Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I started plumbing up my outdoor AP system last night. The two tanks that were in the mini hoop house are still where they were, and the bed that was sitting on top of them has some swiss chard that sprouted even though I haven't planted anything in it since last fall... so those seeds survived the winter and decided to come up this spring. The water hasn't been circulating because I cut the pipes off so they wouldn't freeze and break when I shut the AP system down in January after the plastic failed.

I think I got everything plumbed back up and ready to go, but now that it is outside I'll have to do something to cover the pump controls and power cord just in case they aren't waterproof. I didn't start the pump up last night because I wanted to give the glue some time to sit, but I'll get it running and take a picture tomorrow.

I used a 55 gallon drum that had been teat dip (iodine) for my sump for this system... it was kind of bubbling as I added water to the tank so I let it overflow on the ground for a while last night hoping it rinses most of the iodine out so that iodine doesn't kill all the bacteria in the system hopefully.

I also moved 3 more IBC tanks up next to that system and plumbed the three of them together and filled them up... I need to drain the tanks back down and refill them again (well maybe not...idk... they had "organic honey" in them with a little residue... I would think if anything it would just cause the bacteria to grow faster having a little honey in there... compared to the amount of water that would be in the system there was practically no honey left in them so maybe I'll just let it go). I am going to move another bed from the greenhouse to sit on top of these three IBC's so I have another bed for filtration while I shut down the greenhouse system. I don't plan on having all 5 of the fish tanks full of fish, will just have the two tanks worth of fish that are in the greenhouse now moved out there so hopefully shouldn't be a cycle since I'll reuse media that has been filtering in the greenhouse. I still need to figure out where the drain from the bed will enter into the IBC tanks and then I will drain from the IBC's on the opposite side to hopefully force water through all three of them before going back to the sump just to keep some (slow) flow through them, they are just buffering capacity for now since I'll only have the two beds running (for now).

I figured out today that my second child is due 10 weeks from this Friday... I need to get my butt in gear to get this greenhouse remodel project completed before that time comes! It will go by fast!

Hi rininger85,

I think I would flush out the honey. although it is mostly sugar based, it is also a powerful antibiotic. It is often used as an antibiotic of last resort against MRSA and other nasties.
No doubt, the concentration would play a role, but it's very water soluble so why not clean it out.

Really... I don't know if I've heard of honey being used as an antibiotic before. Is it applied as a topical ointment?

My main concern with cleaning it out is that I would have to dump 750 gallons of water in my backyard... it has been an extremely wet spring! At the back of my greenhouse where these tanks are located is a low spot in my yard. It has tire trenches back there from when I drove my truck/trailer back there nearly two months ago that I have not been able to fill in because they have been full of water for the past two months. I can't mow that part of the yard because it is so wet my mower keeps getting stuck. I got my yard roller stuck back there 2 months ago and have not been able to retrieve it because it hasn't dried out enough to not get the mower stuck to drive back there... I could drive the tractor or the truck back there and might not get stuck but then I'll create bigger ruts in the yard. I could drain the roller so I can move it by hand, but then I'm adding more water to the wetness... so adding another 750 gallons to the wetness doesn't seem like a good idea.

Someone at work was saying this morning that they've recorded 7" of rain in their rain gauge in the past two days. And it's not done yet. We're under flood advisories right now, and have had multiple flood issues this spring where they have shut roads down because of water over roads in places that never have water before... luckily my downstairs I think is staying dry, but my sump pump runs every few minutes pumping water outside. It's really wet here lately!

Sounds like that area would be ideal for a dam or well LOL.
Yes, the use of honey as a topical ointment is ancient and very effective. In Roman and medieval times, sword wounds would be stitched and then covered in honey with a layer of molten wax poured over the top.
There is a video called "Blood Red Roses" (which is probably available on youtube) outlining the treatment of wounds in the battle of Towton in around late 1340's, though the treatment is far older.
BTW, that vid is really worth watching just from the historical point of view when you get time.

Correction. The year was 1461.
Couldn't add a link, but the best version runs for 48 mins though several shorter versions/trailers are available.

OK I'll look it up when I get the chance. I enjoy watching historical war type shows so I'm sure we will enjoy it.


I haven't had much time to work on the outdoor AP system, but I did put in a couple of hours tonight... I have open water training for new scuba divers all weekend so most of the daytime is shot, but I did manage to move the old wicking bed outside on top of two of the three IBC tanks I had been filling and connecting. Then Sam and I shoveled the pea stone gravel out of the next bed in the greenhouse and dumped it in the empty wicking bed (I had already lined the wicking bed and put a bulkhead in it when I first set my beds up, so it was ready to go.) I didn't get that bed running yet but I put enough water in it to hopefully keep the bacterial alive for another day or two... I am hopeful that I will have time tomorrow night to cut a hole in one IBC tank to run the drain from the bed into, then will cut a hole in the other IBC tank to add a bulkhead to drain from that tank to the sump tank. I did plumb the supply line to connect it with the supply line from the pump on the other two IBC tanks that were previously in the small hoop house... so I got that small system running again (it is two IBC tanks with one large bed divided into two smaller beds that way I could make each side drain into a fish tank).

