[Ipsissimus]

thought I'd share my outdoor aquaponic ebb and flow setup I just finished. It's been fun setting it up, my first outdoor ebb and flow on the cheap. I have a variety of tomatoes, peppers, and other random plants.

I have a ~100 gallon in-ground pond, I had some fish in it over a year ago but I killed them by accident when I left the hose on overnight. Got it going again last week, added a airstone and 60 gph pump.

The basic idea is to have the timer pump the water to a swimming pool, filling it up 5 inches and then draining on a timer, using gravity only (no float valves). The fish poo and plants form a symbiotic relationship completing a nitrogen cycle, and supplying beneficial bacterias etc. I used 1/2 vinyl hose to go to a $10 pool I got a wal-mart. One hose is for the pump, the other is for drainage (I cut it up). Drilled two 9/16 holes, used rubber grommets from ace. I had to elevate the water level with a vase to slow down the flow to get it just right, for 15 minute intervals. I hooked up the timer to 15 minutes on every 105 minutes, and it's been working great the last couple days.

One think I learned is that you should make your drainage pipe as close as possible to a straight downgrade towards the reservoir/pond to avoid creating airlocks. Also, make sure the exit is above water level when draining, so that air can escape and create a siphon. I didn't perceive this before I started. I almost added anti-airlock holes at the high points but I realized I wouldn't get a good siphon and saved myself a lot of trouble by removing some obvious high spots, and raising the exit above water level.

I have the airstone on 24/7 well (in the pond). I have a mixture of hydroton only pots that get fully submerged, and mixture of hydroton on the bottom/gravel on the bottom, layer of worm casing + perlite (some have coir) on the top pots that only get 2" of water.

I have 10 starter gold fish going (didn't aerate enough I think, lost a few), and a bigger $5 koi. I'll get some more fish after this establishes, and send pics if it takes off. From other peoples enthusiastic endorsements, I'm hopeful!



future modifications:

the exit hose is at the bottom of the pool, because the diameter is so small that the water height reaches the desired level before the 5" of water creates enough back pressure to push out air in the hose and drain the pool. the normal design would be to have the pump exiting at the reservoir bottom, with the drain opening raised to 5" above the bottom. the pump creates a siphon when shut off that drains the container completely, but with my vase solution to slow down the flow, I need the exit hose at the bottom, to drain the pool completely. So in other words, because my pump is too strong, I have a risky solution because I only have one drainage exit and no emergency overflow. My pump isn't at the bottom of the pond, so it wouldn't kill the fish if the drainage gets clogged, but it wouldn't be good for the pump.

The advantage of the vase is that it creates a sort of reflux column where particulate matter sinks, it aerates the water, and it looks good. I'd rather get the lower flow pump and have a safer system in the long run tho.

i'd use a 1" hose for the exit hose in the future, and/or a lower flow rate for my application. Others will need to pump uphill or to a raised platform, or have a different scale of setup, so the GPH needed is variable. Good pumps list efficacy at different elevations.

[bkind]

That's awesome!!!!! Best wishes and a happy harvest to you!


lol it looks like your dogs smokin a bowl in the last pic

[Mr. Greengenes]

Fishwater makes plants grow like crazy. I have a 60g full of big sized fancy goldfish and just for fun, I made a DWC bucket and vegged and flowered a clone entirely on fishwater. Worked amazingly well. I never checked ph or nutrient levels or anything all the way through. Got buds as big and healthy as my containers with less work.

[Ipsissimus]

yeah I initially did it remembering some threads back on OG, then did a little research and realized there's lots of potential. A symbiotic relationship is formed creating a self balancing microenvironment. Some fish are omnivores, creating the possibility of a closed system.

[homebrew420]

hey folks good to see you all here. Thsi has been an idea of mine for some time. Nice. You know they make floating rafts made from recycled soda bottle, with holes for putting net cups in. One I saw had 8 sites spread out about 5-4" on center. A little close but would be alot of fun. Good luck Ipissimus.

[Mr. Greengenes]

I've always kept fish since I was a kid. My first experiences breeding were with fancy guppies and bettas. Over the years, I've found that all kinds of non water plants can be happy growing right in a fishtank, even partly submerged. My tanks always had a whole garden of 'land plants' growing in and out of the top. Later, I got interested in fancy goldfish and found that it was harder to put plants in with them simply because they love to eat roots. But, by that time, some smart folks had invented DWC and I was on OG to learn about it, and I realized I could get my plants and fish back together that way. It was a very interesting experiment and worked better (and certainly easier) than any of the many commercial 'hydro' rooms I've toured locally. I think if I'd seen superior performance to my containers, I might have switched methods. If your container chops aren't that hot, fishwaterDWC or aquaponics of some kind might be a better choice.

[Ipsissimus]

spot the pot

[dubwise]

I do!
cool rig man! i may have to try this out in the spring. thanks for posting!