Comment

Comment by Chris George on September 3, 2012 at 1:48am

@Shane...not sure what type of landscaping you are looking for...but you might like Justin Rohner (http://www.iagriscape.com), he's not an aquaponics guy, but more into elegant edible landscapes.  He is familiar with aquaponics.  If you are more of a permaculturalist, Don Titmus might be your man (http://www.4dirs.com), not an aquapon either but a great guy, and an integral part of permaculture is aquaculture.  Either Justin or Don can provide you with the ideas you are looking for design something functional and beautiful for our climate.  Also, Dennis McClung with Garden Pool helps fellow aquapons design and integrate their systems into their landscapes.  Dennis is a seasoned aquaponist and a just general great guy. (http://www.gardenpool.org).  Check out their websites and see what you think.  I can already think of a couple more suggestions, just let me know.  If you end up talking to any of them, tell them I sent you, I know all of them pretty well.  Guess I should have asked if you are here in the Valley, are you in Maricopa County?  These guys are all in the Valley. 

Comment by Chris George on September 3, 2012 at 1:37am

@Nathanael....Nice PDF!!!   Like Bob C. at first I thought it was just a basic how-to, but there is a lot of really good information if you read the whole document, thanks for sharing!

Comment by Chris George on September 3, 2012 at 1:01am

@Bob C.  Cool video on the fluidized filter!  What exactly is K-1??

Comment by Nathanael on September 2, 2012 at 4:39pm

I think I've got a few good ideas on make to make this work.... I'll be spending tomorrow working on the system so i'll post some pictures and see what you all think. Probably will be up late tonight after work making sure all my ducks are in a rock before I start cutting pipe and running plumbing. 

Comment by Bob Campbell on September 2, 2012 at 4:39pm

@Nathanael -  I'm thinking of building a fluidized filter.  Here's a nice one.         

Comment by Bob Campbell on September 2, 2012 at 3:52pm

@Nathanael - It would not matter which comes first.  Filter pads might not be as difficult to clean,  but if you can keep it the poo and food out it will be less work to maintain.

Comment by Nathanael on September 2, 2012 at 3:27pm

Curious, Would it be worth adding a biofilter on top of my 2 grow beds?  like a 50gl container that I place a ton of filter pads in and just pump water from the fish tank into it and then have the water flow directly back into the pond via a small water fall? 2 Possible benefits; added aeration, lots of porus surface area for bacteria to colonize, eat fish poo, and produce massive amounts of yummy nutrients for my plants, and really clean and clear pond.

Or is it better to set something like that in line with my DWC... so have a biofilter, followed by a polisher that then drains into my DWC which would then constantly be flowing back to my pond as well. 

Comment by Robert Rowe on September 2, 2012 at 2:21pm

@ Bob Campbell - I think you are right on with your Bio-Filter. I kept it much smaller but I figured, with only a little less than 12 cubic ft of lava stones in 40 ft of PVC pipe I would always have at least that much filter in the loop with no grow beds linked in. I settled for 20 ft of pipe with the intent of adding a second parrallel pipe later. I cycled in a coupe of weeks and when I added my fish, 24 hours later I had a big jump in Nitrates. If I was to do it again, I would start out with the two parrallel pipes and if price was less of an issue A cubic yard would not go to waste.   

Comment by Bob Campbell on September 2, 2012 at 10:41am

@ Nathanael - Click this link "I AM"

@RupertofOZ - but filtration capacity is THE factor...

I think you summed up the essence of aquaponics with those few words.

If you have the bio filtration you have what you need to produce the Nitrates.  I have done hydroponics in the past and toiled over the proper mix of nutrients.  If I had used a bio filter I could have avoided all that fuss. 

Make the bio filter large enough, and you never worry about Ammonia,or Nitrite.  My bio filter is 2 yards of pumice, which allows me to add ammonia to the fish tank while waiting for the fish to grow large enough to produce the waste required to produce the Nitrates I want for my plants.  My large supply of bacteria begin converting the Ammonia immediately;keeping perfect water quality all the time.. 

It's all about the bio filter.  You can never have too much.

Comment by John Malone on September 2, 2012 at 9:38am

@Nathanael : I had to smile when you said

 I may have ample time to add more grow beds

because I did exactly the same thing.   However, it turned out that the fish grew quicker than my construction time.   That set of fish died over a 7 day period. I'm not sure why, but I think not enough filtration capacity had something to do with it.   I started off with 50 fish in 24 sq feet of grow bed.  Sound familiar.

So I built an extra grow bed and reduced my fish count to 40.   So far everything is going well.

Take my very negative experience as a cautionary tale.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 295
• 296
• 297
• 298
• 299
• …
• 558
• Next ›
• Page