Aquaponics Digest - Sat 02/05/00
Message 1: Re: Introductions
from "Hairo Jairo"
Message 2: Re: Introductions
from "D.Bennett"
Message 3: Re: Introductions
from Bertmcl
Message 4: Re: Introductions
from "TGTX"
Message 5: Re: Introductions
from S & S Aqua Farm
Message 6: a find --- and a question
from "Jay Myers"
Message 7: Re: a find --- and a question
from "TGTX"
Message 8: alkalinity and biofilter
from laberge@cil.qc.ca (LABERGE MARC)
Message 9: Re: alkalinity and biofilter
from "TGTX"
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| Message 1 |
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Subject: Re: Introductions
From: "Hairo Jairo"
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 20:12:13 +1000
HELLO Michael,
I am in AUSTRALIA.
I would like very much to see that article if you don't mind sending it to
me.
Thankx.
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Merriken
To:
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2000 2:06 PM
Subject: Re: Introductions
> Hello all,
>
> My name is Michael Merriken and I live in the suburban sprawl of Atlanta,
> GA. With about an acre of land and a picky homeowners association, my
foray
> into aquaponics has been limited. I wrote a short essay on my homebuilt
> system last summer and if anyone wants I will post it again. >
>
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| Message 2 |
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Subject: Re: Introductions
From: "D.Bennett"
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 07:50:22 -0500
>into aquaponics has been limited. I wrote a short essay on my homebuilt
>system last summer and if anyone wants I will post it again. My system is
>
Please Michael DO post the article.
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| Message 3 |
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Subject: Re: Introductions
From: Bertmcl
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 10:16:03 EST
Michael,
Please re-post, I am still trying to learn.
good luck.
Bert
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Subject: Re: Introductions
From: "TGTX"
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 15:43:13 -0600
> I thought D. might just eat the
> produce himself...
Or, ahem, herself. Sorry if I assumed..well, you know.
Anyway, D., good luck no matter which way you button your shirt.
Ted
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Subject: Re: Introductions
From: S & S Aqua Farm
Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 16:50:10 -0600
At 10:16 AM 02/05/2000 EST, Bert wrote:
>Michael,
>
>Please re-post, I am still trying to learn.
>good luck.
>
I've located Mike's earlier post and am reposting it to the list (just in
case he doesn't get to look at his mail to see how popular he's become) :>)
Paula
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From: "Merriken, Michael"
To: "'aquaponics@townsqr.com'"
Subject: RE: small family set up
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 16:10:58 -0400
Hello all,
I have been working quietly over the past few months constructing a
miniature version of the Speraneo's aquaponic system. I also have been
reading many of your posts for many months to learn as much as I could
before I began my first foray into Aquaponics. Thank you for all of your
advice and thoughts. Below is a brief summary of my efforts to date.
First off, I live in a small house in a neighborhood that does not allow
greenhouses. Therefore I needed to keep this system as small as I could to
be unobtrusive. I also wanted to use this as a learning experiment and
therefore one of my goals was to keep the cost down by constructing most the
components myself or scrounging for second hand supplies. The parts I did
purchase new were the pump and the timer. I also decided to purchase a good
quality pump and timer since these are the keys to making this system work
and I could reused them if I decided to build a bigger system.
The growbed is constructed of scrap 2x8s (untreated) and 3/4" plywood picked
up from a friend in the construction business. It is 3ft x 5ft x 8in and is
held together with metal angle brackets. I used marble chips as grow
medium instead of river rock since I found a clearance deal I could not pass
up (30 lb bag for $1) There are six bags in the grow bed. The growbed is
lined first with a heavy plastic rip-stop plastic tarp with two layers of 4
mil plastic on top. This may be over-designed but I figured it is the
engineer in me.
The growbed sits on four cinder block columns each four blocks high.
Underneath is a 55 gal glass tank that I picked up at a local pet store who
was getting rid of some old equipment ($40). I have a 700 gal/hour pond
pump that pulls the water up to a grid system constructed of 1/2in plastic
tubing that floods the growbed. At the low end of the growbed I installed a
4" plastic drain pipe that drops the water directly back into the tank.
This return action also aerates the water for the fish.
I use a Cyclestat II timer that floods the grow bed every 15 minutes for 3
minutes.
I purchased 30 Nile tialpia from Living Waters. Great people and very
helpful. The fish cost only a few dollars but the shipping by two-day air
was $50!! My wife asked if the airline would give me the frequent flyer
miles and the peanuts for the fish! I put 22 fish in the 55 gal tank and
put 8 fish is a separate standard 15 gal aquarium (just in case I really
messed up).
In the grow bed I put a mixture of plants and seeds:
Four marigold, three basil, and six pepper plants
Lettuce, basil, and salad cress seeds.
The plants and seeds were put in a few weeks ago after I cleaned and
initialized the system. The plants look a little weak but are still alive
and all the seeds are sprouting. The fish are growing nicely. I need to
get a small scale to track their growth.
All of this is enclosed in a 5ft x 6ft x 6 ft mini-greenhouse outside that I
built from scrap 1x2s and 4 mil plastic sheeting. When it starts to get
cooler here in Atlanta I plan to add furring strips and another layer of
plastic to help insulate it during the winter. I will probably need to add
a tank heater to keep the water temp in the tolerable range for the fish and
plants.
