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AQUAPONICS,,, Any One? Heres Mine.

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Thnx Kozmo.
Ok so shit's moving slow, but moving along none the less. The freaking drama going on every where I look is just,,,, Ahhh never mind.
So I got some gravel in My beds, and have the IBC tote tops set where they will be used as raft beds. The rafts will be run on its own small pump continuously I will also be adding air stones to the raft beds. I will be building another 4 bed unit to sit on the West edge of the slab across from the other 4 bed unit.

Twisted
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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I got the air pump, and water pump hooked up today. I filled the tank with water, plumbed the feed line.(that pic didn't get dwnld for some reason) Have to get some more 3"PVC to finis the drain. I am going to cut just after the drain to the right end of the bed. I will put on a 90 to run to the tank behind the beds. I ran it just to see water running thru the system. The pic from the front shows this.
I hooked a 396gal/hr. water pump to it, and will be upgrading to a 1056gph. I will try to use the 396 to feed the raft beds, but may end up a 633gph.
I plan to connect the 2 raft beds with 2, 2"pvc pipes using Uniseals to for bulkheads. I will put 2, 2" drains in the East end of the East raft and run them to the tank. The raft beds will be constant flow beds.
The rock beds will be run on a timer. I'm thinking 15min. on ,90off.
I will have to experiment with the flood/drain cycles to find the right timing though. Going to put some Prime in the tank when done here, and once I get the drain fitted, I will put some plants in this thing. I am going to get a dozen feeder goldfish tomorrow to start the cycle.
I have to check My fish Guys sales schedule to see when I can catch Him to get the Chanel Catfish to stock the system. I am getting 40 6-8" Fry to start. STAY TUNED.

Peace; 1TT
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Ok we have this puppy runnin. Time to plant this evening. i'll test the water and show results also. It's bout to get fun in HERE!!!



Update L8TR 2Nite.

Twisted
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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I finally got some plants in the beds today. I will run down the list tomorrow. I didn't check the water before planting, but will get a base line tomorrow also. I may buy some feeder goldfish and add too.
Still didn't check the fish suppliers schedule, Ya do that tomorrow too.
I think I need to put at least a 633gph pump on, and I am going to modify the feed stubs to each bed, to come to the front of the bed and cap off, then drill holes along each side to get water to a larger portion of the beds. I will change to a bigger pump, and see where My water levels are. If they come up, then I will leave the feed lines alone.




I have had these plants for close to 2weeks, and You can see I didn't give them a very good start. This will be a test for sure. If theyr'e almost dead when they went in, and still do good, then that's kinda a testament to the system.

Time to give My pillow some head. More ,,, Yup,,, 2MORROW.

Peace; 1TT
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Gold Fish for now, but once I see My nitrogen cycle start to settle in, then I'll throw the Cat Fish into the mix.
I need a Cat Fish in Bib Overalls, and a hoe working a barrel bed, drawn up. This is a start to what I hope to do for a living. No rake A wicker basket of Produce on 1 fin, the other picking something. Dam,, off track again.lol
So I put in some more stuff today, and when I got home a storm had BLOWN thru, and knocked over a few things. worst of all,,, My Jalapeno. I used what was at hand to stake it up. I grabed a maple twig, and some root that was exposed. and used it to tie to the stake.. pics later, a Friend just stopped in.

Twisted
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Some shots from yesterdays planting. pic 1, bed 1 a bell pepper(orange),2nd pic is bed 2, Super Chili, pic 3 is bed 2 group, pic 4 bell pepper, and mater in back of bed 2(I think) pic 5, the orange bell, an acorn squash, and a sweet pepper. I added more. I have to dwnld. more pics. but I have 3 Stone Head cabbages in the front of bed 1, and 3 red cabbages in the front of bed 2, I have 3 Chocolate Habaneros in bed 4, 1 big Traveler Strain Jalapeno in bed 4, and a small one in bed 3. I have Italian oregano, cilantro, English thyme, basil, Rubens red basil. Russian tarragon. I started seeds of, and planted 3 very small Cherokee purple tomatoes, Lemon basil x 3, a Green zebra cherry tomato, a Parade cucumber, and prolly something I've forgotten. I have a total of 3 acorn squash, 1 Ball zucchini, 1 Ambrosia cantaloupe, a slicer cucumber. the 1 Parade Cucumber is for spears.
I know this all seems like a LOT,,, but,,, check out some Youtube video's, and You will understand,, YES this will be a jungle, but I will manage.
I am sure I have planted something with something else that wont work out. some of these things wont like any number of things, I've yet to ponder. I'm OK with that. We will learn the way to do, and NOT to do this stuff.

