Aquaponics

[Khazik]

So Khazik, how are things going? I recently went to Spencer and picked up 275gal IBC totes for $90. They were food grade and seemed very clean with no residue or smell.

I have been reading about aquaponics and am considering getting something started next year. I was thinking trout for our climate in central Indiana. I would not continue it over winter. I think getting the fish in late March would allow them to harvest in November and be a decent size.

Hey there! Got your PM, thanks for that. Ya I had looked at options for doing a system over winter, based with what I have I've realized it's not possible, unless I find a convenient way to 're-locate' the water heater and water softener; otherwise I'd have built it already. One thing that got me distracted from my project was the full time job, but also I recently got a new motorcycle this year (2008 Suzuki V-Strom). I decided to get it road worthy and go visit a long time friend in Pennsylvania as a road trip; but in doing so... $$$ to get it road worthy and ready. Needed touring gear, a helmet (which turned out to be $300 of suck), sprockets, chain, etc... I guess I also got distracted securing stores of food as well. I figured I gotta 'git while the gittin's good'. On the bright side, I do have some nice supplies of dry food, honey, and money to pay off the bike (decided to do a loan, build credit [for however long thats good for!]).

I was thinking trout also, catfish as well, as I know they already live in the pond at Fox Island park up here in the fort. I'll be looking to do an outside system next to the raised beds in the spring. I'm not sure if I'd want to do tillapia as the common fish to do in aquaponics for the fast growth and reproduction, seems like indiana is more suited for a aquaponic "season" rather continuous cycle requiring more consistent temperatures (hard frost 3 weeks into spring!?), but trout would definitely be a safe bet. I had an idea about using kickstarter to start a business up here in ft wayne that would be a year-round aquaponic system, indoors of course, in one of the many many closed down buildings. I think it'd be great to have a store where people would go in, walk around with a sales associate (or be qualified through a store taught class) and pick food actually fresh rather "fresh" by vacuum sealing, gas treatments, or refrigeration; customers could even pick up fish still alive, cant get fresher than that. Excess produce could go to the local food banks or soup kitchens, or host a community something there at the store? Seems like something like that would be local/fed gov't funded.

Aquaponics really brings entire new possibilities to life in terms of food production with minimal input, even no input if you grow the fish food yourself. I think it's great, I just dont know why this hasn't really caught on.
TLDR: I got distracted with a new motorcycle, road trip, and preppin food....

*Edit* Rural King has some decent options for tanks and grow beds, but I think I'll end up going the 'build it yourself' route with pond liners, wood, and bolts for the tank, and feeding troughs for the beds.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Northeast Indiana Public Radio

http://getfreshfarms.com/

a company in ft Wayne doing aquaponics.

I think seasonal is the way to go as well in our climate. Unless you can get a greenhouse enclosure to put it in.

 

[Zoub]

We still own a house in Indy that we rent out. The current tenant is a retired biologist with 40 years experience in this very subject. Get enough guys together to pitch in for dinner and drinks for two somewhere nice and maybe you can ask him a bunch of questions while they eat. But you better hurry, I think by Spring he will be up here with us. We just call him Uncle Dan.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Bump. I cut my IBC apart today and put the uniseal connector in for the drain pipe. This week I hope to get the rest ready to go. I just need power out back, hopefully in 10 days

 

[edwea]

hoosierdoc-what type of system are you building?

 

[Spear Dane]

And what do you grow?

 

[.458socomhunter]

Anyone contemplate using chest freezers that no longer run?
Frosty Fish Aquaponic Systems ? Eat Fresh in Winter With a Backyard Aquaponics System

 

[hoosierdoc]

I am doing a flood and drain system with an IBC tote. I made a bell siphon and am just getting started with running the system. I filled it today and my top hatch thing was leaking so I covered everything in silicone that could leak. At least it was a slow leak and went into my fish tank anyway, but still...

My pump is a pionics one from amazon and has a great flow rate. Unfortunately the mechanism to slow the output doesn't work because it draws water in through the seams on it, not just the end where you can rotate to slow the intake. I added a t-connector to the tubing going up to my grow bed and put a valve on the side port to adjust how much goes up to the grow bed.

