ALoha from Maui, Hawaii

[Mauistacy]

Hello, I have so much to learn. I am the mother to 5 children and we are learning and ready to build our system for a homeschool project. I am confused about a ebb and flow drain or bell syphon. Not sure what to use. My husband is going to need to help me with this one. So far we have a 150 gallon stock tank and 2 3x3 grow beds that are about 8 inches deep. I hope deep enough. Can you recommend the best dvd,book or instructional source? How much sunlight do I need? I can get full sun if needed but my outlet is in the back of my house and it only gets half day full sun. I am in Hawaii and temps range from 60s to 92 degress.
Thank you
Stacy

[jcx]

Bell syphon is the way to go. 8 should work fine, I have ran small herbs in a 6 before and harvested great. You can pick plants based on your shade.

[JCO]

Welcome to the show....pull up an easy chair, relax and stay awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! Whatever questions you have on you mind, this is the place to get the answers so pick a topic of your interest and start your own thread and Enjoy. Please go to your profile and put in the city and state where you live, there may be members close by.

[rfeiller]

hello and welcome to the forum, would go for the full day of sun, you can shade acccording to your needs. most veggies do much better with full sun. the fish will need to be in the shade or the algae will be a problem.

[urbanfarmer]

Hello and welcome

[aquaarche]

Hi Stacy,

Where are you actually on Maui? Are you upcoutry in Makawao or Pukalani area? Paia, Haiku or Hana side? Kiehe or Lahina side? or Wailuku side? Knowing this I could better let you know how to set up you system to get the most sun light.

Ideally you want as many hours of sunlight as possible. I have a friend currently in Haiku area wanting to develop a system but he wants it aesthetic So I am designing him a Koi pond with hidden grow beds behind a lava rock water fall where the water returns to the pond. he doesn't want to eat fish being he is a full veggie. His sloped lot makes it possible for him to enjoy such a system. that blends into the natural surroundings.

Unfortunately he has not started his yet. he will be going out of the country for a few months to visit us here in Palawan Philippines. But when he returns he will be excited and pumped and ready to go.

It is best you start with a small experimental system like I have and work yourself up from there. work out all the problems. I had a problem here with moss. though the surface of my gravel grow beds were not wet the moisture from the ebb and flow caused moss to grow. this kept vital oxygen via aeration through the gravel from getting to the roots of my plants. to solve this I have gone to float troughs no gravel and have found it a little more feasible seeing the moss may grow on the floats it doesn't affect the oxygenation of the roots which is done under the floats via air pumps. Everything is growing better than they ever did in the gravel beds. If you want to see some pictures of my system you can go here http://chette.tripod.com/id40.html. The lower pictures are when I first started in 2009 the upper ones are the most recent. and I no longer have the 36 inch filter I reduced it to 24" and it is filled with ceramic tube beads. The new pictures will be up soon.

If you can visit http://www.friendlyaquaponics.com on the Big Island. Susanne Friend and Tim Mann are great people they have courses and plans available at reasonable prices. tell them Chette from Palawan referred you.

I lived there for 10 years and though I am a Haoli I still love the people and Maui. I will never forget her.

Aloha nui loa.

[brotherfrancis]

aloha from sunnyside gardens.

i live near paia and have just started my aquaponics system a couple of months ago. i have a 600 gallon fish tank, a 300 gallon sump and 4 6x4 beds 12" deep. so far so good except for some dead fish that might have been strep. things are growing but slowly. maybe i can provide information to help you guys along.

peace,
francis

[aquaarche]

HiFrancis,

I hung out a lot in Paia when I lived there.

Hoakipa beach park was a cool place to hang out back in the 80's and early 90's. I can't remember the name ofthe place but there was this health food store half way between the post office and the Highway. tehre used to be a noodle house at the corner. anyway they used to have the greatest selections of fresh organic breads they made fresh. they had a killer Jalapeno and cheese bread.

I have heard it really boomed with Housing around the Paia and Haiku area.

What type of fish did you have that died? Strep is a natural bacteria found in the soil and it can get out of hand if it is mixed with any single formula of E1.

anyway it would be great then for you and Stacy to get together and share info.

have fun

[aquaarche]

Yeah Francis,

If you are adding other bacterias to your system it could harm your fish and the natural ecosystem you build by letting the Nirtrobac and Nitrober created a natural Ammonia Nitrate fertilizer from the fish waste.

So be careful when adding extra bacterias.

Red worms are good if you have a gravels bed and from what others have said scuds (grammarus are found all over Hawaii I have seen then in yards on rainy days in Makawao) are an excellent addition to your system as they will eat any solid waste and keep you system clean and regulated.