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Comment by nick franklin on July 30, 2013 at 8:13pm

thank you Leo and Bob for your quick responses... can u recommend a place to get designs and plans for flood and drain systems?  (whatever is more "maintenance free" is my preference)...  I have only drilled one drain hole in one of my 3 grow bed tanks, and I don't want to drill out any more until I see exactly how to design a flood and drain growbed tank..   thanks again!

Comment by Leo White Bear on July 30, 2013 at 6:47pm

Nick-

  Raft systems work very well if they are aerated under the rafts.  The commercial systems I have recently visited do this design.  I personally incorporate the flood and drain systems in my aquaponics as I feel that this design is more "maintanance free" if designed well.  Now this is my personal opinion, and I feel that I may catch some flack from those that prefer the raft system.  You can incorporate the self wicking method in the shallow flood tank if you feel that the raft system is not your favorite design or you can research more in depth the flood and drain and re-design the system to that configuration.

White Bear

Comment by Bob Campbell on July 30, 2013 at 6:42pm

@Nick - Media beds will work for most anything, but somethings like lettuce also do well in rafts. Nate Storie would tell you to use vertical towers.  I feel it's important to place a media bed before the rafts in order to clean the water and provide a consistent amount of nitrification which is something you will want to have established with ammonia before adding fish.

Comment by nick franklin on July 30, 2013 at 6:30pm

Hi All-

First system, first post..  I've already spent some coin setting up a 150 gallon tank for fish and 3 - fifty gal growbeds (intending on a water level of 8" utilizing a floating raft system)...  I haven't finished the piping yet, and when I first discovered Aquaponics, I only knew about the raft system..  I know I kind of did this backwards, because now that I have been doing more research, it seems that most successful systems utilize the flood and drain method..  My question is (and I still have time to re-design my system), is anyone having good results with a raft system, or would it be advisable for me to 'make the switch' to a flood and drain system before I get going??    anyone?

Comment by Bob Campbell on July 29, 2013 at 10:45am

Near the first of June Converse wrote a very good post about worms.  Look at his page to find it.

Comment by Sheena Lawrence on July 29, 2013 at 8:02am

Hi, thanks everyone for all the input. We're growing and learning as we go! This is a nice group of people here I can tell.  Again thanks and have a good growing day.

Comment by Jim Fisk on July 29, 2013 at 7:42am

I have used both night crawlers and common earth worms in my grow beds and when I pull a plant at the end of their life span I typically find the roots full of both types of worms. If I go out to the GH at night I may even be lucky enough to see some night crawlers on top breeding. I have yet to see a need to purchase worms. All I have to do to grab about 50 composting worms is to move a compost barrel aside, collect the worms under it and move the barrel back again for another harvest a week or so later. ALL worms are composting worms. I then throw some in my worm bin for my winter stash, some in my grow beds and some into the fish tanks and some into the "dirt garden". The worms from under the planks or barrels are so active they will jump out of the cup if I don't keep an eye on them. Also if you raise chickens and livestock as we do you have all the worms you could ever use from around the barn grounds and manure piles. Just lay down a short plank here and there and harvest a week later.

Comment by Leo White Bear on July 29, 2013 at 3:58am

Red worms are the choice for a media based aquaponic system.  If you want them now and relativly inexpensive, go to a bait shop and ask for red wigglers.  Most bait shops carry both the wigglers and earth worms.  The difference is, the size and activity of the worms (also color).  Red wigglers are much smaller, reddish brown and they move quickly when disturbed.  Just wash off the bedding and move the media aside and put them in the grow beds.  The thing I like about the worms is that they multiply quickly and some of the very small ones will be drained into the FT and feed your fish a nice snack.

Comment by Tom OBrien on July 28, 2013 at 9:40pm

Hi Sheena,

There are some worm experts who've posted here and you can find all kinds of info with a search. I'm not an expert, but from what I've read here people usually use redworms in their grow beds because they are good for composting. Some other types of worms may not survive in your grow bed.

Comment by Converse on July 28, 2013 at 9:39pm

Greetings Sheena,

  Yep, worms and AP go well together.  Just be sure you are using redworms. If you type "redworms" in the search box  (upper right hand corner of the page) you will come up with all sorts of past posts on the subject of worms/redworms and aquaponics.  Happy reading- there's lots of info..  Welcome to the world of aquaponics! 

 - Converse

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