A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Hi! From Saratoga CA!

Hi Everyone! My name is Chi. I live in CA.

One day I asked some of the kids I work with if they knew where their
food comes from. Their response was the super market. I said "really?"
So I asked where did the super market get it from? All I got was a
shrug. It inspired me to make my own system to show the kids that food
doesn't magically appear at the super market.

I noticed a lot of systems are a lil um "3rd world" looking for the
lack of a better term. This is v1.0 for me to get all the plumbing
squared away. It is made with a 200 gallon tote, 4" ABS pipe for the
grow beds. 500 gph pump. Right now it is all running on house power but
in the spring when the storms are over will switch to solar. Also it
will get some cedar paneling around it so it will be more presentable.
Fish will be a mix of tilapia and channel catfish. I think I might need
to add a settling tank but I'll see how it goes.

Any suggestions to improve the system are welcome.

Design Goals:
1. Compact
2. Clean
3. Portable
4. Expandable

A little vid: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=494750945609

Beginnings:

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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on November 12, 2010 at 11:26am

Good Start.

I agree that you are going to need a settling tank or other solids filtration and some bio-filtration. A small amount of water flowing through those pipes won't provide the surface area needed for bacteria to take care of the waste of more than perhaps a few small fish.

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Permalink Reply by Chi Ma on November 12, 2010 at 12:37pm

The center pipe is like my canister filter 95% of the water flows through that. 10% of the pipe has open cell foam at the inlet to catch the big stuff, then 20% of it is a filter sock filled with activated carbon with the remaining 70% filled with bioballs.

TCLynx said:

Good Start.

I agree that you are going to need a settling tank or other solids filtration and some bio-filtration. A small amount of water flowing through those pipes won't provide the surface area needed for bacteria to take care of the waste of more than perhaps a few small fish.

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Permalink Reply by Chi Ma on November 12, 2010 at 3:29pm

Good to know! My thinking was that since my growbeds are fairly new and small I may need a lil help getting rid a lil ammonia. But I will increase the bioballs and lessen the charcoal once I test my water and make sure the water chemistry is right.

Kobus Jooste said:

You may want to ease up a bit on the activated charcoal - that stuff and Zeolite can be nutrient sequesters. We used them in aquariums where you want to clean the water with the media inside the filters, but in aquaponics, you really only want to have media that provide surface area for bacteria, and the plants taking care of all the nutrients. I've heard quite a bit about the Australians using normal charcoal in their systems, but have not given that a try yet. The tannins in the water does not bother me and tilapia aren't that fond of a bright pond in any case!

Chi Ma said:
The center pipe is like my canister filter 95% of the water flows through that. 10% of the pipe has open cell foam at the inlet to catch the big stuff, then 20% of it is a filter sock filled with activated carbon with the remaining 70% filled with bioballs.

TCLynx said:
Good Start.

I agree that you are going to need a settling tank or other solids filtration and some bio-filtration. A small amount of water flowing through those pipes won't provide the surface area needed for bacteria to take care of the waste of more than perhaps a few small fish.

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Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on November 12, 2010 at 8:56pm

It really depends on what you individually want to create from an AP system. Looking at the size of the Fish tank, all that water to filter, I'd put more fish in it!,Raise the tubes a little higher, and make a FD bed to sit on top the tank at least half the the width of the tank. More fish more plants. By the way, the setup looks really elegant....Good Luck!

Chi Ma said:

The center pipe is like my canister filter 95% of the water flows through that. 10% of the pipe has open cell foam at the inlet to catch the big stuff, then 20% of it is a filter sock filled with activated carbon with the remaining 70% filled with bioballs.

TCLynx said:
Good Start.

I agree that you are going to need a settling tank or other solids filtration and some bio-filtration. A small amount of water flowing through those pipes won't provide the surface area needed for bacteria to take care of the waste of more than perhaps a few small fish.

:) :)