My first AP, San Jose, California

[Kittrina Grizzle]

Started this Saturday, January 22nd, 2011. I'll keep posting to document it.

Tank = 110 gallon stock tank  (Tractor supply in Gilroy $65.54)
(6) 2"x4"x8' pressure treated lumber  (Lowe's $32.58)
(12) 8"x16"x8" cinder blocks
(4) 1"x2"x8'  lumber  (1x2s and cinder blocks around $35)
14 bags - 3/4" drain rock for medium (Payless Rockery in San Jose $44.36)
(though this rock was cheap, I paid the price later...read on)
Various PVC fittings & piping, pump
Grow Bed = 3'x6'x6"deep  (bed + PVC fittings & pump = approx $200)

The main setup was relatively quick. It's very basic, as you'll see from the images. The most time consuming and resource wasteful part was that the gravel all needed MAJOR rinsing. And it still clouded the water a great deal. We are only at 2/3 grow bed fill at the end of the day. And needing to finish on Sunday. The water is still very cloudy and I HOPE it will clear with cycling over the next few days. For this reason, I recommend spending the money on a better gravel/medium if you can afford it and not have to waste so much time and water in rinsing it.

I'll post more on the cloudy water and what cool weather plants will go in, over the next week.
Kit

http://aquaponicscommunity.com/photo/albums/kits-1st-aquaponics

[Kittrina Grizzle]

Update: I will post pictures but the water has finally cleared up. I added 3 medium sized goldfish to the tank last night as my starter fish. Larry, Moe and Curly were hidden when I turned the pump back on this morning. (They have ALOT of room to hide in this setup). I am currently running approximately 12 hr cycles of about 8am to 8pm with the pump running. That just worked with my schedule until I setup a timer. Any thoughts on the good or bad of that? I'll be posting water levels once I get a tester to check it regularly.

[TCLynx]

Even with well rinsed gravel, the water is usually a bit cloudy at first.  I found that I could save a lot of water by swishing a basked of gravel in a bin of water then swish in a cleaner bin of water before placing in the grow beds.  Far less water used than if spraying gravel with a hose.

 

I would say if you have stand pipes set up so when the pump is running the beds are flooded, you can let it run constantly for the first few weeks until you get a timer, this will probably help get you cycled up quicker than if you leave the beds drained during the initial cycle up period.  Constant flood seems to help in cycling and clearing water.

 

Otherwise sounds like you have done very well.  Congrats

Oh by the way, you can insert the photos from your album right into the pots using the image link (second icon from the left above the text box)

[TCLynx]

[Kittrina Grizzle]

Thanks for all your input! :-D

TCLynx said:

[Chi Ma]

What/who would possess you to do something stupid like this?

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi and welcome to AP. You have set up nicely. We have on the main page a great guide, you can take a look at it under; "Rules of Thumb" which i think is really good study material. Usually we recommend going for 12" deep beds as we can plant a variety of crop with it, at six inches we are a bit limited with variety.

[Ryan Chatterson]

I just harvested some 8"-10" heads of broccoli out of 4" beds :P

[Kittrina Grizzle]

Oh yes, WHO would talk me into this??? :-D  A crazy man, that's who. LOL

Chi Ma said:

What/who would possess you to do something stupid like this?

[Kittrina Grizzle]

Thanks for the inforation Harold. I have to admit that although gardening I am NOT new to, AP I am. I think that a 4" depth to start will be just fine for me. I have traditional raised beds for my deeper rooting veggies for now. Plus the grow bed was free to me and you just can't pass that up. :-D

Harold Sukhbir said:

Hi and welcome to AP. You have set up nicely. We have on the main page a great guide, you can take a look at it under; "Rules of Thumb" which i think is really good study material. Usually we recommend going for 12" deep beds as we can plant a variety of crop with it, at six inches we are a bit limited with variety.

[Kittrina Grizzle]

I'm so glad to hear that many people are being just as successful with the shorter beds. Thanks for sharing!

Ryan said:

I just harvested some 8"-10" heads of broccoli out of 4" beds