Hello from south Georgia!

[swamp creek farms]

Hello awesome-ponics ! I'm down here in south Georgia, on the Florida state line. I have had my system up and running for about a month or more now. I've got all kinds of goodies growing. If you have Facebook, you can see more photos there. Feel free to add me as a friend too. kristophtaylor@hotmail.com

[GreenPhoenix]

Welcome!!! Keep the posts coming and tell us more about your system - design, plantings, so forth... I want to learn from everyone here, and maybe even my newbie self will be able to add a few suggestions from time to time!

Phoenix

[swamp creek farms]

As you can see in the pic, my AP is from an IBC container. On the left side I have two 10' X 4" PVC pipes, with 6 holes in each. The GB is a constant flood and drain, no timer, use of an auto siphon. (bell siphon) Everything in my setup is from recycled materials, and purchased with recycled beer can money.

Last week I added a bio filter to the system. It seems to be working great so far. I made it from a couple 3 gal nursery pots, and a 5 gal bucket, with crushed concrete for a filter medium. Untill I find something else that will work better, any ideas ?

I have planted : okra, sweet corn, running beans, cucumber, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, mustard greens, collard greens, basil, roma tomato, betterboy tomato, cherry tomato, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, crooked neck squash, and zucchini squash.

As for the fish I have about 25 channel catfish a local fishfarm donated, and about 15 bream I caught from my pond.

[stucco]

Welcome! If you are on the Georgia side of the line you can get those fancy Georgia giants that we are not allowed to have here. Not many choices for the Florida people. For filter media I’ve heard of folks using hair curlers from dollar general also green scrubbies work too. I’ve heard that ibc containers will break down in the sun without paint or some sort of cover.

[swamp creek farms]

That is what I hear. We recycle them, so they are easy to come by at times. I'm in search for a tank to put in the ground, around 1,000 gallons. Eventually going to build a greenhouse around it. We also recycle the plastic from greenhouses, so it's free for me. This is just my first run with AP. The reason I got into this is because i was too late plowing my field this year due all the rain. Very glad I did !

Keeping in mind, I have no money tied up in this yet, other than electricity. The pvc fitting were the only thing I had to buy so far.

The Georgia giants are great, the fish farm only had catfish. But I do have a stocked pond with them in it, maybe I'll add them one day as well.

[GreenPhoenix]

OK, this might be a dumb question -- but what is a "Georgia Giant"???

Phoenix

[davidstcldfl]

Last week I added a bio filter to the system. It seems to be working great so far. I made it from a couple 3 gal nursery pots, and a 5 gal bucket, with crushed concrete for a filter medium. Untill I find something else that will work better, any ideas ?

I used some shade cloth, from a shade/green house that I tore down for someone.

[badflash]

OK, this might be a dumb question -- but what is a "Georgia Giant"???

Phoenix

http://www.kens-fishfarm.com/t-bream-history.aspx

[jackalope]

I would think that the lime/cement in the concrete would affect the PH of your system greatly, unless you really needed to bring the PH up I've pretty much been under the impression that putting fish in a concrete tank would eventually kill the fish becuz of the lime and cement

[davidstcldfl]

I've pretty much been under the impression that putting fish in a concrete tank would eventually kill the fish becuz of the lime and cement

A friend of mine has a concrete pond in his yard. It's un-sealed. He's had fish in it for years, and a few plants. The fish are what ever he caught out of the small lake on his property. He does water changes on a random basis.

He only has a few fish in it. I've been meaning to take my taest kit up there and test the water.