Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have my setup in A GH
the fish water is ~600 litres
2 GBs with total area of 4m2 - stocked medium density
fish tank covered with shade cloth and water in GBs is ~20mm below gravel level
Been keeping accurate water consumption figures since 3 March
Ave weekly water top ups is 122 litres (water temp has been above 25c until this week) (17.4l/day)

10 litres/day is a fantastic figure

I will add to that:
During this period I noticed of a morning that there was a lot of water droplets on the corn and tomato leaves (transpiration?)

Thanks for the OBs Les.
water droplets -is there more or less moisture in the air at night?

Hi C1, none of the other plants had damp foliage nor was the gravel (top) wet

i TAKE OUT WATER from my system every 2 weeks or so, about 5gall.

My system runs on rain water alone, i haven't use tap water in very long.

I don't have gravel beds, i have nft pipes i think this really helps when it comes to water conservation.

One point that should also be taken into account, I refer to the type of pump/flow being used - this could also cause differences in water usage.

I use continuous flow 24/7 with a 3,000lph pump - from memory, Murray's system is on a timer (not sure of periods) plus the pump is turned off at night (or used to be?).

What do others use?

I agree Les that this sort of thing is likely to make a difference. I run flood and drain on a continuous cycle. This is likely to result in greater water loss, particularly if the water is allowed to get high enough in the bed to make the surface damp (as is the case in my system - which I must fix). Every 8 or so minutes my bed reaches its most flooded point.

Well there's a draw back in having gravel grow bed as opposed to medium less, more surface area = more evaporation.

So while the grow beds beat conventional dirt growing, medium-less growing takes water conservation a step ahead

I run nft from sun up to sun down, pipes are left flooded during the night
4. 20-foot pipes
under 80% shade cloth
total of just about 300gall

better late than never
1400l tank on a flood and drain cycle every 2 hours 24/7. Going into gravel grow beds with about 4m2 of area. Probably been topping up around 100L per week when it hasn't been covered.
Over the hot parts of summer I had a glass window (large) over the tank, which made a big difference in water consumption.

Les, I turn the pump off at night all through the winter, will start to do that soon again. I cover my tank each night during winter to help with the temp drops etc.
I do not flood right to the top of the gravel, I believe that helps as well. I have started today to properly document my water top-ups. Just to make sure I am not have some senior moments re water useage.
Murray

Its OK, Murray - more tongue in cheek on my part. Timed versus continuous flow should be looked at tho as it could have a bearing on water use.

My figures were taken during very hot weather and I expect that there will be a drop over the coming weeks - will report (possibly monthly) on my findings

My 1000lt tank runs at 20C. In its first week of operation with 21 silvers and 4*100lt GBs planted to seedlings we topped up with 40 litres. My pump is 3000lph that is on for 10min 14times per day. I would expect to use more as the plants grow. This may be offset by less evaporation during winter. I don't cover my tank except with birdwire.

I have a 2ft indoor aquarium, half covered, flooding and draining thru a 35L clay growbed. I put in about 3 cups of water each week.

I am quite certain now that most water loss taht I experience is through transpiration - not evaporation. By tank and sump are both fully coverred with plastic and I have dropped the flood level in my grow-bed to a good inch below the surface.

All the same, I am losing at least 200 litres a week - maybe 300. This is due purely to the bulk of plant matter that I have growing in my bed. Some of this plant matter is not necessary and once finished it will be removed. For instance, I am not going to achieve anything other than some aesthetics as a result of my clump of sunflowers. They were put in because I was playing - but I am sure they are using quite a bit of water. The Paw Paw I expect is another culprit.

Shit, that's one bed in full production! NHice!

Yep - and you can't even see the cucumbers that are on the trellis at the back. There are at least six big ones on it and plenty of others on the way.