System Expansion Plans

OK...So, I've been toying with the idea of expanding my Aquaponics system to include DWC raft beds. I threw together a little sketch in Google Sketchup to show what it may evolve into later next year. I already have some of the peices needed such as the AquaTop AB120 Blower, Expanded Shale, etc. After careful calculation I can probably throw about $1.5K at it, which would include a Hoop Style Greenhouse covered in 6mil Poly Greenhouse plastic...not bad for the extra I would gain in grow space. I can use the existing system along with the two Danner MagDrive 9.5 -950 GPH pumps that currently sit in the fish tanks along with the Expanded Shale growbeds and the dual 1000W Titanium Aquarium heaters. I can redisign this system into a Constant Height in Fish Tank with no Sump needed. Using an Undercurrent model the Raft beds would be the sump with the pumps sitting outside of the tanks/growbeds while pulling the water through the  DWC raft beds and pumping water backup into the Expanded Shale growbeds. From my calculations even if all of the Shale growbeds filled at the same time/rate, then the rafts water levels would only drop 1.5 inches or 3/4 inch if I installed an indexing valve. The combo Vortex / Swirl filter and degassing chambers along with the shale growbeds should take care of all the filtering for the system. On the Mag pump with a 3' head, I should get about 800GPH out of both pumps , that would circulate all of the water in 4 raft beds in approx. 1hr 19m. The Shale growbeds would flood and drain approx. 3 times per hour.  Taking all growbeds into consideration, initially I will have 345Sq ft of growbed space. Using the assumption that you need .3LBs of fish per square foot of growbed space, I would calculate that 103 +/-  1Lb fish are needed for the system, approximately 25 fish per 175 Gal Tank.  I have the capacity to add another 2 Raft growbeds and up my count to 150 fish total.  Here is a quick fly by of the system.

 

DWC Raft beds are fed by 2" PVC through to the water pumps. Media grow beds use standard 1" PVC drain pipe and 1/2" PVC fill pipe with ball valves for flow control. AquaTop Blower uses 1" and 3/4" PVC pipe with flexible tubing feeding 6" air stones every 3ft in the Raft beds and 12" air stones in each Fish Tank.  I have calculated a need for approx. 6CFM total for the system @ 10" H20, and 2CFM @ 24" H20, which the AquaTop AB120 should provide.

The Aquaponics Gardener

Well, I have decided to change the name of the blog to better correlate what I am doing with my backyard and greenhouse in relation to aquaponics and not just aeroponics.  So, the new blog name will be "The Aquaponics Gardener" located at http://aquaponicsgardener.blogspot.com/ ,  I have also started a YouTube Channel by the same name located here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Aquaponicsgardener . So I will be periodically posting videos of my Aquaponics adventures for your viewing pleasure.  Hopefully, this will help some of you who are thinking about taking the plunge with Aquaponics, by avoiding some of the same mistakes I encountered. To get you started here is a quick overview of the Aquaponics system running in my greenhouse after it has been running for approximately 2 months. Enjoy....and until next time.

The Aquaponics Gardener Greenhouse overview video.

Lessons learned about nutrients and pest control

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post. I'm sorry to say that I did not do my due diligence in researching the addition of nutrients to the growbeds in conjunction with the use of organic home made pest control measures. Due to some iron deficiencies in several of my plants, I decided to order some chelated iron to add to the fish tanks and to spray on the plants. I also, experienced some issues with red spider mites on a few of my plants, some on my Cilantro, and Stevia. After mixing up a home made remedy of garlic pepper tea, I decided to attack the red spider mites with a spray bottle of my home made concoction. This appeared to work, so I decided to spray all of my plants...no big deal or so I thought until I sprayed them afterwards with the iron chelate, which was a little to strong. As you can imagine the garlic pepper tea opened the pores in the plants leaves/stems and the iron chelate, being a little too strong, did the rest. By the next morning I had tons of black leaves on most of my plants and within a few days many had died and / or the leaves were severely burned. I am glad to say those plants left have recovered fully, and are growing once again. I even have a few new tomatoes on my plants.  I also had to pick a few cutter type worms from some of my swiss chard, so I have ordered some organic BT and Neem oil spray to treat the pest in the future.This will also help with any fungal problems I might encounter in the future. Lesson learned, follow the instructions to the letter on the label, or from the source of the information. A setback...yes, but not the end of the world.

Here are a few pics of the disaster.

Water Quality Test for each system

I received my API Freshwater Test Kit a couple of weeks ago, and was able to test the nitrogen cycle of both tanks in relation to each units biological activity. 

After running both Aquaponic tank systems for approx. 2 weeks without media in the growbeds, and another week with media, while having approx. 10 gold fish present in each tank for the entire duration I was able to see where my tanks ammonia, PH, Nitrite, & Nitrate levels were at in the cycle.

On October 8th, I had the following results tested at 80 degree water temperature.

Tank System 1:
PH: 8.8 PPM
NO2: 5.0 PPM
NO3: 10 PPM
NH3/4:  .25 PPM

Tank System 2:
PH: 8.8 PPM
NO2: 5.0 PPM
NO3: 10-20 PPM
NH3/4:  0 PPM


Another test was performed on October 15 with the following resutls tested at 76 degrees for water temperature.

Tank System 1:
PH: 8.4 PPM
NO2: 0 PPM
NO3: 20 PPM
NH3/4: 0 PPM

Tank System 2
PH: 8.4 PPM
NO2: 2.0 PPM
NO3: 20 PPM
NH3/4: 0 PPM

As can be seen the tank systems are for the most part cycled, with the exception of the PH. which is high and is causing PH block for some of the nutrients in the system such as Iron, Calcium, & Potassium. A good organic pond fertilizer containing 10% iron, and Phosphate only was added to each tank to mitigate the iron deficiency, but due to the PH block this did not help.

I had added over several hours approx. 1/4 Gallon Muriatic acid to each system which temporarily lowered the PH to 7.8, after waiting 24 hours the systems were retested and due to the buffering action of the expanded shale, the PH crept back up to 8.4. I will continue to monitor all water quality on a weekly basis until the systems are stable, Muriatic Acid will continue to be added until I can get the PH down to 7.8, after which I will let it digress on it's own.  More plants were added, some of which have shown signs of iron deficiency. I have an organic powdered chelated iron product ordered which should arrive sometime this week. I will add this to the systems and report back on the results.

Overall, plant growth has been outstanding, I have one Stevia plant which has added about 12" of growth in two weeks, and an Early Bird Tomato plant which has added approx. 6-8 inches of growth along with blooms in the same time frame.  Kale has doubled in size, and herbs have had significant growth as well. Pepper plants are putting on more fruit as well.

More to follow.

What is Aero and Aquaponics....

According to Wikipedia, "Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium (known as geoponics)."  Simply put, I will be using plant mister heads from a lawn irrigation system to build the Aeroponics portion of the system, while using trays of some sort to hold the plants root systems for growth. Now for Aquaponics Wikipedia  states that "Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment." Which really means I will basically be growing the Tilapia in large tanks, and using the water from those tanks to feed the plants in a recirculating fashion, i.e. the fish dirty the water with waste by-products and the plants use those by-products for growth thus cleaning the water which can be re-introduced back into the fish tanks. More details on this to follow.