Aquaponics

[politicalcenter]

 

[politicalcenter]

I finally got a picture to load. It isn't a very good one but they are collards in pig dirt. They are growing so close together they are crowding each other out. I didn't think they would grow so well.

The bed is one cement block high and about a a cement block wide. 16 inches wide and about 8 inches deep. I also have some very pretty broccoli in there...also some chard.

Getting real good biomass. The plants are about a foot apart ....except the broccoli and it is about 16 inches apart.

 

[RichnSteph]

Those are some healthy looking plants right there! I hope to heck that we have a nice garden next year, this year was a bust.

 

[RichnSteph]

A few days ago I noticed the "lake effect" happening in my grow beds and decided it was time to install some sort of solids collection system. I was going to do the 5 gallon bucket swirl filter, and still might later on, but I don't have a lot of flow or a lot of room for a pair of buckets to hang off the side of the beds. What I did was sink a 1 gallon jar into one of the grow beds and put the outflow from the pond into it. It's already caught a LOT of heavy material and solid waste that would have ended up in my beds. It'll be a pain to clean out since there's no way to drain it with out pulling it out of the bed so I'm thinking a couple of freshwater shrimp in there to eat the yucky stuff might be the way to go.

Thoughts?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

A few days ago I noticed the "lake effect" happening in my grow beds and decided it was time to install some sort of solids collection system. I was going to do the 5 gallon bucket swirl filter, and still might later on, but I don't have a lot of flow or a lot of room for a pair of buckets to hang off the side of the beds. What I did was sink a 1 gallon jar into one of the grow beds and put the outflow from the pond into it. It's already caught a LOT of heavy material and solid waste that would have ended up in my beds. It'll be a pain to clean out since there's no way to drain it with out pulling it out of the bed so I'm thinking a couple of freshwater shrimp in there to eat the yucky stuff might be the way to go.

Thoughts?

Composting red worms in the grow beds are extremely helpful at reducing solids.

 

[politicalcenter]

A few days ago I noticed the "lake effect" happening in my grow beds and decided it was time to install some sort of solids collection system. I was going to do the 5 gallon bucket swirl filter, and still might later on, but I don't have a lot of flow or a lot of room for a pair of buckets to hang off the side of the beds. What I did was sink a 1 gallon jar into one of the grow beds and put the outflow from the pond into it. It's already caught a LOT of heavy material and solid waste that would have ended up in my beds. It'll be a pain to clean out since there's no way to drain it with out pulling it out of the bed so I'm thinking a couple of freshwater shrimp in there to eat the yucky stuff might be the way to go.

Thoughts?

I am not sure what lake effect is. In my big pond I have been running the water through an under the sink filter and have finally got a lot of the gunk out that way. But it has been a slow process and the filters clog up quickly. We have filters we can clean with a brush and reuse. Still can't get one to run for more than a couple of hours but the water is a lot clearer.

 

[knjinnm]

A bit off topic but has any one used horse manure in their garden? I dries quickly and absorbs a lot of water. Also have you used straw to filter pond water?

 

[turtlesgalore]

I'm in Louisiana and raise hair sheep (sheep breeds that you don't have to shear, they have hair instead of wool). sheep manure is the perfect fertilize for gardens, it doesn't burn your plants like fresh manure usually does. its ready to start working as soon as the sheep deliver it. I clean out the stalls and deposit it around plants the same day. richer than chicken and cow manure. u can google info on general breakdown or I can look it up in one of my sheep books. course sheep are a little harder to find than cows, horses or chickens.

 

[Sill]

A few days ago I noticed the "lake effect" happening in my grow beds and decided it was time to install some sort of solids collection system. I was going to do the 5 gallon bucket swirl filter, and still might later on, but I don't have a lot of flow or a lot of room for a pair of buckets to hang off the side of the beds. What I did was sink a 1 gallon jar into one of the grow beds and put the outflow from the pond into it. It's already caught a LOT of heavy material and solid waste that would have ended up in my beds. It'll be a pain to clean out since there's no way to drain it with out pulling it out of the bed so I'm thinking a couple of freshwater shrimp in there to eat the yucky stuff might be the way to go.

Thoughts?

You really need a way to filter out solids or your fish will not thrive and there will be deaths. Worms alone won't cut it, and they make castings that eventually will gunk things up more.

I like this guy's explanation about why there needs to be more not less filtration, though I don't like the design of his filter.

I like this design much better.

I feel it's putting the horse behind the cart to put the filter after the growbeds. By then the fish gunk is already in your grow media!
Ours is designed to filter before the grow beds, and we'll probably put one after the beds and before it empties into the sump.

I've seen people use pond filter pads cupped under the fish tank outlet to pre-filter the water before it goes into the growbeds, but I'm sure they get clogged faster than a swirl or other external filter. Maybe your cup filter would benefit from some of the filter media in it? That way you can pull the clogged media out, rinse it and put it back. Or just get two so you can have a clean one ready to go when you take the other one out for cleaning. Let us know how it works!

 

[RichnSteph]

Composting red worms in the grow beds are extremely helpful at reducing solids.

I'd love to have them but I used lava rock in my grow beds instead of hydrotons and don't think worms would do well in such an abrasive environment.