Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Are the plants getting pollinated? What are the daily high and low temps?

About being pollinated, I'd say yes. I'm not hand pollinating, but there's always a bunch of tiny flies buzzing around, and there are some fruits growing. Its just that the bulk of the flowers aren't making it. I'd say one in 10 survives. Please let me know if I should be doing anything else about pollinizing the plants.

For temperatures, The low can't be less than mid 70's at night. Its been hot though. I'll place a thermometer back there later today and monitor the temps for the next couple days. Check the report so you can have an immediate idea of what's going on weather wise here: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... illo%2C+PR

Give the plants a gentle shake or hand pollinate some of the flowers to see if they take. This is what I think is going on - http://bonnieplants.com/2011/07/tomato-plants-not-setting-fruit-heres-why/

Blossum set sprays won't work for high temps so you're probably going to have to wait for cooler temps to get some tomatoes to set.

I wonder if plants can experience wind chill like humans do - maybe you could set up a cheap version of a swamp cooler near the plants and get more fruit set. I don't think they'd drop once they are set.

Cheers

http://gardening.about.com/od/problemsp ... omDrop.htm

might help

temperature is usually the case but it can be calcium related I think

Well, I thought I'd log the latest failures (will get some photos soon). . As someone suggested about the plastic tank in ground, it collapsed. The water level went down real bad one day (can't remember why) and then it rained non stop for days. I fought it for weeks, but the tank buckled until it started to leak somewhere. A bunch of $ "down the drain". We smashed the tank and managed to stick some IBC thirds in there to make a quick & dirty fish tank and sump, to keep the system running. It worked, all fish alive and well.

Today I went to my friend Bill's house / hotel thing he's got up in the hills http://rainforestinn.com/, and he told me how his pond water was so alkaline many of his plants weren't doing well, and he couldn't figure out how to keep the ph down. Came home and decided to test mine, and it was through the roof. Tonia did a "gravel in vinegar" test on the gravel from my new gb (and for the 3 i havent set up yet) and the thing wouldn't stop bubbling. Again, more money wasted. Of all times I buy gravel they send this stuff I'd never seen before, and it doesn't work.

Needless to say I'm quite frustrated.

Sorry to hear about the problems you're having with the tank collapsing and the gravel MW. Even though sooner would have been better, it's good to find out about the gravel now before you spent a lot of time moving and cleaning it. Maybe the gravel can be sold to recoup some of the expense or will come in handy somewhere else .

Glad you were able to get a sump and fish tank going to save the fish

Wish you the best.

Hi guys!! Ok here's the August 2015 update (With pics!). Constructive criticism welcome!!

Installed new pump:



Since my fish tank is the sump, I have a constant fear that a leak will kill all the fish. To give them a chance in the event of a leak I don't catch in time, I raised the pump onto a milk crate. To avoid the pump sucking fish in, I built a milk crate "cage". The next step is to put some air stones. Haven't bought them yet (or the air pump)









The pump is quite powerful for my system. What I did is I added (2) tees. One returns water right back to the tank, and the other is placed right before the last raft. This photo also shows the filter in its black corrugated plastic enclosure & the cement block tank we built. It ended up being much smaller than planned (662 Gallons, approx).



I hadn't cemented the top layer of blocks here:



I removed the square 4" x 4" tubes around the siphons and put these 1 gallon buckets. The 4"x4"'s were tearing up my hands every time I'd have to pull roots out. In addition, I poked holes on one side of the gallon buckets, to encourage water to drain from the very end of the growbed (Not sure if I'm accomplishing anything by this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, and its causing no harm):



I added (3) IBC's. After visiting the UVI on our vacation, we decided to experiment with floating rafts on these 3. I had enough foam sheets for (2) rafts, so we're going with (2) for now. The sheet I had laying around in the shop was only 1" thick. I'm not sure if this will be ok. All the rafts I've seen have been 1.5".





Instead of marking the foam sheet with a sharpie, I did a quick layout in corel draw and printed the template for the 2 sheets. One has 30 holes, the other 42 (I think). Don't tell the bosswife I was playing at work!











The foam rafts inside the IBC's:





I recycled the 4"x4"s I had in the growbeds:



Here's the "burn your throat" Chards. The tomatoes and basil just grew on their own, from when the system was running last time. I hadn't taken off the 63% shade cloth out yet. Its in full sun now, I will be installing a 30% shade cloth very soon.





The 6 drains. from left to right: 1 CF (the one with the Chards is GB #1), 2-3 F&D, 4-6 Floating rafts



The filter. I don't know what the heck to call it. Its kind of a mix between an RFF & swirl. The water swirls inside a 55 drum that's inside an IBC. Around the drum there are 3 or 4 rolls of bird netting, plus a volleyball net I found in the trash, plus little plastic mesh onion & orange bags I recycle. This photo was taken right after I replaced the 4"x4"s with the gallon buckets. Its normally very clear inside and out. The thing does the job, as from time to time I open the bottom drain and get a ton of muck for my other plants:



Water movement in the tank. Again, its quite nasty in this photo as it was taken when I removed the 4"x4"s and put the gallon buckets. The water is now crystal clear:



Mosquito control for the floating raft tanks:



150 Rocky Mountain whites. Those things eat, and eat, and eat, and eat... (and poop)!

Looks like a lot going on

Hi again everyone. Thought I'd share some photos of the latest. The weather has been beautiful here lately. Temps finally cooling down to 80's after a nasty hot summer.

I had a problem in which my fish began to die at a rate of a fish a day for 3 or 4 days. When I checked the water, ammonia was through the roof. There was so much gunk on the bottom of my filter I cannot begin to describe it. I flushed it out and did a few major water changes, and the problem was corrected after a couple more days. Now I'm opening the bottom valve of the filter to fill a couple 5 gallon buckets every few weeks, and I'm watching how much I feed the fish. All is well. Would like to get a cone bottom filter. Have no idea where to get one locally.

I pulled the last of the chards & planted a strawberry plant my kid got at Home Depot. It has spread all over the grow bed, so I left it there by itself to see what happens. On the second bed, I sprinkled some spicy micro green mix I bought at High Mowing, and they've done well, considering that the lighting in that area this time of year is limited. The house blocks about up to about 50% of the sunlight.

View from Roof: Strawberries in foreground, cucumbers in back.



Another view from roof (other side)



Roof view of cucumber (that's one plant):



My first Okra!



Biggest cuke so far



Second cucumber I planted. This one is on a raft. So far so good.



Nutrient Supply.



My first cilantro.



Okra flower



Okra plants



Seed trays & spicy microgreen mix in flood & drain gravel bed:



Strawberries. Mother plant is on top right corner.



Closeup of okra a cuke. Bosswife inspecting.



Cuke flowers

Hi everyone. I'm getting ready to build my rooftop NFT system.

Here's my uncle's system, in Lajas, Puerto Rico:



And here is my drawing. Its 5'x30'. Bosswife is already wanting to make is 20'...

I just noticed I inverted the 6"O/C & 8" O/C, but you get it!

....is your uncle doing AQUAponics or HYDROponics?

Cheers,

thjakits

No his is hydroponics. I'm going fish poo all the way!

I see.......

But you want to copy his grow part of the system?


What is your plan for water filtration before going into the NTFs?


thjakits

Im going to move my existing filter to the roof, and add one or two 55 gallon drums as additional filtration. I plan to use some filter socks as final filtration before pumping water through the 1/4" black tubing...unless, of course, someone has a better suggestion!