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Show your Aquaponic system.

23K views 138 replies 20 participants last post by  HD Blazingwolf 
#1 · (Edited)
I just bought 35 Tilapia fry and 2 IBC totes ( 275 and 330 gals) and will set up an aquaponic system soon. I learn a lot from this page but would like to know if also planted tank people have aquaponic systems?

Show me your systems, or tell me what you know about it :)

Whats more fun than keeping fish, plants and get veggies, herbs, fruits and fresh fish from it!

I will post pictures later on while I make my system.

Thx
 
#3 ·
Will have my aquaponic system going as soon as I get time to set up all my tanks. But why are you playing music in water?
 
#6 ·
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=149251

This is old, and I'm not sure if this is how you post links here. My entry into this hobby started with aquaponics and an lfs: "why do you want gold fish? You can keep tropicals, they're easier to take care of, better looking, and a heater is cheaper than a chiller."

Few weeks later: "so, you gonna plant that thing or what?"

Plants? In an aquarium??? Then Google led me here, tried to make what i already had work for a scape, totally blew it, then reading reading reading.

BTW. A new aquaponics system is cycling right now. I'm actually looking at it. No time for a journal, but soon I will post how I magically transformed the dining room of my 1 bedroom apartment into my science fair project.

Have fun! I wish I had the space for a full tilapia based food production unit. I could talk your ear off about this.

Buy Sylvia bernstein's book "aquaponic gardening"

This book came out after I had already piecemealed together info on my own, starting with no aquarium experience. I can tell you, after a steep and expensive learning curve that my experience confirms much of what she says. What I can't confirm is the stuff she talks about that is really only applicable to larger systems. All the basics are there, and I really wish this book would have been around when I started. I would have spent much less, and not collected so much basically useless equipment.
 
#7 ·
Here is a notion that will get your noodle going: it is entirely possible to put together a community tank style aquaponics system where each member is suitable for your plate...you don't have to always be eating tilapia!

Then comes the subject of integrated pasture management, urban farming, vertical agriculture, the list goes on.

If only I could copy paste my imagination, then you would see how far down this rabbit hole I am. :)
 
#13 ·
Here is a notion that will get your noodle going: it is entirely possible to put together a community tank style aquaponics system where each member is suitable for your plate...you don't have to always be eating tilapia!

Then comes the subject of integrated pasture management, urban farming, vertical agriculture, the list goes on.

....
I see that possible by using divided resevior tanks, crawfish, talapia, freshwater clams, bull frogs.
 
#8 ·
I got a friend (more of a mutual friend) who is setting up a 3 acre system and going all out. Its pretty cool actually. I kinda want to get into this, but instead of raising fish for food, raising Oscars, Frontosa, African cichlids, or something like that and take all the veggies from the top.
 
#9 ·
I have considered African chiclids also. The problem is their ph requirements are too high. You want to stay 5.5-7.4 with 7 being the best compromise, otherwise you get nutrient lock out on the hydroponics piece. Most leafy greens and kitchen herbs would probably still be ok, but you wouldn't produce very nice fruits.

I know for a fact that oscars work. Seen it done, and they arw food fish elsewhere in the world.

You want a hardy fish tolerant of dissolved minerals, since the grow bed and infeequent water changes will accumulate lots of trace.

Temp needs to be 68-82 with optimal around 72-75, though mine ran at 80-82 with only brocolli and bush beans as the casualties. Some say, the more mature your system is, the more lee way you have with parameters

Take these parameters in mind and rainbows are a good option, along with rasboras and many cories. I kept turqoise rainbows, panda cories, and harlequin rasboras in mine with good results.
 
#10 ·
.... would like to know if also planted tank people have aquaponic systems? ....

Show me your systems, or tell me what you know about it :)
...
I just won my e>bay auction for my pump. I've been planning/researching this
for a few months now. I'm going to use a Goldfish powered ebb & flow system
with two 40 gl. tanks.

More of a learning exercise than a true substance providing system. If this goes well I may go to a larger system.

I hope to be up & running in two weeks. I have 2 days left on my 4x german reflector 4" T5 light. I still need to pumb the grow tank.
 
#18 ·
Aquaponics has basically the same biological function as any tank with emergent growth, the difference is that terrestrials need root aeration or they will die.

It is interesting that emergent growth "pond" tanks are becoming more popular for their low maintenance requirements.
 
