Daniel E Murphy

Male

Middleburg, FL

United States

Profile Information:

How did you find us?

facebook

Are you an aquaponic gardener already?

yes

If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)

18 grow pots, 2 bio filter grow beds,100 gallon resevoir with 4 largemouth bass. The bass are temporary to help get the system started. I will soon switch to Tilapia and shrimp.

I wanted to explain how my flood & drain system works:

My 100 gallon res pumps roughly 40 gallons of poop water to the first controller bucket with 3 legs of 3 pots on each leg. After 1 hour I pump the water to my second controller from the first with another set of 9 buckets. Then the water comes back to the fish res. The water level in the 100 gallon res only dips by 40 gallons but can service 18 pots and 2 bio filter beds (large mub tubs), I can easily fit 50-60 tilapia in the 100 res that will dip to 60 gallons. The idea of multi flood and drain should allow for patio aquaponic systems to be built easier. You can just transfer the water from system to system and back to the res. The only downfall is that possibly more nutrients are available to the first set of pots. not sure how much difference this will make as i am still testing this method. Each bucket in the system has a airstone and airline tubing running to it and gets aerated 24/7. This makes the system somewhat aeroponic as well. i am not sure this is a good idea yet as the roots aren't drying out and searching for water like it should. i can't tell if it is affecting it though since the root growth seems to be doing quite well. If anyone has any comments here i would appreciate it :) I was thinking maybe only run the air pump when I am actually flooding to keep the water in the pots aerated. This system is flexible in that you can grow larger vegetables and trees in the grow pots and smaller plants and herbs can be grown in the grow beds. You can link as many of these grow beds in line from the res to the first set as you like providing quite a bit of room for expansion. Another idea would be to pump the water back to the res each time to pick up more nutrients and use a sprinkler timer valve to direct the flow to different grow bed\pot sets then back to the res with a dedicated pump from the controller bucket. Why would i do all this? I only have 100 gallons of fish reservoir to work with. This fits all on my small suburban patio no problem.

Bass are fed shiners, minnows, dried krill and Koi pellets.

Currently growing: Cantaloupe, 4 varieties of tomatoes, 3 varieties of bell pepper, 2 varieties of sweet pepper, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, blueberries, fig tree, raspberries, thornless blackberries, muscadine grapes, watermellon, 2 varieties of green bean, swiss chard (red & green), broccoli, onion, carrot, rosemary, parsely, basil, cilantro, cucumber, strawberries.

Please tell us something else about yourself.

I want to combine renewable energy with aquaponics to help create a sustainable eco friendly lifestyle for my family.

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