Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well I pruned the plant back and took some cuttings as well. I took the opportunity to clean up the bed a little and discovered I have a very HEALTHY worm colony in the bed. I had thrown some unused fishing worms in there when I first set it up and never thought about them again until today when some surfaced as I pulled roots out. Very impressed with discovery of those guys, almost enough to pull me through the pruning job. Then I cleared off the ice on the outside and dragged out a trash barrel of tomato branches. I saved about 3 lbs of green toms that were not ready and will ripen them in the house. Does anyone else have super dark green celery?

So the Tom has lived through the ordeal. I have new shoots sprouting from the base and we are almost finished with its third ND winter! I took down the raft bed in prep to do me remodel and have hit a wall. I just can't get motivated to get started. I know I need to get new plants started and I'm missing the fresh veg like crazy but just have a lack of drive. I'd like to insulate the beds this time, push the beds against the wall and get rid of the little walk space between the bed and wall that's there now (never use it anyway). I need to move the fish tank and build a bigger one. The freezer is nice and it works but I would like something bigger. I have some bridge planks for a bed frame and have thought about filling in and making a solid foundation underneath the grow bed instead of framing it. Decisions decisions... Maybe I'll try to sketch it up today.

Small steps LazyK, you'll get there

Ok So I had to crop the photo to get it to fit on here so you don't get the whole greenhouse splendor , and pardon the mess and temp plumbing...I've been revamping. How would YOU plumb the new IBC fish tote tanks (on the right) into this system? My idea was gravity feed from the fish tote drains to beds, then cycle to the sump from beds, then pump from sump back into the fish totes. Should the tanks be joined to keep equal water levels? Then has anyone used these tote adapters? Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm exhausted from removing the wall to get the new totes in. I cleaned the sump and pulled out about 20 tilapia from in there.... Crazy.

I haven't tried plumbing these direct but I know some people have. I'd probably use a SLO (which I have done) but you can do it plumbing it direct as well. The SLO gives you insurance against draining the tank if there is a leak in the plumbing. It looks like you should also consider foot traffic and what will be the least hassle in that area around the tanks.

I'd put the pump in the sump and pump to the Fish Tanks. These would drain to the media beds and from there to the DWC. The DWC would drain to the sump. If you have some other filtration for the DWC then you can split the flow so some goes to the DWC and some to the Media beds.

The water for the DWC should go through either the grow bed or some other filtration before getting to the DWC otherwise solids can foul the roots in the DWC.

With two tanks you could have two separate systems so whether to join the systems is really just a preference. I'd probably just have them both flow into the same outflow pipe or split them into two systems. You can set the water level by where you locate the hole for the SLO through the wall of the tank if you use a SLO.

Thanks Scotty! Yes the pipes will go behind that's all just temp out front right now. I will ponder the SLO that's what I had in the last set up and it worked. Would you gravity feed the grow bed to the DWC? I'd have to drop the bed height to do that but do-able. Off to the big box shop for pipe today. Had fresh Tilapia last night ..two big ones got to fighting and volunteered by launching out of the tank. Yum.

Quick update
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A ... -SpNVU&s=1

Link didn't work right LazyK. Should link straight to the youtube video of your system instead of going through the leaving Facebook link (assuming it's going to the right video ). If you're sure it's going to the right video I can fix it for you, just let me know.

Here is your video. (I saw your older video on your channel so I know it yours.)

Thanks Mark

So lucky to have technical help on here! Thanks Mark. So winter update: Ran into fish issues with the totes, evidentially they lose heat quick so I broke down and added a heater. Not sure why the fish don't enjoy frozen slushy water? Go figure. I also discovered you can't miss a fish before adding new fry to the what you thought was empty tote. I'm sure that fish thought he hit the lottery as he happily munched through 100 fry. We have now added a 175gallon fish tank for raising fry in the basement. The 4yr old Tom finally died and it was a sad day for the house. I took the chance to revamp the bed and now have some new Tom seeds starting. It's Dec and we are harvesting Kale, Lettuce, Cherry Toms, and some long green salad pepper on a twice weekly schedule. The Chives really need to be replaced (3yrs) and the Rosemary is still alive but doesn't grow (its like a bonsai Rosemary you just stare at it and appreciate it). Good news a local college kid asked to do her senior thesis on my set up and will be bringing her experience from Hawaii to the table. She showed up with notes and wants to test water regularly as well as weigh anything we harvest. Her fish from photos made mine look so small but slight difference between HI and ND. So that's the update. Jan I will start seeds for outside gardens for friends and family as well as a few new varieties I found in an heirloom catalog for myself. Wishing everyone a happy Holliday season.

I'm sure the fish appreciate the heat, North Dakota isn't the warmest this time of year. Sounds like it's going pretty well. Happy holidays to you as well

So where do aphids come from in mid winter? Everything is covered in them. I purchased 300 ladybugs ( supposedly called lady beetles now) and turned them loose. A week later I have only seen 2 ladybugs and still have aphids. Hate to break out the Neem oil....ugh. High ammonia spike killed a lot of fish, not sure where or why that came from but it's back under control and testing in a safe range now. The spike killed off two of my three breeding females which stinks but as prolific as tilapia are I'm sure she will do her best to rebuild my stock levels. The lilacs are leafed out so spring must be coming! Hope everyone else is doing good. Any ideas on adding Calcium to beds?

I don't know where the Ladybugs go in Winter, but I keep seeing a few here and there after adding 1500 in January. I buy the larger quantity each time to be certain. I wish they would breed and save me some bucks. Sorry about the fish losses.

Most people add calcium when they need to raise their pH - either by using Calcium Hydroxide (CaOH) or Calcium Carbonate. I use either coral or oyster shell pieces in a mesh bag so that I can take them out if the pH goes to high - don't just add them to the beds.

People that use CaOH usually alternate this with Potassium Hydroxide (KOH).

The aphids were there all along, they just found conditions they liked and started to multiply - It's tough to get rid of all the pests. Your lucky it's aphids, there are harder ones to get rid of .