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Comment by Kim Romen on January 7, 2014 at 8:45pm

Matt, I really appreciate that!  It'd be around 3pm this Saturday if that works.  Jim may be able to join us but that's up in the air for now.  I'll friend u for address info...  thx again

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on January 7, 2014 at 8:20am

Hey Kim,  Jim Troyer and myself live in Scottsdale and we are about a minute away from each other.  Let us know the time and day and I'd be happy to show my system (also would get me off my butt to clean the backyard).

Comment by Kim Romen on January 6, 2014 at 9:52pm

Dr. Brooks, I, too, am interested in your calculations.  Do u heat your system and feed your fish fish food or do they eat algae, chicken poo, or the like...?  do u grow your plants from seed?  Is your system in a greenhouse or insulated?  thx!

Comment by Kim Romen on January 5, 2014 at 4:20pm

I'm going to be in the Scottsdale area this coming up Saturday afternoon.  I'd love to see another AP system in the are if anyone is available and willing to show their system in the Scottsdale/PV... area. Pls feel free to msg me if preferred.  thx!

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on January 5, 2014 at 3:17pm

Greetings @Kris. The link below to our R & D page will answer many of your questions about what we are seeking to accomplish. I would not suggest using our numbers to estimate your own. The system we are working on is to say the least experimental, and not yet ready for prime time. The numbers below look good THIS TIME. However, there is no guarantee that we will be able to do this in a sustainable fashion though this indeed is the hope. They were supplied as an FYI too keep the list updated on how we are progressing. 

Also no matter how good you are, it takes a while to learn the nuances of your set up. Don't expect 7 to 10- lb/ft2 level results the first or even for many the 3rd time. But they are indeed possible.

Link to R & D page: http://bit.ly/18fwCXy

Comment by Kris Pauly on January 5, 2014 at 8:31am

@ Dr Brooks - Those are some great numbers.  Can you give a little more info on what your costs were, and what you produced.  Our new aquaponic greenhouse has about 200 sq ft of grow area including the vertical growing and we are in our second week of cycling.  By your numbers, and my calculations, I expect to grow 1 ton of food from the greenhouse (12X16 foot print).  

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on January 4, 2014 at 6:04pm

Regarding the gloves. I am probably over compensating but I have been burned once. Never again 

Comment by DJ Wambach on January 4, 2014 at 4:38pm

@John, your right about cost.... now that I am moving from a 50 gal to a 500 gal set up to cost of acid will go up 10x as well.

 

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on January 4, 2014 at 3:26pm

Just an update:

Our backyard mini-farm experiment continues. We grew about 350 pounds using a 45ft2 DWC over a nine month period in 2013. Averaged across all fish, vegetable and fruit crops. our operating costs were between $0.88/lb and $1.03/lb depending on how you calculate depreciation.

Comment by John Malone on January 4, 2014 at 2:18pm

Water tests

I must admit that I'm one of those aquapons that used to test the water quality religiously, every week, but have become much more relaxed about it of recent months.

With all the discussion on this forum regarding pH, and the timely reminder from Dr George that things do better if the numbers a closer to optimal, I decided a full water work-up was due.

Results: pH - 7.8,   Ammonia - 0.25,   Nitrites - 0.0,   Nitrates - 20-40.

Hmmm - that's a lot better that I was expecting.   My DWC bed has been overflowing over recent months, due to masses of roots in the outlet pipe (yes - I know, it's basic maintenance...), so I was topping up 50 gallons every couple of days which is about 10% replacement.   I suspect that this directly impacted my water quality.  

To adjust the pH, I dumped a cup of muriatic acid in to the radial flow filter.  Normally I'd put this in the top-up 50 gallon drum, but since I've fixed my overflow/leak issue I don't need to top up. Once the acid has been through the filter, gravel grow bed and DWC bed before it arrives at the fish tank, it should be mixed and dilute enough not to worry the fish.   I'll test again tomorrow and repeat the dose if required.   Why 1 cup?   That's from experience with my system.  YMMV.

Ammonia at 0.25 doesn't concern me at all.  I'd rather it be 0, but in the past I chased that holy grail only to find out that the test liquids were showing 0.25 on pure water, so I'm going to put it down as 'close-enough'.

Nitrites at 0.0.  Perfect.

Nitrates at sub 40.  Wow!  Now that's a surprise.  Every since I cycled this system over 18 months ago, the nitrates have been sky high.  i.e. off the charts.  Too many fish, not enough plants.  Fair enough.   But I added two grow beds, tripling the growing area, and the nitrates didn't really budge.  Finally, after growing a serious jungle of plants, tomatoes and beans mostly, replacing 10% of the water every couple of days, and the cold weather stopping the fish from eating, the nitrates have dropped on to the measurement scale.  I'm very, very, very happy with that.

Will I return to weekly water tests?  Probably not.   I'll get the pH to around 6.8 and then check every couple of weeks.  With the water leak fixed, I don't expect rapid changes in water quality until the fish start eating again. Then I'll have to worry about raising the pH, not lowering it.

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