Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

thanks so sharing Koos. guess it is just trial and error, as with so many things with these systems. Just have to work out what works best for your system

I don't think it is trial and error. If you observe enough, you start to understand after a while.

Like with everything else it is like a big puzzle. It takes time to find the first pieces to fit and it goes all quicker.

Fruit on most plants now.

Great to see all that growth Koos!



Regards, Martin.

Getting some rewards from the systems already.


By now we can get enough peppers for a meal about once a week and with the many fruits on the plants I believe it will get a more regular event. The pepper are much more tasty than those in the shop.

We probably need some more spinach as it seems that we would like twice a week of that. We took off a really big harvest this week and made "marog" which is simply spinash and unions fried on a pan and that you eat with maize. There was enough left that I could make another dish last night. Beans from the tunnel with some potatoes and spinach. Came out lovely.

Baby marrows are coming on nicely, but I have exactly the same problem as last time: The leaves are attacked by mildew but it does not affect other plants. In summer this is no problem, only when it gets colder as the humidity in the tunnel gets higher at night. I don't do any heating.

The chilli plants and some of the peppers have lice on them. Does not seems to be damaging the plants in any way so I left them and soon there were ladybirds as well feeding on the lice.

Tomatoes are also coming along quickly.

Green pepper plants: Some grows very well, other don't. I think I am in good enough position now to pull out the ones that does not perform well.

Coriander and basil does very well. Initially when the flow was not sorted, the coriander simply rotted off at gravel level but nothing of that any more. We can pick twice a week enough for a meal and from the basil we have so much that I can take everyday if I liked. Will probably remove a basil plant as well and give it to someone for their garden.


Overall I am very excited. Not only does the things that comes out taste awesome, it is a huge convenience to have freshies in your backyard and the most awesome thing is the fact that the fruit can stay on the plant until you need them. The things in the freezer deteriorates in quality daily.


Also interesting is the need of the plants for iron. When I initially added iron the plants were so hungry for this mineral that I had to add 2ml more than once a week, later only weekly and now probably once in two weeks at most.

Lekker Koos. Great to see how things are going so well.

Regards, Martin.

A heavy setback...

Where I live, we have in the past been spared from ESKOM "Load Rolling" but in the past few weeks it eventually became a rather regular event which played havoc in my tunnel.

I went for the constant flow system as I thought it would give some protection during load rolling, but that is not the case. If the flow stops for 2 hours, the plants drops their leaves. Now if that happens once in a while, the plants can deal with it, but if it happens every day, not so much.

So, most of my plants got heavy damage and I need to find a way around it. I am also concerned that it will influence the cycling of the system severely.

The long and the short is, regardless of the option I choose, it will cost me another couple of grand to deal with it.

Still cheaper than to emigrate though.

Hi Koos, you're right - definitely cheaper than emigrating.

Is solar power or wind power with a battery bank an option?
I've also seen where people can set up a generator to switch on when the power goes out.

Are any of those realistic for you?

Regards, Martin.

Martin,


Even the smallest self starting gennies are rather expensive and solar is still eye watering.

I am simply looking at a UPS with external batteries that can take me through 2 hours a day. That said, with this being a regular occurrence, it will mean that the battery bank will need to be upsized to that you drain them to nothing less than 50% in 2 hours. And one cannot only buy any UPS, some of them are very inefficient and chows power itself.

We probably talk R 15 000 here, but that will at least also do lights and a number of dedicated plug circuits in my house - which I rewired for this purpose a few years ago.




Regards,

Koos

15k is expensive. I hope you find a decent solution Koos.

How is the wind in your area? I have been looking at wind turbines recently, it's quite possible to make your own although it might take some time to get everything set up and running and you still need the battery bank and some other components to make it all work together.

Just an idea but probably not practical. I just picked up a broken printer yesterday to make a mini turbine with my son as a project. We will use the motor from the printer as the power generator. If you're at all interested there are a lot of resources on the internet that can help out.

Hi Koos,

I remember when you first started you used Coco Peat for your media beds. I know it didn't work out but I found this interesting thread:

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=19575

This guy use coconut coir. Coco peat is the leftovers from the coconut but without the fibres. Coconut coir is the fibres of the coconut. I thought it was really interesting that Damian could use the fibres successfully and he can use the by-product of the used coir as compost. Very impressive. Anyway I thought you might find the thread of interest after your experiences.

Regards, Martin.

Hi Martin,

As I am in the construction business, I had a totally hectic second part of 2015 and I could not spend much time here. It was a bit tough, but I reckon one should not complain if you have lots of work when others do not.

Anyway. My tunnel is currently a major headache and I had no option this summer holiday to decommission it as I could not justify to get someone to babysit it while we were on leave. Basically I stopped the flow to the beds, left the tank with the fish and only had an oxygen pump. The fish have not not been properly fed for at least 6 weeks but the water is properly green and the tank is completely self sustaining. Did not loose a single fish and they seems to veeeery happy with the green water.

Great then was my surprise that the plants I did NOT take out actually is alive in spite of the growth beds that by now only has a tiny amount of water left in the bottom and this is good, because it might just be the answer I am looking for.

As indicated previously, the electrical load rolling that is troubling our country each winter was very bad for the plants because the oxygen in the growth beds gets depleted quickly with large plants. As soon as that happens, the roots turn brown from anaerobic processes and I am pretty sure the NO2 and NO3 bacteria gets a heavy knock too. To install a backup power system to get one through this 2 hours load rolling, is a major cost - something I cannot consider at the moment.

So, I am going to make one more conversion in the growth beds which needs to sprinkle the gravel from the top and just keep it moist - in other words it will not be a fully floodded bed any more. This will require quite a bit of extra plumbing in the growth beds.

Going back to Coco Peat though is not something I would consider for the moment. The thing is that the Coco is a great filter for the system which has advantages and disadvantages. It keeps water crystal clear, but because it cannot be backwashed it eventually pulps up. This will require replacement of growth media as far as I can see, on a yearly basis. With the gravel, one can excavate the growth bed, remove sludge in the bottom and just fill it again. I still believe that coco is an excellent media and depending on the circumstances, it should be the choice.

One thing then that one needs to know is that these kinds of systems absolutely needs a close to a 100% reliable electrical supply - as with hydroponics. It is quite difficult to make it work affordably if this is not the case.

And lastly, I do have quite some problems with wind in August. I knew from day 1 that my roof design would not be as good as a domed roof for wind, but thought my tunnel was reasonably shielded in the position it was. I am considering to lower the roof by about 0.5m for starters and if at all possible, find a way to make it a dome.

Hi Koos,

Thanks for the long update, I read it with interest as there is a lot of useful information there.

Have you ever investigated wicking beds? It's a type of bed where you have a water reservoir under the gravel or plant substrate and you have a piece of cloth from the water going up to the roots of the plant. The water is drawn up along the "wick" (like a candle wick) as the plant needs the water. It is apparently an excellent way to water plants without having to be present all the time. I don't know if the wick would also move the nutrients in the water up to the plant.

Anyway any updates on your planned changes would be much appreciated. I live in New Zealand now so it is always great to talk to someone back home. In fact I read your post in my mind with an Afrikaans accent, I miss all the different accents from South Africa.

Martin.