Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

just brand new to the concept so i have a million Q's
can anyone tell me if one is better than the other or is it personal pref.
continuous seems to be better to me but most people seem to be using the flood & drain.
Has any one made grow beds from sheet iron &lined them with black plastic .
is there ever problems with fungus on veges so far havent seen any mention of it occuring

Nurseryman,
My best advice is "to follow the leader"
It's safer, get Joels book and do what he has done, he has found out by hard experience, and put the knowledge gained into "the book"
Mojo
murray@aquaponics.net.au

Welcome NM - there has been quite a bit of discussion on the relative merits of continuous flow as opposed to flood and drain.

Re: fungus and mildew, I am concerned about this happenning within the greenhouse environment. The reaon you have not seen this mentionned is that few people here have their full systems up and running. Joel's system is under roof but not enclosed, so such problems would not be as great. AA is well aware of these problems from having his indoor (basement) system running pereviously. Ventilation is going to be a key factor. Here in Brisi, we have powdery mildew problems as it is outside, so I can imagine in the greenhouse it would be rank.

Given the right conditions fungus and mold proliferate in aquaponics like everything else.

So yes, ventilation is key, and perhaps planting density (correlated) should you go for greenhousing.

There are benefits and drawbacks in comparison of both systems. Some studies suggest one to achieve better results, others... the other.

Saying this is superior to that requires a lot of time consuming research, data, and side by side simulation space plus money to set up.

Then you may find a lettuce likes one better but spinach likes the other...

Aquaponics, as followed by Joels guidelines, will produce spectacular results.

At the end of the day, how good it really is, is up to you as the operator. If you want to wing it give yourself at least two years. Want to get on with it get Joels book.

VB, since posting about the temps and humidities going off the chart in the mini green house the silver beet have really suffered, i have kept the temp down by leaving some ventilation gaps open, but it does seem that there is some mildew and or mould growing now. It about time i did away with the temporary mini green house as the weather is fining up, and i'll hook up my six grow beds (half barrels) in the next few weeks.

Might not be as bad with a large green house, i have the feeling that green house size is like fish tank size, the larger the volume the easier it is to control and the less "swings" that occur

I hope so Steve. Wouldn't want to build a big greenhouse only to find out that it is shite.

I think I will be trying to design my greenhouse so it is high as possible - this might help with ventilation.

I have about 100mm around the bottom and an opening window and a door in the shed. I hope this is enough, it's a lot of infrastructure to find out it's no good. I might add a second awning by the sounds of all this.

Don't forget silverbeet is a cold weather plant.

Size of a greenhouse will give it more thermal stability but for real good thermal stability get a pond in there and a layer of stone on the floor.

There are other forumers know more on this subject.

Hi NM:
When you say continuous do you mean like a trickle over a gravel bed, or like an NFT where a stream passes by the plants? A trickle would have an incomplete use of the gravel compared to flood and drain - when the bed is flooded air gets pushed out and nutrients and water reach all over the gravel, and when it drains air gets pulled into all the nooks and crannies, like a combined air and water respiration cycle. A trickle-style bed would have an in-between state compared to a flood or drain state. I imagine it would form "dead spots" that either never see air or never see water. The reason folks (like me (although I haven't made one yet)) are interested in the auto siphons is that you get the maintenance and energy advantages from using a smaller continuous pump but also don't lose the advantages of a flood and drain cycle over a trickle "cycle". Does this help?

If I ever get to build a greenhouse I plan to use a solar chimney to pull air out the top in warmer weather, but this might not work well when the sun is high in the sky in Summer.

DD
continuous did mean a constant trickle but since viviting Joel on friday have gonne for a flood & drain system where the pump is on a timer fills the beds then switches off & water drains back into the tank under gravity.
Read joels book over the weekend & spent today picking up tanks, pump & other bits mostly built system this afternoon hope to finish it tommorow then put fish in next week.
see how we go.

Hi NM:
That is the same setup I have running. I initially had two pumps, but was able to remove the return pump and use a gravity return and save electricity. It took about one month for my system to cycle, then another month for it to produce. It is working very well now. Good luck!