Start of my aquaponic a system

[magnifier661]

Pretty danged cool. Thanks, Mags, and good luck with it! If you ever figure out how to get beef out of one of those things, I'll move in next door...

That's really quite simple really. All you do is add the cattle and grow the vegetables they would require. Then you can feed the animals, much like we would feed ourselves. The advantage to the "greenhouse" system is a year round fresh meal for the cattle.

 

[BlazerWookee]

That's really quite simple really. All you do is add the cattle and grow the vegetables they would require. Then you can feed the animals, much like we would feed ourselves. The advantage to the "greenhouse" system is a year round fresh meal for the cattle.

Yeah, but how many cows can fit into a 275 gallon tank?

 

[magnifier661]

Yeah, but how many cows can fit into a 275 gallon tank?

Just grow ornamental fish in the tank. The fish are the fertilizer for the plants. You don't have to grow the fish to eat.

 

[BlazerWookee]

Just grow ornamental fish in the tank. The fish are the fertilizer for the plants. You don't have to grow the fish to eat.

Jay Carney called. He wants his question-dodging back.

Neener.

 

[magnifier661]

Jay Carney called. He wants his question-dodging back.

Neener.

Doh!

 

[tlongII]

I don't think P.E.T.A. will be very happy with that contraption!

 

[BlazerWookee]

I had a girl insist she had met me at a vegetarian club meeting, but I swear I've never seen herbivore...

 

[magnifier661]

I had a girl insist she had met me at a vegetarian club meeting, but I swear I've never seen herbivore...

I am a HUGE "red meat" fan. I can eat fish, but it just doesn't satisfy me. I do love vegetables though. I would say if you grow vegetables, I bet you eat more. There is something very rewarding when you are growing your own food.

 

[magnifier661]

After two weeks of planting... I'm truly amazed on how quickly this shit grows!

 

[magnifier661]

So I decided to get a Hanna (pH, PPM and Temp) controller. I hung it on the back of the greenhouse, so it is easy to see. I also installed a de-chlorinator and sediment removal water filter and placed a "float valve" going into the sump. This will make sure my water levels never drop below the pump and burn it out. It's important to make sure no water going into the tank is chlorinated.

 

[magnifier661]

So here is the quick inventory list:

1.) One 250 gallon fish tank
2.) Two 75 gallon sump tanks
3.) Two 80 gallon media beds, with siphon pumps
4.) Six 80 gallon raft beds
5.) 12 X 20 green house
6.) 4 Tower of Power control strips
7.) Hyrdologic purification system
8.) Float Valve
9.) Hanna pH/EC Growcheck
10.) Red Wiggler Worms
11.) Three 3 ft. hanging grow towers
12.) One 1,200 gpH water pump (pump water to recirculate tank and media beds)
13.) One 250 gpH water pump (pump water into the grow towers)
14.) One 1,000 watt grow light (motorized to move from both ends of the green house)
15.) One 1,500 watt heater, controlled by a environmental controller
15.) One environmental controller
16.) 900 lbs. of hyrdoton

 

[BrianFromWA]

I was going to ask how you dealt with your raft beds being after your media beds. Some say it's fine, and some say you need a separate sump and pump after the media bed and before the raft beds. Have you noticed too much sediment/clogging/plant wilting in the media beds?

You cycled without fish, right? Did you have plants growing during that time, or just water and ammonia adds?

Did you build your own siphons, or was there a finished unit you could purchase somewhere?

I'm also researching the Arguino unit to see what it would take to automate water adds, pH/temp/DO/nitrate monitoring, automate feed and grow light, heaters, etc. It's probably a bit more commercial than I'm doing when I get home, but this one's a practice one to make mistakes and get data before trying the real thing after Afghanistan Trip #2 in 18 months.

 

[magnifier661]

I was going to ask how you dealt with your raft beds being after your media beds. Some say it's fine, and some say you need a separate sump and pump after the media bed and before the raft beds. Have you noticed too much sediment/clogging/plant wilting in the media beds?

It works fine for me so far. The media beds do most the filtering anyway, and the raft beds are series (3 in a row). The only thing I did different, was made sure the series and out was 1".

You cycled without fish, right? Did you have plants growing during that time, or just water and ammonia adds?

Yes I cycled without fish. I added 2 ppm of ammonia, 6oz. of probiotics, and roughly 6 oz. of MaxiCrop Kelp. I also added around 200 mg of the iron too. I added our water conditioner "OpenAll® WOS" to stimulate the microbial growth as well.

Did you build your own siphons, or was there a finished unit you could purchase somewhere?

Yes, but I wished I planned it a little better before all the water was added. http://www.theaquaponicstore.com has a wonderful design. I siphoned from the side of the tank and their design has the siphon coming out from the bottom of the tank. They only allow for 1/8" of water after the seal breaks; which helps to drain the entire system, plus having a better siphon. My system still works fine, I just had to tweak a ton of shit before I got it working well.

