aquaponics

[hightechredneck]

while jumping from site to site I ran across the add
'Backyard Liberty'.

I listened to his speech and started trying to find out about it and if real/doable. Instead of paying this guy money for the info I went searching and found it is real. Gonna try it out for myself I think. The link is http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/Travis/IBCofAquaponics1.pdf. You guys take the info fpr what it is from there.

 

[realisticdude]

I would think a couple of old jacuzzi type spas could be modified for that use.

 

[old_anorak]

We've raised catfish in the big round stock tanks.

 

[billyjack]

Five gallon buckets and aquarium pumps is all that is needed. I have made them from less!

 

[old_anorak]

What are you raising in 5 gallon buckets?

 

[Duchess]

while jumping from site to site I ran across the add
'Backyard Liberty'.

I listened to his speech and started trying to find out about it and if real/doable. Instead of paying this guy money for the info I went searching and found it is real. Gonna try it out for myself I think. The link is http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/Travis/IBCofAquaponics1.pdf. You guys take the info fpr what it is from there.

We watched the video and thought it was excellent! We already have most of the materials too! It only takes a couple tools and some practice with them.

 

[billyjack]

Bred tadpoles and other small species of salamanders in the 5 gal buckets. My friends only way to fund his reptile collection. And he sold small aquarium plants as well. Fisherman paid the most of course, made some decent coin in the summer.

 

[old_anorak]

Okay, so not really able to raise to eating size.

 

[realisticdude]

Okay, so not really able to raise to eating size.

mmmmmm..........tadpole sandwich !

 

[old_anorak]

Nope, gotta grow them into frog legs first.

 

[WilliamAshley]

aquaponics is real, however I pretty much think it is more or less reserved to places what have temperatures above 5 degrees year round more or less if outdoors or a home that is contantly heated to atleast 5 degrees celcius..? 50 f??? depending on species, as the heater costs can eat up a lot of electricity. You need to run an aerator 24/7, which is another energy cost, if it fails your fish will all die in minutes, you need a backup on an emergency switch system to kick in on a 12v battery to insure that power failure will not kill all your fish. I think there are some algae options like spirulina (of doomsday preppers fame) There is a cheapo option to use a bathtub overall I think it would run $100-$200 and some species take a year or two to bring in. There are startup costs, although I am curious about railing frogs... to see if that can be done cause getting tadpoles is easy and frogs are very edible.
It is real, I have a video on it if you are interested it is a huge video though like over a gig.

Basically the costs are

bilge pump ($20-40)
backup bilge ($20-40) needs to be able to pump up water ... with 12v etc.. leaders
12v battery as a backup

a siphon gauge system to drain your water when water levels get high (no clue)

some seedweed concentrate extract to get the cycle started (no clue)
urea (or piss about 1 table spoon) (mostly free)

a waterproof bin you can plant your stuff in, must be able to support a load of gravel or clay beads)

seedlings you want to grow

extra bathtub or bin to hold your water the bigger it is the more fish you can hold but the size has a ratio to planters so a really big area like a swimming pool will require an entire farm to purify... and have a whole lot of fish.

a few seals , and a few tubes to connect your sump and siphon drain too...

to overly simplify that is it. some fish need apply, expect some to die.


I think you could probably turn a bublepump coffee mater / preculator into an aerator.. if doing it on a DIY hack basis.

I'm thinking a coffee maker or multiple coffee makers could make this aquaponics thing much easier..

you must understand how bubblepumps work to really understand why...

Here is an example...




here is an explanation



the coffee maker is a "simplified aquaponics system" of smaller size.
some tuning may need apply, but I do suspect you can make superior aquaponics system out of coffee makers, perhaps a simple aerator,... and a siphon valve.


