Through thorough insulation and the use of a small propane heater on nights that go below 30 degrees, we have been successful in maintaining growth in our mint, parsley and tomato beds, as well as some of the strawberry plants. As I worked in the greenhouse this evening I harvested a handful of cherry tomatoes from the somewhat struggling vines. Today we went shopping for some nitrogen absorbers. In other words, our fish are outstripping our vegetation. I have become familiar with the cold hardiness of primroses, mostly as I enter and leave the Provo LDS Temple where the winter plants of choice are the hardy little plants that almost seem overcome by a sharp frost or deep layer of snow, but which bounce back as soon as warmth returns, providing a green ground cover in the winter and giving a lovely floral display in early spring. Although so far I have avoided floral plants in favor of fruits, vegetables and herbs, our trout are growing and as they grow, they eat more and provide more plant food. Without an adequate amount of vegetation, they will end up with too much nitrogen in their water. Cooks nursery in Orem, west of the 1600 North interchange had mostly indoor plants and poinsettias for sale, however we found some flourishing primrose plants in a cool corner of a heated greenhouse. We placed them in the rain gutters that I used for float trays in the summer. I was pleasantly surprised to pay only a little over a dollar a plant for 18 plants.
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Trouble shooting fish problems in aquaponics
Well, we all hope to the perfect Aquaponics system, and usually, we only have to worry about the nutrient intake for our plants.
But sometime our fish have issues too. It is up to us to prevent them or treat them as soon as
possible.
Fish are prone to bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections and most fish problems are human induced.
First off before we go through the common problems, lets just say if you have a choice, make sure you get your fish from a reputably fish supplier, not saying that getting fish from someones back yard off of craigslist is bad, I do it all the time, but do note that it is a better possibility to get infected fish that way.
So now to the point of it all...STRESS! There are not that many diseases your Aquaponics fish can contract. Stress is the number one problem for fish.
Lack of oxygen is the first that we should prevent. Rolling the water over is key. Plenty of aeration from the BOTTOM. Having the air bubbles on the top of the surface doesnt help as much.
High volume of fish solids and food is a big concern. This will lead to high levels of ammonia and low levels of oxygen. Pumping the settlement from the bottom of the fish tank into a swirl filter or a medium bed will help, but more importantly is watching the food intake. If there is food left then slack on the feed next time.
Excessive handling is not a good idea, just because you want to show all your friends and family whats in the tank, its not good for the fish. So put the net away until harvest time.
Water quality should be steady. If it fluctuates or has a bad source, the ph levels can spike up or down causing issues and of course if you get your water from town supply, it will have to be dechlorinated. Keep a supply of rain water in a drum to use when water levels drop.
Keep your algae levels low. Algae will give off oxygen during the day, but will starve it during the night. Keeping your fish tank covered or if its plastic, you can paint it or cover it in plastic. This will keep the sunlight from growing excess algae.
If there is a bulling fish, it should be removed. Some fish will push other fish, or rob feed from them. It isnt very common, but it does happen. if so, it needs to be removed.
Water temperature should be checked regularly. Place a digital thermometer, ( I use an auto in and out thermometer) where is is easy to see If your fish or cold natured fish then keep it that way, and if your fish like warm temps, then expose them to the adequate heat and put a heater to keep the water maintained. Grow your vegetables accordingly. Some veggies like cold temps and some like warmer temp, use this to your advantage!
Detection:
Read More..
But sometime our fish have issues too. It is up to us to prevent them or treat them as soon as
possible.
Fish are prone to bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections and most fish problems are human induced.
First off before we go through the common problems, lets just say if you have a choice, make sure you get your fish from a reputably fish supplier, not saying that getting fish from someones back yard off of craigslist is bad, I do it all the time, but do note that it is a better possibility to get infected fish that way.
So now to the point of it all...STRESS! There are not that many diseases your Aquaponics fish can contract. Stress is the number one problem for fish.
