellow pear tomato also. Not producing yet but doing ok. I just threw in a few radish seeds for snacks later. I already have 6 of 7 volunteer tomatoes from last year so will be over run with toms soon.

We learned about celery and lettuce too. when you buy at the store find one that is not real bad on the root and you can just cut off and inch or so and put it in the gravel so it just touches the water and the next thing you know more celery and lettuce coming along. You get lots from each one and they keep on producing till it bolts. If you can keep it cut off it wont bolt for a long time. I had 3 plants that lasted over a year the last time then they just rotted off. Some t hings really don't like getting their leaves wet so might have been that.

I had a low flow problem last week and cleaned up all the inlet supply fittings and had fish bones and scales plugging up the holes. I cleaned up the over flows and the drains also. Low flow still was a problem so i pulled out the pump and found it plugged nearly shut with dead fish bones. After that clean up the timer started acting goofy so I reprogrammed it and replaced the backup battery. Working ok now.

I am considering an upgrade to the system next year. Increase the floor plan from 25 x 45 feet to at least 38 x 50 or 55 and concrete all the floor space. Change the beds to boxes, 4 or 5 x 12 feet and a foot deep. With a fill at one end and a Afnan Siphon on the other end of each for a drain to a sump. Make it a Chief Pist by adding a sump. I am really tired of pumping fish parts to the beds and spending so much time unplugging the fittings on the supply line. Now I am using a large capacity pump 3800 GPM running to the beds 3 times a day for an hour. The rest of the day just circulating the water in the round tank. My fish get a workout all the time swimming up the current. A 1000 GPM pump would be a lot less in power bill.

Algae control:

Barley straw

or

Bentonite clay, just make sure its Calcium not Sodium.

I melted a whole bale of hay in there and no effect so I quit putting it in. I just leave it alone now and dont worry it. The PH is at 8.0 when I last tested it. Actually I took a sample to Petco to have them test the hardness and all that other stuff not in my kit.