diy budget aquaponics simplified plumbing design | Aquaponics Roots in the media

13.14 in Aquaponics, in, media, roots, the

diy budget aquaponics simplified plumbing design

Its quite possible that this is one of those things that everyone does, but its so obvious that nobody mentions it.

Perhaps everything is one of those things, but Id rather hear something twice than never know about it, so Ill say it anyway.

For some time, Ive been harvesting things like lettuce, then spending valuable seconds of my life getting the media out of the roots and retuning it to the grow beds. Clay balls get loose a bit more readily than scoria, but roots seem determined to hang onto whatever media they find themselves in.

Dont get me wrong, this is no way an issue because it really is only a few seconds, but Id rather spend those few irreplaceable seconds doing more important things - eating strawberries, looking at fish, that sort of thing.

But I discovered that if you just snap off the roots and leave them in a bucket, the media falls out all by itself.

Bam! Earth shattering tip right there.

I add an extra step for the worms.

When I pull up a lettuce, the root ball always has a few worms in it. Even in the constant flood grow bed there are worms everywhere. And as much as Im happy to feed my worms to the fish, I like my worms and like it when they live in my growbed rather than die on the ground. So when I snap off the roots, I lay the ball of roots, and media back on the growbed until the next time I wander past. This allows the worms time to get back into the growbed as their root ball home slowly dries.

The next day (or whenever) I drop the root ball into my root ball bucket, where it dries out and leaves the media behind. After the bucket has seen a few root balls added, or when I get around to it, I return the loose media back to the grow bed, and the dried roots and stems to the compost heap. Once in the compost heap, they sit for eternity. We dont use the stuff.



120 Things in 20 years - Wasting compost from the roots caught up in my aquaponics media.

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diy aquaponics for beginners | Aquaponics Tips Too High Water In Growbed

02.34 in Aquaponics, growbed, high, in, kuchai, overload, tips, too, water

diy aquaponics for beginners

What will happen if you have too high water level in the growbed?

Initially high water level will cause higher evaporation and water will be use more due to this. To ensure this dont happen it is recommended that the water level is at least 1 inch below the hydroton or media level.

Above photo the water level is about 1 inch below the hydroton and it is just nice for most setup.

What else could happen?

Algae and some time moss will grow, moss could turn into fern in some cases. Algae and mosses will compete with plants for nutrient and it also will make the growbed looks dirty as below.

As a general rule 1 inch water below the media is acceptable, this is the DryZone of an aquaponics growbed. This DryZone can be thicker depending on type of plants grown.

A siphon with adjustable standpipe height is helpful in ensuring this water level is easily achieved.

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diy aquaponics kit | Plant Grown in Low vs High Tech

16.42 in Aquaponics, for, grading, grown, high, iaplc2013, in, latest, low, plant, sytem, tech, vs

diy aquaponics kit

There was many discussion in forums about how attractive low tech tank due to low maintenance, less algae, low electric bill but fail to mention the pant grow differences. From my experience growing plants both in low tech and high tech tank, I notice obvious grow pattern differences. Some are minor and some are quite obvious. These grow pattern may not be important to planted tank hobbyist but it is very important to Aquascaper. Sometime or most of the time, we want them to grow in certain manner to expose its beauty.

Im trying to compile list of different aquatic plant species grown both in low tech and high tech. How it look when it grow in low tech compare to high tech. It will not be scientific, let the botanist handle that part. There wont be any explanation why, it will be just simple obvious observation between the two.

All of the pictures are from my tank. It will take a while to compile it, especially those plants grow in low tech tank are very-very-very slow....zzzZz......

Definition:
Low Tech: Low light (e.g. 1x24W T5HO over 2ft tank), no CO2 injection, no fertilizer dosing
High Tech: High light (e.g. 4x24W T5HO over 2ft tank), CO2 injection and EI fertilizer dosing
Both tank are using ADA Amazonia soil, water temperature is around 25 degree C. Also the color different in the photos, unless mention otherwise, is due to camera white balance.

1. Glossostigma elatinoides

Beside the obvious of Glossostigma elatinoides grow faster in high tech tank, it grow smaller and shorter in low tech tank. Some may ask "how did I manage to grow creeping glossostigma in low tech tank?"... Top Secret.... LOL... actually I cant give much explanation, it just did. I have no problem growing creeping glossostigma in both low and high tech tank. My guess something to do with nutrient balance but more research need to be done to confirm it which Im not gonna do.

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diy aquaponics system step by step | AGA 2011 free entry dont miss it

08.49 in 2011, aga, Aquaponics, aquarium, checker, dont, drop, entry, free, in, it, miss, planted

diy aquaponics system step by step

Cut and Paste from the web site:

The Aquatic Gardeners Association is proud to announce our 12th International Aquascaping Contest!! This event is an opportunity for all aquascapers, from the beginner hobbyist to the professional, to display and share their art with others around the world.

New this year: In an effort to stimulate worldwide economic recovery, there will be NO ENTRY FEE for 2011!

