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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Paula, if you are out there, please please please delurk and chime in...
I miss you.
Some years back, I decided to make a small aquaponic setup with two 
wooden beds 1 foot deep, 2 ft wide, and 4 ft long.  Each box is 
outfitted with a drain, and I modified a bench in my greenhouse so that 
the drain flows through the bench and falls/drips into the fish barrel 
below. Inside that barrel is a pump which pumps the water up through pvc 
tubing at the surface of the growing bed and it is spread out over 
nozzles. I may need two barrels because of the volume of water the bed 
will hold, and I don't want the fish to be subjected to rising and 
falling water levels, but with these .  Over the years, one of the 
growing beds has been attacked my termites and is now unsuitable for 
aquaponics, but the remaining grow bed should be large enough to produce 
salad in the winter in the greenhouse.  I wish I could afford those 
large tubs that you really are supposed to have but I'm using what I 
have and trying to make do.  I never really got the system up and 
running before.  I can't even  remember why, but I think it was because 
I did not have enough growing material in the box.
So, I am about to start round 2 of aquaponics...to grow lettuce and 
maybe more stuff in a single 8 square foot box.  Hopefully, I will be 
able to expand this setup at some point.
I have timers, PVC, and the beds are constructed and sealed.  I have 
fish(I bought a whole bunch of comets for the house aquarium to 
introduce my grandbaby to the joy of fish, and now, I have a good water 
supply that I did not have before(to top off evaporative loss)

I think Lynn is still doing this, so I will address my questions to her, 
and Paula if she is here, and to anyone else who has some kind of 
aquaponic setup..
What is the composition of your grow beds?
Do you have issues with nozzles clogging over the beds?
What issues do you have?
I am hoping to avoid certain temperature requirements by using comets 
instead of tiliapia.
Paula gave me some inoculant bacteria to use, but I did not use it all. 
 do you think it might still be good?  I'm going to try it, but just to 
hedge my bets, I will add some water from my indoor aquarium.
Lynn, did you say you had a raft system?  If so, can you describe it?  I 
have plenty of barrels that I could split lengthwise and support for a 
raft system.

Bev



--
I am having an out-of-money experience.
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
EarthNSky Farm, Northwest Georgia, USA