Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am new to actually posting here. i have been researching aquaponics for 3 or 4 years. I tried a small barrelponics of sorts few years ago and learned a few things. i have a whole lot still left to learn i am sure. i have a good idea of what i want to do and i want to post it here to get feedback.

i would like to know all my options for sharing pics. i have been on other forums for other hobbies and i know how to use image hosting sites or whatever they are called... just never liked them!

Welcome to the forum redeemED

This might help with the photos - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754

Cheers

Okay cool! I think that worked. I used tinypic - free image hosting. I don't really like it... but oh well! it was too large to just upload to forum.


Anyways this is the design I have come up with. I got ideas from all over the web/ youtube to come to this.

Greenhouse 15' x 26' - going to be building it as cheaply as possible xD (I am cheap!)
the fish tanks will be IBC 275 gal as well as the sump tank


GROW BEDS

the 4 GT that are on the South(bottom) of the pic are 4' x 8' x 6" hydroponic trays that I have.

- inside will be "dutch buckets" of a sort(yellowish circles). basically buckets with holes at the bottom filled with media. I am thinking of feeding them via a 1/4" drip tube. I plan to grow vertically; tomatoes, bell peppers, melons, string beans, etc etc etc

also inside them will be grow towers(orangeish circles). in these; lettuces, herbs, basils, strawberries etc etc etc

they will be either filled with gravel with water level 1" below the top of the gravel as a type of bio filter and way of minimizing algae.

They will drain via stand pipe back to the in ground sump. I want my dutch buckets and towers as low to the ground as possible as to allow the maximum height of space for growth.

those are south of the door. Now on to North of the door...

I have (4) 4' x 4' x 6" hydroponic grow trays that I may try flood and drain or DWC for broccoli and cabbages, basically anything too big for towers.

I have (3) 4' x 4' x 3" hydroponic trays (these are very shallow) I am thinking of having these stacked 3 high right behind the door and trying duckweed here.

I have (2) 2' x 4' x 3" hydroponic trays I would like to use to start seeds and I have these placed above the Sump Tank.


FISH TANKS AND FILTERS

2 IBC 275 gal totes for fish tanks, 1 for Sump tank (I do not have these yet)

2 55 gal drums for filters. 1 swirl filter, 1 mechanical filter? bio filter? not sure yet

I plan to have the Fish tanks SLO to SF then to "other" filter then to sump.

from sump to fish tanks AND all grow beds - i have learned in my small experience with a sad barrel-ponics system i had before that water distribution AND I do not get along so well. So i am thinking to add a sort of "water tower" just outside the GH and pump from sump to it. then from there insert all my required outputs to FTs and GBs with a LARGE return to sump. I am figuring the pump will over power the outputs to FTs and GBs and remaining flow will return to ST for aeration. This said "water tower" will need to be insulated to maintain temps and needs to be above the 6 foot vertical towers. i am thinking a 55 gal barrel may fit the bill nicely.


I think that's good on details for now. I see several issues i may run into. Plus all the ones i don't see... Should be lots of fun! I appreciate any time you spend reading/ looking at this and any comments are welcome and much appreciated! I have not started yet so... say what you like!

like i said in my first post, i have been just lurking for years... so a HUGE THANK YOU!!

to everyone who has posted their videos on youtube and those that shared their experiences, tricks, etc on forums and anywhere on the web.


-Ed

I must add a couple things.

1 - the wife has NEVER agreed to allow me to do this before, she hates fish! BUT has since changed her mind and actually has asked me to do this... A miracle right there! she has her terms... IT CANNOT LOOK LIKE JUNK! it has to look good.

2 - My tilapia have died before. We got 3 days of winter that year... 80 dead tilapia juveniles

So i decided to mess around with sketchup and i just threw this together to get a better idea of what it would look like. i am not finished yet. i think i will mess with it some more later and add the rest of the system including all pipe work.







adult image upload

Hi Redeem.

re: pics - just use windows snipping tool if on a PC. Then you can screen grab and save.
If the pictures are appropriate size on the screen then they will be fine to upload (max 900x900 pixels).

Q. Is your priority fish or veg ? a big factor will be fish stocking levels and species

My initial thoughts would be not to connect everything together. There is a lot of veg to fish volume if me I would tend to run as perhaps two smaller systems. Risk you run is that one small issue suddenly becomes a system issue. Also you may have to factor in some veg benefiting/requiring from different things to others.

Hey thanks for checking it out. i agree with you 100%. i recently, very recently in fact, have decided to change things up a bit. as i mentioned in colum's thread on dodgy commercial AP after watching his video;



i am thinking maybe separate the towers from dutch buckets in 2 hydroponic systems each having their own reservoir.

and i have not added to the sketchup drawings yet but i intend to have some flood and drain gravel filled grow beds and some constant flood grow beds as well.

from what i am learning it looks like separating by type of plant needs is going to be the best route.

i still want to learn about mineralization tanks.

to answer you, fish or veg... i guess both.

for now, i am still doing research and learning. i am also helping a relative build a smaller system. i will add pictures of that as well. he wanted to do a small 1 barrel setup just to get his feet wet. after a bit of convincing he now has 1 barrel split in half for growbeds. 1 laying flat for a sump. 1 for a filter. a 50 gallon aquarium, 10 gallon aquarium, and 1 barrel for fish tanks. with plans to add dutch buckets, dwc, towers.... etc. hehe

>> from what i am learning it looks like separating by type of plant needs is going to be the best route.


yes - for your hydroponics side. And a separate feed tank (even a blue drum for instance).

but also mean't about having the two fish tanks as separate systems as well. It would be more KISS.
So each FT with a larger & deeper media bed and then links to the veg across the way.

or go the filter route - basically your options are well described in the FAO Small System AP document.
They would slot in to your space as they appear in that doc. Pages 67-68.

google 'FAO Aquaponics' - it will come up as a PDF on various sites
(Title is FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 589 Small-scale aquaponic food production
Integrated fish and plant farming).

i definitely like the idea of separate fish tanks. the more the better. I have seen so so many systems crash and people lose everything. would be nice to lose only part of a system rather than all of it. of course losing NONE would be even better... hehe

Ed,

I spoke with a guy who had four IBC totes (as fish tanks), as part of one system. Something happen that caused the fish to die in one tank. Before he could isolate the other tanks, it had spread, killing most of his stock in all four tanks.

Any additional systems I start will be completely independent of each other.

trying out a new app I downloaded for my phone to resize photos and upload straight to this site.


this system with just the one barrel is what my bro in law WANTED to build. hehe.... he doesn't KNOW what he wants!! I talked him up a bit. xD

still a good ways to go. we hope to have it running this weekend

hehe I have a CRAZY question!! has anyone tried to feed ants to their tilapia? we have small house ants that seem to own the property I live on. it's like I should be paying them rent! I don't want to use poison to kill them because I am crazy and I have been thinking I want to try to feed them to my fish one day... xD

so I know it has to be possible. and I am sure there are plenty of ways to go about it. but I am curious and would like to know if anyone else has actually done it and has shared it.