Newbie here with some sort of a plan

[mpcross]

Hi All, New to DYI AP, A little about me and where I plan to go with my AP plan. I currently have a 1+ acre pond that holds approx. 6.5 Acre ft of water that can be made up with well water, as needed. The Pond is stocked with Channel Cat, Copper Nose Blue Gill, Large mouth Bass, Read rear, and a few annual tilapia. I feed the fish with a feeder, and have a diffuser aerator installed and runs 24/7, 3 seasons. I currently have approx. 500lbs of fish in the pond and pull 10 to 20% of the fish out a year, depending on W/R and creel studys conducted by fish sampling.

All that said I plan to, as soon as possible, setting up a aquaponics system that will clean a small amount of the total water volume. I will be pulling from the one and only feed area in hope to nutrient unload that area of the pond some.

I have kinda decided to, run a swirl pre-skimmer settling drum, with a conical bottom pull off and then feed the water into gravel bed(s) with siphon level control, pre-filter socks,and worms for beneficial solids control. The flow will then run into floating beds and out to the pond. I will have a sump area for all over flow from all the tanks,beds,etc and the ability to control re-circulation and and restrict flow back to the pond if necessary. All tanks and tubs will have bottom aeration to clean the bio-balls, pre-filters and such.

I do not know if I will start with a green house or not, but will have a fence to keep critters out and bird netting on top of most stuff with some sun screening for the west side of the different beds to block some of the west sun as needed.

I have not exactly decided where I need to aerate to keep the DO high enough to benefit the release of ammonia and nitrite/nitrate change needed to improve the water return to the pond.

This is my first trip to a AP site, but I have watched many hours of you tube and read many forum threads on this subject. I do want to be ahead of the curve a little, when I start, so it is not so much trial and error. There is a lot of internet knowledge and experiences that can help one not have too many false starts, I hope.

I have not decided if I want or need UV for my set up or not.

Sorry to be so long winded but I will do a lot of reading here before I do much of anything. I appreciate all who pass on their good and bad experiences to help others who want to try a new way of doing things.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi mpcross, welcome to the forum...

Just wondering...do you already have a water test kit..? If not, lots of folks use an API freshwater test kit.
It would be interesting to know your nitrate/nitrite level of your pond now..?

[mpcross]

Hi D, yes I do have a kit but I do not have the paperwork with me. If I remember right the nitrites were in the trace range and I cannot remember the nitrate level but it was not out of normal range as best I recall. It is time for me to recheck anyway. I log everything but do not attempt to remember all the numbers.

As well I have been reading a lot of info on this site and am beginning to realize the relationship between the water for plants and what to look for in the return water as it relates to 02,ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, in the water return to the main BOW/pond. I will set the system up in the next year or so and be ready for retirement growing great vegetables and some hopefully intensive gardens full. I will have plenty of time to set the system up right and know I have a lot of reading to do to get there.

I'll get back on the nitrite and nitrate the next time I test. Thanks for the welcome.

[Apollo]

Welcome, mpcross from Big Sandy, TX. glad that you have joined us. May your journey bring you the knowledge that you seek, put a smile up on your face, create hours of pleasure to stimulate your mind, an a healthier life style for your heart...from Apollo__Phoenix, Arizona.

For a newbie I think you've got a pretty good head start on understanding the world of AP...I started by reading one book (not the best way by any means).

Besides your test kit water read out, I'd like to see a picture as to the clarity of the water. I started out with 850 gals of very old rain water, it then sat in the AP fish tank for 3 more week with the temp well over 100 degrees. As I was trying to get my Bell Siphon working...water was so bad. But once I got things up and running, my water looks clearer than our city water.

If you want to view my set up from start to now, check out “Fire Pit … AP” then “Pipe Siphon by Apollo” and ending with "Got Vertigrow?".

____________________________________
I HAVE NOT FAILED. I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK. Thomas A Edison

[mpcross]

Hi David and Apollo, Apollo I utilize siski disk and try to keep the reading at 13" to 16" clarity depth. I have read quite a lot here and many SRAC publications and goggled digesters and bio filters and looked at about 80 different Aquaponics set ups from around the country and many different "Plans" that show set ups how too.

I get how to start up a system, the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle and adding worms etc. I think I get the when and how to add at leas some of the plants, but just not which ones will be the best in my area. I will be pulling water from a pond and not really recirculating so much unless I have too to keep the nitrating bacteria alive.

I assume that there are those who have utilized a pond for supply and not so much the recalculation via a tank method but have not read as much about that type of system management. I hope I will be able to test the system with a bio-filter setup and if I can establish the proper chemical balance through the bio-filter then I should be able to then run the water to my beds and have enough nutrients to have a quality ebb and flow system. I will start small and have a flexible (expandable) system to hopefully even grow through the winter, since we have mild winters. The green house will be able to convert from a winter heat holder to a summer shade maker. I hope to find balance over several years and expanisions to provide quality water for my pond along with some quality produce for family and friends.

I have cut an pasted several "facts" and will in time put them in order as I see it into my plan and then run it by all who want to see it on this site and hopefully get some recommendations on the stuff that just will not work and some that might." A Plan" instead of go into the trial and error with every step type system. I do not mind making mistakes,but appreciate the openness of this site and ones like it that share their successes and failures to help others. I plan to do the same with documentation so others may prosper if and when I get some of it right.

It was funny I was reading about clarification of water via water circulation, settling, along with the bio-filter and sludge pull off after aeration, the crap one will pull out of the beds from time to time and what I was going to do with it. About the time I was going to ask here what members do, I read it is great for putting around trees and in the compost pile, so that settles that.

Thanks again for the welcome!

[topz]

How big do you think your grow beds will be. Have you begun to source your gravel? How big of a pump are you thinking of using?

Sorry for all the questions I just want to see the scale of your system.

[blondeguy]

Hey All:
First time on this site. Besides knowing little or nothing about proper Aquaponics, am a bit computer illiterate at times as well so, but am a fast learner. New to farming of all types and put up a 33 foot Biodome greenhouse when we got the property and recently a 42 foot BioDome greenhouse. I would like to use the 12 foot diameter by 4 foot deep pond which serves as both a thermal heat source in the winter and a cooling source in the summer for some Hybrid Bluegills, I think anyway. Will go slow and learn along the way, but the time has come to get some fish in the pond. Could anyone give me some pointers to where I might look for reliable information, fish, feed etc. We are located here in Carrollton, Georgia on 40 acres. We currently have 13 goats, about 120 chickens, 18 cattle, about 80,000 Italian honey bees and the two of us and 7 dogs...

[Apollo]

Hey blondeguy, from Carrollton, Georgia. Welcome...but you should cut and paste all of this information in the above paragraph to "New Thread", bottem left hand corner. Post a new Subject line, so not to be confuse with mpcross's.

Catch back up with you on your own posted site. Apollo