THE Aquaponics System Thread (merged)

[burtonridr]

burton, what is the fish pond liner made of? Is there any chance of it losing integrity at some point?

My mom keeps buying plastic garden pots, planters, and bins for garden waste and they deteriorate almost overnight from the temperature variations and UV exposure.

It is made by rubbermaid

"300 Gallon, Black Stock Tank, 25"H x 69"W x 63.3"L, Durable Structural Foam Plastic, Single Piece Seamless Construction, Engineered To Withstand Cold Weather, High Winds & Ill-Tempered Animals, Rustproof, Dent, Crack & Corrosion-Resistant Even When Frozen Solid, Heavy Duty Reinforced Underside Ribs, Caged Heaters & Float Valve Systems Are Accepted, Drinker's Wide, Tilt-Back Opening Makes It Easy For Hogs, Sheep & Goats To Use, 1.5" Oversized Drain Plug, Use For Small Animal Dipping, Disinfecting & Washing, Duramold Construction For Rugged Farm Tough Applications."

Its got some cracks in the bottom and as you can see in the pic I had to fix a few chunks missing along the rim, but it holds water

[smajor]

Thanks for the posts Burtonridr. It's always inspiring to see ideas in action. One pair of hands trying to make something work is worth a million wagging tongues.

I'm about to start working on an aquaponics system I'll be housing in a greenhouse made of pallets (free) and scrap lumber (also free). I plan to use plastic film specifically made for greenhouses for the covering. And ferro-cement for the fish tank. Ferro-cement is basically chickenwire covered with a mixture of cement and sand.

I'll be documenting just how much this system costs me as well as it's successes and failures.

I'll be watching your posts for potential problems I need to deal with. You can watch mine for the same

[kpeavey]

in the first pic, looks like you are low on Windex

As far as that fishpond, what do you intend to stock it with? I'm looking for catfish for a 55 gallon drum in the greenhouse. Its a slow moving project.

[strider3700]

what grows under a 7.5 watt grow bulb for 8 hours a day? Where did you get it? I have a little dim lamp in the baby bedroom that uses the same power and it would never grow a thing.

[kpeavey]

I have a little dim lamp in the baby bedroom that uses the same power and it would never grow a thing.

It takes a few year to grow a baby. Give it time.

[burtonridr]

in the first pic, looks like you are low on Windex

As far as that fishpond, what do you intend to stock it with? I'm looking for catfish for a 55 gallon drum in the greenhouse. Its a slow moving project.

{quote="strider3700"]I want tilapia.... but I will probably end up with catfish because they are local, eat just about anything, and hold up to extreme temps.

what grows under a 7.5 watt grow bulb for 8 hours a day? Where did you get it? I have a little dim lamp in the baby bedroom that uses the same power and it would never grow a thing.[/quote]

I dont know what type it is.... I bought it at home depot, it won some award for being the most innovative grow light last year or something like that.

I'm about to start working on an aquaponics system I'll be housing in a greenhouse made of pallets (free) and scrap lumber (also free). I plan to use plastic film specifically made for greenhouses for the covering. And ferro-cement for the fish tank. Ferro-cement is basically chickenwire covered with a mixture of cement and sand.

I'll be documenting just how much this system costs me as well as it's successes and failures.

I'll be watching your posts for potential problems I need to deal with. You can watch mine for the same

Awesome! Its cool to see more people here considering setting this up, enclosed in a green house and powered by solar power, it is totally a sustainable solution to growing lots of food in a relatively small space. You can utilize much more vertical space, plus plants grow twice as fast and produce far more than traditional gardening in the ground. I'm surprised more people here are not learning to take advantage of these types of systems.

[DryObserver]

Hello, all. I'm interested in setting up an initial aquaponics system on our little farm, and wanted to know what more experienced hands had to suggest. I'd like to assemble the most productive aquaponics system I can for a budget of $500 to $1,500. At a much larger model system, at a high school near me, "Students harvest 250 to 300 heads of Salina bibb lettuce weekly as well as 40 to 60 pounds of tomatoes. The tilapia grow to approximately 1.5 pounds in one year, making them market ready in a relatively short time. The school presently harvests over 25,000 pounds of tilapia per year."

