New User - New System - Off Grid

[Jason Eaton]

I haven't posted in this group yet so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring with the locals. I'm in Grass Valley at 2400 ft. I have a 1000sft greenhouse and reserved a corner for the aquaponics. I used two round stock tanks for grow beds 5 1/2' and 6' diameter and a foot deep. I lined them with pond liner and have bell siphons for each stock tank into a sump. Above the sump is a tote fishtank on a stand to let gravity help me out. I run one pump in the sump to the tank.

I let the system cycle for three weeks w/o fish then moved to gold fish a few weeks ago stocked from my ponds on the property. Other then physical stuff like leaks and what not I have discovered an issue with my well water where the ph out of the tap after aeration is 8.2. So I'm working on using oak right now to lower the ph but I may have to move to a RO filter to fix it permanently.

The system ( our whole farm ) is off grid so I have two 175w solar panels running into two T105 6v batteries and a charge controller. I use 12v bilge pumps right now with a back up pump on standby. I run aeration at night and pump during the day.

I'm really enjoying learning about the water chemistry and seeing the results so far. Its a fun hobby. I am going to move to Sacramento Perch later this year when they are available.

I posted several videos in the video section if you want to see the system. Thanks.

[Paul Trudeau]

Hi Jason, thanks for sharing.  Checked out your videos.  You work fast!  all that digging, etc.  Hats off to you for that.

At some point I might want to pick your brain for more info about your solar system, if you don't mind.  

re: your high pH:  I'd thinkg nitrogen cycle should bring that down when you have more fish in the system.  Water I use here in Sac comes out of the tap at 8.4, but my system is stable at 7.6.  (Lower would be better, but haven't gotten there that yet).  

Do you think having the cat in and around the growbeds might be a contamination risk?  

Seems to me like you should count on the GB's flushing simultaneously at some point.  I'd imagine it would be hard to prevent that from happening eventually.  Meaning current sump will overflow.  One solution might be electronic sequencing valves (for example, Rob Torcellini's at http://www.BigelowBrook.com/timer).  I don' t know much about them.  Or larger sump.

I would be concerned that the metal of your now un-lined sump will poison your system and kill off fish etc.  

Noticed a fitting on the pipe leading from your FT to left GB.  What is that?  A little reservoir of some kind?  

Goat manure as fish feed...wow.

BTW, nice job on the greenhouse.

Looking forward to hearing more about your system in the future.

end of the road, signing off.

[Jason Eaton]

Thanks for the encouraging comments Paul. I believe your correct on all accounts. The media is too big for the cats to push around and use as a litter box, but I will keep my eyes on it.

The sump tank is 'just' to small for both beds draining at once so I need to work something out with that. It only happens by chance but still can happen. I don't think the sump will poison the fish as all the zinc plating is wore off the inside and its only rusty. I could be wrong about that.

I am currently trying putting some oak in the tank for lowering my ph. I'll let you know how that goes.

That fitting you mention is a small sediment filter. I just took that out lastnight because its just another maintenance item that doesnt need to be there.

 

Thanks again.

[Jon Parr]

Looks great, Jason. I'm jealous of your progress, I've got almost nothing done on my place lately, so busy. I hate to break it to you, but the metal sump tank will lead to metal toxicity and kill your fish. You will see a gradual die-off of otherwise healthy fish from the zinc (too much iron no bueno either). Maybe now that your leaks are fixed you will have better success with an inside liner, or a paint-on liner and leave the outer liner in place. Could you devise a toggle switch to be tripped by the drain cycle to alternate pumps? As in: pump 1 fills bed 1. When bed 1 drains, the force of the water against a paddle would flip power to pump 2, and move said paddle into the path of drain 2. When bed 2 drains, force of water would flip power back to pump 1, and said paddle back into path of drain 1. I should draw a picture.

About the cat and goat shit, you should be informed of the risk of warm-blooded manure transmitting e. coli and other pathogens to your garden produce. Fish are cold-blooded, and generally cooked before eating, so no problem there. But the plants that come into contact with water containing warm-blooded shit that may be eaten raw, DO pose a threat. Probably a small threat, but is it worth it? Yes they commonly use poo as fish food in some countries, and yes they do have disease problems there that we are safeguarded from, and vice versa. Is there a connection? IDK, but probably yes. So now that you know of the risk, it's probably best to play it safe.
I have fed my fish rabbit poo, but I keep that practice confined to areas of growbed that do not contain any produce eaten raw, like your hops, for instance, and your red bud tree.

[Jon Parr]

Hmmm. Modify that switching power idea to switching flow into each bed. I have fish below and growbeds above, so easy to use pumps to separate growbeds. I'll have to contemplate a simple hardware system to switch flow. Also might want to incorporate a SLO drain in FT, to pull solids out of your IBC.

[Jason Eaton]

I see what your saying Jon. Thats a good idea. Selinoid switch like on a pickup truck dual tank setup .. and have the paddle be the actuator.

 

Thanks for the warning on the goat manue.

[Paul Trudeau]

Another thought on sequencing the flow to the differeng GB's:  I remember some time back the wonderful Affnan was working on a hydraulically-operated sequencing valve.  That is, no electricity required; the flow of the water would be directed in different places as desired by the action of the water from the pump.  [Just as an autosiphon does its thing without electricity].  Not sure if he succeeded with that or not, but could be worth looking into.  Maybe others have other solutions too.  Not an issue for me at the moment, so haven't gotten around to doing the research myself.

[Jason Eaton]

For two lines like I have, I wonder if two simple check valves would work tied to gether. The two outlets from the GB existing into the sump would have a check valve each, down stream from the check valve tie the two lines together with a Y fitting. When one bed drains it applies pressure to the other pipe shutting the valve keeping the drain from occuring until the first bed is finished.

Thinking out loud here .. it might cause the waiting bed to overflow.

[Blair Rice]

Hello Jason, I am @ Grass Valley at the end of Greenhorn Rd. and so we are realitively close and we're doing the Aquaponics thing...lets talk soon.

Blair

477.1879

[Jason Eaton]

 

Right on thanks Blair. That would be great. We are outside of town off Old Auburn rd off McCourtney Dr. About 5 miles down off Godfrey Lane ( alpaca farm ).

I work from home so you can call me during the day or anytime 334-3288.

Blair Rice said:

Hello Jason, I am @ Grass Valley at the end of Greenhorn Rd. and so we are realitively close and we're doing the Aquaponics thing...lets talk soon.

Blair

477.1879