Here is an aerator bypass


it is called a venturi


In seeing this though I think you could create a mixed air water siphon which with this venturi could aerate based on siphon suction and downward water pressure of a siphon gauge release... which means all you would need is this venturi sucking in air at the drain point... and you would however need to run your bilge ongoing.. the aerator may be needed as a backup but you could probably cycle your aerator to only run when your siphon gauge wasn't operating..

hopefully you can undertand how this could save energy in having a downward suction of air with a venturi.. which operated on cycle with siphon release, the switch gets turned off and the aerator on when the bilge and aerator get turned on to pump water up to the plant bed.


to explain in a picture.. sorry bad drawing...

the point is with a coffee maker or two or a coffee maker and aerator you can get an aquaponics system going. but if you want your fish to live you need a backup aerator.


you would need to wire a switch between the siphon valve drain and the bilge aerator circuit. this way perhaps the aerator only needs to run if the pumps/pumps fail.


here is another interesting zenturi video



bed

 

[WilliamAshley]

=-

 

[Simple but effective]

Here is my plan for my aquaponics. I plan on running in tandem with a methane generator, also called a biodigester to produce natural gas. Oh. I should mention that I live on a farm I suppose.
3 generations of my family are building a greenhouse large enough to house a rather large crop indoors. Using the animal waste to fuel the methane generator I can keep the greenhouse nice and toasty if I want. Using another burner to run a water heater to circulate hot water through the slurry in the generator and keep it around 95 degrees. Just saying it is a way to grow all winter. I live in oklahoma. It gets cold but not too cold to do this.

 

[Simple but effective]

I couldn't watch the videos cause AT&T sucks here but from the text. I noticed you mentioned an aerator for the fish. It's not necessary. Save your money. The water being constantly pumped over the media will aerate the water for the fish. Setting up the system from scratch will take 4-6 weeks to get all your biologicals ready for marine and plant life. I'm using the backyard liberty system from infowars.com. Paid $37. Could have hacked it for free but they did a good job with it and its just right to pay for the work they put into it. If another setup leaves you with a lot of questions you might go with this system before abandoning the idea. It comes with a no brainer video to give you the basics of the building of the system and 104 page guide that covers everything Also a year of Q&A with the author if you can't figure it out. Couple of other freebies. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. Just found a good product that actually does what it says

 

[hightechredneck]

I couldn't watch the videos cause AT&T sucks here but from the text. I noticed you mentioned an aerator for the fish. It's not necessary. Save your money. The water being constantly pumped over the media will aerate the water for the fish. Setting up the system from scratch will take 4-6 weeks to get all your biologicals ready for marine and plant life. I'm using the backyard liberty system from infowars.com. Paid $37. Could have hacked it for free but they did a good job with it and its just right to pay for the work they put into it. If another setup leaves you with a lot of questions you might go with this system before abandoning the idea. It comes with a no brainer video to give you the basics of the building of the system and 104 page guide that covers everything Also a year of Q&A with the author if you can't figure it out. Couple of other freebies. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. Just found a good product that actually does what it says

I looked into it but was trying to figure out if it was a scam or not when I ran across the site I posted. A great board is http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/index.php?sid=30fa35a780c17205cfa1a1d894dc1e88 I have been read and learning for weeks off of it. Worked on area for setup this morning and starting construction. Dependant on water flow, system design, fish loading and alot of other variable you may need to add a secondary air system. At least one on a backup if power gos out. Are you doing a constant flow, flood and drain or siphon system? Originally I was going constant flow but leaning to flood and drain.

Sounds like you got if going on. My kinda people, I can't do anything small... What kinda fish are you planning on

 

[Simple but effective]

Channel catfish and white Nile talapia
I'm using a constant flow system. What I do if I think something is a scam is to buy it with PayPal. If its bogus I usually get a refund back the next day
Feel free to private message me and we can bounce ideas. I only have Internet on my phone so sometimes I do miss things due to screen size. I refuse to pay Hughes net a dime

 

[WilliamAshley]

I couldn't watch the videos cause AT&T sucks here but from the text. I noticed you mentioned an aerator for the fish. It's not necessary. Save your money. The water being constantly pumped over the media will aerate the water for the fish. Setting up the system from scratch will take 4-6 weeks to get all your biologicals ready for marine and plant life. I'm using the backyard liberty system from infowars.com. Paid $37. Could have hacked it for free but they did a good job with it and its just right to pay for the work they put into it. If another setup leaves you with a lot of questions you might go with this system before abandoning the idea. It comes with a no brainer video to give you the basics of the building of the system and 104 page guide that covers everything Also a year of Q&A with the author if you can't figure it out. Couple of other freebies. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. Just found a good product that actually does what it says

I've been told the aerator is ESSENTIAL without it the fish will die within minutes. Can you point me to a source where water flowing will be enough for long term aeration?