I still didn't take any pictures because my phone died before I finished for the night... but I promise pictures soon.

I did snap a couple of pictures of deer out in my field probably 40 or 50 yards from me as I was working on the system... barely cared that I was there. Also a picture of a little boy who decided that since his daddy had a ladder sitting next to the IBC tanks that meant he could climb up on top of them... so that's kind of a picture of the outdoor system...

I haven't made much progress on the AP system moving outside or the greenhouse getting reconfigured. I have mostly shut down the AP system in the greenhouse, there are just two small beds with media left in them to filter the water for the two or three catfish that I haven't managed to scoop out of the system yet. I did move 3 catfish outside this past week and was fairly disappointed by their size being a year old now I think... it's definitely going to be a 2 year fish to get any size to them, and at that rate I can't grow enough of them to make it worth while as my primary fish... I might still keep a few of them from time to time for something different but will be going back to trout again this next winter.

The bluegills are all in the outside system (what is left of them, I killed half of them by moving them to the outside system and caused an ammonia spike that wiped the bluegills out)...I had a few tilapia in the system which didn't mind the ammonia spike... then I moved all of my tilapia that were in my 240 aquarium in the house back out to the outside system because the pump on my aquarium in the house died and I didn't feel like replacing it. So I have about 100 tilapia, 10 bluegills and 3 catfish in the outdoor AP system now in four different tanks.

I need to get down to business to get the greenhouse update going soon, but my weekends are going to be busy for the next couple of months so going to have to try and make progress on it during the week which hasn't happened lately either... the wife decided to drop another project on me that I mostly knocked out this past weekend, expanded our deck on the back of the house so it about doubled the size of it to give us more room and incorporated a playset with slides and swings onto it (not quite finished, need to add the second slide, add swings, add rock wall, add canopy etc. still, first priority to get the bannisters on it though so he doesn't fall off)

Easy to stay busy with help on coming up with projects. I better keep quiet and get back to work before I'm discovered . By the way, nice looking deck so far .

Bad news bears.... I finally got the AP shutdown in the greenhouse, moved beds and ripped out my rotten plywood to discover that my plastic didn't fully protect my insulation, so I ripped out the insulation to find my outside boards are all wet too. I have put a fan on them to try and dry them out but already bought plywood thinking I'm going to have to replace the outside which means I'll have to take siding off and insulation off outside too.

My 3 year old and I have been digging dirt out of the greenhouse floor to drop the ibc tank heights down to keep my beds at a decent height. Then last night I started ripping the boards off the outside which lead me to find out the boards between glass panels are rotten too. So I am going to pull the glass door panels out, replace all of the boards and then I bought lexan double wall panels to put back in that I hope will last longer.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I have made some progress on the greenhouse and I've had some setbacks.

Removed the glass door panels, only shattered one while prying on the corner when I thought I was prying on wood...


Putting new uprights in, the old were rotten already after 3 years of leaking.



Moving ibc tanks in




Someone pooped on one of my ibc tanks???


Oh wait...dead raccoon inside the tank must have crawled in trying to get the honey residue and couldn't get out....great how do I get that smelly rotten thing out?

Going to be a tight fit working around ibc tanks but I wanted to get them in while I had the wall tore apart so I wouldn't have to take another wall apart.


Painted everything this time to give it a little more protection...


New glazing is on..started to rain as I was finishing it, appears water tight but I do need to get on the roof and seal the screw holes because there is a couple that are leaking up top I could see on the top glazing.

This is all 6mm polycarb greenhouse panels...expensive but much easier to seal I'm hoping this lasts a lot longer this time.



Then a delay in getting work done... My daughter was born 11 days ahead of schedule, so this past week has been a beautiful mess. She is a healthy little girl so I can't ask for anything more.

Congratulations Rob.

Typical girl, either to late, or to early, never in time.

Thanks. It's been a long week having to go in every day for blood draws as they monitored her bilirubin level but today we finally got the all clear that it's low enough that we don't have to go in for another blood draw tomorrow.

Nothing makes you realize your little boy is so grown up at three years old quite like bringing a new baby home. It really hit us this past week that Sam isn't so little anymore. He's a great big brother so far.


Getting close to hunting season, my friends have returned to the yard/field, haven't seen many deer around lately so was surprised to see these in the backyard yesterday morning.




And I'm spending some time working on the greenhouse today. I got two of the ibc tanks dug down deep enough, then I started digging a third but decided I needed a break from that so I put new insulation in the wall and new plywood on, and painted the plywood this time hoping to make it last longer. I will probably need a second coat but I don't know if I'll put it on or not or try to paint the rest of the inside of the greenhouse first.



I have more ibc tanks that need dug down deeper if anyone has some free time.

Congrats on the new addition!

I love the photo play-by-play. Hope you'll have time to continue it!

Congratulations on your daughter!
Nice deer. We are polluted with those things!
Looks like a lot of renovations going on in your greenhouse.