I want to introduce myself to the community. I am Rev. John Hicks and serve as President of Synergy Farms International. When I look at the billions of dollars spent by agencies and ministries to provide food to the citizens of underdeveloped countries, I ask, why are they not instead developing and educating on sustainable aquaponic systems? I think the answer is too easy!

If you fix the problem, there is no more need for the program! The cost involved to fly grain and goods to…

I am using two billboard liners to line the "raceways/raft tanks" and was wondering if anyone knew if it would be a problem (in terms of dyes leaching or poisoning the water) to use the printed side up. I know the online source that sells them, says you must place ad side down, but the ad will mostly be covered up by the rafts and the colors will mostly only show on the top 8" of block and slightly on the sides. It's much lighter in color (blues, yellows, red etc), so will be a lot less heat…

3. Coral gravel 1/3 grow media I plan to use. Is made up of mostly calcium and I hope to see if it will take care of any calcium deficiency in the plants in the grow bed. It Reduces Nitrates, Maintain pH, & provide marine trace elements. I hope all these natural grow media i use together produce good results that i expect to…

1. MAGNETITE CRYSTALS 1/3 grow media i plan to use to hopefully take care of iron deficiency in my grow bed. I hope all these natural grow media i use together produce good results that i expect to…

I had a guest touring my AP set up and asked.....' Why do I bury my pipes ?'

For a few reasons.....

First, It does protect the pvc from UV rays. Pvc will 'eventually' become brittle. I do paint what pvc is exposed to the sun. A little 'planning ahead' and it can be done 'prior' to being installed.

Electrical pvc conduit is UV protected...plumbing isn't.

Second, Since 'most' of my lines are gravity fed and /or 'water seeking it's own…

After much deliberation decided not to recirculate the Vertigros.

Lots of pros and cons to this, but it will be much simplier to set up the 60 or more stacks. I kept thinking of the extra work,expense w/ plumbing, uniseals etc needed and then someone mentioned might be extra alage growth at all the rt angles I was going to have on the system... main reason is to keep it as simple as possible.

A huge pro is that I can now use one pump, which will also save…

Does anyone know how many times the water in a raft system should be turned over in a day?

I am in the process of figuring out what the best pump is for my system, whether to go with a bilge pump or sump pumps and what size. I would like a 3/4" outlet on pump. Of course, trying to use least amount of energy without taxing my pumps too much as well. One will be circulating constantly (raft beds) and one will be timed(verticals). I may be going solar, will know…

I've been experimenting with the bell syphon recently and came across the following situation. The syphon worked great during my experiments when test filling the bed with the garden hose, but when I switched over to my pump the syphon did not engage. I went back and used the hose method again and it worked. The hose brought water in to the grow bed at a higher rate which led me to the conclusion that the flow rate of the incoming water has to be significant enough to force the water high…