Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Great start tacosalad! I keep thinking that there is not much light in the greenhouse, then I remembered what the weather was like when I grew up in Washington...

So, today I spent most of the day playing with pipe sizes on the siphon. My stand pipe out of the GB is 3/4". I was using a 1-1/2" bell. It would sometimes not shut off.

I increased the size to 2" pipe and it was a bit better, but still wouldn't shut off consistently. I ended up using 3" pipe and now it shuts off perfectly.

So. Lesson learned. There is nothing wrong with using a big pipe.

I have also finished my grow bed filling manifold. It now goes all the way around the perimeter of the bed. It seems to distribute the water quite well. I'll post pictures in a later post.

Oh yeah...

Yeah. Many of the pictures were taken at night, or on the typically dreary Seattle days.

The water is finally starting to register as detectable for nitrite. Hopefully, just a couple more weeks.

The plants are doing quite well. Lettuce, spinach and radish sprouts are everywhere. The tomato plants have put on about an inch or so.

I have also picked up a larger pump.
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Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been exceptionally busy at work.

The system is growing plants like mad

These pics are from about a week ago.







Some cauliflower

We have fish!

Today, we brought home 30 6 inch Rainbow Trout.

It seemed like we have been waiting an eternity.



Of course, all fish must have a video!




And here's the growth of the larger growbed today. Sometimes, I think I can actually see the plants growing.

What are your plans to keep the water cool enough through the summer for the trout?

Oddly enough, our water in the system was 5 degrees cooler than the water when we transported it from the trout farm.

Of course, that will change as we have more bright, sunny days. We have a couple of options.

1. More sump so there is less heat transfer overall (In progress)
2. Frozen milk jugs of water rotated into the sumps (Frozen jugs ready if needed)
3. Copper coil in an old office refrigerator if needed, circulating using a small pump, directly from the sump, into the FT. (Quick assembly process)


Thankfully, the fish tank is in the shade about 90% of the time. I've also added shade cloth to help with the shading, and there is cool outside air that goes around the tank from strategically placed holes/vents in the greenhouse walls.

I spoke with another APer that lives not to far from us. He'd said that the water never did reach dangerous levels for the trout he raised last summer. That was with no additional cooling.

We are certainly open to other ideas.

Another idea that I was debating was to make a radiator of about 18" square with a solar powered fan to blow air through it. Pump out of the sump, through the radiator, dumping back into the FT. Could even turn it into a swamp cooler by running a light film of water on the radiator fins.

Copper= bad. Don't pump your water through it. In fact the only metal that is considered AP safe is Stainless Steel. Some black polyethylene tubing ran into the refrigerator will be sufficient, as the emmisivity of black plastic is higher than white or clear.

Oooh. Thank you for mentioning that. Black plastic pipe it will be then, if needed.

Just checked on the fish. All 30 are still alive and swimming around happily. I'm surprised to see the goldfish were still alive. I figured the trout would have eaten them already.

Tested the water tonight after 4 days with all of the fish.

PH: 6.8-6.9
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0 - barely detectable
Nitrate: 10



Another video of the fish. The water cleared a bit more. The day we put them in, they stirred up all of the sediment on the bottom of the tank and made it a bit cloudy.

I'll try to get a good video when there is still enough light in the greenhouse. I usually do most maintenance and inspections after dark.

The fish are jumping and feeding quite well. So far, they certainly seem to be getting enough DO. The timer is set for 15/45 on the pump. During the 15 minutes, it turns over the FT 2-3 times. That is one good thing about having too much pump. Lots of water flows out the tank overflow and falls 5 feet back into the sump. Between that and the heavy spray into the FT, I think we have it covered pretty well. We do run a small aquarium air pump with two air stones in the fish tank, just to be safe.




Tonight I had to tie strings to the branches of the tomato plants. When I put the plants in, they were just under 4" tall. They're well over 2 feet now.

Nice Setup John. Love the goslings! We have been meaning to add Goslings to our farm to control the bugs, weeds and icky slugs.

How do you like the pea gravel? I use the exploded clay, but that is super expensive and on a larger configuration, that could really add up. Does the pea gravel affect the pH much?

I finally got my 1/4 scale feasibility test going. 850 gal fish tank with 9" rainbow trout. It feeds through a 10'x3'x10" bed, then into a sump. From the sump, i then pump through strawberry towers and feed blueberry & grape pots, then back to sump and back to tank. The sump also has a lettuce float in it. Amazing the difference between AP and raised beds, we planted the same time in both. Tomatoes outside and just 24" tall and are just beginning to flower, the ones in the AP are about 7' (vine), full flowers and already have tomatoes growing.

Had a tad issue early on with pH. Was using a meter from last year that had dead batteries in it. I replaced the batteries, but did not re-calibrate... another slight AP growing pain... lost many fish. When it said 6.7, it was actually 5.8

Another issue, even though I have half the tank buried underground and outside the greenhouse (mistake made my first year), the sump is still in the greenhouse, and on a hot day... i can still see temperature fluctuations of 5 degrees a day. Next year I will get a underground sump and forfeit the float on it. Temperature & pH... are my nightmares.

The low ph was likely due to the expanded clay, it is not ph neutral as advertised. The pea gravel is actually more ph neutral.

The pea gravel has been wonderful. When I was selecting the gravel, I took jars of vinegar with me to the rock yard. No bubbles from the rocks. We used expanded clay pellets in our 'test' system last year. It worked fine. I have our leftover clay pellets sprinkled over the top of the pea gravel in the half barrels.

When we expand again, I'll be looking for gravel that is just a bit larger than what we have. I suspect that the fine 1/4" and smaller pea gravel may clog up with solids a bit more rapidly than the larger rocks.

I have been extremely paranoid about the water in the system. I let it cycle completely before adding the trout. I used goldfish and a bit of humonia to get it going.

Yes. It's amazing how well the plants are growing. So far, the only thing that seems to be somewhat slow is the Cauliflower planted from seed. They took forever to germinate, and are just now about 2".

Since we've moved into a stream of heavy overcast/rain, I just installed some reflective styro panels behind the grow beds to reflect light back onto the plants. We'll see if that helps.

We did convert our standard raised beds to wicking beds this year. The plants growing in the 7 beds are growing exceptionally well. Much better than a standard raised bed. I may consider flowing AP water through the wicking bed reservoirs next year, after we've added a few thousand liters of sump.