But when we contacted someone helping to run the above project, he sent us to a website featuring some pretty expensive systems ($3,000+, for a not-terribly-large setup). I'd just like to get a modest aquaponics operation underway now, for a more reasonable price.

A bit of background, since it matters. In this location, we already have a very extensive terraced garden with underground irrigation and excellent soil. We have numerous fruit and nut-bearing trees. We have a large fishpond that could use some repair, but we have those materials and can restock it in the Spring, either using state-provided fish or some stock from our neighbors' fishponds.

We also have skylights in this house (a partially underground, passive-solar mansion), which includes an overgrown atrium (a growing room for indoor plants). And we have at least 125 square feet or so of extra, unused, weatherized windows set aside, which we plan to eventually turn into a greenhouse, if nothing better in the way of materials comes along.

In addition, we have a two-story, metal-roofed toolshed with running water, half of whose bottom floor and attached chicken run once housed a couple dozen laying hens.

Finally, if my wind-energy prototype works out, we may also ultimately have a vast supply of electricity, which will probably be stored in flywheels.

To summarize, we actually have enough food production for everyone living here right now, but this residence is large enough to house quite a few people comfortably if we had to, and I would like to have the productive capacity to feed a large number of potential houseguests, preferably without requiring great amounts of backbreaking labor. (The garden alone will provide enough of that.)

And clearly we also have quite a few resources either on hand or which may come online very soon. But I would like ideas for the best aquaponics system I could quickly and easily assemble for $500 to $1,500. Yes, I have some materials like the glass that could be used, but I'd just as soon get something going now, and have the glass available when I expand the project later -- when I may have more willing hands around to help anyway, not to mention warmer weather.

I'm also not committed to a particular form of aquaponics -- concentrated solar lighting in greenhouses, versus indoor, 24-hour concentrated artificial lighting, or some combination of the two.

GardenGirl's video on her home aquaponics design was quite inspiring, and I also liked this comment by SMajor...

"I'm concerned about the possible misperception developing that aquaponics is energy intensive. It's not. It can be set up in a rudimentary greenhouse with one pump that operates intermittently.

"And you can feed tilapia grass or duckweed if you have to.

"From there you can get as complicated as you desire."

So... any thoughts?

[Aimrehtopyh]

I built my system for around $500.

Here's a picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v411/ ... 2jan16.jpg
And some video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ivrj_ik7Qs

I have a 29 gallon tank and cheap shelving. I would recommend using top-notch shelving and a fifty gallon tank. This will probably push you over the $600 mark, though.

My shelving is rated to 300lbs per shelf; barely adequate for a 29 gallon tank. I should have spent the extra $60 for the shelving rated for 600 lb.

For managing water levels in the grow beds I tinkered with timers for a while before I realized that the standpipe (or autosiphon) was the way to go. It's just so ridiculously simple!

The first thing on your shopping list should be a flood alarm.

[pedalling_faster]

if you're using an above-ground plastic tub, i think it's wise to
plan on the thing cracking. so you either put another container
below to contain a spill, or a tarp, or something.

[Dawn]

If you fishless cycle the tank before adding fish the ammonia shouldn't build-up and make the fish sick.

Another alternative is to have larger plants that will use the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate before it can affect the fish. I do what's called silent cycling that way in my aquariums... I don't see why it would be different because it's called aquaponics.

If the fish are all getting sick it could be from parasites, ammonia/nitrite poisoning, or fish tuberculosis. The sunkin belly makes me think of TB. Are the fishes spines curving?

I just use tank water from performing water changes for my plants and trees outside when it's warm enough.

[Aimrehtopyh]

Fish TB? Thanks for the warning.

My fertilizer meter says that the nitrates have come down, and the plants are well-established. The pH is perfect.