My siphon started but broke itself fairly quickly on the first run. I did not silicone the tubing through the PVC cap so I just did that and will try again tomorrow. I also only had the pipe coming down vertically, no elbows and further pipe as was recommended for the siphon to function. So I added a 2' 1" pipe horizontal to give more of a suction effect on the siphon. I think it should cycle well tomorrow.

I had two bags of pea gravel at home that I sortof washed off and put in the upper bed. I should have spent more time cleaning it but oh well. I also bought two 40lb bags of 8mm hydroton spheres to use as the main grow media. I may need more of it actually

I bought 12 feeder 2" goldfish from walmart today and tossed them in the fish tank to start the nitrogen cycle a bit. I contacted a guy in Terre Haute who breeds tilapia and I'll be meeting up with him to get the fish next week hopefully.

I bought five different kinds of lettuce today to see what grows well. I bought some of those coconut husk seed starter things and will plant the seeds in there. I should have started them a month ago

 

[hoosierdoc]

 

[edwea]

Sounds like you really have a good plan put together. I am interested because I built a 2,200 sq ft greenhouse that is all aquaponic. We have several thousand fish which are mostly tilapia but also some channel cat. I have built many types of systems, but have settled on two fairly large nft/dwc systems due to many factors. I'll try to get some pics up in the next day or two.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Wow, are you doing it commercially? DO you use a growth media for plants or just float them on styrofoam type pads? I would love to see pics of your setup

 

[hoosierdoc]

My siphon is working but after the first round it does not fill as far because the tube to break the siphon stays mostly full of water in the siphon starts earlier . Going to shorten that and see if that helps.

 

[edwea]

Here are a few pics...
View attachment 55647
Some tilapia coming up to see if I have any food
View attachment 55648
Lettuce in the deep water culture raft
View attachment 55649
Some nft channels
View attachment 55650
Some inclined nft channels for more efficient use of space
View attachment 55651
One of the deep water culture reservoirs

I did construct a system like you had pictured. It consisted of 3 ibc totes for fish, one for a sump, and 4 beds on top. I was keeping about 100 tilapia in each tote. The media in that system was the expanded shale like you referenced. It worked pretty well but didn't put out the volume I was looking for. I also had trouble with water staying in the very bottom of the bed and not draining out-about an inch or so of water in the bottom. I think the stagnant water in the bottom gave me fungus gnats so that system had to go.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Thanks for the pics, very impressive! I will have trouble with the water retention at the bottom too. I'm shooting for 20 tilapia I think. At this point in the season they likely won't grow all that large

what crops do you use besides lettuces?

 

[edwea]

If you feed them, the tilapia WILL grow. You might be surprised at how much they can eat!

Mostly growing lettuce, but also basil, chives, shiso, microgreens. I did tomatoes in Dutch buckets for awhile. They grew too well. The roots were always clogging the drains causing overflows.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I bought about 100 tilapia today

I'm hoping they survive :-)

 

[hoosierdoc]

So I bought a 1400W heater element. Probably overkill. But I got a temp control unit to avoid overheating. Tomorrow hoping to get my air pump installed and running.

i want to get a tank going in the garage to over winter the fish. We'll see...

 

[hoosierdoc]

All tilapia survived so far, today is day 3 with them in my tank. The air pump is going but I need to weight the stones to get them to the bottom

 

[hoosierdoc]

I'm going to have to add a solids filter. I bought way too many fish.

 

[edwea]

Are there any plants growing yet? The plants have a critical role in cleaning the water and are not simply a byproduct. That many fish will require some serious nutrient removal. You may want to consider having fast growing fibrous rooted non food plants growing to aid in this. Lettuce isn't up to the task. And consider this for better solids removal-filling from opposite end than the drain. That is to say not filling and draining through the same pipe. That way the water has to flow through all of the media to get to the drain and more solids are removed. Could we get some pics of the system running? I would love to see it.