Lack of oxygen is the first that we should prevent. Rolling the water over is key. Plenty of aeration from the BOTTOM. Having the air bubbles on the top of the surface doesnt help as much.
High volume of fish solids and food is a big concern. This will lead to high levels of ammonia and low levels of oxygen. Pumping the settlement from the bottom of the fish tank into a swirl filter or a medium bed will help, but more importantly is watching the food intake. If there is food left then slack on the feed next time.
Excessive handling is not a good idea, just because you want to show all your friends and family whats in the tank, its not good for the fish. So put the net away until harvest time.
Water quality should be steady. If it fluctuates or has a bad source, the ph levels can spike up or down causing issues and of course if you get your water from town supply, it will have to be dechlorinated. Keep a supply of rain water in a drum to use when water levels drop.
Keep your algae levels low. Algae will give off oxygen during the day, but will starve it during the night. Keeping your fish tank covered or if its plastic, you can paint it or cover it in plastic. This will keep the sunlight from growing excess algae.
If there is a bulling fish, it should be removed. Some fish will push other fish, or rob feed from them. It isnt very common, but it does happen. if so, it needs to be removed.
Water temperature should be checked regularly. Place a digital thermometer, ( I use an auto in and out thermometer) where is is easy to see If your fish or cold natured fish then keep it that way, and if your fish like warm temps, then expose them to the adequate heat and put a heater to keep the water maintained. Grow your vegetables accordingly. Some veggies like cold temps and some like warmer temp, use this to your advantage!
Detection:
- Fungal infections: Fungal infections are can be seen as white botches on your fish’s fins and or body.
- Ammonia Toxicity: Fish are gasping for breath; fish have red and inflamed gills; fish appear lethargic; fish doesnt like to eat; and fish have red streaking on the fins or body.
- Low dissolved oxygen: Fish die in quick succession; fish are seen gasping for oxygen; hot weather is current; or fish die overnight and algae is present.
Water Circulation
In this post, I will document the specific configuration of the pump and drain system.
Pumping water - Here is a picture of the submersible pump Im using. We werent sure how to connect it, so I tried to take a close enough picture that you can see how its connected. We used a small section of old garden hose and zip ties to connect to the little tube that comes out of the pump. At the top of the section of garden hose is a standard garden hose attachment. I didnt want metal in the tank, so I bought a male hose end at Walmart for about $2 and attached it to the hose section. Its probably more difficult to find this piece in the winter, but you might be able to find one online or at Home Depot or Lowes. There is a female adapter attached to the PVC pipe that allows the hose to be connected to the pipe. We purposely chose to have the little section of hose so there would be some play if we needed to move the pump once it was all hooked up.
Here you can see the pipe coming up from the tank and splitting off to each of the grow beds. The pipe coming up from the tank is 3/4 inch that splits into two 1/2 sections going into the grow bed. Theres a 3/4-inch-to-2x1/2-inch tee at the top of the 3/4-inch pipe. On each side of the tee, I cut a small section of 1/2-inch pipe to connect to one end of the valve. Another section of 1/2-inch pipe on the other side extends over the bed, then an elbow is attached to that section and another section of 1/2-inch pipe goes down into the media in the grow bed. The extra section going into the bed goes a couple of inches into the gravel in order to prevent splashing.
Draining - The water is drained from the grow beds back into the tank using a bell syphon. We followed the instructions in a paper entitled "Construction of Automatic Bell Siphons for Backyard Aquaponic Systems," written at the University of Hawaii. This is an excellent step-by-step document that includes detailed pictures at each step.
The picture on the left is the stand pipe, as described in the University of Hawaii paper. Note the Uniseal fitting at the bottom of the pond. This is what seals the pipe and the pond so there is no leakage. I had a hard time finding this part without having to pay quadruple the cost of the fitting to ship it. However, I found this great online store that not only charged a reasonable price for shipping, but they even had a useful video clip showing how to use the fitting. Bulk Reef Supply sold me the fitting for under $2, and I think shipping for three fittings was under $3. Heres a link to the fitting I purchased, but you might need a different size. Check out the video, though, its pretty cool. The picture in the center is the bell syphon, and the picture on the right shows the syphon in the grow bed with the larger pipe (gravel guard) around it. I also added a piece of screen on top to keep unwanted material or bugs from falling or flying in.