I did cycle my system for a few weeks without fish so that the beneficial bacteria had a chance to get going. I know I should have waited a full month, but I'm unemployed and bored as hell.

I think my main mistake was buying cheap feeder fish and then neglecting to do any disease prevention before adding them to the tank.

"...you should ideally quarantine the feeder goldfish. Put the fish in water that is at least two days old and add a water conditioner. You can also perform some basic prophylaxis by adding standard Ich remedy (half of the normal strength is enough) during three days, and one teaspoon of salt for each gallon of water. Quarantining feeder goldfish and performing prophylaxis will of course cost you some time and money, but it will on the other hand significantly lower the risk of introducing harmful organisms to your aquarium."

[Dawn]

Fishless cycling is where you add pure ammonia (non-sudsing) to the tank and allow the needed bacteria grow until you finally get readings of no ammonia and nitrite. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle and at low amounts is okay, but anything higher than 40 ppm and the fish could suffer. Water changes will help to keep the water in better shape until the nitrifying bacteria finally catch up.

I wouldn't recommend feeder goldfish at all because they carry so many diseases. Plus they are cold water fish and guppies are tropical. I do quarantine new fish for atleast 2 weeks, so if anything comes up I don't have to treat as many fish. Are you treating for Ichthyophthirius? I don't recommend treating for illness unless you know the fish have it (not to mention that many ich meds will kill plants). Do they look like they're sprinkled with salt?

I'll PM you the site that I trust for advice.

One more thing, if you would like to fishless cycle a tank don't add ammonia to a tank that already has fish. I'm sure you figured that out, but I'd hate to hear that someone just added ammonia and killed their fish.

[Aimrehtopyh]

Two week quarantine?!?

I don't heat the aquarium, so it stays pretty close to 63F.

What about the copper-based and "all organic" ick remedies advertised online. Do you think these would poison me or my plants?

[Dawn]

I'll try this again... I'm having one heck of a time posting.

There are several methods for treating ich. One is the heat method, but goldfish can't tolerate water that warm (if you'd like to know how to do this I'll post a link). You're dealing with multiple problems here. Because if these fish do in fact have TB or some other type of bacterial infection raising the water temp will speed up the life of ich so whatever method of treatment you decide on works faster. You'll also speed up the growth of the bacteria. Have you used any medication yet?

Second is salt, however, many plants aren't tolerant to the amount of salt needed. So, you'd have to disconnect the fish tank from the plants for atleast 10 days. Longer if you don't buy a water heater.

Third is medication. The problem with medication is most will disrupt the nitrifying bacteria causing the tank to cycle again... And you're back to square one. There are some meds that are safe for plants, but under normal circumstances we're talking about aquatic plants that aren't meant for human consumption. So again if you use meds you're going to need to disconnect the water going to the plants.

I've used all methods with success before. Another thing that you'll need to address is the reason for the outbreak because ich is brought on by stress. Even though goldfish like cooler water, it's best to use a water heater to prevent large fluctuations in temperature.

Do you have the water test kits for ammonia and nitrite? What type of a filter are you using and does it have activated carbon in it? What brand of water conditioner are you using? Can you buy a water heater that's adjustable?

[Aimrehtopyh]

I bought another two dozen feeder goldfish today. They went into a 5gal bucket with five teaspoons of salt, some Ich remedy (copper salts), stress zyme and stress coat (from API).

The water temp was 60F so I really wanted to heat it up in order to accelerate the Ich life cycle. Lacking a proper heater I put some hot tap water into a clean milk jug and floated it inside the fishes bucket. The fish seem to love it and the fish water temp is only moving about five degrees per hour.

My wife and I emptied and scrubbed the tank, so I'll have to restart the bacteria in there. Hopefully the grow beds won't be able to transmit anything infectious into my fresh clean tank. How long do Ich swarmers last if they fail to find a host?

A 29gallon tank located in my basement shouldn't be able to swing its temperature quickly enough to harm goldfish, right? I've never seen it go below 60F or above 64F. I'm pretty sure temp isn't the killer.