All total I have spent just over $350 (primarily the pump and timer) so far.
I will be glad to accept recommendations or suggestions for improvements.
I do have a question. In one post someone suggested barley straw to control
algae growth. Where does one get this from?
Thanks,
Michael Merriken
Novice Aquaponic-er
-=---------------------------------
S&S Aqua Farm, http://www.townsqr.com/snsaqua/
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Subject: a find --- and a question
From: "Jay Myers"
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 18:59:29 -0600
Hello all -
Sold 60 lbs of strawberries out of my g/h today - lots of nice folks.
a find ! There is an elevated billboard in the driveway to our airport,
and they were changing the ad yesterday. To make a short story long, they
sell the old 30mil vinal signs for $25. They have a warehouse full of them,
and most measure 20' x 40', so if you have a need there is probably a
similiar outdoor advertising company in your respective neck of the woods.
question - in the s&s type of system - pea gravel beds, and nothing else but
fish water - does this qualify as organic?
Jay Myers
Panama City Beach, Fl., (Home of the Worlds most Beautiful Beaches.)
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Subject: Re: a find --- and a question
From: "TGTX"
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 20:00:50 -0600
> question - in the s&s type of system - pea gravel beds, and nothing else
but
> fish water - does this qualify as organic?
> Jay Myers
> Panama City Beach, Fl., (Home of the Worlds most Beautiful Beaches.)
Jay, I gotta agree you got some beautiful beaches there.
Beaches are one of my favorite places to be.
In my book, I am satisfied with an organic definition that just means you
don't use synthetic pesticides. Almost no strident organic activist would
agree with me there, because they won't want to stop at that point....the
rider amendments to the definition of the organic concept are
endless....idiosyncratic.....and often frivolous or politically oriented.
So, when it comes to organic, I am "liberal" in my interpretation of it..or
"libertarian".
I don't want to advise you NOT to use the PVC liner, because it will work to
hold the water from the grow bed structure.......and if you cover the PVC
liner with gravel, it wont break down under sunlight as rapidly, except I
would say this.....it can break down in sunlight over time, at the point
that it folds over the edge of the grow bed, you see, just as PVC pipe will
do that eventually...the good news is that it might take 2 to 5 years to do
that...O.K?
.
I were shopping for various kinds of plastic film, I would suggest 12 mil
polyethylene liner for grow beds instead of PVC, again, if you have to buy
the stuff.. Not because I wouldn't eat food grown in PVC lined grow beds,
but just because I know what PVC liners can eventually do under bright
sunlight over a period of years. O.K.?
The 12 mil poly is thick enough and tough enough, and impervious enough and
inert enough to go the distance with the following precautions: Be aware
that you can tear 12 mil poly with a random nail or screw head, or if you
scrape the pee-wocky out of the plastic when you churn the gravel up...It is
harder to do those kinds of things with 20 mil or 30 mil poly, but the
thicker the poly, the more expensive the cost per square foot of grow bed,
and the more difficult it is to "work" the liner into the contours of the
rectangular grow bed. Also, the thicker the liner, the less "aesthetic" it
will appear, if that is one of your considerations, just because the folds
are larger and more cumbersome....Do you see what I mean?
One cheap way to go is 2 layers of 6 mil poly. Just go to WalMart or Lowes
or Home Depot , Neiman-Marcus, or Sacs Fifth Avenue, and get yourself a
couple of rolls of 6 mil black poly film and double that up over your grow
bed box. The problem with poly film is sealing the drain line. It can be
done with the right combination of gasket material and silicone caulk.
There is almost no "bite" to poly film, as the coating experts will tell
you, so a small dab of JB weld or other epoxy base glorp at the gasket seal
will help you maintain a water tight seal...
I still think you should at least try your source for the PVC liner thing,
because it is cheap and available. If it has a special UV coating or
additive, it might not break down in sunlight as rapidly as I have suggested
here...so go for it!
Good luck
Ted
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Subject: alkalinity and biofilter
From: laberge@cil.qc.ca (LABERGE MARC)
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 22:04:18 -0500
Hello all,
I need more advice...I just added calcium carbonate to my system...the
biofilter is kicking in...had to remove my fish due to nitrite skyrocketing
to 16.9 PPM. Everything is down now and I will be adding more trout to feed
the filter tomorrow. The problem is while adding calcium carbonate to
increase the alkalinity and stabilize the pH, the water turned murky Grey I
wasn't thinking at the time but noticed the stuff settled on everything as a
sort of dust ( in the water ). The question I want to ask the group is can
this wipe out my precious bacteria which I have been growing for months by
choking it ?
Marc Laberge
Mont Tremblant
Quebec , Canada
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| Message 9 |
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Subject: Re: alkalinity and biofilter
From: "TGTX"
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 22:22:56 -0600
The question I want to ask the group is can
> this wipe out my precious bacteria which I have been growing for months by
> choking it ?
Marc, if you have been growing bacteria "for months", I guess I have to ask
why you only recently saw this peak in nitrite...2 to 6 weeks from start up
ought to be the peak in NO2 in simple bacteriological filters (no plants)
that are not overfed or overstocked with fish. If you had plants growing in
the system of any kind I suggest you would not have seen such a high
absolute magnitude of NO2, ....but then I am not sure what your particular
system is doing. Do you have any plants in the system?
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