The picutre above is the drain pipe that comes out of the bottom of the grow bed. Note the section of pipe that extends from the lower elbow. Adding a section of pipe, instead of just leaving the elbow by iteself, will reduce the amount of splashing.
I also added a little home made filter to the drain pipe for the first few days, just to try and eliminate any particles that might have made it into the pipe. I dont want anything being sucked into the water pump and clogging it. I actually did have a coupe of pieces of gravel get into it (I think they got sucked in when I shut it off one time) and jam the pump blade. Luckily, I noticed it and shut it off before the motor burned out.
The pictures above show the filter I made. I just got some filter material and filter carbon from the fish section at PetSmart, put them in the bottom of a planter, and hung it under the drain pipe for a few days.
Timing - A lot of people write that when using a bell syphon configuration, they leave their pump on 24x7. That was my plan, but after listening to my husband gripe about paying 35 cents a day to run it, I decided to put mine on a timer. Also, I think using a timer will prevent possible overflow if the drain gets plugged up or something else unexpected happens. We got a $6 timer that can be "programmed" in half-hour increments. Its not one of the digital programmable timers, but it was cheap, and there isnt a limit on how many events you can program. Well, other than the 48 half hours available in a day.
Also, dont forget to use GFCI connections for anything near your tank!!!! I replaced the old outlet that I was going to use for the water pump and air pump with a GFCI outlet that doesnt require any changes at the circuit breaker box. If you dont feel comfortable doing this, you can buy a plug like this one that plugs into your existing wall outlet and makes it GFCI compliant. This is cheap safety for you and your family and pets!!!
Lessons learned - First, as I mentioned, I think the pump I purchased was too powerful. Thats OK, since Im using the valves to control the flow, but I wonder if that will eventually put too much strain on the pump. Guess Ill find out.
Second, I should have used larger pipes for the drain pipes, stand pipes and bell syphons. When I dont control the flow from the pump, the tubs fill up more quickly than the pipes can drain. This means the syphon never breaks and it could lead to potential overflow in the grow beds.
Thats it for this installment. I hope some of these tips help you in the planning and construction of your system!
Read More..
Pumping water - Here is a picture of the submersible pump Im using. We werent sure how to connect it, so I tried to take a close enough picture that you can see how its connected. We used a small section of old garden hose and zip ties to connect to the little tube that comes out of the pump. At the top of the section of garden hose is a standard garden hose attachment. I didnt want metal in the tank, so I bought a male hose end at Walmart for about $2 and attached it to the hose section. Its probably more difficult to find this piece in the winter, but you might be able to find one online or at Home Depot or Lowes. There is a female adapter attached to the PVC pipe that allows the hose to be connected to the pipe. We purposely chose to have the little section of hose so there would be some play if we needed to move the pump once it was all hooked up.
Draining - The water is drained from the grow beds back into the tank using a bell syphon. We followed the instructions in a paper entitled "Construction of Automatic Bell Siphons for Backyard Aquaponic Systems," written at the University of Hawaii. This is an excellent step-by-step document that includes detailed pictures at each step.