The only filter I'm using is the built-in biofilter that is my grow beds. A proper biofilter might be necessary, but I doubt it because my fertilizer meter was reading in the middle-range before. Now the plants are better established, they are sucking up all the nitrogen and my fertilizer meter reads really low. But the fish died every day regardless. There's no way that 24 goldfish in a 29 gallon tank emitted enough ammonia to kill themselves off in a week.

Stress is a real wildcard here. I think I'm doing a good job of providing the necessities of life to my fish. Food, oxygen, waste management, even temperatures, pretty easy stuff. Stress is more mysterious to me. The aerator pump I bought is a little oversized. Will the strong current and blasting bubbles stress them out? I'm also using a 330GPH pond pump to deliver the water from the tank to the grow beds. It runs intermittently on a timer, could the noise and vibration be freaking them out?

[Dawn]

There's no way that 24 goldfish in a 29 gallon tank emitted enough ammonia to kill themselves off in a week.

Oh yes way. And without a test kit you have no idea what's going on. Good luck. I can't help people who know it all and nothing at the same time.

My goldfish were over a foot long in less than a year. How are 24 fish going to live in a 29 gallon tank?

PS. It's cheaper to keep fish healthy in a good environment, than it is to flush them down the toilet, or constantly medicating for preventable illnesses... the rinse and repeat cycle of fishhaving.

[Aimrehtopyh]

My reasoning is that if one goldfish can live in a gallon bowl for about a week before the ammonia kills him then 24 fish in 29 gallons of water should build up ammonia at about the same rate.

Of course I lack proof, but I'm sure that the beneficial bacteria have been converting at least some of the ammonia. Seeing my plants grow like mad also leads me to believe that they are soaking up some of the pollutants.

Is it a myth that goldfish will only grow to a size that's appropriate for their container?

Thanks for the help.

[Dawn]

Before I get too verbose with my explanation... I'll give my posting ability a test. This isn't a complete answer.

In a lightly stocked tank the nitrifying bacteria usually take an average of 6-8 weeks to be sufficient in handling the amount of ammonia and nitrite produced by fish. Water changes is the only way to reduce the damaging toxins once they are present. I'll give you an example from when I cycled my first tank with fish (my kids won them at a Halloween party, I didn't willing buy them)... Three goldfish in a 10 gallon tank produced enough ammonia daily to cause my water test kits be go as high as they could go everyday and even with multiple water changes in the same day. Say I would change 75 percent of the water... the ammonia would still be off the chart. So, it was water change, water change after water change daily to lower the levels. Barely feeding them every other day, so they wouldn't produce so much ammonia. Then it was nitrite. Same thing water change, water change, after water change daily to lower the nitrite levels. Finally, my husband had
sympathy for both me and the fish and bought a 55 gallon tank as a Christmas present for me.

[Aimrehtopyh]

Now it's time for me to admit my mistakes.

Following Dawns advice and the advice of others I've bought a full complement of "proper" aquarium equipment. The legendary toughness of goldfish turned out to be no match for my needless budget-cutting and flying blind.

Here's what I bought last week:
Under Gravel filter
Two heaters
Waterfall style biofilter
30lbs of aquarium gravel
Master liquid test kit
Groovy decorative castle.

Another priceless nugget that I got for free was precise information nitrifying bacteria. I had assumed that under ideal conditions these guys would multiply like most other bacteria, doubling their population in mere minutes. This is not the case. Even under ideal conditions nitrobacter can take 13 hours to double.

Source:
http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html

Here's a link to my wifes video of the latest changes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8yQdEfWCB8

[Dawn]

Man why didn't you just talk to me? I have extra hang on the back filters and water heaters that work perfectly. I don't have as many tanks set-up as I used to. I don't recommend a UGF for goldies because they are hard to maintain, but you're getting there. Congrats and good luck!

Here's one of my favorite pics of my pygmy cories or Corydoras pygmaeus, (I just finished picking their eggs off the glass and plants). I call it "the look out."