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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

Bev; my aquaponics system is still up and running. It's designed after 
Paula's system, but, like yours, mine pumps water to the beds, then drains 
directly back into the tank (her's drains into tubs and the water is pumped 
from the tub back to the fishtank). My growbeds are 4x8', 1' deep, lined 
with heavy plastic, filled with stone (I forget the grade, but it's one 
grade bigger than pea gravel).

My 'nozzles' are just holes drilled in the PVC pipe. In the beginning I had 
problems with the holes clogging, so I made them a little bigger. My beds, 
after about 8 years, are getting clogged with dead roots and dirt. It would 
help the system run better if I took all the rock out and cleaned 
everything, but that isn't going to happen soon (tons and tons of rock...)

I never used any bacteria 'starter'; the right bacteria grew quickly. I had 
goldfish in my tanks for years (some were huge), but the longer than usual 
cold spells last winter froze the 500+ gallon tank all the way to the bottom 
and killed them all. I haven't gotten replacements yet, so I'm adding fish 
fertilizer and kelp to keep things growing.

My raft system never worked well. I floated styrofoam insulation boards on 
top of the fishtank...I cut circles in the board that would hold the little 
'net pots' that they sell for hydroponics. I never found a good medium to 
put in the pots (the same rock that is in the beds is the best I came up 
with). The biggest problem was that the fish ate the roots, and often pulled 
the whole plant though the bottom of the pot.

Right now I have melons and tomatoes planted in the beds. Plus there's a lot 
of cilantro and dill that self-seeded from last year. So far the melons and 
tomatoes aren't doing as well as the ones planted outdoors. I'm not sure 
why; you'd think they'd like the heat and warm water in the greenhouse (as 
opposed to the 40 degree nights outside). The melons planted in dirt in the 
greenhouse are doing best of all.

The most important thing I've found with aquaponics is that the simpler you 
can make it, the better. The more complications you put in it, the more 
things can go wrong. My timer died this spring, so I switch the pump on by 
hand once a day or so. Because of all the dirt and decomposed roots, my beds 
hold too much water, so 5 minutes once a day is all they need.

Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
To: "Homestead List" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 12:38 AM
Subject: [Homestead] Aquaponics


> 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
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