New work @ Sahib Aquaponics

[davidstcldfl]

Just a little update...
The 9 foot okra is more like 12 or more now. I wish I'd taken a picture because, the okra pods are so high, I haven't been picking them. There are so many large ones that the stalk has bent over and is growing horizontal....

Some of our okra plants are forming new branches towards the 'bottom of the stalk' and are producing more pods. Is this normal...?

Here's a picture of some of our tomatoes. These are growing in rafts. The trough is about 2 feet wide and about a foot deep. The cherry tomatoes already have had a few tomatoes.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi guys and aquapon ladies...

We're trying something new. If you've tried growing any root crops in aquaponics, this might be of interest. This way, we might just end up with 'staight carrots'...

We removed some shallow water culture troughs from one of the systems. Not because they didn't work, they actually worked very well. The problem was, that they were above a deep water culture bed. As the sun went higher in the sky during the summer, they started to cast too much shadow onto the lower bed.
This wouldn't of been a problem 'if' the beds ran North and South, but they don't, ours are set East to West. Since we are using wasted space in a shopping center, we don't have a lot of options on our lay out.

Here's a shot of the troughs new location....



You can see we have them up on one set of blocks. This helps to get the drain back to the sump. The sump is to the right of the picture. It's about 20 feet to the sump.
The pipe on the fence is the supply line.


Here's a few shots of the new set up...



In the fore ground above....That's five different kinds of carrots, beets and radishes.




We ran a supply line to each one, with a ball valve to control the flow. Each bed has a drain, which ties into a common header.

The bags are poly grow bags. I think they are a 5 gallon size (Maybe 4 gallons ?) They come with holes already in the bottom and part way up the sides. The bags are filled with a potting mix. Regular soil wouldn't 'wick up' as well and the roots wouldn't get as much oxygen.
The water in the troughs, is just less then an inch.

The system feeding the grow bag troughs, is our catfish system. It only has 1 IBC with about 18 very large channel cats. You can see the tank in the background of the next picture.
The 3 bell siphon tubs are fairly new too. The water exits the IBC, by the way of a SLO drain. The tubs drain back to the sump.




I hope this gives everyone some ideas.....
Your aquaponic carrots really can be straight.....

[davidstcldfl]

Here's a video update...
Part 1...inside phase 1




It's hard to see in the video, the poor fig tree is confused.. It has leaves dying and falling off, like it should. It's also putting out new leaves and we recently noticed a few figs starting to form...

Part 2...outside, along the fence line.



The new troughs with the grow bags are towards the 2nd half of the video.

[davidstcldfl]

Part 3 has some footage of another way we're trying to use potting soil. The tomatoes are in pots, set into some river rock. The flow is constant.

[rangebob]

I wish he was still offering tours. I attempted to sign up and he said that they are re-doing it and not doing tours anymore. I need to try to learn how to setup a new system. I'm thinking of switching from Hydroponics to Aquaponics and getting lost very quickly with the amount of information that I'm reading and looking at.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi rangebob, welcome to the forum...

Not sure when he'll start tours again. After doing them for about 2 years, it may just be a bit of burn out.

It was tuff for me when starting aquaponics. I have a terrible time remembering names...and there are plenty of names and lots of stuff to remember. Just to make it tougher, some folks call one thing by a certain name, and others call it something else...
I remember hitting 'info overload'...I kept reading and looking and one day, it started to make sense..

Have you checked out Oliver's postings (here at DIY) ...? It's a great starting point, with lots of good info....
Aquaponics 101-Part One: The Process

[urbanfarmer]

What is that white liner?

Technically, it's not aquaponics when you use soil. But yes, using soil in aquaponics is THE ONE TRUE WAY.

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY SOIL!

[davidstcldfl]

Technically, it's not aquaponics when you use soil.

Technically...?
It's a closed, recirculating system using fish water. That's technically close enough.
Besides....It's not soil....it's really fine media... :P

[urbanfarmer]

I knew that would stir you!

But yes, if aquaponics by definition requires a hydroponic component, then technically all you've got there is an aquaculture system with some soil. With that said, I like your idea!

[davidstcldfl]

I knew that would stir you!

But yes, if aquaponics by definition requires a component, then technically all you've got there is an aquaculture system with some soil. With that said, I like your idea!

You wrote just the other day..... :P
Nutritional content of aquaponically grown vegetables
I think people are still trying to figure out what an AP system really is, how to define it, and how to operate one successfully. I think once that is established properly, there will be a standard to test nutritional values of AP grown veggies.


Again, it's not 'soil'...it's really 'fine media' that is not inert.. :P
I've got to remember to go 'correct' wiki's def of hydropnics and aquaponics.. ...


Kidding aside.....
the system ( 1 ibc fish tank)... that has the grow bags in troughs, also has 3, forty gallon media beds (with bell siphons) and about 25 feet (by 2 feet wide) of floating rafts....(adding 25 more feet soon)
So...we're "still' trying to define aquaponics...