Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

fair enough, good luck with them

Whoops, was there subtext there? Are they no good?

On a different note, this is me every time I use my API test kit:

no! no subtext just good luck

Whew! And thank you!

PH 7.6
A 0.25-0.5ppm
Ni 1ppm
Na just starting to show

Water temp 19 Degrees

On the weekend I was going to add an elbow onto the pond-hose to PVC connector since I have a kink there (hence my super technical piece of rope) but I thought maybe I could use this as an excuse to add some grow space. What I'm thinking is running the pond-hose up to the top of the veranda railing then NFT trays or PVC along with several drops back to the main Grow Bed.

Are there any obvious problems with this idea?

I guess it's in a grey area between DWC and NFT since it's deep running water at a fairly high flow rate. I don't think I would need to add Aeration or Filtration (which I understand are problems for DWC and NFT respectively) before the grow holes, but I could be wrong?

It's better to run tubes from a sump tank (after filtration) so solids don't build up in the pipe and roots of the plants.

Ah fair enough, I don't really want to add a sump yet, was hoping I could essentially just extend the plumbing and score some more growing space.

If I can manage to not kill all my fish before it's time to harvest them I will create a larger second system anyway

You could try it and then reconfigure later on.

Some plants grow better with dirty water - not sure what though.

But you won't be able to direct 'all' the flow from your pump through the pipe as it might overflow. make a T at growbed level and have some go in the growbed and some go up.

That is a great point to keep in mind, thank you.

I think in the end I will do rather a larger expansion. I've got a stretch of veranda near my setup that would allow me to put probably two tiers of either blue barrels or maybe custom pvc. I bet I could add a few hundred litres of GB. I'll have to get the tape measure out this weekend.

In other news, my fish arrived this week. Ausyfish were great to deal with and all fish survived and are in their new home now. I kept my little boy out of school to help me decant them and we turned the morning into a great learning experience; we counted the fish and talked about their colours and how they move and breath underwater. He was thrilled because I let him do absolutely everything. I'm sure I read somewhere on here about Voluntary Unpaid Labourers

Been really lazy, haven't been lurking round the forum as much as I usually do. My system is obscenely productive. I am harvesting peppermint and parsley faster than I can drink and eat them, Have harvested half a dozen decent sized (and very tasty) bok choi, a few leeks and have repeatedly harvest shallots. The three or four strawberry plants produce about a punnet a fortnight. started experimenting with different lettuces. The fish seem happy and healthy, no deaths (so far! Touch wood etc.) but still a little shy.

Plans for a big expansion in the works just need to finish a rose bed and nursery for Her Majesty first.

Obscenely
Thats the word

Brought in some lettuce and leeks on the weekend and decided to swap my peppermint out for a standard mint (So I can switch from winter cups of peppermint tea to summer jugs of pimm's); the root system was really impressive!