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Comment by Mark Bogart on September 9, 2013 at 5:58pm

We started an aquaponic group on facebook, come join us.

https://www.facebook.com/search/201915719980445/members

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 9, 2013 at 5:55pm

Matt, that feeder is the bomb!  

Scott, you're definitely committed! I'm glad you found a batch! 

If anyone is interested, we still have two $275's for $110, and a couple 330's for $150.  I haven't been pushing them except to mention them here (I'm biased toward this group), but I need to sell them since our classes are about to start & I need to clean up the place. 

Bayy, you're welcome to come visit our system. We're in North Gilbert; where are you located?  We have the Nile (which are blended, as Dr. George noted), and they commonly have the stripes on the side as youngsters and when they're in a casual mood. When they age they use their coloring to communicate mood, and the dominant mating males become silvery white with black trim and pink highlights, while subordinate fish are dark with stripes. Females with a brood are moderately striped, but they have a distinct frown stripe on their face which makes them look rather wicked! But like us, each fish is unique. I'll post pics in a minute.

Congrats on the completion of your system, Samson! We'll be looking forward to watching your veggies grow!

Pat, Dr. George taught us about the fins a while back and it's been the most reliable method yet for us.  Females and young males have rounded, shorter anal and dorsal fins, while mature males grow longer, more pointed fins. When they get older, larger, and are breeding their genitalia are more distinctive, but smaller ones are really hard to tell. Mature males also tend to be more rounded in shape than mature females.

Comment by John Malone on September 9, 2013 at 4:52pm

@Matt

I think a gravel growbed would be the definition of "good drainage"

You'll be fine.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on September 9, 2013 at 4:36pm

Hey I tossed Seeds into my grow bed on Sunday. Is there such a thing as to much watering the seeds with all this rain?

Comment by John Malone on September 9, 2013 at 11:33am

I agree with not putting growbeds over fish tanks, so why did I do it.  My initial design was for a small backyard with very limited area for the AP system.  If you've got the room, I wouldn't do it either.

One of my major design requirements was simplicity.  This isn't going to be appropriate for some people, but for me, the simpler the system is, the easier it is to build, maintain and understand.  This is my first system and I didn't want to over-commit on something that mightn't work.  Would my second system be different?  Possibly, but not too much.  I'm not farming, I'm just growing some produce in the back yard.

I keep on looking at solar to power my system, just because it'd be fun to try, but for some reason have never done it.  I think in the back of my mind I know that it really isn't worth it.  Automation on the other hand...  

Comment by Mark Bogart on September 9, 2013 at 10:19am

I'm not a big fan of putting any grow beds over my fish tank. Don't see a reason to even partially block access to my fish. Water runs downhill, so it seems to me with a little planning this can be avoided. As regards to totes for fish tanks and water proof materials, yes I agree potential leaks can cause problems so tanks should be able to withstand a little water from time to time. I like multiple totes for fish so they can be sorted by size, better grow rates when they are not competing for food. As for daisy chain grow beds, don't see the benefits. The last grow bed on the chain won't get much nutrient. Beds can be place on level basis and one pump to run everything. Water can be regulated with ball valves for each bed to correct any inconsistancies. Don't like submersible pumps as much as external pumps, not as rugged and leave the risk of stray voltage. I will use them on small setups of course but once you do more than 1 fish tank I'll switch. Always one pump required you can supplement some other temporary operations with another small pump if needed.  Not a big fan of solar, costs don't justify savings as of yet. As for solar heater everything helps when it gets cold, I plan to use compost for heat as well as greenhouse obviously. 

Comment by John Malone on September 9, 2013 at 9:52am

@Matt

The solar water heater was a qualified success.   At a fairly modest flow rate (I forget what it was now) the water coming out of the panel was about 7 F warmer than that going in, which is pretty good.   Overall, on my system, before I had the DWC bed, I generally expected a 2-3F rise in system water temperature during the day when the sun was out.   I will certainly be using it again this year, as long as I can fix the leaks that showed up over the summer.  

Just a warning though, these things are a lot trickier to build than they look.   How hard can it be?  An old window, some aluminum flashing, some pipe and a pump.  Easy, right?    Nope!   I built it three times before I got it working and even then not quite as well as I expected.

Having tropical fish like tilapia in a record cold spell with overcast conditions like we had in February is not good for the stress levels.  The water temp got down to 45F, which, by all accounts, should have been fatal for the fish.  They survived and are now doing very well.

This winter I will be adding more insulation to both the solar panel and the fish tank. I expect that will make a significant difference.   

On the positive side, it's not an expensive build.  There were lots of sliding doors / windows available for free on CraigsList for those who wanted to pick them up, and that's an excellent beginning for a solar water heater.  Mine is huge and it's as much as a strong man can handle, but the amount of energy you can capture from the sun is directly proportional to the surface area, so bigger is better.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on September 9, 2013 at 9:40am

Hey John was checking out your pics. How did your solar water heater do last winter? I'll need to put something together when our weather changes.

Comment by John Malone on September 9, 2013 at 8:24am

System Design
I spent a lot of time designing my AP system and don't regret a minute of it. This is what I came up with. It has good and bad points but seems to work rather well. http://goo.gl/BPoVf2
Check out my photos for construction stages and expansion.
http://goo.gl/MNqQXq

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on September 9, 2013 at 8:18am

Oh, I should also mention, if you design you system correctly you could have it where you only have to worry about filling one grow bed and can daisy chain other grow beds to fill and drain - kind of think of it like a pyramid where the one on the top fills and then drains into a grow bed below it etc...

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