Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This is due to budget constraints. Is it possible to do nft with growbed?

You can use media beds for pretty much anything, including some root crops - beetroot do really well in aquaponics, for example. (Potatoes, not so much!)

The IBC of Aquaponics (link in Scotty's post and also at the top of every forum page) will show you a ton of awesome systems built with IBCs, including what people have done to protect them from the sun, but the short answer is "cover them somehow". Paint (hard to get it to stick to the plastic but it can be done), wrapped in insulation, clad with recycled timber or corrugated iron or Colourbond or bamboo shade panels or... whatever you have available that you decide you like.

You don't really need a solids remover - they're mostly necessary in heavily stocked systems, and when you're just starting out you should stock lightly. Media beds do an excellent job of filtering and processing solids, especially if you put compost worms in your media, and the solid waste contains most of the micronutrients so taking it out of your system without replacing it somehow can cause problems. If you want to anyway, a radial flow filter/separator is very easy to build and does an excellent job; you can add a mineralisation tank to break the waste down and return the nutrients to your system.

Also any methods for a raft for a deep water culture?

What exactly are you asking? Whether you can do NFT with DWC? Or which methods of filtration are suitable for DWC? Or something else? If you ask a clear question around here you will most likely get a clear answer.

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Sam

I am asking about the material of the floating raft for a deep water culture. Also I am asking about solar panels and the water pump. As I figured I have two growbed, both the same size but one is of media and the other of deepwater culture rafts. The water pump is a aapw 1000 gallon water pump and it is rated at 92 watts. The solar panels are rated at 200 watts. Now is it possible to use one 12 volt battery as a backup system?

To address the solar question, these are rough numbers for evaluation, but you should get the idea. A 200 watt solar panel will only produce that powere for a few hours a day, and solar energy is usually considered by the panel and the average sun hours for the area. Lets say you are in an area that averages 4 sun hours per day, so over the course of the day your 200 watt panel will produce 800 watt-hours of energy.

If you want to run your 92 (call it 100) watt ump 24/7 you will need 2400 watt hours of energy on average. That is 3 200 watt panels for an area with an average of 4 sun hours. This will likely work well during sunny days / summer months when there are up to say 5 sun hours a day, but not so well for cloudy days or winter months when there are only 3 sun hours per day, for example.

If you are truly off grid, you will need to accommodate the shortest days and bad weather, as well as inefficiencies of about 25% from conversion from panels to batteries and from battery to power for the pump. So that takes you up to 4 panels.

For batteries, they will last longer if you don't run them down constantly. So if you plan to draw 2400 watt hours per day, and 600 watt hours come directly from solar, then you need a battery with at least 2x 1800 watt hours = 3600 watt hours minimum. I would double that to help with cloudy days and winter months. You will gradually drain the batteries during winter months unless you add panels to make up the difference of shorter sun hours.\

I hope that helps. I don't know how many panels you have, what type of charge controller or the efficiency, what your shortest days sun hours are, or how much weather you typically get. But the above should allow you to figure it out.

I'll probably use the renogy panels and go for a smaller pump (At 28 watts or 65 watts maybe). I do happen to live in Phoenix so at least 5+ hours of sun.