#21 ·
Both systems work, really just about how you want to bold it.

My ebb & flow will drain back through the pump exhaust bulkhead on the bottom of the grow tank when the pump is off.

The stand pipe return will be a safety over flow and determine how high the water level will be at in flood stage.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Thanks for a great topic.

There's so much to discover here.

I've worked with plant filters for ages.
My first "serious" edible plant aquaponics setup was this:


It is rigged in a 75 gal tank.


With a dash more serious approach with Aquaponics.fi we have come up with this:


At a "Local Food fest" we rigged the unit with a couple of 4 pound sturgeons from a local fish
hatchery:




(Please note the fish were held in the 130 gal tank for a few hours at a time)



Currently I'm working with another kitchen-sized unit (150 gal) with decent-sized Tilapias:


Looking for a lighting setup for this as we speak...
 
#29 ·
Thanks for a great topic.

There's so much to discover here.

I've worked with plant filters for ages.
My first "serious" edible plant aquaponics setup was this:


It is rigged in a 75 gal tank.


With a dash more serious approach with Aquaponics.fi we have come up with this:


At a "Local Food fest" we rigged the unit with a couple of 4 pound sturgeons from a local fish
hatchery:




(Please note the fish were held in the 150 gal tank for a few hours at a time)



Currently I'm working with another kitchen-sized unit (150 gal) with decent-sized Tilapias:


Looking for a lighting setup for this as we speak...
Those are some nice set ups, much less mad scientisty than mine. What size is the tank in your rack design? What is the clearance like between shelves? I did a stacked garden once, but I got sick of having the tank on the floor for viewing purposes.

For lighting check out the hydrofarm t5ho strip lights. Daisy chainable with decent reflectors. Lettuce etc don't need much light.

How large are the tilapia? I would love to have a 150galllon, but that is definitely not "kitchen sized" for me!
 
#25 ·
I had an ebb and flow on the top of my goldfish tank, growing lettuce for my rabbits. Then my pump died a horrible, silent death and I went back to deep water culture, which still works well for mint and lettuce.

I could never get enough plant growth to do more than mildly supplement water changes, though. It has been very frustrating. I have given up on soliciting advice.

I keep thinking that if I could plumb in a bigger hydroponics area, I would get somewhere. But I would also need lots of grow lights, and a huge pump with a prefilter that would need to be cleaned daily, and I just don't have the space or the money.
 
#30 ·
Rule of thumb is equal volumes of tank to grow bed area, with grow beds 7-12" deep. 7" is fine for herbs and lettuce, 12" for tomatoes etc.

Many drain their tank into the grow bed and allow the solids to mineralized in the grow media so as to avoid exporting nutrients. I am not a fan of this, mine is inside a small apartment and even a mild smell is unacceptable. Outside, why not?
 
#41 ·
Hmm. I did not know that about hydroton; it is what I use. I do fertilize with potassium daily, with iron added 1-2 times a week.

So I guess I need a way to set up bigger, deeper grow beds.

I already failed plumbing once. (Could be two or three times, depending on how you count the various failures.) I have thought about purchasing hydroponic components and attaching them to my tank instead of a reservoir. This way, I do not drill holes that might leak.
 
#42 ·
Subscribed! I have just started looking into this very topic. My husband and I have been thinking about starting a small indoor system with goldfish and kitchen herbs and then, once we get the hang of things moving on to a larger outdoor system with veggies and tilapia.

We have only just started researching but it looks very cool.
 
#44 ·
I'm gonna shoot myself. Just tried to hang a breeder net of hydroton off the side of the tank - it's too heavy and won't stay in place! Oh, well; maybe I can trade the net for some more plants.

For now, I draped some of the mint over the side of the tank, with the roots in the water; I've heard that will work, too.
 
#46 ·
With many of the verical systems the main limitation is the build up of organic material. Don't waste your time with drippers, been there, done that. You can, however, use those splitter heads and drip line with no attachments for getting water to multiple sites.

Nft is also a waste of time for organice nutrients. I think there is a site out thwrw called jasons organic hydroponics that helps explain why continuous flow, ebb and flow, and raft systems are the only ones that work reliably.

This looks promising for our purposes, and am probably going to try it out, though it will be better for a window than for artificially lit. You see a lot of systems out there using pipe with sanitary tees and net cups, but the one below would allow for a single top feed and return so less maintenance than many smaller lines. I will post another in a few, have to find the link.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UcdtIx1PkS8
 
#47 ·
Yep - Watched that DIY Strawberry Tower last week looks easy & efficient.

