Sand bed taking shape - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T23:26:14Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/sand-bed-taking-shape?groupUrl=Combination&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A117512&groupId=4778851%3AGroup%3A21768&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWe see 0 degrees C here every…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-10-26:4778851:Comment:2379382011-10-26T07:51:41.618ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
We see 0 degrees C here every so often in winter, but the water temp in the small system, if kept uncovered, never really goes below 8 degrees C - enough to keep koi going but not tilapia.<br/><br/><cite>Jane said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><div class="xg_user_generated">Very nice ! what is the low temp in your area ?</div>
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We see 0 degrees C here every so often in winter, but the water temp in the small system, if kept uncovered, never really goes below 8 degrees C - enough to keep koi going but not tilapia.<br/><br/><cite>Jane said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><div class="xg_user_generated">Very nice ! what is the low temp in your area ?</div>
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</blockquote> Very nice ! what is the low t…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-10-26:4778851:Comment:2380322011-10-26T01:29:34.436ZJanehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Jane33
Very nice ! what is the low temp in your area ?
Very nice ! what is the low temp in your area ? I think 90% + germinated, but…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-06-16:4778851:Comment:1321982011-06-16T06:17:42.928ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
I think 90% + germinated, but there are a few issues working against them and they are not doing great right now. It is the middle of winter, and it is a cold one. I moved the tilapia into my polycarb greenhouse thus there is very little nutrients in the system. All the plants are just standing still right now, seeds included. I also added about an inch of sand over the beds, which buried some of the seeds too deep. I think that from what I have seen here, I would say a shallow germination…
I think 90% + germinated, but there are a few issues working against them and they are not doing great right now. It is the middle of winter, and it is a cold one. I moved the tilapia into my polycarb greenhouse thus there is very little nutrients in the system. All the plants are just standing still right now, seeds included. I also added about an inch of sand over the beds, which buried some of the seeds too deep. I think that from what I have seen here, I would say a shallow germination bed on an hourly cycle would be my next experiment. All the transplants are still going, but slow. Will have to be patient until there is fish in the system again and things warm up to see how they grow.<br/><br/><cite>Harold Sukhbir said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>What would you say is the germination percentage of those lettuce seeds in the sand media?</p>
<p><br/><br/><cite>Kobus Jooste said:</cite></p>
<blockquote><div>Sand bed seed germination is working! I have dropped some lettuce seeds in there, and with the 8 floods per 24 hours cycle they are germinating.</div>
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</blockquote> Hi Kobus,
What would you say…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-06-16:4778851:Comment:1329012011-06-16T05:42:53.447ZHarold Sukhbirhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/HaroldSukhbir
<p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>What would you say is the germination percentage of those lettuce seeds in the sand media?</p>
<p><br></br> <br></br> <cite>Kobus Jooste said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/sand-bed-taking-shape?groupUrl=Combination&id=4778851%3ATopic%3A102220&groupId=4778851%3AGroup%3A21768&page=2#4778851Comment112458"><div>Sand bed seed germination is working! I have dropped some lettuce seeds in there, and with the 8 floods per 24 hours…</div>
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<p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>What would you say is the germination percentage of those lettuce seeds in the sand media?</p>
<p><br/> <br/>
<cite>Kobus Jooste said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/sand-bed-taking-shape?groupUrl=Combination&id=4778851%3ATopic%3A102220&groupId=4778851%3AGroup%3A21768&page=2#4778851Comment112458"><div>Sand bed seed germination is working! I have dropped some lettuce seeds in there, and with the 8 floods per 24 hours cycle they are germinating.</div>
</blockquote> I would very much like to use…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-24:4778851:Comment:1178052011-05-24T15:18:40.949ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
I would very much like to use the solids either in my mineralization sump or my flower pots<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a>
I would very much like to use the solids either in my mineralization sump or my flower pots<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a> Hi Kobus,
Sounds good so far.…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-24:4778851:Comment:1175122011-05-24T14:53:03.847ZHarold Sukhbirhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/HaroldSukhbir
<p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>Sounds good so far. If you plumb the FT return line from sump(internally) with an extension and a ninety degree bend to the center base of the sump, it should suck all the fines back into the FT. I've used the same principle with my swirl filter, from center base a pipe runs up to about half the height of sump and exits the side with a tap to the outside of sump. As you know the swirl naturally concentrates waste to the middle of sump, so i open the tap for a few seconds…</p>
