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tayl0r
07-13-2009, 10:58 AM
My brother and I put our bigger system on hold for a bit while we try and find a suitable fish tank.

So, I started working on a smaller setup with PVC pipe, a 55 gallon drum and a grow bed I purchased from a local hydroponics shop. I wanted to run a river bed system and a flood and drain so I could test out various types of plants and see which ones worked the best for me.

I had a lot of problems getting it setup because the loop siphon would either drain too slow (couldn't really outpace the pump) or too fast (siphon would never fully engage because the pipe diameter was too large). The next problem was that the bulkhead seals were leaking (both on the 55g drum and on the grow bed) so I redid them with silicone sealant and now they're water tight.

So after a lot of trial and error I finally got it working, although I am concerned my cycle is too fast and the roots won't have enough exposure to air. I need to record the exact times and I'll post them here. If I have to adjust it, I guess I can just get a smaller pump.

Anyways, here are 2 pictures:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3436/3714702137_6e8f1996f1_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3456/3715519622_f01e00fbfa_o.jpg

It's not pretty but it works.
Once I do some more tests I will pick up some goldfish and start the cycle.

wolfracer
07-13-2009, 11:49 AM
Great start! Let us know how well your riverbed works, because I might expand into one like that next spring.

jackalope
07-13-2009, 06:07 PM
I have a hydroponics book in which the author says that you can go up to 70 feet with the riverbed system and still get good nutrients/ferts at the end of the line ...... of course that's for hydroponics ...... I wonder if anyone has ever tested the limitations of a riverbed system with an aquaponics setup :? I suppose that would also depend on the amount of fish/size of fish tank, etc.

BTW Taylor, I like your 100 gallon setup ....... kinda what I need to be aiming for ....... are you going to drill holes in the PVC with a hole saw or use a skill saw and make square holes? Just trying to get a few ideas for something I'm planning ;)

tayl0r
07-13-2009, 07:46 PM
Ummm... Color me clueless. What's reverbed mean in this context. Is it NFT, Nutrient Film Technique?

Riverbed just means constant flow (like in a river). So you can only grow plants that won't suffer from root rot since they root tips will be in the water the whole time. Apparently strawberries do really well in a riverbed system, and almost all the leafy green veggies like lettuce and spinach. I'm going to play like 2 or 3 of every kind of strawberry I can find, and then this fall I'll start planting some lettuce and spinach (since its too hot right now).



Jackalope, I'm going to cut round holes. I have a pretty nice hole saw drill bit set so it should do the job.

What is the recommended distance between holes? I figure I'll just make them as close as I can and then if the plants seem too crowded I'll just skip every other hole.

watersprayer
08-14-2009, 04:13 AM
I found a manual on barrel aquaponics that may be useful. It gets into flow rates and some other issues I think you have been facing. I tried to upload here but this site has a 2mb limit on uploads. You can check it out from my google docs -
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9Z ... OGFk&hl=en (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9ZQZ20SllxuZDhlYjQyYmMtNWZjMi00M2Y2L WE4MGEtYmM5YWJkMmVkOGFk&hl=en)