Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Everyone,

Just joined the forum and wanted to share my small apartment size system I built recently. Just started cycling and hopefully can get it planted soon. Look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on it.

Look likes a good start! You will get addicted and want to make a larger one! :-)

Looks like a great start!

What have you got planned for lighting?

@Konceptz - Hi and welcome to the forum.

Ha, already wish I could, but I live in a small place right now so this is about as large of a system I can work with right now.



Honestly just gonna run with sunlight from the window for now. If the plants don't do well then I may add some CFLs. We'll see.



Thank you!

Welcome to the forum

Koncepts, I saw your post on FB in one of the other AP groups. LOVE IT! I did some experimentation last two winters with window gardening, it can really produce some results if you play it right. The key is to let the sun do its thing, then just trick the plants into thinking they are in full summer, by adding a few hours of soft light. Let the sun do the heavy lifting, just use the artificial light as an environmental control device.

Will take me a second, but this is my cherry tomato's in a WEST facing window, neighbors wall is only about 3m away. Really crappy as far as natural light goes, cheap T-12, 24 inch light, 4 hours every dusk... cherry tomato's all winter long:



If that worked, I also had Cucumbers in my south facing window, with tomatos, all growing in 1 gallon coffee cans:



One of the things I try to do, is have a unique grow pot, container, station, call it what you will, just not a full bed. When you have to evacuate, or move indoors because cold or heat, individual plant sites makes a huge difference! Or just move to a better spot in the window

There was something else I was gonna say, but I totally forgot, so have a great weekend!

CI

This looks great and would be a perfect size for my grandkids at their home. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much for your advice CoconutIsland. I appreciate any and every bit of advice I can get from everyone. I will definitely take a look supplementing lighting on my system especially as the summer starts to wind down, but I am curious to see how the plants will do just with the sunlight from the window first. I like your thought on the individual grow pots. If you are in doors in a small place like mine, mobility is definitely something you want to keep in mind. Luckily with the way I have the system set up everything comes apart and can be put back together in minutes and with the hydroton even the grow bed can be moved easily while its full because its so light in weight.

Looks like your system is growing like crazy. Do you a post of your system here on BYAP? if so can you provide the link....I would love to take a look at your set up.

Your welcome! hope the kids enjoy it if you set it up for them My son definitely has ...He's full of questions about how it works.

Added this little guy about 2 days ago.


and the SLO seems to be doing its Job just fine.

Right on Konceptz! I posted a couple of pics on the FB page you are also a member of, but here is another shot of what I put together yesterday, still have to fill the buckets with spacers and media, then transplant into the net pot lids. I got six pre made lids for this round but I picked up enough bulkheads to make another set and just drop 1 gallon nursery pots in a custom lid. The plan is for this system to be indoors in the winter, eventually, a pond under this whole setup.

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I have it running with water but the plants are still in 1 gallon organic soil nursery pots. I will rinse that out and use clay pebbles when I decide which plants to put where. The system is set up as it stands to just be a simple drip into the netpot, floods a small amount in the base of each planter, drops back to the reservoir. Not having fish means I can skip the solid lift problem and the sump tank or bio filter tank. But with now 4 outdoor systems and 1 indoors, I am going to have to make a move on that soon

Hey CoconutIsland

Sorry I didn't get to reply on FB been running around all day. Looks like you have a bunch of good set ups under your belt. Im really liking the the mobility of having the individual buckets and pots and the plants seem to do great. I may have to give that a shot sometime soon. The set up above with the white buckets looks really good. Cant wait to see how the plants turn out. You should create a post on here in member systems and keep us updated.... looks great

@Konceptz - Hi, you might have to check the water level in your GB, it should be about 2 inches below the top layer of the media. (PS i am just assuming from the wet media you have in the GB, it might just be from the splashes, but any how you should look into reducing the top layer from being wet, you will be facing algae problems if they are.)

You don't really need the sponge filter when water enters the GB, do a search on solids in GB, there is a few informative threads already being discussed.

Regards

Thanks @Curious ! Yea someone else mentioned that but when I look at it in person it isn't wet the way it looks on the picture. Right now the water stops about 1.5 inches from the top of the grown bed. The pebbles feel slightly damp but not soaked the way they look on the pic but maybe I will pick up some extra clay pebbles or lower the stand pipe a bit.

I will have to search info on the solids... I was under the impression solids only helped if you had worms in the GB.

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