Twisted
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Man life is crazy!!! I was not happy with the water distribution, as configured in the last pics. The water level in the beds was not raising high enough(2.5") to get to the roots of the freshly planted plants. I had planned to change the design, by lengthening the feed lines to the front of the beds, capping them, and drilling holes along the sides of the feed stubs. this was to get done thurs/Friday. I also wanted to increase the pump to My 1056gph, but when I put it in line it ran but wouldn't pump(impeller?) no spare impeller. I also had a 633Gph on hand. I put it inline and it worked. so all just normal growing pains, OK.
So heres where it got a little crazy. An offer I had made to help some with a project on Tues AM b4 going to town Tues afternoon, and proceeding to find things to do until 12:30am Wed. Upon arriving Home and checking My On-line Friends, I discovered My offer had been received, and accepted. This involved a last minute ROAD TRIP!!! SHIT now all that got done between finalizing last minute time off for the Wife around 1PM WED. The Wife got off work at 6 and We were outta here by10PM for a 10 Hr. road trip to help a STRANGER. I wanted to learn what He needed helped with, and Shit happened. I also had a couple S1's of a BOMBER ASSED strain that may well be lost to the WAR on US. FUCKING PIGS!!! So I just had them in 4" sq pots hand watering them. so into the parts dept. I went, and also built a 27Gal Tough Tote DWC for the Girls.
I added 2Dozen feeder goldfish about 10 days ago. They proceeded to die within a day or 2 at about 5-6 days I had bout 6 left. I seen1 for sure, but may be 2 left. The water looks better now than when I left the plants suffered some sunburn, but look to be putting on new growth. I will be checking My water tomorrow, as well as taking a sample to the fish store. They have some 6" Comets that are VERY healthy. If My water ifs fine, I will buy 4-5 of these Comets. They are bout 1/2" across the shoulders. when they live bout 10days then I'll of course check water, and add bout 30 6-8" Chanel Cats to the mix.
I have only been home bout 2hrs , so I'll be getting pics up in the next couple daze.

Peace n Love; 1TT
 
C

CaliGabe

While I initially thought aquaponics wasn't too hard to get a handle on I've been schooled. Got a chance to visit a local area operation and this is about 1/6th of the total beds they have going...indoors and out. Pretty fookin crazy set up with solar hot water collectors and all, 'special' greenhouse material from Japan with like 100% transmission, blah, blah. Anyway he said the system wouldn't stabilize until maybe February. Farmers are patient peeps :biggrin:. When this setup is dialed in 600 lbs of lettuce a week...EASY.

One day I'll get a video tour up. Pretty amazing operation :tiphat:

picture.php
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Ya Man I'm just tinkering right now, but these systems are amazing to see once established.
The wife went to town yesterday, and was supposed to buy 3, 5-6" comets for $5 ea. She bought 2, 3'-4' KOI, and 2 fantail Oranda's,,, ARGH!!! spent $50 on fish that will get killed by the Chanel Catfish I will be putting in the system in a couple weeks. not to mention,,, I wasn't going to spend but $50 on 40 Catfish. Oh well She's got the Fish Bug, again from Her trip to the Pet store. I am planning on getting back into My old aquarium hobby again, and back to keeping, and spawning African Chiclids. She came back from the store all excited bout Fish again. Looks like i'll end up with a frigging Goldfish tank in My fish room(future)
Now that I finally have fish in the tank things will start to gain ground. Only 2 of the original 2 dozen Feeder Goldfish actually are still alive.
I will NEVER use feeders to start a system again. They are weak from being overbred to supply the Pet store trade with cheap feeders for the aquarium trade.

Thanks for sharing Your pics CaliGabe.

Peace; 1TT
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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If You can lower water level a bit, that may help. if the top of the substrate is constantly wet, then it will grow algae. more than that, I don't know Kozmo.

Twisted
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Some pics of the new Farmers. I'll get some plant pics up later. it will be interesting to look at them in a couple weeks, and compare to The current pics. We'll see what just adding 2, 4" Koi, and 2, 3" fantail to the 2, 2" feeders does. By then I will be ready to add 30-40 4"-6" Chanel Cats to the mix. I better get the trellis built, and the other Barrel bed, too.lol

Twisted
 

1TWISTEDTRUCKER

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Two Fantail Orranda's about 3"

Two Koi bout 4"
Sorry I posted W/O pics in the last post.
I got interrupted with a JOB OFFER:woohoo: I Have to get a DOT Physical, and drop some QuickFix Synthetic Urine, and I'm back to WORK. I am GETTING FUCKING WRECKED the rest of the day, YEE FUCKING HAW!!!!!!!!

Fixin ta getz ALL;;;; TWIZTED UP.
 

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