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.......

 

[Francois Lemmer]

these plants have been in this system +-5 and half months

roots......??????????

 

 planted into sytem grow trays 17/1/2012

 

 

 

 

[TCLynx]

Those are beautiful clean white roots there.

[Francois Lemmer]

 

Update on plants and fish...it has been very cold for the last 4 days...morning temps in the fish tank tunnel...+-5 deg/c and the water this morning 11 deg/c

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Troyer]

Francois!  I have spent my free time reading your entire post over the last several days.  Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge, struggles and successes.   You have a wonderfully well thought out system this time around and it is an inspiration to anyone who takes the time to review your hard work.

I have just a couple of comments and a question for you.

The question first - how much more area do you think the duckweed would require to feed the fish 30% of their intake each day? Do you think the Duckweed would grow faster with more light?

You spoke of how you would like to cheaply heat your system during the winter.

I am living in the Phoenix, Arizona USA low desert area.  We have temps from 115f/46C in the summer and winter temps with extreme lows of 27F/-2C.   Too cold to just let nature take its course.  I have fashioned a solar collector that works pretty well for about $100 US using very inexpensive drip irrigation tubing to heat the water in my system.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you how much the water temperature change was because the records have been lost but the fish went from moping around in slow motion  to swimming again.    I recall it was about a 5C temp change.  The plants grew better as well.

I created a manifold system  of 40 mm PVC serving 5 coils with about 150 total meters of this14mm irrigation tubing just laid out on the gravel.  I only run the pump from 9AM to 4PM in the winter so the heat in the water does not escape back into the atmosphere.  Starting later in the morning  allows the water in the tubes to warm back up before cycling the system. This is how I laid it out, the coils could be covered with plastic if you wish but I'm not sure if clear or black would have the better heat exchange without testing.  The best part is I use the same pump and just run the water through the tubes "the long way home" into the fish dam so there is no large expense to add this on and you reduce the power consumption by cycling 8 hr on and 16 off; which pays for the solar collector or time!

You are also losing quite a bit of radiant heat from your plastic covered tunnel.   Here in Phoenix, every time there is a hard freeze warning, the TV weatherman tells us not to use plastic to cover our plants, as it allows the heat to escape into space, especially on a clear night.  They recommend covering with heavy cloth to hold the ground heat down around the plants. 

Your specific situation allows for several simple changes that would make a big difference in your system's average winter temperature.  Consider lowering the tunnel height back down to the original level for the winter months, this will reduce the volume of air you are trying insulate and heat.   Covering the tunnel with a painter's drop cloth would work pretty well.  I lay a sheet of 25 mm foam board on the flat roof of my enclosure and hang drop cloths on the sides for those few really cold nights we have and then just drag it off in morning before leaving for work. The solar collector handles the other nights just fine.

Another big point of heat loss in your system is the exposed water tanks (dams).  It would be fairly easy to insulate them with foam board.  Remember that heat rises so it is most important to at least make covers for the tanks (dams).  You will want to use blue instead of pink foam because the pink is exposed to cyanide during production and will harm your system.  I use the blue foam under and along the sides of the pond liner of my raised raft beds to reduce the annual temperature swings.  The summer sun/heat is so brutal here you can't pick up a wrench if you leave it lay in the sun for a couple of minutes! 

I truly hope this discussion helps you solve some issues and look forward to following your experiences in the future

All the best,

Jim

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi Jim
Well I am glad to see you enjoyed……
Thank you for the advice.
Basically I am taking these tilapia and Kio through a 1 year cycle to check the result of fish growth rate without any heating. (Finding out for myself and not what some say)
I am hoping to catch and weigh the tilapia and Kio toward the end of +-July
In this system it is more the fish than plants…I want to grow fish as fast as I can and as many as I can in a cycle…..and keep them the fish as happy as I can????
So water temps are important.
A lot will improve with controlling water temps for tilapia
now this was/is an exercise of the natural temps of the area I am in….
I am hoping to get hold of some trout fingerlings for the next year’s learning curve…trout
I want to grow trout……in this system and record results
Trout have a good market price…. And don’t need heated water??????
This is my schooling ……I want to do this on a bigger scale someday
regarding the space you need for duckweed I don’t know if I am sure but the duckweed I am growing for the fish is far to little.....if I fed them duckweed twice per day in summer and for +-5 days I had to stop...wait for duckweed to regrow
If you look at the 2 duckweed trays you will see the one close to the half build building is not doing as well as the side where
there is space between the painted wall and the system. (Not for sunlight the sunlight can’t get there but just light going into the few holes in the system walls the duckweed grows good
Where the system wall is build 500mm from building wall...this side gets no sun and very little light....cold and damp
I have grown in this system and my pilot project duckweed under cover...even when I start of duckweed to me the best way is to use water from system in a bucket....duckweed and close the bucket with a white shopping bag...leave in the sun
Sit back and wait????

duckweed tray pilot project

 

 

 

[Francois Lemmer]

Hi All
This morning I planted new lettuce and celery seedlings into the system
I removed some of the Swiss chart…made place for seedlings
I want to try and get a cycle of lettuces going…harvest and replace at intervals…
1st 10 lettuces seedlings were planted in system 13/5…. 35 days
2st 10 lettuces and celery seedlings were planted in system 3/6….14 days
3st 10 lettuces and celery seedlings were planted in system 16/6…
The Swiss chard and other older lettuces were planted into the system 26/4...52 days
The older lettuces I will take out as soon as I need the space for new seedlings….
Keeping some big plants in system...to do what I want them to do…clean the water for the fish
The fish happy……just cold?????????   

 

  

 

 

 

[Jim Troyer]

Very interesting with the trout Francois.  They are beautiful and tasty fish.

Trout do best in 55F/13C water but can survive to 70F/21C  is this in line with your summer water temps?  There is no way to have trout in AP at my location.   The city parks are stocked here over the winter with trout but they are gone by the end of April

I understand not wanting to adjust for the environment, any change; changes everything as they say...

thanks for the comments on the duckweed, sounds like double the space would still not be enough from what you are saying...

all the best !

Jim

[Francois Lemmer]

update

i removed these and planted very small seedlings into the system

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Francois Lemmer]

the small lettuces

 

 

 

 

 

[Francois Lemmer]

[Jim Troyer]

Awesome!  Thanks for the update

[Francois Lemmer]

This is parsley I cut this morning…looks good.....On Saturday I had a farmer come see the system.
This was his 2nd visit and he now wants to build a system.
He was impressed with all my plants in the system…
The parsley he said he had never seen this quality and size
I cut some parsley on Friday for one of my customers and the feedback was
Positive …he was very impressed with the taste and quality

  this + what i cut friday for my customer all one plant