Im going to put this together for my window that faces the south and gets direct sun from Aug-Feb or so.

Not sure how itll work out as it's just for kiks.

They system: it's damn sturdy. Im going to use lava rocks in the bed to keep off the weight. Not sure how much water should be in the bed before the overflow though... Help.


For the most part, greens and beet berries are in order, with soome herbs and mini toms Ima order from seeds of change.

More to come.

das

[1TWISTEDTRUCKER]

Hey dasme,I've been thinking bout aquaponics alot lately,what with all the problems with comercialy growm produce.
Plz.keep,(well i'd say us informed),but it looks like it's just you & i for now.
What ya gonna use for fish?

PEACE;1TT

you might want to seal the light out of the fish tank. Algae can grow like crazy, even with scum eaters. Good luck! Aquaponics is one of the best sustainable sources of agriculture.

[killa-bud]

what kind of fish do u have to use? i'ed think Betas would be best,but....you shouldn't keep more then one in the same place.. so what like feeder fish or somthing?

[zappa66]

when I had fish I used those scum sucker catfish...not shure how they would work for what you want.

Thanks for the input. Im going to use goldies, some minows called rosys or something, a few snails for the scum and a few dozen ghost shrimp. The ghosts may become food later but Im wanting to provide nuff hiding places.

As far as algea is conserned, not too worried. Ive seen 5 snails clean a tank spotless in a few weeks. Plus they add bio-diversity.

No betas!

[MrFista]

Gidday Dasme glad you've surfaced with the plan intact.

Overflow - I'm assuming you already know this is in addition to drainage...

So the bed is filled from the top, and drains from the bottom via gravity back to the fish, in addition to this plumbing, an overflow is merely a protective device if you don't trust your drain making capabilities.

Positioned just below the top of your bed is easiest to keep clear. I can tell by the set-up that once the gravel is in there - it won't empty your tank right out if the drain does clog and the bed fills and the overflow is needed.

The standpipe drain I suggested is sound technology. (a bit of pipe with lots of holes drilled in the sides of one end of it standing in the gravel over your drain). I'm talking 5 years now with no floods from beds.

Are you going for ebb and flow or continuous. I've proved it myself as well as scientists who claim it - continuous flow aquaponics grows faster.

Algae - good place for ghost shrimp to hide and they eat it. WILL be a problem if you don't input your water below the surface of the bed to keep the top dry.

Looks good!

I will be making a stand pipe with 4" pvc so I can clean it out by hand when needed. Im going to use lava rock, the red ones, but I want to find smaller stones not the ones at Lowes or HD... I need to look harder for lava the size of hydrotrons...

I will be running continuous flow, and will leave about 1/4" at the bottom of the bed to then drain. Overflow, yah, Ill make one. I'll probly be on the side of the tray and be ugly... lol. I will also have a waterfall effect going on too and some venturi action. THis is going to be fun. Plus the kid can feed them all the time with no monitoring.

[MrFista]

Sweet! You are well on your way it sounds good. Well thought out and executed.

On lava rock. The only drawback I've found is that it can be hard on seeds if you like to just chuck em in there. Maybe I'm just spoilt for seed sounds like most people spend their mortgage on them...

However, with you growing veg... veg seeds it isn't a problem I throw in 3 times as much as needed and the one's that find a good spot to take do so.

If people want excellent cloning directly in their beds.... use lava rock on the bottom and the top 2-3 inches of the small hydroton (ideally the bed is dry on the surface and damp from 1 inchish down). Don't use rooting hormone just soak your cuts, then scrape the stem of your cuts lightly, and put in the bed.

[MrFista]

PS - when you've finished making it...

1st make sure all silicon etc is VERY dry. I dunno if I mentioned it should be fish safe (no fungicide) silicon for any and all parts touching the water... If it's not you can get some and coat the top of the existing stuff you've used.
2nd run a bleach solution through the system for 24 hours with the system "full" to clean any manufacturing gunk and drill shavings etc out properly.
Then cycle up.