The picture on the left is the stand pipe, as described in the University of Hawaii paper. Note the Uniseal fitting at the bottom of the pond. This is what seals the pipe and the pond so there is no leakage. I had a hard time finding this part without having to pay quadruple the cost of the fitting to ship it. However, I found this great online store that not only charged a reasonable price for shipping, but they even had a useful video clip showing how to use the fitting. Bulk Reef Supply sold me the fitting for under $2, and I think shipping for three fittings was under $3. Heres a link to the fitting I purchased, but you might need a different size. Check out the video, though, its pretty cool. The picture in the center is the bell syphon, and the picture on the right shows the syphon in the grow bed with the larger pipe (gravel guard) around it. I also added a piece of screen on top to keep unwanted material or bugs from falling or flying in.
 |
| Drain pipe |
I also added a little home made filter to the drain pipe for the first few days, just to try and eliminate any particles that might have made it into the pipe. I dont want anything being sucked into the water pump and clogging it. I actually did have a coupe of pieces of gravel get into it (I think they got sucked in when I shut it off one time) and jam the pump blade. Luckily, I noticed it and shut it off before the motor burned out.
 |
| FIlter |
 |
| Filter |
The pictures above show the filter I made. I just got some filter material and filter carbon from the fish section at PetSmart, put them in the bottom of a planter, and hung it under the drain pipe for a few days.
Timing - A lot of people write that when using a bell syphon configuration, they leave their pump on 24x7. That was my plan, but after listening to my husband gripe about paying 35 cents a day to run it, I decided to put mine on a timer. Also, I think using a timer will prevent possible overflow if the drain gets plugged up or something else unexpected happens. We got a $6 timer that can be "programmed" in half-hour increments. Its not one of the digital programmable timers, but it was cheap, and there isnt a limit on how many events you can program. Well, other than the 48 half hours available in a day.
Also, dont forget to use GFCI connections for anything near your tank!!!! I replaced the old outlet that I was going to use for the water pump and air pump with a GFCI outlet that doesnt require any changes at the circuit breaker box. If you dont feel comfortable doing this, you can buy a plug like this one that plugs into your existing wall outlet and makes it GFCI compliant. This is cheap safety for you and your family and pets!!!
Lessons learned - First, as I mentioned, I think the pump I purchased was too powerful. Thats OK, since Im using the valves to control the flow, but I wonder if that will eventually put too much strain on the pump. Guess Ill find out.
Second, I should have used larger pipes for the drain pipes, stand pipes and bell syphons. When I dont control the flow from the pump, the tubs fill up more quickly than the pipes can drain. This means the syphon never breaks and it could lead to potential overflow in the grow beds.
Thats it for this installment. I hope some of these tips help you in the planning and construction of your system!
System Setup
This blog will document the setup, failures and successes of my home aquaponics system. I had to search a lot to find details on how to set the systems up, so I hope this will help others decide how to configure their systems.
Location - Were just outside Colorado Springs, CO. Our elevation is about 7000 feet above sea level, and temperatures can be bitter cold during the winter months, so this will be an indoor project. Ive set it up in the dog room downstairs in our basement. Our house is an older split level, so this room sits at ground level. Ive set it up next to a window in order to get as much sunlight as possible.
Grow beds - The grow beds consist of two 60-gallon ponds that I got at Home Depot. I think I paid about $30-40 for each pond.
Media - Im using pea gravel as media. We had a big pile of gravel out back, so I sifted (to get the smaller gravel) and rinsed it and carried it in one bucket at a time. Took a while, but that was pretty much free.
Fish tank - The fish tank is a 150-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank that we found on Craigslist for $60. The guy I bought it from had used it as a pond, so search for "pond" if you cant find anything under "stock tank." If you cant find one on Craigslist and you have to buy one new, check out Ace hardwares website. They have reasonable prices - I think about $120-160 for 150 gallons. Note that youll want to use a rubber/plastic container for your fish, not metal. You dont want the metal rusting or leaching into the water.
Fish - I will be raising rainbow trout in the tank once the water is ready and I get a chance to drive up to Fort Collins to buy them. Liley Fisheries in Fort Collins, CO will sell small quantities of fish to individuals. So far, Ive only communicated with them via e-mail, but they are very helpful and respond quickly to e-mail. I think they said the fingerlings are about 50 cents each. Tilapia are recommended for beginners, but Ive chosen trout because it gets pretty cold in the dog room in the winter, and I dont want to heat 150 gallons of water.
