Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss A couple of pictures from my aquaponics set up

BTW these are the cat's meow when it comes to drains for small fish. The slots are between 1/16th and 1/8th inch. Slots are more resistant to clogging than holes and you need that with the frequent feeding of fish fry and fingerlings that produce a lot of waste. I use shower drains for larger fish.

They're PVC ventguards that I got from Menards. As you can see they come in different sizes. I think there is also a 4 inch. I use 3 inch PVC for all my tank drains so I use the 3 inch size.

Update:

The tomato plants are growing rapidly and have extensive root development except for a couple of plants. I'm hoping at least some of these will end up in a state of the art high school greenhouse, but it's up to the teacher. The raft tank will be going there for sure.

Cecil -- that is actually kind of humorous in a strange way.

The IBC tank setup, that I gave to my son this past spring, was wildly successful this summer -- particularly for cucumbers and tomatoes. In mid-August he called to ask if I could identify what he thought was some kind of algae or fungus spreading on top of his growing medium. When I stopped by and looked at it with my own eyes, I realized it was mostly tomato plant roots. His siphon was set about a half-inch too high, and these were roots growing on top of the wet media.

Anyway, we are about to put a bunch of fall plantings in his aquaponics setup and Into my conventional garden which is watered from my lowest pond using sprinklers that are fed from a 2-inch trash pump.

I've got loTs of plants to go in this week.

Please forgive my spelling,etc. I'm traveling and only have a cell phone that has a mind of its own concerning spelling and grammar.

Ken

What are those little pots or whatever you have your plants in?

They're called net pots and come in different sizes. You can get them on Ebay. I think they originated with hydroponics. They hold media and the seedling to allow the root system to get going.



I was told to use a 70/30 ratio of coco coir and vermiculite in them, which was a mistake once they were moved to the raft. The movement of the water from the diffusers under the plants causes much of it to wash away. I had to repack and add coffee filters in the bottom of the net pots to keep it from washing away. I will use gravel next time or I will use cheese cloth around the coco coir/vermiculite.

Cool! I can relate to the spelling thing when I used an Ipad.

Didn't know if you were using the real thing or picked something up from Menards

I would think that small pea gravel would do the trick.

Aquaponics supplies are on the expensive side tho.

Actually these were really cheap and I've found anything I need on Ebay. Now if I was doing the media method I'd prefer the hydroton over gravel but that stuff is not cheap!

I prefer the raft culture as there's no tedious cleaning of the media and it's a safety net for the fish as you add a lot of surface area for nitrifying bacteria on the raft tank walls and roots. A 60 watt pump runs the whole system and I could add a 100 feet and still use the one pump.

What's really cool is the iron in the water which is a unsightly in plain aquaculture is needed for the plants and a plus in aquaponics. Additionally the hard water has lots of minerals the plants use too.

I do have to use some muriatic acid to bring the Ph down to about 7.0, but that's a plus to as it reduces the amount of unionized ammonia.

Excellent new info Cecil.....Thank you!

Cecil,

Do you plan to add a potassium and phosphorous supplement for when the tomatoes start to bloom?

brian

I don't think I need to. My potassium seems pretty high naturally in the water and I'm thinking the heavy feeding by the tilapia should provide enough phosphorus?

You gong to cover them tomorrow and Saturday night? Or do ou think that they are close enough to the house so that a possible cold snap won't hurt them.

I know that they are calling for a low Fri night of 39°f, but that's in South Bend proper at the airport. I don't know what's projected for low areas in the country.

Yeah I'll put up a quick rib frame with furring strips and throw some plastic over it.

Sure wish I could have started them earlier but it wasn't to be.

Timing hasn't worked out on anything for me this year. Been a year of delays and setbacks, and it's going to get much worse.

Kinda sucks!!!

Such is life. My problem is primarily cash flow. Lots of ideas, possible inventions, etc. The catch 22 is when I'm tinkering I'm not doing taxidermy so I'm not making income! Got to find a happy medium for both!

I hope to bring the tomatoes indoors before it's too late. High school teacher doesn't sound receptive to taking them there (the greenhouse) as she's concerned about bringing in spider mites. Says once they come in they are really hard to get rid of.

However this means I'll have to build a smaller raft tank and invest in lights! Blue for fruiting plants!

Update with before and after pictures:

August 25: side view



September 7th: looking down from the deck



October 7th: side view.



October 7th: looking down from deck



My parents whom are conventional earth gardeners keep telling me I need to thin the plants out but I keep telling them it's O.K. with aquaponics as the plants don't have to compete for nutrients.

Half of these plants will be coming inside in the next day or two and a raft tank half the size of this one will be hooked up to my yellow perch tank in the basement. The above raft tank will go to a local high school where I have an recirculating system set up and will be making modifications. I'll get the raft tank back when school ends in May and put the two together and have a 12 X 4 foot raft tank. Or I may just leave it there and build another one.

No tomatoes yet due to the late start but lots of blooms. I will have a High Pressure Sodium light over them to keep them going. Not cost effective at 400 watts but I don't want to just trash the plants, and they will add a tremendous amount of biofiltration for the fish.

Looks great, how are the root balls doing? Do you just have one air stone per side?

Rob C

Hey Guys, I want to jump in here on the Aquaponics. I will be retiring in about 1.5 to 2 yrs. I want to have raised bed intensive(4X8 plywood) stuff,using my own 3 part mulch mix, bla bla bla. I wanted to water the Aquaponics with my pond water and use the gardens as a filter to take the nutrients from the pond with water return to the pond cleaner than when it was pulled out of course and the water provide nutrients. I do not want to high-jack either,but I looked at the pics and it begs a question or two since I have ZERO experience with Aquaponics,except for the ride at Disney Land.