I'm on a tight budget. Most of my build $$$ went to the light, pump & stand. The rest will be what I own or can scrounge. Fortunately , between the hobby and a lifetime of DIY and living in the difinative Fixe-Upper house, I've got lot's a stuff to work with.

My DIY 41 rimless will hold goldfish, water will go up to a 40 acrylic for the ebb & flow tank, gaiety feed back down via the pump when not running and a standpipe as an overflow safety.

My shelf is 24" wide, grow tank is 15 "wide, light are 24 wide. So that gives me appx. 8" x 48" of un-used space to add maybe a 6" PVC pipe trough, maybe with net cups? Maybe square gutter pipe? Or maybe the square PVC fence posts?
 
#48 ·
And this s what I build over the weekend:













I filled it up with 8 bags of lava rock and will cover the lava rock with 1 bag of clay pebbles. For now its just cycling and cleaning the dust and dirt out of the lava rock. I am building a WC system for this.



This is my first Aquaponic system, ebb and flood, on a timer.





And this is my Tilapia Fry: About 3 weeks old, 35 of them in a 20 gallon tank.



 
#49 ·
sorry, couldn't find the other link, it looks like the company went out of business. i know there are other vendors, just this one made it into my favorites for lowest price. i will try to find the product again.

awesome projects!

there are a few IBC tote projects to refer to. I think you may need to add more grow beds for that many fish!!

The standard rule is 1:1, but 3:1 grow bed:tank volume is possible. this rule of thumb is kind of like the WPG or inch per gallon rules we hear about. not exact and pretty general/only applicable to older technologies. the higher the ratio of surface area:Water volume the easier it is to get to that 3:1 "Max", but obviously your fish choice means you need to have it a given depth or greater.

for the 41gal system you could easily do a 48"x24"x8" deep tray. if you got the skills, DIY it and line it with a pond liner. my hydro trays are 8". i tried using a 6" and it was just too hard to tune the siphon.

there are a lot of successful projects out there for gutter pipe/ drilled fence post/sanitary tee etc, but you will find most of them run a countinous stream type of system for the reasons mentioned above. i did one with 2 liter bottles with the bottom cut off. a little work on the cap/screw on top and it will fit snuggly in a 1" T, so you can rig it up however you want. i had mine on a frankenstien vertivcal set up, and used the dripper splitters mentioned previously. it worked, leak free, but i have moved more towards whole beds filled with media rather than net cups. something about it seems better once you watch it in operation. it is sort of hard to explain. sort of like how you can "know" something is going on with your tank before the test kit tells you anything of value. I feel the excess media does a couple of things: increase surface area for micro organisms and root support, and reduced water volume needs to fully ebb and flow. if you do the reading, you will find that aquaponics systems are running at temperatures that would lead to disaster in traditional hydro (also know this from frustrating personal experience, good luck keeping your res under 80 in so cal with a 400W light and flood pump near by), and the supposed reasoning is that the increased bacterial population makes the whole system more robust.

i hope to start a journal on my current project soon, and encourage you to do the same, who knows maybe we can get a low traffic sub forum like the pond guys!!!

only problem for me is that i may have to move my system to the other side of the apartment so i can fit my table in the dining room (didn't think about that before :(
 
#50 ·
forgot to mention, i like to have the siphon start the draining process when the water level gets to about 1" below the surface of the media, or about 1cm or so up the rock wool cube i start my seedlings in. , assuming you have about a 1 to 3 hydroton pebble thick layer covering your rock wool.

I find it causes less hydroton float and keeps the stems dry. not sure if it matters, but in my traditional hydro systems before, i noticed that in any bed where the stems got wet the whole system would be more sensitive to any out of whack parameters. even managed to kill peppers, which are pretty much indestructable.
 
#51 ·
nalu86 - I like your IBC system. I've been looking at the DIYs on youtube about those. IF my 1st systems works well I can see that as my next step.

Would you do anything different now that your done? Also and tips?

On my project, cutting the acrylic 40g in half to make a grow bed....Not so good. Even using new jig saw blades I have several cracks. So on to the DIY
grow bed videos. My foot print is 24x48" of course a little smaller for fitment purposes.
 
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