Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

As they were doing side by side aquaponics / hyro comarisons i'm fairly confident it was aquaponics water. Anmd the experiment wasn't "table top" either BIG green house.

Yep I'm confident it was Aquaponic water too, but did they try Aquarium water at any stage?

They had 24 varieties growing, any heavy feeders among them?

are cucumbers heavy feeders?

wow, interesting stuff.

About the tan water, i have seem tanks of barramundi (10 000 litres ish) and the water was BLACK from the feed, the only time you saw the fish was when you fed them and they broke the water surface.

different if if was turbid, we're talking about crystal clear water, but wth a tan tinge to it

Cucumbers feed heavily yes. Thanks Steve.

I had just assumed that micorrhyzial (sp? haha) fungi weren't in aquaponics systems because it isn't a dirt garden. That is interesting that they may still be present. There is so much shared evolution between them and plants that it would be a shame to miss out on it.

My gravel is tan, that may influence the pictures. This water was a vibrant green before last week; it was a pretty amazing transformation really, but this might have just been the pH getting too low for the algae.

Don't they call it "popping" with reef aquariums?

I love notekeeping!

Now guys, I spell some of this out so noobs can try get it and sometimes I'm on a roll and forget to use everyday language. Please feel free to ask for clarification or argue a point if you've seen or heard otherwise from a legitimate source.

I would bet good money that - the reason the good Doctors are removing their solids is due to the high Biological Oxygen Demand placed on the Deep Water Culture growbeds if they don't.

What terminology should we use? - DWC or theirs (what do they call it again?)

With the size of the growbeds this need to remove nutrients to cope with BOD of wastes makes even more sense.

So, if you want to use your solids as well you need to keep them moving, with higher flow rates constantly replenishing O2 my figures for recirculation take on a whole new light.

There had to be a reason things died/had problems when I went under those flow rates. BOD is the answer.

Temperature again plays an important role.

Dissolved Oxygen Saturation Limits for Water at Sea Level Pressure by Temperature:

0 degrees ...........................14.5 ppm oxygen in water saturated with air
5 degrees ...........................12.7 ppm
10 degrees ...........................11.2 ppm
15 degrees ...........................10.5 ppm
20 degrees ............................9.8 ppm
25 degrees ...........................8.25 ppm
30 degrees ............................7.51 ppm
35 degrees .............................6.8 ppm

Anyone correct me if I am wrong, but they put so much importane on the removal of solids as the particulate matter clings to the roots of the plants in the DWF beds, that the plants abilitiy to uptake the nutrients and oxygen is diminished. As for airation in his grow beds, Wilson seemed to accept the fact that maybe it was inevitable that he may have to add bubblers in the future, esp when the little rainbows go in for the final polish (Steve correct me if I am wrong). The Uni of Virgin Islands set up has absolutely heaps of bubblers in their DWF beds, which are 100 feet long and 30 cm's deep, made of concrete and lined with plastic.

There was so much info presented over this weekend, that my mind has been boggled. I do have a better understanding of how it all works, but more than that, I have an overwhelming feeling of amazement of the concept of a MATURE system as opposed to one that is just cycled and stable. Mature is what we should all be aiming for. The bit that amazes me is that all these scientists, and DR Nick had $500,000 for the research he has done, are still searching for that little miracle that turns our aqua systems gold and mature and kicks hydro big time. IMHO, some things are best accepted and appreciated as the little miracles of life. I know many will disagree with this, but I ain't got a scientific bone in my body, and I love that they still don't know what happend at that 12 or 18 month mark when it goes from stable to Mature.

MOnya

It is the little things in life that keep us amused!!!
Monya!!
How was the champas!

Just to gloat and because I have never done it before, I flew business class to Melbourne, sank yummy wines and guess what I had for dinner. Thai style Barramundi fillet with greens, jasmine rice and a salad, oh and more wine. Couldn't believe it when the hostess explained the menu. Must have been an omen!

I'm sure the scientists know what they're doing. They have all those letters n all

Did you know I'm a MD HSD?

Mostly Disorientated, High School Dropout

Aqua works well in so many designs, it just cycles itself differently according to the design and other environmental factors.

The solids are nutrients, there's no denying it. Who wants to rinse shit every day when they don't have to.

I think Steve solved the problem. Gravel beds then DWC. Maybe some real heavy feeders in big filter beds then the DWC channels with everything else.

I nominate Joel to get given 1/2 mill to show zero waste Aqua and explosive growth. Or give me 1/2 mill I'll show zero waste DWC Aqua with explosive growth.

I use gravel too in my style of doing it, only a wee bit as discussed in DWC thread.

What medium was used in the net pots??? It was obviously minimal by the size.

I love the science in this, but ask me about cars or sport you'll get 1000 yard stare in seconds. Don't want to know.

In the cycling of the system bacteria change and adapt to what is happening around them. If what is happening is regular introduction of fecal matter, and there is enough dissolved oxygen to deal with all this organic matter, the bio-film will either come into balance or everything dies horribly. Much the same as cycling an aquarium.

Water movement is critical, imo, for using solids in DWC systems.

Now the real question for me remains. What will run faster. A recirculating DWC bucket with solids in the stream, or one without?

If you want to stock a lot of fish solids removal is easier than all that greenhousing. If you want to balance it, we're already there with beds and DWC.

And back to the question that now plagues me, which is faster in buckets, solids or none?

All will be revealed

AA - just to add a bit to what Stu said, they reckonned that when the water in the DWC beds got a bit hot, the solids floated to the top and clogged up the root systems.

Also, something we shouldn't forget when thinking about all this is that the overseas guys all used Tilapia - not sure that that makes any difference regarding the nature of the solids, but it may. Different fish have different poos .

I reckon they just run too more fish per plantspace and so it's not being used and builds up. Systems are too rich and judging by photos they're planting large amounts at once instead of continuous cropping.