All that is required are 1 - 5 photos of your aquarium, a simple entry form, and a signed photo release. You can enter entirely online. We will display all entries permanently on the AGAs web site. You can also choose to have your tank entered in the 2012 Aqua Design Amano contest at the same time.

Winners will receive ribbons and cash awards.
Closing date for entries: September 25
Winners announced: November 18
This contest just keeps growing and growing and growing! So fluff the plants, snap those photos, and enter your aquascape in the AGA contest to share with aquatic gardeners and artists around the world!

Wed like to thank Jen Williams for the beautiful graphics and the advertisement for The Aquatic Gardener.

We are recruiting volunteers to help with online promotion of the contest. If you regularly visit forums or aquarium-related Facebook pages, and can spend an hour posting online, please contact cheryl @ dustyuniverse.com. Also, if you have a blog or web site, please download a web banner and link. This contest cannot be a success without folks who contribute a little of their time and effort.

Also, if you or your company is interested in sponsoring the AGA aquascaping contest, we would be grateful for donations to offset the cost of the cash awards, which are numerous. Sponsors have their company logo and web site link printed in The Aquatic Gardener and featured prominently on the AGA showcase web site.

Please e-mail us if you need more information. Contest Technical Coordinator Erik Olson (erik @ thekrib.com) is happy to answer any questions about the web site or electronic entry process. For general questions, please contact Cheryl @ dustyuniverse.com.

Good Luck and Happy Scaping!

Cheryl Rogers
AGA Contest Chair

source: http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2011.cgi

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diy aquaponics canada | Plastiki Arrives in Sydney

22.35 in 2nd, Aquaponics, arrives, balcony, garden, in, plastiki, sydney, year

diy aquaponics canada

Just went down to watch The Plastiki arrive in Sydney at Darling Harbour. boat made of 12,000 plastic bottles that sailed from San Francisco to Sydney, well done David Rothschild and crew

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zrumplina diy aquaponics | Lemon Grass in Container Flood Drain

23.31 in Aquaponics, container, drain, flood, for, grass, in, lemon, pots, potted, slotted

zrumplina diy aquaponics

Serai or Lemon Grass is a common herb to most home gardener even in temperate countries where they would grow these indoor during the winter months and take it out in the spring. I did grow these in my growbed before back in 2010 or so but it just got wild and difficult to contain within my growbed.

This time I want to do it differently by using the slotted orchid pots, hopefully it can be "tamed" to within the confinement of the pot. Got myself few stalk of lemon grass which is easy to get and just let it stand in a bowl of water for couple of hour or so.

Since Im doing it Aquaponics, a couple of hours is sufficient and dont need to wait for roots to form like when you are doing it with dirt.

Three pots and using some surplus hydroton and pebbles mixed as grow media I prepared six stalk for planting.

Two in each pot, just in case one didnt make it. But it is highly unlikely for this not to grow. Over here this is easily grown anywhere.

Placed the pots in the growbed and just wait. Ideally for this plant it is best to get a larger pot like twelve inches across, those pots is only six. Ill get a bigger pots once these shown good progress, on average Asian household we probably can make do with two pots of these for our daily cooking needs.

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diy aquaponics materials | In line CO2 Atomizer safety nuts broken

16.30 in 1, 5ft, Aquaponics, atomizer, broken, co2, in, line, nuts, perspective, safety

diy aquaponics materials

To those people who are using Up New Atomizer system (D-508 series) or similar, pic below, do take note on the CO2 safety nuts. It is quite weak, I have 3 atomizer and all of them are broken as seen in the picture below. You can clearly see the top part is broke.

I do see the nuts for newer mode D-519 series, the top part, have thicker plastic construction. Unfortunately I cannot use it on D-508 series due to different diameter.

I email up-aqua support about my problem and they going to send me replacement nuts. Thank you for the great support.

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diy aquaponics system design | Aquaponics External Tomato growing in fishtank

05.27 in Aquaponics, external, fishtank, growing, in, tomato

diy aquaponics system design

Ive been away for a few days.

It was nice.

One of the best things about aquaponics, is the fact that it takes care of itself. I came home to a system overflowing with produce, and with lettuce that was ready to eat, where when I left, it was nowhere near ready. Its amazing what a few days can do.

Also, not seeing my system for a few days made me realise just how big my tomatoes were getting.

Thats them hanging off the side of the little grow house.

Im calling this experiment a complete success. I had to tie the foliage to the growhouse to support it, because it was starting to pull the roots out of the water.



Theres fruit forming everywhere, and in spite of the late start due to pruning it all back to only a few leaves, I think it will be a good season. Once the capsicum season is over, I think I might just pick up the tomato, and move it back inside for winter.

The tomato grows through a PVC pipe to stop it growing inside the growhouse, and the roots are all just hanging inside the fish tank. There is no media involved, and it relies on the water being oxygenated by the water movement, and the nutrient it gains from the fish.

This has been a lack luster post.

Im sleepy from too much driving.



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diy desktop aquaponics | My Rice Trial in Aquaponics

15.18 in Aquaponics, barrel, growbed, gutter, in, my, rice, set, single, trial

diy desktop aquaponics

I sow these rice seed on Nov 20th 2016 in the gutterbeds as a trial to see whether aquaponics can support this plants.