I'm also researching the Arguino unit to see what it would take to automate water adds, pH/temp/DO/nitrate monitoring, automate feed and grow light, heaters, etc. It's probably a bit more commercial than I'm doing when I get home, but this one's a practice one to make mistakes and get data before trying the real thing after Afghanistan Trip #2 in 18 months.

There really is no need for that piece of equipment. The hanna monitor is enough and I think adding by hand gives you a better understanding how certain chemicals are working together. You really only need a float valve to keep the water level right. Just make sure the water is filtered on the inflow.

 

[magnifier661]

Here are the equipment set-ups


This is the float valve going into the sump.


The grow towers on the west side of the greenhouse.


Water filter


Hanna pH/EC meter

 

[BrianFromWA]

Impressive stuff, Mags. Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

 

[magnifier661]

Impressive stuff, Mags. Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

No problem. I can't wait to see when you do yours.

 

[BrianFromWA]

One more thing while I'm thinking about it: I need a good resource to tell me about the actual planting. I don't know that I want to have seeds sitting around my kitchen waiting to sprout or whatever (Mrs. FromWA won't like that much), but I don't know if I can go buy heirloom plants already sprouted and ready to transplant. Did you just stick seeds in rockwool for your rafts? What about your media beds?

 

[magnifier661]

One more thing while I'm thinking about it: I need a good resource to tell me about the actual planting. I don't know that I want to have seeds sitting around my kitchen waiting to sprout or whatever (Mrs. FromWA won't like that much), but I don't know if I can go buy heirloom plants already sprouted and ready to transplant. Did you just stick seeds in rockwool for your rafts? What about your media beds?

I found a really good way to start them. It's really simple and you won't need incubators. You get 100% cot to string and cut them about 1.5" in length. You unwind one end and dip that end in the maxicrop liquid. Then you put only 1 seed in the center of the unwound end. Place the string, so only 1/4" is touching the water. Surround the string with hydroton to support the string and seed. Make sure the seed has hydroton on top of it.

You can do the same method on the media bed too, but you must make sure the string will touch the water when it rises.

You can also buy soil plants too. You just need to wash off as much of the soil as possible. Then I dilute 1:100 of maxi top to water. When root washed plant is finished, I dip it in maxicrop dilution for 5 minutes and place in netted pot.

 

[mgb]

How bout some new pics of the plants? Have they've grown much in 3 days?

 

[magnifier661]

How bout some new pics of the plants? Have they've grown much in 3 days?

Here is the morning shot, after I added my maxicrop and iron.


One week old


One week and two weeks old


Three weeks old


Three weeks old


Strawberries


Bush beans, soy beans, sweet peppers, and brussel sprouts


Bush beans, cauliflower and broccoli

Last night, I started the foliar program. It's applied once a week.

 

[mgb]

Looks nice. 3 weeks old lettuce is filling in.

 

[magnifier661]

Looks nice. 3 weeks old lettuce is filling in.

Yeah thanks! I think once the fish get in, things will grow much faster

 

[magnifier661]

I found a really cool vendor for fish tanks, cone tanks (setting up a swirl filter), pumps, meters and all sorts of shit for the aquaculture industry. They are pretty cheap too!

http://www.keetonaqua.com/products/

 

[BlazerWookee]

Impressive stuff, Mags. Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

Just you wait until he lets you pick his VEGETABLES!

 

[magnifier661]

I have decided to add aquarium gravel to the bottom of the raft beds. The beneficial bacteria colonize on surface area, so the more gravel or hydroton you have, the more ammonia you can convert to nitrogen. Also, adding gravel to the raft beds (roughly 1.5") will have a colony per bed; adding even more nitrogen that hasn't been converted in the media beds.

I don't know why no-one else has thought of this, or maybe they have and it didn't work. Regardless, I'm gonna try it anyway.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

I have decided to add aquarium gravel to the bottom of the raft beds. The beneficial bacteria colonize on surface area, so the more gravel or hydroton you have, the more ammonia you can convert to nitrogen. Also, adding gravel to the raft beds (roughly 1.5") will have a colony per bed; adding even more nitrogen that hasn't been converted in the media beds.

I don't know why no-one else has thought of this, or maybe they have and it didn't work. Regardless, I'm gonna try it anyway.

Huh, for what it is worth, it sounds like you are attempting to achieve the build up that I used to have Plecostomus in my fish tanks for

 

[BlazerWookee]

Huh, for what it is worth, it sounds like you are attempting to achieve the build up that I used to have Plecostomus in my fish tanks for

I knew a girl who dated a guy who had to wear one of those plecostomus bags.,

 

[magnifier661]

Huh, for what it is worth, it sounds like you are attempting to achieve the build up that I used to have Plecostomus in my fish tanks for

No it's different. I'm not talking about build up of algae. I'm talking about building up beneficial nitrifying bacteria. The more gravel you have, the bigger population you have to filter the water.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

No it's different. I'm not talking about build up of algae. I'm talking about building up beneficial nitrifying bacteria. The more gravel you have, the bigger population you have to filter the water.

haha I thought that algae was your thing..

 

[magnifier661]

haha I thought that algae was your thing..

That's a different system