Aquaponics As a Food Source

[Wulf202]

Bulk head can be made from conduit adapters at depot. For non pressurized systems And they're cheaper.
at work now i'll edit with a link or something later
edit;
http://www.randystacye.com/diybulkhead.htm
http://www.truetex.com/bulkhead.htm

[Irving]

I saw those conduit adapters, or ones like them in the pvc aisle, but they didn't seem right to use. Once I got home, I figured out why. With a bell siphon, the rule of thumb is to use the "double double" method of sizing. So if you have a 1/2" stand pipe, you'd use a 1" bell and a 2" gravel guard. If I had used one of those conduits, the 1" bell wouldn't have fit over it properly, and I'd have to go larger than double the size for it to fit. I do not know how that would affect the operation of the siphon though.

I finished the siphon tonight, took a bunch of pictures, and will post later. I'm going to wait till the silicone dries and then test it all tomorrow.

My grow box is only 19" x 15" x 6" deep. It is pretty small, but still 3x larger than the 7 pod Aerogarden I used before. I grew herbs and flowers in the Aerogarden with pretty amazing results. That said, I've purchased some buttercrunch lettuce, jalapenos, spinach, and scallion onions. I assume that the lettuce and the spinach will take up most of the room, the jalapenos will grow up, and the scallions will have the smallest root foot print. The plan is to put the spinach and lettuce the furthest away from the siphon.

If any of those assumptions are incorrect, please let me know. Also, I'm open to additional things I should try planting. I want something simple for this test bed since 1) it is only 6" deep and 2) the expanded clay won't hold the weight of something tall and heavy like tomatoes or peas. Not to mention this is going on top of my fish tank, and I'll have limited vertical space.

[Irving]

Still working on a few bugs with the bell siphon, but I think I'll have that worked out in short order.

[King]

Went to Kenya recently and a missionary there had one system built and another on the way. Very impressive setup. The water pump ran off solar so it was 100% off the grid. He introduced baby tilapia and is able to plant what otherwise would not grow easily in the region. I will post so pics if I can get some.

[King]

Carrots
Kale

Hopefully I can get some pics of the fish reservoir as well

[ChunkyMonkey]

Thanks for posting these pictures.. Moarrr

[Irving]

HoneyBadger, since you were asking about larger set-ups, I suggest you watch the two videos put out my Murray Hallam. The first is "Aquaponics Made Easy," and the second is "Aquaponics Secrets."
Each is about an 90 minutes long and they were packed full of useful information. I was able to download them.

[Irving]

Do you guys mind if I document some growth of my set-up in here since it is working now, or should I start my own thread?

Just timed the fill and drain. Drain: 2:50; Fill: 5:52. This is a 27 liter tub with about 1.5" of water left at the bottom after a drain, and filling approx 1" from the top.
Got Spinach to sprout in a traditional pot yesterday, onions will be tomorrow. No evidence of sprouting from the seeds I "planted" directly in the grow bed. Already growing lettuce I planted has grown an inch or so since planting. Everything was planted whatever day I put up the photos.

[Irving]

Okay, back to technical info.

First, I've edited the previous post about the bell siphon design. This site is not quiet as easy to follow, but has a much better design. http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.co...s-of_9459.html
You don't need the breather tube glued into the top of your cap like the other link, AND you could easily use the conduit connection that Wulf202 suggested earlier (NO METAL).

Look at the first and second diagrams in the above link. The improvement in this design is that you flare the top of the stand pipe. This flare allows you to ditch the breather tube altogether. The website explains it better than I can, so check it out and ask any questions. Here is the video explaining his siphon. You can see how it is more simple, and more rugged than the breather tube design.


I was having problems with my siphon, and I messed around with it and made a kind of hybrid between the first design, and the Affnan design.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Good reading stu. I use vertical design (vinyl fence post) to avoid the drama of clogged pipe etc.