Rice needs lots of water, so its a good candidate to try doing it in Aquaponics

I transplanted it to individual pots and place them in the #gutterbed, after two and a half months only did I realise it started to flower and produce rice grain.

I only keep four pots to try, and all the plant produce rice

Some reported empty husk, this I need to see in few weeks time whether it is empty or not.

Kids will love to see Rice plants, since these are grown far away from the busy cities.

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diy aquaponics trout | Drop Checker in Planted Aquarium

18.20 in Aquaponics, aquarium, betond, checker, darkness, drop, in, koete, kurayami, planted, wo

diy aquaponics trout

Many hobbyists asked the same question over and over again about how to measure CO2 level in their planted aquarium. On most occasions, some hobbyists suggest using ph/kH table. It is not a wrong suggestion but unfortunately the table only work if 100% sure there is nothing in the aquarium that can alter pH or kH beside CO2. This is impossible in planted aquarium since we use wood or soil that will reduce pH. In addition, we have sand and rock in our aquarium that tends to increase kH. This is where drop checker come in handy.

pH/kH table

Drop Checker Design
Drop Checker come in many different designs. Below are the typical designs that can be found in the market.

Understanding How Drop Checker Works

The drop checker is actually pH tester but instead of measuring the pH of the aquarium water, it measures the pH of 4dkH reference solution called it indicator solution. Refer to picture below.

When CO2 is injected into the aquarium, at certain point the concentration of CO2 in the aquarium water is higher than the CO2 concentration in the drop checker. In this condition the CO2 will gas out from the aquarium water into the air pocket of the drop checker. As CO2 enters the air pocket, it will be absorbed by indicator solution. The same goes when the CO2 concentrations in the aquarium lower than CO2 concentration in the drop checker. CO2 from indicator solution will gas out and absorb by the aquarium water. This is because the gas was seeking equilibrium point between indicator solution and aquarium water.

As the CO2 absorb by the water, it will lower the water pH and this is the basic principle of drop checker. Using pH indicator solution (Bromothymol Blue) and kH reference solution (4dkH) user will be able to find out roughly the CO2 concentration in the aquarium without worry about contaminant that will change pH or kH.

The indicator will change color as follow:
- Yellow: high CO2 level (>35ppm)
- Green: proper CO2 level, this is what we aim for (25ppm - 35ppm)
- Blue: low CO2 level (<25ppm)

Drop Checker Misconception
Most if not all drop checker manual will tell you to use aquarium water. Try not to do that. Its the same reason as why not using pH/kH table, you do not know what all the contaminant that alter the water pH or kH.

For example, if you are using ADA Aquasoil, the water pH will be around 6.2 and water kH will be 0dkH. If you use this water, drop checker will always show yellow even though you never inject any CO2.

You can buy 4dkH reference solution from ebay or you can make some yourself. What you need is distilled water and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). If you have kH tester you can mix distilled water and sodium bicarbonate until you get 4dkH. Alternatively follow the following formula: dilute 6 gram of sodium bicarbonate in 1 liter of distilled water. It will give you 200dkH. Take 10ml of 40dkH solution and dilute it with 490ml of distilled water to get 500ml of 4dkH reference solution.

Some forum post remind me that some drop checker brand such as Cal Aqua Labs or Dennerle does not require to dilute it with kH = 4 solution

Drop Checker Placement
Drop checker placement can be quite tricky. First of all, it must be put under the water roughly around 10-15cm from the water surface. Be sure to put drop checker away from the flow path of CO2 enriched water. In other word do not put your drop checker near CO2 diffuser. Also do not put drop checker in front of the filter outlet if reactor or inline diffuser is being used.

Drop Checker Limitation
The drawbacks of drop checker are
1. It is not real time measurement device. It takes approximately 1 to 2 hours before you can observe the color change. Thus you might not be able to catch sudden surge of CO2 need during photosynthesis peak period.
2. It wont tell you the exact ppm, although in our intent and purpose, it is not necessary to know the exact ppm
3. Does not work well if the CO2 introduced using misting method because CO2 bubble will go into the drop checker and cause false reading.

Nevertheless drop checker is one of the most accurate and affordable CO2 measurement device available for planted aquarium.



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diy aquaponics raft system | Backyard Aquaponics Grow Fish and Vegetable in your Backyard

09.15 in and, Aquaponics, backyard, balcony, fish, garden, grow, in, update, vegetable, your

diy aquaponics raft system

 

Backyard Aquaponics | How to?

Have you ever thought that you can transform your garage in a greenhouse with a minimum investment and effort? If you love freshly harvested vegetables and love fish, then is high time that you did something for you and your family and the best thing you can do is offer them fresh ingredients for tasty and nourishing meals. Once you find out how, you will never be dependent on the market again! No more genetically modified vegetables, no more preservatives injected to maintain them fresh for a longer time, just organic, healthy food grown in your garage or inside your house.

Backyard Aquaponics | The Best Thing