Possible to run bell siphon out side of tank?

[keith_r]

like stucco said, all the info is online already in some form or another, buying the book lets you avoid the searching,, but you can find lots of info right here, start with oliver's posts under aquaponics 101
i've seen external siphons draining multiple beds, it does work
constant flooded beds work great too!

[urbanfarmer]

Erm sorry about the link did not think of the selling thing, just wanna know if the book is worth buying before spending 17-20 bucks on it. Figured you guys might know. I think I am going to buy it but dunno hate spending that much on something I may not really need, but the reviews sound like its helpful so I dunno. If it was 10 bucks or less I would buy it right now but 17-20 to me is a lot of money right now. Maybe I will get lucky and can look at a copy in town today.

Again sorry about the link thing, wont happen again.

I have a copy. I have not read it, but I can do that tomorrow. From what some folks who I know and trust told me, it sucks. I will wait until I read it to pass judgement.

Is it $17 now? That's half of what I paid!

PM me or post a list of things you want to know or just a general idea of what you are looking for. I have wanted to put together some free training material for folks, but I have yet to do so. This sounds like a good excuse! It will be in the form of some kind of media, either video or slides and audio, etc. Let me know.

[notomo]

like stucco said, all the info is online already in some form or another, buying the book lets you avoid the searching,, but you can find lots of info right here, start with oliver's posts under aquaponics 101
i've seen external siphons draining multiple beds, it does work
constant flooded beds work great too!

Yup I read threw his whole guide once already, and plan to re read it again. I think the main reason I was interested in the book is there is a lot of conflicting info out there even in Oliver's guide he talks about 3 gallons water per pound of fish but then in his last posting about water quality he talks about 5 gallons per pound of fish.

I have a copy. I have not read it, but I can do that tomorrow. From what some folks who I know and trust told me, it sucks. I will wait until I read it to pass judgement.

Is it $17 now? That's half of what I paid!

PM me or post a list of things you want to know or just a general idea of what you are looking for. I have wanted to put together some free training material for folks, but I have yet to do so. This sounds like a good excuse! It will be in the form of some kind of media, either video or slides and audio, etc. Let me know.

Ya for kindle version although I think both are on sale it says normally it was like 30 something for the paperback.

One thing I am really missing knowledge wise is how many plants to plant per pound of fish, and then at the end of a plants life cycle you remove said plant which then your system wont be able to filter as much? But you can add new young plants but still they wont filter as much, or does the bacteria take care of that.... Again I have a lot more research to do but I have a decent basic understanding at least, to get me started for the building phase.

Basically the building part is easy lots of info for that some conflicts a little but overall it seems pretty easy to sort that out, whats a lot harder is the day to day stuff like the how many plants how many fish for x plants etc.

Like I said I have a lot more to learn and some of it I have probably already read I have just forgotten heh have only been reading up on it for less than a week, hardly enough time to get it stuck in my head. Right now though I think I know enough to buy some cheap tanks and try building my siphon get a basic system setup and running before I really need to know the more in depth stuff.

Almost forgot he may have clarified in his guide but I dunno I have to go look again, when he talks about using equal volume tanks I assume he means water volume. Like say if I had 2 50 gallon tanks that would be a good starting system? The grow tank is not going to hold 50 gallons of hydroton because hydroton takes up more space than water. I may be saying that badly but I think you get what I mean.

[urbanfarmer]

Yes, the ratios are just rules of thumb. In reality, they are practically useless for all intents and purposes except for starting out. So, start out.

Too many plants is better than too many fish. That's about the only rule that can really be followed before starting out for design purposes.

Observe everything. How are the plants doing, the water chemistry, etc. From there, you can adjust your system and balance it to fit your needs.

The reality of it is, it would take more time and effort for you to learn the real science and mathematics behind everything than just doing it and learning how to run YOUR system right. We are here to guide you and help you figure out what you don't know and maybe even fill in the gaps of knowledge.

HAVE FUN, and don't be scared to kill a million fish!

[Oliver]

Yup I read threw his whole guide once already, and plan to re read it again. I think the main reason I was interested in the book is there is a lot of conflicting info out there even in Oliver's guide he talks about 3 gallons water per pound of fish but then in his last posting about water quality he talks about 5 gallons per pound of fish.

I think a second read thru will help clear up the apparent contradiction.

The first has to do with maximum pounds of fish for the amount of water in the system.

The second has to do with the minimum recommended amount of bio-filter/grow beds in a low density backyard system per pound of fish.

Oliver

[notomo]

Yup I read threw his whole guide once already, and plan to re read it again. I think the main reason I was interested in the book is there is a lot of conflicting info out there even in Oliver's guide he talks about 3 gallons water per pound of fish but then in his last posting about water quality he talks about 5 gallons per pound of fish.

I think a second read thru will help clear up the apparent contradiction.

The first has to do with maximum pounds of fish for the amount of water in the system.

The second has to do with the minimum recommended amount of bio-filter/grow beds in a low density backyard system per pound of fish.

Oliver

Yup I was hesitant to source that since I had not read threw it twice yet but for a newb that can be confusing especially after reading the first 4 or 5 pages get a bit burned out by that section But overall on the net in general there are a lot of contradictions.