My pilot project Francois

[Francois Lemmer]

I started messing around with tilapia 2006-2010

2010 - the end of july i had to take  my system down

i am currently trying to get a piece of property to set up a scaled system.

basickly i dont have a system that is running

but i want to share my last 4 years with aquaponics

with members.......

 

[Averan]

TC: true, but both of us want to use rafts.  And with rafts you either settle solids and remove or....try a worm bin!  :)

David: darn.  Thanks for letting us know the result of your experiment.  I wonder if the organic matter was simply too compacted being all lumped together.  I keep imagining a gravel worm bin (no plants) with a big paddle wheel in it constantly churning and mixing it all up!

[David Waite]

Averan like you I have alot of worms in my gravel. I know people have built worm feeding tubes but mine sure got rank with the 20 min cycles. I am really curious how you will feed them and be able to remove the nutrition for the plants using just the worm water. I am wondering if maybe you use larger rock and keep the matter on the top of the gravel like a compost heap. Let the worms go up and eat it and then back into the gravel and deposit it where your flood and drain carries it to your plants. Just thinking out loud.

[Averan]

David, if you leave the scraps on top, you will attract fruit flies and other less-than-desirable critters.  Maybe it is as simple as throwing in a layer of gravel everytime you add scraps to.  Or maybe the maggots those flies lay could be eaten by your fish?  When a feeding tube is filled to the top its time to pull it out and work on filling another one.  I can't help but think that while having a bunch of feeding tubes sticking out of a bin might be useful in the beginning, in the long term they would be difficult to move to fresh spots or reinsert.  It might be simpler to just dig small holes each time and keep moving around spreading scraps everywhere....and the constant digging might help churn it up as well.

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi All
Been down with the flu and I had it bad.
Over this weekend I finished of the last few things and am now running the system without fish and grow media in my trays or worm sump.
My business has also kept me away from starting up the system…been very busy.
I want to see if I get time tomorrow to add 5 or 6 fish to get the bio going.
I closed the system with shade cloth and I think with only a few fish the surface area of the grow trays should be ok to get the filter working….

 

[TCLynx]

Looks like you painted or covered the IBC with something, what did you use?

Good Luck on the cycle up, hope you are feeling better.

[Francois Lemmer]

 Hi TC

yes sir i lined the ibc outside with black  1mm plastic liner to keep the sun away.

the plastic i pushed in between steel frame and tank

 

 

[TCLynx]

Cool, I hadn't been able to tell exactly what you did from the first pictures.

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi All
This is my father in-laws pool he converted to a Kio pond.

 

 

plants in pool water with fish

 

the filters and plants in pool

 

 

healthy fish and clear water

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi All
I started my duckweed population today.
Not much duckweed to start with but also not the first time I start with a hand full
So my duckweed will be slow start.
I also added tilapia to the system today to help kick start the filter slowly.
In total I added 19 very small fish. 17 fry and 2 off 25-30 mm long fingerlings
Still no media in my trays or worm filter…..
Here in Port Elizabeth we have had very good rain.
The drought broken I think and hope and with that we have had very cold windy conditions.
My water temp late afternoon is only 11 deg.

i made these plastic covers for the tank and filter
light and easy to open and close and keeps the sun out

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Francois,

The AP system looks really tidy. How did you make those covers? They look awesome! So now with the fish going it won't be long for some plants soon!

 

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi Harold

thank's and the lids are made using 2 mm plastic using the same concept bend on the corners as my grow trays.

they are light flexable unbrakable and easy to make 

and made them re-using the plastic of two old heaters i used with my pilot project

they work well

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi All
It has been cold wet windy over the last few days....
My 19 fish I started with has decreased to 6….
The duckweed I started with has almost doubled.
I added duckweed into my duckweed trays today and have taken some photos to post as I go along.
I have started closing up my system.
Using the pipes and fittings from my pilot project (have lots)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I test covered with old piece of shadecloth to see how the cover will look like when fitted.

i want to cover in plastic winter and shade cloth summer???