 

[hightechredneck]

I've been told the aerator is ESSENTIAL without it the fish will die within minutes. Can you point me to a source where water flowing will be enough for long term aeration?

Many people have made systems that aerate themselves by waterfall type returns, directing siphoned water thru a elbow to case stirring or using some of the pump discharge as in the on here (http://www.aquaponics.net.au/system600a.html) there are lots of systems at the links I posted, you just gotta look for them.

 

[Simple but effective]

I've been told the aerator is ESSENTIAL without it the fish will die within minutes. Can you point me to a source where water flowing will be enough for long term aeration?

If you make the bio culture correct the fish will be fine. How many lakes or farm ponds run aerators? An aerator won't hurt anything though. Once your system is established and you start a second one. When the water tests give you the all clear to add the fish. Test it out. By then you'll have fish to spare and the best way to believe it is to see for yourself.

 

[WilliamAshley]

have you tried it without an aerator?

aquaponics water volume is nothing compared to a lake, there is also a high volume of fish in a small area. As far as pond, I havn't seen any with large fish without an aerator.

If you have not tried it I suggest you do not unless you want dead fish. If you have tried it, do share your results.

Even small fishtanks have aerators.


I do not doubt a waterfall could provide some aeration, but I would not be certain how much aeration it creates, and also the power consumption.

If you've tried it out that is fine but I am wary of using something that is not commonplace in aquaponics systems, the flow rate seems really large, and aquaponics normally cycle so I would think you would need to calibrate the pump since normally water isn't cycling that fast in a system all the time.

perhaps the fish were swimming in the stream to get oxygen

 

[Simple but effective]

I've got two 75 gallon fish tanks that I've had for years. All I have ever used is a filter to clean the water. No problems. In an aquaponics system the plant bed acts as a filter. Still waiting on the parts for the aquaponics setup. But I'll post up once I get it going and update it.

 

[Simple but effective]

I've never needed an aerator. A lot depends on the type of fish also
Keep in mind this was just on fish in a tank. I am scaling up to an 8 foot stock tank and building a C shaped growing bed off three sides on the system I plan on building but haven't crossed that bridge yet. We have a stock pond so if they do due. I could care less. Cats will feast. Once I get it up and running ill message you and keep you posted.

 

[Simple but effective]

Die. Not due.

 

[WilliamAshley]

I've never needed an aerator. A lot depends on the type of fish also
Keep in mind this was just on fish in a tank. I am scaling up to an 8 foot stock tank and building a C shaped growing bed off three sides on the system I plan on building but haven't crossed that bridge yet. We have a stock pond so if they do due. I could care less. Cats will feast. Once I get it up and running ill message you and keep you posted.

Honestly wondering, I'm not in a city so getting fishstock shipped in can be costly.

I think I am more likely to catch them pale them then add them to the system, since I'm on a lake up here, with plenty of fish, makes sense to use local species if I can catch em.

 

[Simple but effective]

Go to a nearby lake and go fishing. Keep them in a live well. You will need an aerator for that. I brought fish from Indianapolis to southern oklahoma using a $10 Walmart aerator and a small power inverter. Just used a plastic tote for a tank. Yes I did say I used an aerator. But only for that one instance. That was a 14 hour drive

 

[Simple but effective]

The backyard liberty system is a good investment. It will answer all your questions. The manual is 104 pages long and covers about everything. I'd send you a copy of mine but that's illegal. Best money I've spent in a while.

 

[Simple but effective]

I always buy stuff like that with PayPal incase it sucks. Had that happen a few times. Sent an email and my money was returned in less than 2 days. Magnet 4 power was useless