Are the plants and beds actually setting on top of the fish tank that you said was made with the 2x12's? Does the water run under the foam and across under the roots or does the water run across the top of the foam and trickle through the cups and into the fish tank? Is the water clean enough with one pass to go back into the pond or do you cycle it many times until it is clear and then make a water transfer?

I want to focus on a fish tank like you have but it would be greatly appreciated if you could give more details as to how you built it. If I got it right, basically you have a plywood base(braced), 2"x 12" for side frames to support the plastic and hold the Aquaponics unit? Yes/NO.

If I got it right, then what in the way of water flow (GPM) would be good for the plants.

Is there a book you would recommend, or it that just unnecessary. Any book I would want, would need to be focused on using pond water(to clean up the water)for the plant growth and the clean water back to the pond which hopefully would reduce needed chemicals etc to control algae and the like.

The water I would try to pull out of the pond would be around the feeding areas for the most part.

On the aerated fry bucket, I too want to have my own forage for my CNBG and LMB, FH for the most part. I am curious how big or in another way how small x deep of a hole could I effectively raise FH minnows to produce say 50 to 70 # of minnows a year using the out flow of water from the Aquaponics garden?

All that said, could I have any effective impact on nutrient load with this system in a 1 acre pond with fed fish? Sorry for the High jack and thanks for the great info, pics and hope I will get there too.

Roots are massive and there are two air stones per side. From the literature I read there should be one every four feet.

I'll respond to your questions MPC a little later. Lots of good questions but my lunch break is long past over. In the meantime there are folks on here with more experience than myself.

There's also a website called Aquaponics Nation that is really good. Yours truly is a mod there so if you decide to join us be a good boy.

http://aquaponicsnation.com/forums/

I also await the response. I was wondering the same thing while reading through from post 1.

Hey CB1 I signed up and have a new read. Found some good stuff already. I'll shut up here and just follow. I may have a Q or 2 on Aquaponicsnation after I read a while. Sorry if I asked to much here.

I hope drumz and I learn a lot about this subject.

Well first of all your pond water is great for watering a conventional garden but won't have the nutrients and nitrates in the densities you would need for aquaponics. You just don't have the density of fish in the pond to produce those that you do in a closed system, and if you did they would have some serious issues as the pond would not be able to keep up with the ammonia produced to have those elevated levels of nitrogen. Filamentous algae, phytoplankton, and macrophytes are all competing for those nutrients and nitrates in the pond.



There are holes cut into the high density foam that is floating on top of the water in the raft tanks. The plants are in net pots that are inserted into the holes and the roots grow out of the net pots into the surrounding water.









The water is cleaned mechanically with a barrel packed with garden netting which traps suspended solids that come into the bottom of the barrel via siphon. The water is cleaned biologically with a biofilter which changes ammonia produced by the fish to nitrites and then to nitrates. This barrel filled with plastic media that tumbles with air that is injected via the bottom of the barrel. The water goes in from the barrel that mechanically cleans the water through the side bottom of the bilfilter barrel.

A mature aquaponics system does not need a separate biofilter tank but it's not a bad idea to have one anyway in times of low plant density or starting up a system.

If the water was run into a pond and back again you would dilute the nitrates and other nutrients so much the plants in the system would suffer. You also run the risk of fueling algae and other plants in the pond as it doesn't take much to get them going.

The water in my system is gin clear.



The raft tank with the plants is NOT the fish tank. The fish tank is a separate circular tank complete with a center drain and external pipe to purge settleable solids twice a day.

The white tank in the background is the fish tank. It's under the tarp to keep rainwater from falling in that could leech arsenic from the deck wood. It also provides shade that keeps algae under control. Keep in mind the system is set so far off the ground to gravity flow waste water into an adjacent raised garden that is 15 inches off the ground. As long as your fish tank is lower than your raft tank you can gravity flow water back into your fish tank. At least that is the way I do it.





The raft tank is not braced. It's simply a 1/2 inch plywood base with 2 X 12's screwed to it around the perimeter and down the center to create two separate raceways. This is supprted by a framework of 2 X 6's under the raft tank. The raft tan is on attached to the framework but rests on top. As heavy as it is it's not going anywhere and this makes it easier to decommission or move in the winter.

It's lined with a double layer of greenhouse plastic. If you use greenhouse plastic be sure to scrub it with dishwater detergent and rinse. Then fill and let set for a day or two and drain. There is something used in manufacturing that keeps it from sticking to itself, which may be harmful to your system.

Another thing. You must provide aeration for the plants in the raft tank. I have a total of 4 small stones spaced 4 feet apart in the two raceways of the raft tank.

Water drops in on side of the tank via pvc piping and gravity from the biofilter tank, and goes to the end and crosses over. Then it comes back and dumps back in the fish tank via pvc piping and gravity.



I'm hearing a maximum of 60 to 90 minutes retention time in the raft tank. I'm flowing about 11 gpm into 32 cubic feet which is about 239 gallons. That comes out to about 22 minutes retention time.



There is another thread on forage ponds but like I said aquaponics is not really an option with a pond.



No worries about questions and the answer to your question is above.

No need to "shut up." I enjoy sharing and I've been on the question end lots of times. Just pressed for time at times, but rest assured when I have breaks I'm happy to answer your questions.

Also keep in mind there are folks on here that know more than I do about aquaponics. I'm still learning!

Hey Cecil, I remember seeing your empty boxes when I picked ya up to go to Essups and thinking that you sure had a long way to go. Well you've gone and it sure looks great. Congrats and thanks for the fine documenting and pics. If ya get an extra day when ya come to Fl this spring maybe ya can stop over and do some Talapia fishin with me.