I will post details on the setup and configuration in future blogs. Heres a picture of the system the first day I started pumping water (20 August 2011)
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Location - Were just outside Colorado Springs, CO. Our elevation is about 7000 feet above sea level, and temperatures can be bitter cold during the winter months, so this will be an indoor project. Ive set it up in the dog room downstairs in our basement. Our house is an older split level, so this room sits at ground level. Ive set it up next to a window in order to get as much sunlight as possible.
Grow beds - The grow beds consist of two 60-gallon ponds that I got at Home Depot. I think I paid about $30-40 for each pond.
Media - Im using pea gravel as media. We had a big pile of gravel out back, so I sifted (to get the smaller gravel) and rinsed it and carried it in one bucket at a time. Took a while, but that was pretty much free.
Fish tank - The fish tank is a 150-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank that we found on Craigslist for $60. The guy I bought it from had used it as a pond, so search for "pond" if you cant find anything under "stock tank." If you cant find one on Craigslist and you have to buy one new, check out Ace hardwares website. They have reasonable prices - I think about $120-160 for 150 gallons. Note that youll want to use a rubber/plastic container for your fish, not metal. You dont want the metal rusting or leaching into the water.
Fish - I will be raising rainbow trout in the tank once the water is ready and I get a chance to drive up to Fort Collins to buy them. Liley Fisheries in Fort Collins, CO will sell small quantities of fish to individuals. So far, Ive only communicated with them via e-mail, but they are very helpful and respond quickly to e-mail. I think they said the fingerlings are about 50 cents each. Tilapia are recommended for beginners, but Ive chosen trout because it gets pretty cold in the dog room in the winter, and I dont want to heat 150 gallons of water.
I will post details on the setup and configuration in future blogs. Heres a picture of the system the first day I started pumping water (20 August 2011)
Two Weeks and Fish are Thriving In Spite of Some Problems
When I was dealing with 20 cent feeder gold fish I didnt feel the economic pinch too much if a bunch of them floated to the top of the tank a day or so after I brought them home. I feared at first that I was responsible but a reliable source told me that feeder fish are notoriously infected with various things that make them short lived. The survival of two of the original gold fish through last winter, living on algae apparently, surprised me when I noticed them at last. The trout represent a greater investment. I paid for them by the inch as well as paying for delivery. Fortunately the delivery cost was split between me and another aquaponist in the area who ordered larger fish from the same trout farm. In addition, the man who delivered the fish threw in a few extra. Actually he threw in more than ten extra. But he didnt want to carry a load of water and a few small fish all the way back to his trout farm. Following his recommendations, based on the number of fish, I fed them about a cup of fish pellets from Intermountain Farm Association where I purchased 50 pounds for just a little over $35. Even though any remaining pellets should be discarded after 3 months, this still beat the price of fish food from the pet store. Then I discovered that my three hens are crazy about fish pellets. I had read somewhere that hens fed on fish meal produced eggs with higher levels of omega fatty acids, so I consider it a win/win situation. The fish pellets are twice the cost of layer pellets for the chickens, but with no need to worry about wasting the pellets after ninety days have passed, I figure all is good. At any rate, feeding the fish at the rate of a cup a day didnt work out well. The fish let a lot of the pellets sink to the bottom of the fish tank where they became food for algae. Suddenly my pumps seized up from algal clogging and the water in the system turned nearly opaque. After cleaning the pumps and getting them started again I put a piece of polyester upholstery foam in a rectangular plastic colander and set it beneath the outlet from the fish tank into the sump. The following day, Thursday, we didnt feed the fish. On Friday the filter was filthy, the water in the fish tank was crystal clear and the fish eagerly ate the handful and a half of pellets fed to them. No casualties were detected. I was happy to learn that even commercial aquaponists use chelated iron as a supplement. I have used it with good effect. My tomato plants had turned a sickly yellow green earlier this month but an application of chelated iron brought them back to a lovely green. Ill wait until the greenhouse gets too cold to support them before pulling them out and replacing them with cold weather crops.
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