<p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>Sounds good so far. If you plumb the FT return line from sump(internally) with an extension and a ninety degree bend to the center base of the sump, it should suck all the fines back into the FT. I've used the same principle with my swirl filter, from center base a pipe runs up to about half the height of sump and exits the side with a tap to the outside of sump. As you know the swirl naturally concentrates waste to the middle of sump, so i open the tap for a few seconds every so often to pull solids out, this allows longer times between sump cleaning cycles.</p>
<p>Pretty sure this can be done with F&D. This will remove the cycling and silt coating problems so may be you might want to consider this for trial in the future.</p> So far so good in general on…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-24:4778851:Comment:1173112011-05-24T09:00:10.974ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
<p>So far so good in general on the sand bed. The water going into it is very clean, and up untill now, there seem to be no muck build up in the areas where the water is trickled in. One bummer is that more fines settle out in the base of the sump than what I though, and as this is pretty much the lowest point in the system barring the FT, it will be difficult getting it out without a pump.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The plants are all doing OK once the transplant shock passed. Many of the beetroot has…</p>
<p>So far so good in general on the sand bed. The water going into it is very clean, and up untill now, there seem to be no muck build up in the areas where the water is trickled in. One bummer is that more fines settle out in the base of the sump than what I though, and as this is pretty much the lowest point in the system barring the FT, it will be difficult getting it out without a pump.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The plants are all doing OK once the transplant shock passed. Many of the beetroot has dumped their older outside leaves, but all the plants are still alive and growing. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>One unexpected issue was the fine silt that persists on top of the bed. This is the bit that I could not was out, and it coats the surface of the plants in the bed it the water rises too high. In order to control the flooding cycle a bit better, I have added a gate valve on the incoming water line. The whole system is plumbed with 50 mm drains thus fine-tuning one of those has turned out to be a bother. The two control points together seem to be working better though.</p> Sand bed seed germination is…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-17:4778851:Comment:1124582011-05-17T10:05:54.992ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
Sand bed seed germination is working! I have dropped some lettuce seeds in there, and with the 8 floods per 24 hours cycle they are germinating.
Sand bed seed germination is working! I have dropped some lettuce seeds in there, and with the 8 floods per 24 hours cycle they are germinating. I suspect that the wrigglers…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-14:4778851:Comment:1107362011-05-14T16:51:51.550ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
I suspect that the wrigglers will have an easy time in the sand in terms of being able to move about. As soon as I think there is something for them to eat, I will let some loose in there and see what happens. I'll also try to add "before" and "after" pictures of the water for you to see if you think there is a lot remaining behind in the sand. At present, the pump is not in a seperating compartment yet. The philosophy is as follows: The water enters the sump at the base, and the solids…
I suspect that the wrigglers will have an easy time in the sand in terms of being able to move about. As soon as I think there is something for them to eat, I will let some loose in there and see what happens. I'll also try to add "before" and "after" pictures of the water for you to see if you think there is a lot remaining behind in the sand. At present, the pump is not in a seperating compartment yet. The philosophy is as follows: The water enters the sump at the base, and the solids settle out. The pump is about 45 cm off the bottom of the sump, and only switches on 9 times a day, 15 minutes at a time. The water therefore has enough time to settle and allow the pump to pump relatively clean water. As soon as I have been able to scrounge some free filter material for the swirl screen, I'll protect the pump further. Hi Kobus,
Encouraging initial…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-14:4778851:Comment:1110282011-05-14T15:56:50.199ZHarold Sukhbirhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/HaroldSukhbir
<p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>Encouraging initial report! Small aquarium filter wrigglers should be ideal in this media, although they may occur naturally, they can be proactively introduced, especially since we are already anticipating clogging issues.The worms in my pea gravel are propagating at 1/4-1/8 their normal average size, i suspect that this is to maneuver the grade of gravel.</p>
<p>Hi Kobus,</p>
<p>Encouraging initial report! Small aquarium filter wrigglers should be ideal in this media, although they may occur naturally, they can be proactively introduced, especially since we are already anticipating clogging issues.The worms in my pea gravel are propagating at 1/4-1/8 their normal average size, i suspect that this is to maneuver the grade of gravel.</p>